The Hometown Hero Returns by Beth Kery Page A

them like enfolding velvet as Marc lifted her T-shirt up over her breasts.
    Mari moaned when she felt pleasure pinch at her nipple and simultaneously between her thighs. Marc’s long fingers moved, scooping the flesh over the top of her bra, pushing down the cup. His fingertips whisperedacross the now-naked, puckering nipple, and Mari bit her lower lip to keep from crying out.
    â€œSuch beautiful breasts,” he whispered before he molded her flesh into his warm palm and continued to pluck the crest.
    Mari whimpered as her desire swelled into full bloom. And when his warm mouth enfolded her nipple, she couldn’t prevent herself from crying out. His tongue was the gentlest tease one moment and a demanding lash the next. She shifted her hips restlessly. Marc must have instinctively understood how she ached, because he palmed the juncture between her thighs.
    Mari’s eyes sprang wide as pleasure jolted through her flesh. This was crazy. They were in her front yard, for goodness’ sake. Things had moved from an impassioned kiss to heavy petting so quickly that she’d lost all good sense.
    And she’d said she wanted to take things slow. How could Marc take her body from room temperature to boiling so fast?
    When Marc deftly began to unfasten her shorts, she protested, but very weakly. “Marc, we really shouldn’t.”
    She gasped at the sensation of his long fingers slipping beneath the silk of her panties. When she felt him find the evidence of her arousal, he groaned harshly. Mari leaned her head against the tree trunk, gasping and whimpering while Marc stoked her body into a raging fire. When she cried out anxiously, he muttered next to her lips.
    â€œLet go, Mari. I’m here. I’ve got you.”
    Marc.
    Always tempting her senses, teasing her into feeling her courage. She found herself responding as she alwayshad to his challenges. He put his left arm around her, holding her against his body when she shattered.
    The lulling sound of the locusts penetrated her consciousness. She blinked her eyes open slowly as convulsions of pleasure still shimmered through her flesh.
    â€œSee, Mari? Your body trusts me. You just have to let your mind trust me, as well.” He kissed her, quick, fierce…hungry.
    â€œLet’s go inside,” he said.
    Mari heard his gruff voice through a thick haze of combined arousal and satiation. She opened her mouth, an agreement on her tongue, when someone called out from the sidewalk.
    â€œMarc?”
    Mari’s breath froze on an inhale.
    â€œLiam?”
    Marc’s response made her jump. She frantically pushed away from him and started righting her mussed clothing.
    â€œUh, sorry to bother you,” Liam called. “I saw the bike.”
    She put her hands on Marc’s shoulders and shoved. “Go on. Talk to him,” she whispered. Even in the midst of her mortification and disbelief at her wantonness, Mari missed his hard heat.
    â€œI got a call from my captain,” she heard Liam say. “I need to get back to Chicago tonight, but I should make it back for Brendan’s birthday party. Mom said you were staying. Can I take your car? You can keep the bike and we’ll switch when I get back.”
    Mari felt like a fool standing in the dark shadows of the tree when Liam surely knew she was there. She smoothed her hair, but there was nothing she could do about the heat and color in her cheeks—the telltale signs of her impulsivity when it came to Marc. Sheheld her chin up as she joined the two men at the edge of the yard.
    â€œWell, as I live and breathe, if it isn’t Mari Itani,” Liam said, deadpan.
    She met Liam’s amused glance and broke into a grin. She couldn’t help it. Liam had always made her laugh.
    He held out his arms invitingly. “Give me a hug, girl. We never got around to saying hello last night.”
    She went willingly, gasping when Liam squeezed her so tight her breath