asked. “Intermission.”
When Emma leaned forward for the remote, Sean withdrew his arm and let his feet fall to the floor. “Sounds like a plan.”
Gram left in the direction of the kitchen and Emma stood, intending to get out of Sean’s way but, when he stood, he grabbed her elbow and spun her around.
His mouth met hers, hot and hungry, and she wrapped her arms around his neck as she responded in kind. So what if he was temporary? She’d enjoy it while it lasted. His hands were on her hips and he pulled her closer—close enough so she could feel he wasn’t pretending to want her.
The kiss was incredible and she stood on her tip-toes, reaching for more. Her fingertips found the back of his neck and she stroked him from the knot at the top of his spine and up into his hair and back.
Sean pulled away from her so fast she almost fell over. “Shit.”
“Flattering.” Her senses were still so overwhelmed by him she didn’t trust herself to say more.
He ran his hand over his hair, shaking his head. “That was…”
Wonderful, Emma thought. Amazing. Toe-curling. “That was what?”
“A mistake.” He pushed by her and a few seconds later she heard his footsteps climbing the stairs.
“Jerk,” she muttered, but the word didn’t have a lot of oomph behind it. She was still too breathless from being kissed so thoroughly by a man who knew what kissing was all about.
No doubt about it—she was in trouble.
Sean had to get out of the house or he was totally going to lose it. He wasn’t sure if that meant punching a hole in the wall or tossing Emma over his shoulder and carrying her off to bed caveman-style, but either was a bad idea.
Time to go for a ride and get some space, but first he stuck another sticky note to the mirror and uncapped the Sharpie.
You can hold my hand or pat my head or scratch my belly, but don’t rub the back of my neck again unless you want to get naked.
He went back downstairs and grabbed the keys to his truck off the hook by the door. Cat was back in her chair when he popped his head into the living room.
“I have to bail, ladies. Kevin called while I was upstairs and needs a hand with something.”
“But the movie,” Cat said.
“You’ll have to tell me how it ends.” He forced himself to look at Emma, who was doing a pretty poor job of hiding her annoyance. “I might be late, so don’t wait up.”
“Have fun,” was all she said.
He jumped on the highway and drove a little too fast with the music a little too loud, hoping to leave no room in his thoughts for remembering the taste of Emma’s lips.
Even before he’d spun her around, he’d known kissing her was a big mistake. He hadn’t realized the mistake was actually colossal, though, until she started stroking the back of his neck and his body reacted with an urgency that led nowhere but to bed. Together. Hot and sweaty and breathing hard between the sheets.
He got lucky and found a parking spot near Jasper’s Bar & Grille and breathed a sigh of relief as he walked through the door. Men drinking beer. Pretty waitresses. Sports on the big screens. Sanity.
It was a little slow, which wasn’t surprising for a Wednesday night, so there were plenty of open seats at the bar where Kevin appeared to be holding down the fort.
“Didn’t think I’d see you here tonight,” he said as his cousin set a beer in front of him.
Kevin shrugged. “Terry’s having one of those parties where the women all get together and one of them sells the others a bunch of shit they don’t need so she can earn a free salad bowl or whatever. Paulie wanted to go and I sure as hell didn’t, so here I am. How’s fake almost-married life treating you?”
“I kissed her.” He chugged down a quarter of the mug.
“Yeah, so? Engaged people do that sometimes.”
“I kissed her after Cat left the room. I didn’t kiss her because we were pretending. I kissed her because…hell, I don’t need to draw you a map.”
“When did
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