far.” When he didn’t say anything, she looked away chewing on her lip. “You don’t have to stay with me. I can book a room somewhere and figure things out.”
“Do you want me to leave?” Marco steered her out of the path of a bunch of drunken men crossing the street in the opposite direction.
“No. I don’t want you to leave. But I can’t expect you to stay.”
She turned to face him once they were on the sidewalk again. He saw the spark of interest in her eyes and then she stared at his lips. He watched her swallow hard. Her tongue dart out to wet her lush mouth.
He bit back a groan and his jaw hardened. You don’t want to kiss me, sweetheart .
She had no idea what she was asking. But faced with the naked vulnerability in her eyes and obvious interest, something shifted inside him. Some of the hardness melted around his resolve, and before he could stop himself he reached out to stroke his thumb down the side of her cheek.
“I’m not going anywhere.” His thumb moved to rub across her bottom lip, which parted on a sigh. That mouth. God, if she didn’t have the mouth and those legs… she’d be some freak mutant, you idiot .
Don’t do it. Kissing her will just complicate things. Don’t even go there…
“Ah, shit.” He lowered his head toward hers.
For some reason, it seemed perfectly natural for Brandy to lean forward into Marco’s kiss. The smell of leather and spice enveloped her senses, just before his arms wrapped around her body.
His mouth closed over hers, firm and confident. It was a hard kiss, nothing hesitant about it. Definitely not the kind she was used to getting from Gordon.
His tongue traced the seam of her lips and a shiver raced down her spine. With a deft move, he slipped inside her mouth and she grabbed onto his T-shirt to keep her balance as the world around them spun.
His tongue rasped against hers. He tasted faintly of beer and all kinds of sin.
Pressing his body harder against her, he moved his hands down her waist to grab her ass. Brandy gasped at the contact and he used it to his advantage, stroking his tongue deeper.
Heat speared down her belly, between her legs and she curved her body closer to his, wanting so much more.
He pulled back suddenly and she tightened her grip on his T-shirt to keep from falling forward. Dazed, but not so far out of it that she didn’t notice the hard muscles under her fingers.
She groaned. This was insanity. Pure insanity. Or just lust. That was a pretty plausible explanation too.
“We should go somewhere.”
Perfect, let’s get a room . The words were on the tip of her tongue, but then she swallowed them.
This was all too crazy, too sudden. She should be grieving or at least a little confused about the whole Gordon situation.
But Gordon was the last darn thing on her mind. Instead all she could think about was that erotic kiss she’d just shared with a perfect stranger. The thing was, she knew why she’d kissed him—he oozed sex and danger. He was attractive.
The question was why had he kissed her ? She was nothing like the models she’d grown up envying.
She raised her gaze to his and noticed he looked a little uneasy about what had just passed between them.
“Why did you kiss me?” she blurted, the passion bubble starting to deflate. God. Why had she even asked that? But since she had…“Men like you don’t kiss women like me.”
He shook his head and looked away. “Don’t worry, it won’t happen again.”
“Oh.” Of course it wouldn’t. Disappointment bloomed inside her, but she pushed it aside and nodded.
Marco turned and began walking again.
Where was he going? Should she follow him? She hesitated a second and then ran to catch up with him. What else could she do? He was her anchor in this crazy storm of a day.
Fuck !
Gordon stalked back into the hotel room and slammed the door behind him.
The prostitute he’d picked up after Brandy had run out on him was still there. Sprawled out on the