The Gallaghers of Ardmore Trilogy

doesn’t work in those clever ways.”
    “No, you’re a straightforward woman. I know it.” He stopped, angled his head. For every step he took she took one in evasion. “Why is it, Brenna, that when I come toward you now, you back away? Aren’t you the one who started it all?”
    “Aye, I did, but I’ve had time to reconsider. Just keep your distance, will you, while I’m mulling it over,” she demanded when she caught the dark male amusement in his eyes. Not an expression to settle a woman’s nerves. “We’ve been friends a long time, and I don’t want to lose that part of my life. If we’d acted when I first mentioned sex, if you’d just grinned and said, ‘Well, Brenna, what a fine idea, let’s go up to bed,’ it would’ve been fine all around. We’d have enjoyed ourselves, kept it simple, and parted friends as always. But now it’s stopped being an impulsive sort of thing and it’s complicated.”
    He solved the problem of keeping her still by reaching out, planting his palm on the wall just above her head. Before she could shift, he planted the other and caged her in. “You’ve a habit of acting on impulse, and I’m one for pondering over things. You move fast and I move slow.”
    Her blood was beginning to hum. But pride kept her in place now, as sure as his arms. “Jesus, Shawn, a glacier moves with more speed than you.”
    “But I get where I’m going just the same, don’t I? I’m thinking, Brenna, that weighing impulse and consideration, speed and caution, we can still meet somewhere in the middle of things.”
    “It’s too . . . sticky now.”
    “Your heart’s pounding,” he murmured as he eased closer. “I can almost hear it.” Watching her, he laid his hand between her breasts. Awareness snapped into her eyes, breath trembled between her lips, then drew in, soft and sharp when he let his fingers spread. “Now I can feel it. I’ve wanted to touch you.”
    Her knees wanted to buckle. “You’d never have thought of it if I hadn’t mentioned it.”
    “Sure and I can’t say I mind it being your idea, as I’m thinking of it now.” He lowered his head to nip lightly at her bottom lip. “And I’m finding it hard to think of much else. When I came up here today . . .” He shifted his head so his lips skimmed up along her jaw. “I thought I’d apologize, make things as right as I could between us. Then I was nearly sure, very nearly sure that I’d take a step back and leave it that way. But now I want to touch you.” He toyed delicately with the nipple that strained against her shirt. “I want to taste you.”
    And finally, finally covered her mouth with his.
    She gripped his hips, fingers digging in as she let her tongue dance with his, let her lips heat with his. She wanted faster, hotter, harder. She thought she might die from the gentle and glorious warmth.
    “Wait.” Something was breaking loose inside her. A vital something that needed to stay firmly in place. “Wait. You think I need all the fancy work.” She turned her head, but that only meant his teeth found her ear.
    Oh, Jesus, the man had the most magical of mouths.
    “I don’t need it.” Her breath was coming hard and fast and making her dizzy. “Or seductions.”
    “I do.” He tilted his head so he could nibble down her throat.
    “If you’ve decided—and it appears to me you have— that we should have sex after all, we’ll take an hour now and go to your cottage.”
    His chuckle was muffled against her skin, skin that was soft as sun-warmed silk. “Somewhere in the middle, Brenna. I want you.” He felt her shiver as his mouth found hers again. “But I’ve a mind to drive us both a bit crazy before I have you naked and under me.”
    “Why?”
    “Because it’s more enjoyable that way. Do you like it when I do this?” She drew in her breath in three short gasps when he feathered his fingers just under her shirt so the backs of them rubbed the curve of her breast. “I see you do. Your eyes are blurry.”
    “I’m half blind. The hell with the cottage, we’ll just finish this right here.”
    But when she locked her arms around his neck, he laughed and swung her in a circle. “Oh, no, we won’t. I won’t short myself or you of the pleasure.”
    “It doesn’t seem like middle ground from where I’m standing. It’s leaning heavily toward your way of things.”
    “Maybe, but you’ll thank me for it when we’re done.”
    “So like a man,” she said when he set her on