McKenzie, Cooper - Saving Chloe (Siren Publishing Classic) by Cooper McKenzie Page B

everything about everyone, knew nothing about the man.
    The shadow turned into a man as he came up her sidewalk. He was younger than she expected, but just as gorgeous up close as he was from across the street. His hair hung nearly a foot past his shoulders and was dark, but she couldn’t tell in this light if it was black or brown. He was long and lean with a runner’s body. His jaw and cheekbones were sharply angled. He had the most beautiful smile she’d ever seen on a man. It even shined from his eyes, which were light, but again, she could not tell their color.
    In that instant, Chloe told herself that he was off-limits. He was too young and probably had a thirty-something Barbie-doll wife and a couple of kids somewhere.
    The man stopped three feet from the bottom step, and he looked her up and down. “They’re draining you,” he announced solemnly.
    “Who’s doing what?” Chloe asked as she realized he was right.
    She did feel drained. Was it from listening to Jasmine bitch about her job and her husband and her children? Or from spending hours every week with people that she wasn’t sure she wanted to be friends with, but couldn’t stop herself from going along with when they pulled her into a gathering of one sort or another?
    He half turned his body to look in the direction of Winston’s house where the hum of laughter and conversation could once again be heard. “Them. Those people who claim ta be yer friends. They’re hurtin’ you, drainin’ yer energy and spirit, and yer not fightin’ back. Why not?”
    His Irish brogue sparked a fire deep in Chloe’s soul. Her nipples stiffened, and her panties dampened in response. She squeezed her thighs together to keep from jumping off the porch straight into his arms as she watched the front of his shorts bulge forward just behind the fly. So, she wasn’t the only one feeling an attraction. Wonder what his wife would have to say about that?
    Instead of answering him, she asked, “Who are you?”
    “Oh, sorry. Declan Flannery,” he said as he extended his right hand.
    Chloe put her hand in his, and her breath stopped as electricity flashed from his palm to hers. In an instant, heat flashed up her arm. The tingling fire spread through her entire body, and suddenly she felt a sexual hunger like never before. She blinked and looked away, hoping he couldn’t see the arousal in her eyes that flared in her body like gasoline poured on a fire.
    “And you are?” He kept her hand clasped in his then turned them both as he lifted them. Bending his head, he brushed a kiss across the back of her knuckles.
    “Chloe Templeton,” she whispered as her nipples leapt to attention, and her pussy filled and overflowed, wetting her panties further.
    “Pretty name for a pretty lady,” Declan said as he squeezed her hand before releasing it.
    Chloe’s cheeks burned. She had to look away from the pale eyes that seemed to be reading her soul. “Thanks,” she said softly after clearing her throat.
    “And what do ye do fer a livin’, Miss Templeton?”
    “Please, call me Chloe. I’m a pharmaceutical sales rep, and I edit books at night,” she answered, looking up again. “And you?”
    Declan smiled. “I suppose you could say I’m a businessman.”

    * * * *

    The urge to lay Chloe down and make love to her until neither of them could move started at the base of his cock and filled his entire being in three heartbeats. Instead of giving in to the hunger, Declan shifted. He placed his right foot on the second step, a few inches from hers, which gave his cock a little more breathing room. He rested his forearm on his upraised thigh and leaned closer. Though her alluring, natural scent of wildflowers and honey was tainted by exhaustion and the beer she’d drunk, it was still enough to make his cock throb with need as his soul yearned to claim her.
    He’d waited six hundred years for this woman, and his body demanded he claim her as his mate immediately, if not