His words and the way his dark eyes held hers, frightening and feral, were quickly turning mortification into something far hotter. He couldn’t leave her like this, so unfulfilled. Judging from the thick ridge in his pants, which she’d been brazenly rubbing against, she wasn’t the only frustrated one.

Fine. He won.

“Go home with me?” she asked softly.

Seth’s eyes closed, and his head met the back of the seat. She wanted to attack his throat with her lips. She settled for tracing a fingernail down the line of one of the tattoos peeking above the neckline of his shirt. “I told Brian I’d help out at the parlor so he could have the night off with Candace. That’s why I hardly drank anything tonight. I need to get over there.”

“Brian won’t…?”

“Let me off the hook to get laid while they work their asses off? I wouldn’t ask.” He raised his head to look at her. “I imagine you’ll be passed out by the time I’m done.”

His mouth was back in close proximity to hers—too close. She brushed it with her own. Gave his bottom lip a tiny lick.

“Fuck,” he said in a whispered rush, though he still didn’t move. “Macy…you’re gonna get me fired before I even get started back.” He captured her lips with his, once, twice, again. She ached and throbbed and pressed as close as she physically could. His hand disappeared under her shirt, sliding along her bare skin until his fingers covered her breast in the lacy cup of her bra. The pleasure centers in her brain positively purred. Her nipple pebbled against his palm, chafing against the fabric. He must have felt it; he circled the tight peak with his thumb.

“Yes,” she whispered, arching into the much-needed contact. He leaned forward to kiss and lick at the base of her throat.

It was crazy, and it was everything she’d tried to convince herself she didn’t want, but God, it felt too good. His thumb slipped under the lace of her bra, and she nearly lost her mind. In one swift movement, he shoved her baby tee up over her br**sts and growled a string of curses, lowering his head to nip and lick the swells above her bra cups. She stroked his smooth head and almost grinned at the memory of Sam talking about bald guys. It was different, but she liked it.

Oh, she liked everything about what he was doing. If only he would do it a little faster…

“Please,” she whimpered, shifting in an attempt to bring his decadent mouth in contact with her puckered nipple. Even through her bra, she didn’t care; she just needed the contact. He kept deliberately avoiding it, teasing her without mercy. She’d never ached so much as when she was with him, but surely this time it had to do with the wrongness of this situation, almost shirtless in his backseat in a bar parking lot. With a guy she shouldn’t be with.

And last time?

Well, last time had almost been the same circumstances, save for the location. It had been dark and isolated, not in clear view of everyone in a busy parking lot. Whatever the reason, she couldn’t stop moving against him, and those little moans coming from her throat that sounded like some other far more wanton woman than she—surely it was some alternate universe she’d fallen into affecting her actions. Her reactions.

Seth pulled his head back. It was all she could do not to hold it in place. “I gotta stop, babe,” he said, bringing her world to an end. “I’m sorry, but if I don’t now, I won’t be able to later. And we’ll get caught.” Carefully, he slid her shirt back in place. Then his dark eyes flickered up to hers.

She could only imagine how she must look. The vast majority of her hair hung in her face. Her lips felt swollen, her eyes heavy-lidded. Tremors shook her hands and pretty much the rest of her body.

“Beautiful,” he whispered, as if he’d read her thoughts. He reached up to smooth her hair back. “Hey. I can’t go with you now, but if you really want to continue this later, you know…my number’s still good.”

Pulling her bottom lip between her teeth, she tugged his hoodie closed over her chest. He expected her to initiate the booty call the next time she got horny? “You have my number too,” she pointed out.

He flicked the end of her nose. “The major problem there is you quit answering.”

Maybe I will now. Oh yes, I will. “I’m turning over a new leaf.”

He chuckled. The tip of his finger caught her under her chin, and it was enough to still all her movements. “Tell you what. If you need help with that, if you need someone to shut you up, or even if you just need to walk on the wild side every now and then…I’m your guy. I’ll show you the ropes, killjoy.” The way he winked at her made her think he meant that idiom way more literally than most people. “I don’t know what kind of identity crisis you’re having, but I think you’re all right.”

You’re all right. It didn’t sound like much, but for some reason it meant a lot coming from him. It made her want to kiss him again—and again and again—but that time seemed to have passed.

“Thank you,” she said softly. “Just one thing, though…”

“Yeah?”

“Can I call you Seth?”

A grin broke over his face. “I think I can live with that.” And then a fist battered against the window.

Chapter Four

“Oh my God. Were you getting it on?” Candace’s eyes were big as saucers as Seth pushed the door open.

“Well, not anymore, thank you. Jesus, what kind of friend are you?”

Macy shoved her face into his shoulder, trying in vain to squelch laughter she didn’t understand given the awkwardness of their situation. At least they’d stopped when they did. Except…dammit! She’d never put her panties back on. At least his hoodie was big enough to hide anything that might still be on display.

“Is it safe?” Brian asked from an area near the back of the car.

“Yes, they’re clothed, at least.”

He appeared next to his girlfriend. “Hey, man, we’re ready to jet. But Candace’s car has a dead battery. Do you have cables?”

“Do I have cables. You know what’s pathetic? That you don’t have cables. Have I not taught you anything?”

Macy didn’t miss Candace’s little grin as she extricated herself from the car so Seth could get out. Immediately, she staggered on her weak knees, which she knew had very little to do with the beer she’d imbibed and everything to do with what he’d just done to her. Seth reached out to steady her, his knowing gaze holding hers for a moment longer than necessary. Cold air tickled the bare heat between her legs, and she shuddered.

“You straight?” he asked. She nodded, suddenly feeling shy under the scrutiny of their friends. As she was about to glance away, she noticed the white writing on his black T-shirt, visible now that he wasn’t wearing his hoodie. It read Why can’t you all die and leave me alone?

Macy frowned. Jesus. Couldn’t take him anywhere. But then, public appearances probably wouldn’t be part of this deal, anyway.

Any relationship between them would be founded on nothing but sex. Raw, hotter-than-hell sex. It was all they had, really—this blazing chemistry that turned all her once coherent thoughts into grainy mush.

Was there anything really wrong with that, though? All her life she’d prepared herself for The One, and subsequently examined each potential relationship only for its capacity to become something enduring. It didn’t have to be that way. Seth was a guy she wouldn’t want to be with long-term, and it was probably a good thing because he didn’t strike her as the relationship type anyway. But damn, he made her hormones growl.