Damn.
CHAPTER 6
Maddie swallowed the lump in her throat and forced her reservations to shut the hell up. Get back in there, girl, and go for it. This is a once in a life-time opportunity. Kissing Sam Hennessy won’t happen again this century.
"No," she said, "I'm not mad at you. I was just kidding around." She tried to sound light, girlish, like the sort of woman he’d like.
"Oh." Sam grinned and Maddie melted. He had an amazing smile. His lips curved up to form a perfect Cupid's bow and two dimples punctuated either end. She wanted to touch them and taste his soft, kissable lips.
"Good. I wouldn't want you to get the wrong impression of me," he said. "I’m not the kind of guy I was in high school."
"What kind of guy is that?" she asked innocently.
"The kind that didn’t know a great girl when he met one."
Ah. Right. She was sure he meant something by that but her scrambled brain couldn’t think properly. "And I wouldn't want you to get the wrong impression of me," she said.
Even as she said it, she wondered what the right impression was. Deep down she was still the nerd he'd accused her of being years ago, only now she'd added other layers to her personality to hide it. But when push came to shove, she was still the same person, still a boring nerd. She organized her books alphabetically by author, she read science journals and she made love with the light out. Not even a lamp on.
Would that bother him?
"No wrong impressions here," he murmured.
How had he got so close without her noticing? The man was as stealthy as a panther and had more tricks up his sleeve than David Copperfield. And he looked at her the way she looked at dessert. The intensity behind his stare unnerved her. She felt naked and vulnerable, and yet beautiful at the same time.
"Oh. Good." Her voice was so high, the words sounded like they came from Mickey Mouse. "So are you taking me home now or what?"
The "or what" hung in the air between them. If his answer had the word kiss in it, she was going to get out of the car and walk home. As much as she wanted to taste his lips, her conscience couldn't allow the date to go that far. He had no control over his behavior because of Pheramour so it wasn't fair to—
The kiss she was trying to avoid took her by surprise. Once she got over her initial shock, no way could she stop it. Her conscience could go take a hike. This was Sam Hennessy! She could definitely allow the date to progress beyond the friendly chatter they'd exchanged up till now.
It was just a kiss, not sex.
But what a kiss! Heat arrowed through her body, scoring a direct hit on her inner thighs. The kiss was hard at first, but softened, became slow and consuming like a brush fire. He tasted of pizza and he smelled all male. The combination was delicious and Maddie sank into his lips, wanting his silky tongue in her mouth, on her throat, her nipples...everywhere.
Most dreams never live up to expectations when they become reality. Sam Hennessy's kiss not only lived up to her childhood fantasy, it exceeded it with flying colors. She'd give him an A+. Kissing him was everything she'd dreamed of all those years ago in Cynthia's tree house.
Everything and more. The young Maddie had never imagined it would be so hot, so passionate. He had the softest lips of any man she'd ever kissed. And when he cupped her cheeks and gently stroked her face with his thumbs, there wasn't a word in the dictionary to describe the sensations thundering through her body.
Wow, the man who'd kissed so many women was kissing her! The man she’d dreamed of for fifteen years, had her locked in a thrilling embrace.
Oh God. What if she wasn’t doing it right? How could she live up to his expectations?
She pulled away, then instantly regretted the loss of contact. A wisp of air separated them, cooling her. She sighed involuntarily and licked her lips to try and taste him all over again.
Why in hell had she broken the kiss?
But it was the right thing to do. She was the school nerd. She may have changed, but she hadn't changed enough for Sam Hennessy to want to kiss her. Not without Pheramour.
"What's wrong?" He lifted her chin with his thumb and forefinger to look into her face.
She jerked her head away so she didn't have to look in his eyes. Those blue pools were like a truth serum—how could you lie to someone with such honest, trusting eyes?
"Nothing. But I think I'd like to go home now."
Damn it, why did she have to think? Why did she have to analyze and decipher and calculate? Why couldn't she be one of those women who kissed men just for the hell of it?
Because she was Maddie Clarke, and thinking through the consequences of actions was what she did best. She couldn't change that fact even if she'd wanted to.