Page 50 of Protecting What's Mine

While Ellen filled him in on all the family news, Mack studiously avoided eye contact with him. But when his knee pressed against hers under the small table, she didn’t make any effort to move away from him.

“How was your day off?” Ellen asked, finally taking a breath.

He pulled his attention away from the feel of Mack’s leg.

“Good. Took Sunshine for a hike. She’s at my sister’s now.” He couldn’t stop looking at Mack. There was something about her that pulled him in. A magnetism, a pull, an orbit.

This wasn’t a normal, easy crush. There was a real hunger here. He’d felt it at the cookout last Friday when he’d seen the longing in her eyes as she observed the Garrison and Moretta clans.

“How was your day, doc?” he asked.

When she finally looked at him, it was both a relief and a rush. Those cool green eyes held secrets he wanted to unravel one by one. He wanted to know how she got the scar under her eye. He wanted to know what her skin felt like under his hands. How he’d feel when he watched her lips part as he slid inside her.

Time slowed down when she looked at him. And his baser instincts were ringing a four-alarm bell.

He shifted in his seat, mindful of the hard-on that roared to life. Unfortunately, that pushed his leg more firmly into hers. If simple under the table leg-rubbing was pushing his buttons, he had a serious control problem.

“Fine,” she said finally.

The way she said it told him it was a deliberate brush-off. What secrets would she share while he worshipped her body?

Fuck.He was going to have to turn off his water heater to get through having her in his backyard yet still untouchable.

He became aware of Ellen looking back and forth between them like she was observing a Wimbledon match.

She noticed him noticing and nodded pointedly in Mack’s direction. “Dr. Mack, you’re not seeing anyone, are you?” she asked innocently.

“Uh. No,” Mack said with suspicion.

“You know, Linc here is a real catch,” Ellen said.

“So I’ve heard,” Mack said dryly.

“It’s true,” Linc said, snagging a cherry tomato off her plate. “You’d be doing yourself a disservice by not at least going out with me once.”

“Linc isthe bestat first dates. You know?”

He grinned at Ellen. This was, in his opinion, one of the best things about life in Benevolence. Even his old girlfriends were invested in his happiness.

“Uh-oh,” Ellen said, sending him a conspiratorial wink. “I think Barry’s calling me again. I should probably be getting home. Here, Linc. You can finish my drink.”

She stood up and heaved her giant purse onto her shoulder. It probably weighed nearly as much as his turnout gear, Linc guessed.

“I don’t hear your phone,” Mack said.

“Oh, I put it on vibrate.” She shook her bag. “There it goes again. Thanks for girls’ night, Dr. Mack. I’ll see you next month.”

“She did not just get a phone call,” Mack said, watching her go.

Linc picked up Ellen’s abandoned margarita, took a sip, and winced. “I think she was subtly trying to give us some alone time.”

“Are all of your old girlfriends this happy to fix you up with new ones?”

He thought about it and reached for a wing. Mack slapped his hand away. “Mine.”

Grinning, he helped himself to the last one on Ellen’s plate.

“Maybe not all of them. But a strong majority.”