Their Together Promise by M. K. Stelmack

Author:M. K. Stelmack
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2021-12-23T15:17:29+00:00

* * *

CONNOR’S FIRST INSTINCT was to crush Mara in his arms and kiss her, to seal the deal, to once and for all elevate that earlier moment, as she called it, to the next level.

He set his hands on her waist, tugged her close. Her eyes were wide-open, anticipating him. Her lips parted—

“Connor, you’re not going to kiss me, are you?”

Her voice was slightly breathless, from anticipation or shock.

“That’s the plan. We both want to be with each other. Seems logical.”

“No, you said that you had thought about it, but all your moves since then have been on the chessboard.”

Now that he knew she wanted more from him, honesty was easy. “Because I wasn’t about to risk our friendship. But now that I know we’re both on the same track—” He lowered his head, stopped at her next words.

“—a track off a cliff. Our relationship is problematic.”

“Is there one that isn’t?”

She flattened her hands on his chest. A good sign, except he could feel a slight pressing away. He eased back. “I suppose they all need a maintenance schedule, some repairs. It’s just that ours has entire missing parts that I see as preventing it from running at all. You’re right. I am limited. It’s time I found someone who suits me and my lifestyle. The same for you.”

He returned his hands to her waist, so lightly she could slip from his hold with one backward step. “I’ll make you a deal. We’ll talk about all our problems, but first we kiss. You never know. A good many might get solved that way.”

Her lips twitched again, this time with humor and, yes, invitation. At least that was how he interpreted it. He turned her cheek to him and kissed her just below her cheekbone. He placed a matching kiss on her other cheek.

Mara looked up at him, frowning. “Is that your idea of a first kiss?”

She rose up and touched her mouth to his. Not the breezy, dry-lipped brush he expected but a deep and slow welcoming that he lost no time entering into. A dog wedged its head between them, forcing them apart.

Interfering Griffin.

“I think,” Mara said, “he has just introduced a new complication. Jealousy.”

Connor was riding high. He’d come off a stellar first kiss with the woman he couldn’t get out of his mind or his heart. While the kiss had ended, he wasn’t ready to release her from his arms, and from the way she stayed curved against him, she was in no rush, either. “Please, Mara. Don’t be jealous.”

“It’s not—” She harrumphed, a small and cozy sound. He tightened his hold.

Lines appeared between her brow. “But it does point to the ongoing issue between us.”

“I get it,” he said. “I promise you that I will not let Griffin be the one to hold and kiss you.”

Again her lips twitched, but the frown lines didn’t completely disappear. “I’m sure there have been plenty of women for whom you took on that responsibility.”

“Fewer than you might imagine. None who used ‘for whom’ in natural speech.

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