Marriage On The Cards: Marry Me, Mackenzie! / A Proposal Worth Millions / Heart Surgeon, Hero...Husband?. Susan Carlisle

her fingers together, losing faith in the sanity of her plan. She had been trying to keep things simple and uncomplicated with Dylan back in her life; what she was about to propose was a first-class ticket to complicated.

      “Yes, I am hungry...but no, that’s not the reason I’m here. In your bedroom...”

      “I’m listening...” Dylan was intrigued...and hopeful. Perhaps Mackenzie didn’t need to leave his bedroom after all.

      “I was wondering...how you would feel about—” she shifted weight from one leg to the other “—actually, what I’m trying to ask is...do you want to...make love to me?”

      “Yes.” Dylan took her up on her offer in record time.

      “Yes?” Her voice had jumped an octave.

      “Yes.” He nodded. “I would...like to make love to you.”

      The man had said yes, which is what she wanted, right? But now she wished she could press Rewind and take back the offer. This couldn’t be a good idea, could it? Sex complicated everything. And this situation was already complicated enough.

      “Come join me...” Dylan peeled back the covers on the empty side of the bed.

      Instead of taking the sane and safe option, she walked slowly toward him.

      “You look really good in my pajamas...” It was a genius idea to lend her the top of his favorite pair.

      Dylan found Mackenzie’s nervous smile endearing. He had been used to women who were sexually confident, even aggressive at times. This was a nice change. When Mackenzie reached the side of the bed, she quickly slid beneath the covers and pulled them up to her chin. The tips of her fingers were white from gripping the covers so tightly.

      “Did you know—” Dylan turned on his side, kept his hands to himself “—that most men are really nervous about sleeping with a woman for the first time?”

      “Is that true or are you just making that up to make me feel better...?”

      “I’m not making it up...it’s true.”

      Mackenzie loosened her death grip on the covers. “Are you nervous now?”

      “Yeah,” Dylan admitted. “Sure I am...”

      “Why?”

      “Because...there’s a lot pressure on a guy to perform, women just don’t get it. We’re always worried about are we big enough, are we hard enough, are we going to last? Not to mention the pressure of trying to give a woman multiple orgasms when it’s hard enough just to figure out how to give her one. And trust me, all guys know that our performance, good or bad, is going to be discussed, and dissected, at length with their friends. I’m telling you...it’s a lot of pressure to be on the guy end of things.”

      His attempt to make Mackenzie feel more comfortable with him must have worked, because she put her arms on top of the covers. They were still pinned tightly to her sides, completely blocking him from her body, but it was progress.

      Dylan reached over, tucked her hair behind her ear and then lightly rested his hand on her arm. “We don’t have to do this, Mackenzie. It’s okay to change your mind.”

      “No!” Mackenzie protested. “I want to do it. I’m rusty, okay? And I would think,” Mackenzie snapped, “that with all your vast experience, you’d know how to get the ball rolling. Aren’t you the one with the bachelor pad and models-slash-actresses prancing about half-naked? I made the first move, why can’t you make the—”

      Dylan’s kiss cut off the rest of her words. She liked the minty taste of his tongue; she liked the masculine smell of his skin—no cologne, just Dylan’s natural scent. By the time Dylan ended the kiss, Mackenzie no longer felt like complaining. She wanted less talking and more kissing.

      “Here...” Dylan tugged on the covers that were still pinned down with her arms. “Let me get closer to you.”

      Once he managed to coax the covers out of her control, Dylan pressed his body into hers. She continued to lay on her back, stiff and unmoving, when he wrapped his arm around her and draped his leg over her thigh. Dylan made a pleasurable noise as he nuzzled her neck.

      “Aren’t we supposed to do this after...?”

      “Relax...” Dylan whispered near her ear.

       Relax. Relax. Just relax!

      “Open your eyes, Mackenzie...” Dylan was admiring her pretty face.

      She opened her eyes; it was embarrassing. She only made love in the dark with her eyes closed. And now Dylan wanted them open?

      “You have the most amazing eyes... Have I ever told you that before?”

      She shook her head. She liked his eyes, too. In the soft morning light, they looked mossy green with flecks of gold around the irises.

      He ran his fingers lightly over her lips. “Soft lips.”

      Those two simple words were followed by a kiss. Once he started kissing her again, he didn’t stop. He seemed to enjoy the taste and the feel of her mouth. And she found herself responding to this gentle seduction. He wasn’t in a hurry; he wasn’t just going through the motions to get to the end zone as fast as he could. Dylan was making her feel special, beautiful...cherished. At first, she was a passive partner, timid and unsure. But his kisses started to change that and she began to touch his body—the hair on his chest, his biceps.

      Dylan forced himself to go slow, take his time. Her touch was so tentative and she was so unsure of her own sexuality that it felt as if he was in bed with a virgin. Her body was so voluptuous, so soft, that all he wanted to do was to get rid of that stupid pajama top so he could feel her breasts. He wanted to hold them, massage them...kiss them. The scent of her hair and the feel of her silky skin were aphrodisiacs to him.

      Dylan pressed his hard-on against her body, and that’s when she felt it again: that throbbing, yearning sensation between her thighs. The next pleasurable sound she heard was her own. Dylan had slipped his hand into her panties and nudged his fingers between her thighs. When he felt how aroused she was, Dylan whispered into her ear.

      “I want to be inside of you, Mackenzie.” Dylan’s voice had a husky, sexy quality now. “Do you want that, too?”

      “Yes.” Why was he talking so much? “Why are you talking?”

       Chapter Ten

      Dylan gently guided her onto her back. Her pretty lavender-blue eyes were filled with uncertainty and desire, lips parted, cheeks flushed pink, chest rising and falling quickly. She was...stunning. A goddess. And he couldn’t wait to see all of her...to love all of her. He reached for the top button of her shirt. But Mackenzie stopped him.

      “No. I want to leave it on...”

      Dylan was disappointed but respected her wishes. A woman as sexy and beautiful as Mackenzie should be proud of her body, not hide it. He shifted his focus, peeled the covers back, exposing her simple white cotton briefs. He caught her eye as he traced the edge of the panties, starting at the inner part of her thigh up to the outer curve of her hip.

      “But we will need to take these off...”

      This time Mackenzie nodded. Not in a hurry, Dylan gradually inched the covers down, revealing her thighs, knees, and finally her tightly crossed ankles. Dylan noticed a small white scar on her upper thigh; he ran his finger across it.

      “I remember when you got this. You cut your leg on a piece of glass in your father’s garage.”

      Mackenzie nodded. Dylan leaned down, kissed the scar before he began to inch her panties down. He was so methodical and deliberate, dropping sensual kisses on her stomach, on the soft fleshy inner