MacKenzie Fire(24)

“Or else, you’ll just have to wait and see.” I go back to administering to my coffee. “Keep your murderous lips off me in the meantime.”

“Murderous lips? Wow, you must have really liked that hickey I just gave you to say it about killed you.”

I roll my eyes. “You wish.” I feel like I’m back in high school. What is it about this man that makes me feel and act sixteen again? I haven’t run indoors like that since I was late for Mr. Wilkie’s chemistry final.

He follows me over to a table and takes the seat across from me.

I take a sip of my hot drink and try to ignore him, looking everywhere but in his direction, but he keeps staring at me. He’s leaning back in the chair like he doesn’t have a care in the world. My prayer that the thing will slide out from under him goes unanswered.

I sigh heavily and give up on avoiding him. “Why are you here?”

He looks around. “In the hospital? Same as you, I s’pose. Waiting for a baby to come out.”

“No, I mean why are you here with me in the cafeteria?”

He smiles again, his gaze dropping to my chest for a second before going back up to my face. “I’m not here with you. I’m just in the same place as you are. It’s a coincidence.”

“Whatever.” I focus on my drink and anything else in the room but him. The walls in here are the ugliest color of green I’ve ever seen. Psychologically, it has to be bad for people. You can make a person go insane just by painting his walls a certain color. Hospitals should be more aware of that stuff. They should hire me as a color consultant.

Without warning, he slides his chair around so he’s next to me, effectively interrupting my thoughts and my distress over the lack of interior design in this place. His arm goes up over the back of my seat and he leans in.

“Well, that was a big change of heart.” I look at him like he’s nuts, which he is.

He’s not smiling anymore and he looks worried. Maybe it’s that green paint having its effect on him, but it came on kind of suddenly.

He leans in closer and I struggle a little to get some distance between us. The heat from his body is soaking into me. “What are you …?”

“Shhhhh!” he whispers, clamping onto my shoulders even more. “Just go with it.”

“Go with wh…?” Before I can get the last part of my sentence out, he presses his lips onto mine.

At first I’m so shocked, I freeze up. Then I feel how soft the skin of his lips is and how good his face smells and I relax. I have no idea what we’re doing, but I’m not going to be the one to stop it.

As he senses me give in, he presses into me more firmly, his lips moving to make the kiss more intimate. We’re both enjoying it now, believe it or not. I’m loving the way his mouth moves on mine. This is the kind of heat I usually save for the bedroom, but right now I could care less who’s watching. Lightning bolts of desire are ripping through me. I lean in closer, wanting to press my breasts against him, anything to ease the ache. When the tip of his tongue comes out to touch mine, I gasp with surprise. It’s the happy kind.

“Hello, Ian. What’re you doing here?”

I hate it when he pulls away to answer the question of the girl standing in front of us. Total cold shower, but I think I like this green paint after all.

He clears his throat and swipes at his mouth before he answers. “Oh, hey. Uh, Andie’s in labor. Just waiting for the baby to come.” He tightens his arm around my back and pulls me closer. I’m pretty sure we couldn’t look more awkward. I’m as stiff as a board realizing that his sudden passion had a different motivation behind it than the paint or my cleavage.

The girl’s eyes shift over to rest on me. “And who’s this?”

Ian leans in and kisses me loudly on the cheek. “This is Candice. She’s my new girl.”

My heart stops beating for a few seconds and my jaw drops open. The only thing that revives me is Ian shaking me several times with his arm. “Babe, this is Ginny. Ginny, this is Candice.”

Ginny holds out her hand over the table. “Nice to meet you. Are you from around here?”

I shake her cool, dry hand hoping she doesn’t notice mine is clammy. I open my mouth to answer, but the only problem is, my voice doesn’t really seem to want to work.

“Uhhh …”

“She’s from back East,” Ian supplies. “Big city girl. You know how I love the big city.”

“Back East, huh? How did you two meet, then?” Ginny cocks her hip, giving every indication she plans to get to the bottom of this situation before she leaves.

She doesn’t seem angry, just curious, which is weird because I’m pretty sure this is the chick Ian was supposed to marry. How many Ginnies can there be in one small town?

Poo. I guess that’s why I’m the new girlfriend. Poor guy can’t stand the fact that she might find him still single after all this time. I don’t know what I was thinking letting my head go all fuzzy where he’s concerned. Of course he doesn’t want to jump me in the hospital cafeteria. That green paint is truly hideous.

The gears in my head start cranking away. Now that I know I’m not about to get all hot and heavy with Ian, I have two options here. I could totally call him out and humiliate him in front of this girl … whoa, talk about revenge. Or, I could go along with it and then have him owe me a big, fat favor after.