Irresistible Attraction: Scenes of Passion / Midnight Seduction / Beyond Control

Poor wet son of a bitch. Didn’t need to be blinded, too.

But then Stevie hit the brakes and did a one-eighty, tires squealing. That was no ordinary son of a bitch. That was his sister! He pulled up alongside her and rolled down the window.

She didn’t stop walking.

“Yo, Mags.” He slipped the car into first to keep up with her.

She didn’t look at him.

She was soaked to the skin and dripping wet, hair plastered to her head. And she was carrying her briefcase, like some deranged zombie commuter.

“So where you going?” Steve dared to ask.

“Into town,” she said, as if it were a perfectly normal answer.

“You, uh, want a ride?”

“No, thank you.”

Stevie pulled his car to the side of the road and got out, trotting to catch up to his sister. “Maggie, are you okay?” He stood in front of her.

She stopped. “Stevie, if you don’t move, I’m going to throw up on you.”

He moved, fast, and Maggie kept walking.

“Maggie, come on,” he called, but she didn’t look back.

Maggie was walking to the Sachem’s Inn Motel, one step at a time. She didn’t feel good, but she felt a whole lot better since she’d stopped at the corner of Lily Pond Road to throw up behind the O’Connor’s shrubs.

It was another few miles into town, another mile after that past the harbor to where the motel overlooked the water…. She couldn’t handle the thought of walking three more miles. But she could walk one step. One step and one step and one step. Eventually, they’d all add up to three miles.

She stopped short.

Matthew.

Steam rose from the cooling hood of his car, creating a wall of mist behind him. He was wearing only a very small khaki-colored pair of running shorts. Light from a street lamp glinted off the moisture on his bare skin. It was cold enough so that his breath hung in the air, but he stood still, just watching her.

“Hey jungle man,” Maggie said. “I’ve run away from home.”

“So I’ve heard,” Matt said. “Steve called me. It’s about time you moved out of there. Can I give you a lift?”

Maggie looked at him, at his bare feet and athletic legs. Bare skin started again on the other side of his shorts. His stomach was a six-pack and his chest was… Fantasy material, indeed.

Vanessa was right. This was not a man who would ever want to be anything more than friends with Maggie. “Will you take me where I want to go?” she finally asked.

“Depends.”

“Then forget it,” she said. “I’ll walk.”

She stepped around him, but he caught her arm. “If you’re walking, Mags, I’m walking with you.” It was not an idle threat.

It was freezing. “You’re not exactly dressed for a stroll in the rain.”

“Neither are you. Come on, get into the car.”

Maggie looked at him for several long moments.

“Please,” he said.

“I look like I’ve really lost it, don’t I?” she asked.

He smiled. “Kind of. But I figure you must have a good explanation. Why don’t we get into the car and you can give it to me.”

“Will you take me where I want to go?” she asked again.

“Yes,” he said this time.

Maggie got into the car.

Matt turned the key and cranked up the heat.

“I’m ruining your leather seats,” she realized with dismay, reaching for the door handle.

He hit the lock button and slipped the car into gear. “That’s okay. In a few months I’m going to be a millionaire. I’ll buy new ones.”

“I want to go to the Sachem’s Inn Motel,” she said.

“Really?” He gave her a sidelong glance. “With me?”

“Very funny. Just take me there.”

Matt sighed. “I’m not going to take you there and simply drop you off.”

“You promised.”

“Did not.”

“You said you’d take me where I wanted to go.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t promise. I’m taking you home with me.”

“You jerk.” Maggie started to cry. She’d finally left home, and damn it, she’d left it under her own power, despite the fact that she’d had too much to drink to drive safely.

But now she’d gone and gotten rescued. Well, she didn’t want to be rescued, not even by Matthew Stone, jungle man.

Matt stopped at a red light and turned to look at her.

“I want to do it my way, Matt.” Her blue eyes were swimming in tears. “Let me. Please?”