Montana Sky

feet of young Billy, his eyes cross.”
    She smiled a little because it was pure truth. “He’s eighteen and randy as they come. Saying the word ‘breast’ around him drains all the blood out of his head into his lap. He’ll get over it.”
    “Not if he’s lucky.”
    Feeling friendlier, she crossed her feet at the ankles. “I don’t know how you men tolerate it. Having your ego, your personality, and your idea of romance all dangling between your legs.”
    “It’s a trial. Are you going to sit down and finish your coffee?”
    “I’ve got work.”
    “That’s what you’ve said every time I’ve come within five feet of you the last couple of days.” He picked up her mug, rose, and carried it to her. “You keep working and not eating, Willa, you’re going to end up flat on your face.” He took her chin in his hand and gave her a long, long look. “And the face isn’t half bad.”
    “You’re grabbing onto it enough lately.” She jerked her head, struggling to remain cool when his fingers stayed put. “What’s your problem, McKinnon?”
    “I don’t have one.” To test them both, he skimmed a finger up and over her mouth. It had a shape to it, he mused, even in a snarl, that made a man want a bite. “But youseem to have one. I’ve been noticing you’re jumpy around me lately. Used to be you were just mean.”
    “Maybe you can’t tell the difference.”
    “Yeah, I can.” He shifted, boxing her neatly between the counter and his body. “You know what I think, Will?”
    He had broad shoulders, long legs. Lately she’d been entirely too aware of the size and shape of him. “I’m not interested in what you think.”
    Being a cautious man with a good memory, he pressed against her to block a well-aimed knee. “I’ll tell you anyway.” He took his hand off her chin and gathered up the hair she’d left loose that morning. “You do smell of soap and leather, now that I’m close enough to tell.”
    “Any closer, you’d be on the other side of me.”
    “Then there’s all this hair, a good yard of it. Straight as a pin and soft as silk.” He kept his eyes on hers, drew her head back a fraction more. “Your heart’s pounding. And there’s this little pulse right here in your throat.” He used his free hand to trace it, feel it skitter. “Jumping so hard it’s a wonder it doesn’t come right through the skin and bounce into my hand.”
    She wasn’t entirely sure it wouldn’t happen if he didn’t give her room to breathe. “You’re irritating me, Ben.” It took every ounce of effort to keep her voice even.
    “I’m seducing you, Willa.” He all but purred it, in words like honey. And his smile came slow and potent when she trembled. “That’s what you’re afraid of, to my way of thinking. That I could, and I will, and you won’t be able to do a damn thing about it.”
    “Back off.” Her voice wasn’t steady now, nor were the hands she lifted to his chest.
    “No.” He tugged her hair again. “Not this time.”
    “You said yourself not long ago that you don’t want me any more than I want you.” What was happening inside her? she wondered in panic. The shivering and shakes, the long, liquid pulls. “There’s no point in playing like you do just to annoy me.”
    “I was wrong. What I should have said was that I wantyou every bit as much as you want me. I was irritated over it. You’re just scared of it.”
    “I’m not scared of you.” What was happening inside her was frightening. But not because of him. She promised herself it wasn’t because of him.
    “Prove it.” Those eyes of his, sharp green and close, lit with challenge. “Right here. Right now.”
    “Fine.” Accepting the dare, afraid not to, she grabbed a handful of his hair and dragged his mouth down to hers.
    He had the McKinnon mouth, she realized. Like Zack’s, it was full and firm. But there the similarity ended. None of the dreamy kisses she’d shared with Zack years before compared to this burst, this shock of having a man’s skillful lips devouring hers. Or the hot, impatient way he used tongue and teeth to simply overpower, to focus every thought, every feeling, every need into that point where mouth met mouth.
    The edge of the counter bit into her back. The fingers she’d twined through his hair curled into a hard, taut fist. And the primal male taste of him coursed through her body and left it in ruins. He hadn’t given her even a moment to defend herself.
    He didn’t intend