“Joseph did a pretty good preemptive strike with his press release, though,” Byron replied. “He beat the tabloids to it. That’s why the story temporarily fled my mind.”
“Well, Byron, it’s been a pleasure to speak with your beautiful date tonight, but I see my brother calling me, so I’m going to have to continue this conversation later.”
He left, and Byron turned to McKenzie. He was more than ready for this party to end, to take her home, take her clothing off, and have her writhing beneath him. The night had dragged on long enough, and the last thing he wanted to see was her speaking with any more single men, or men who appeared single because they wore no wedding ring.
“Have you had a good evening?” he asked her in a tight voice as he began leading her toward the ballroom doors.
“Yes, it’s been wonderful,” she said. Then she realized where they were going. “Are we leaving so soon? It might be considered rude,” she warned him.
“There are so many people here that no one will notice we’ve gone. I’ve already written my check,” he said, still pushing her toward the exit.
Before they reached the doors, his brother Tyler stepped in front of them.
“Where are you two off to in such a hurry?” he asked, and he looked at them slyly.
“We’ve done the rounds,” Byron practically growled. If they got interrupted one more time, he might do something stupid like throw her over his shoulder and make a serious dash out of there.
“You can’t possibly be thinking of leaving, not when McKenzie looks so absolutely ravishing,” Tyler said, turning his complete attention on McKenzie and making Byron’s gut burn. Tyler leaned in and kissed her cheek before letting his eyes glance downward at the modest amount of cleavage she was showing.
Byron’s gut clenched tighter as he thought seriously of smacking his little brother. He hadn’t done in a lot of years.
“Thank you, Tyler,” McKenzie said. That musical laugh came out again.
Tyler sent her a salacious grin, then turned his focus to Byron. “So… When did you two start hanging out outside the office?”
Byron sent a withering look to his brother.
“It’s not a big deal,” McKenzie said. “Byron just wanted to introduce me to his business associates. He’s trying to help drum up more business for me.”
Before Byron was able to contradict her, Tyler got a gleam in his eyes. Byron knew right then that he was going to have to stomp his little brother for sure before the night was finished.
“Well, McKenzie, if this isn’t a date, then could I talk you into a dance?” Tyler asked.
“We’re together,” Byron said, the Rs sounding fiercely when he spoke.
“Wait, I’m confused,” Tyler replied, looking far too innocent. “I thought you were just here for business.”
“Tyler, why don’t you go find an eligible girl? McKenzie is off limits.”
McKenzie stiffened beside him, but he didn’t care. There was no way in hell he was going to watch his woman waltz off in his brother’s arms. She was his and only his.
Tyler guffawed. “That was way too easy,” he said. He patted Byron on the back, told McKenzie to have a great evening, and wandered off.
“What was easy?” McKenzie asked.
“My brother likes to play stupid little games,” Byron told her, his temper settling down as he started to realize what an idiot he’d just been. “He’s very good at them.” Of course Tyler wasn’t trying to make a move on McKenzie. The brothers liked to poke at each other, but they’d never do anything that crossed a certain line.
One of those lines was not to poach on the others’ territory. Female territory. It had never been done, and it wouldn’t be done.
“Okay, then…,” she said, but she backed off and didn’t complete her sentence.
He turned to her and looked into her eyes. He wanted no misinterpretation of what he was about to say. She sucked her breath in as he pulled her against him and brought his mouth to within an inch of hers.
“We are very much here on a date, McKenzie. We will leave here and go back to my place, and we will wake up in the morning very happy. Very laid-back. Very laid.”
Her face heated and her breathing deepened, but she didn’t say a word. He waited several heartbeats before he bent down and brushed his lips against hers. If she was going to tell him no, then it had better be now.
The flavor and savor of her lips exploded in his mouth, and Byron prayed to anything that would listen that she didn’t suddenly decide she didn’t want this. He was now, more than ever before, ready to leave and ready to take her to bed.
The desire he’d been living with from the moment they’d first kissed was now a flow of molten rock through his veins. It had been almost a week since he’d had her, and his need to possess her was so overwhelming that he didn’t know if he’d even make it back home.
“Tell me you’re ready to leave, McKenzie.”
She licked her lips, making him throb with need. He waited.
“Take me home,” she finally whispered so quietly he barely managed to hear it. But hear it, he did.
He didn’t waste any more time.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Pleasure and pain, pain and pleasure. They were all the same, and they were so very different. As Byron’s lips glided down her throat, circled her peaked nipples, and trailed down her body to suck on the point where her throbbing was centered, McKenzie cried out.
The pleasure was to the point of pain — the agony and the ecstasy, to borrow a phrase. If she didn’t come, didn’t have release, she might actually vanish from existence. He made her body sing, and that was something no other man had done for her.
She had thought sex was solely for men, that there was no real pleasure in it for women, but in Byron’s arms she found that wasn’t true at all. Yes, he was a demanding lover, but he gave so much more than he took. She couldn’t get enough of his touch, of his kisses, of the power of his lovemaking.
“Let’s play, McKenzie.”
“What?” she gasped, and she didn’t even recognize the sound of her own voice.
“I want to play. I want to put your body on display — for me, and only for me — and do whatever I want with you,” he said, his lips winding their way back up her body. “Do you trust me?”
Did she trust him? No. She knew he was going to break her heart. But did she think he would hurt her? No. She knew he wouldn’t physically hurt her.