Gun Moll (12 page)

She swallowed
hard.

“Am I right?” Mac
asked.

“I haven’t found
one yet that does anything like that for me,” Melina replied.

“Then maybe you
should close your mouth and give me your hand, doll. While you’re at it, take a
breath and get some of that heat out of your cheeks. The turned-on look is a
good one to wear, especially on you, but if you’re trying to hide it, work a
little harder.”

Melina’s tongue
peeked out to wet her bottom lip. “I—”

“Take my hand and
let’s go dancing,” Mac demanded.

Her palm slid into
his without a word.

With his arm tight
around Melina’s waist, and his lips to her ear so she could hear him above the
pounding bass of the music, Mac said, “Our guests are still around. I noticed
them at the bar.”

Melina
tsked
under her breath. “Drinking on the job.”

“Not a normal
job.” Then, Mac brushed the stray waves of Melina’s hair away from her neck,
letting his knuckles graze over her skin. She was soft and hot under his touch.
He kept finding himself wondering what other parts of her felt like. “Dance
with me.”

“The last time I
danced with a good-looking man, it got me into trouble.”

Mac kissed the
shell of her ear and felt her shudder under his hold. “Because you didn’t dance
with me. Instead, you danced with a fool.”

Melina tried to
hold back her smile, but she failed. Mac took that as a victory.

“Is that so?”

“Yes,” Mac said.

“Can you even
dance?”

“Don’t be
offensive.”

“Should I add that
to your list of things?” she asked.

“That, and this,
too,” Mac said, letting his knuckles ghost over her neck again.

Melina’s smile
grew into a sexy little grin as her brown eyes found his. “What?”

“Touching you. I’m
discovering I like doing that a lot, too.”

“Okay.”

“Is that all
you’ve got to say?”

Melina shrugged.
“No. I might like it, too. Dance with me, Mac.”

Mac was already
pulling her out onto the floor and into the smothering crowd before she could
even finish her sentence. Melina gasped the sweetest sound when Mac snagged her
wrist in his palm and turned her fast to face him. Swallowed by the people,
they were just another couple under the flashing lights and loud music.

“Closer,” Mac
said, tugging Melina into his body. “You need to be closer for this, doll.”

Mac drove a hand
down the small of her back until his fingertips danced just above the swell of
her ass. His fingers wove with hers as he pushed against her back until she was
tucked firmly into his chest.

“Closer,” he
demanded.

Melina’s bottom
lip caught between her teeth when Mac pushed her even closer, until their noses
touched and his groin was pressing to her pelvis. The music vibrated the floor
with its heavy bass. Mac was too focused on the way Melina’s hips moved with
his and her hands fisting into the sides of his T-shirt.

Her movements were
sensual and left behind the feeling of sex. She stayed close to him the entire
time and never once did her gaze waver from his. Mac wasn’t sure he could
remember a time when he’d had a woman like this one in his hands. He was pretty
damned sure Melina was in a league of her own.

Mac let his
barriers drop as the music turned up in pace. His hands roamed over Melina’s
curves, imprinting them to memory for a moment. What would she look like in
nothing but caramel skin and waves of her hair?

“What is a gun
moll, anyway?” she asked.

Mac slowed their
dancing, surprised at her question. When he’d asked her about it at Guido’s
club, she had given him a blank stare and no answer. Mac decided to let it go.
She clearly hadn’t been in the mood for it then.

“Mac?”

He let go of her
waist to skim his thumb over her chin.

“She’s one hell of
a woman,” Mac finally settled on saying.

“Is that it?”

Not even close.

“She’s the one
that no one ever expects. She’s the pretty face in the corner that everyone
overlooks. She smiles and bats her lashes, but when you turn your back, she’ll
cut your fucking heart out from behind. She’s dangerous. She’s amazing. She’s a
mobster’s girl, the unsuspecting lady with a gun hidden under her coat, and the
only thing a man can trust to follow through. That, doll, is a gun moll.”

Melina’s fingers
wrapped around Mac’s belt. “Why would you ask me about one?”

Because Mac
figured she’d make a damn good one.

“Spend the night
with me,” he said instead.

Melina opened her
mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

“I know you want
to say no. It’s just your goddamn nature. Don’t say no, Melina. Give up a
little bit of that control and ice queen persona. Just for a night. What will
it hurt?”

“A lot, maybe,”
she whispered.

“Spend the night
with me, doll.” Mac drove Melina into his body again, letting her feel the hard
ridge of his erection under his jeans. She should know what her tight curves,
brash attitude, and sexy smile did for him. “It would be damned good and you
know it.”

Melina sucked in a
harsh breath. “Oh, that’s one thing I don’t doubt.”

“I want to take
you somewhere. I want under this dress, Melina. I want you on a bed, bent over,
or on your knees. I want to taste you when I bury my face between your thighs.
I want you to shake and scream. I don’t care where or how, but I want it.
Tonight.”

“Men always ask.”

Mac smirked. “And
I bet you always say no, don’t you?”

“Because they
ask.”

Assertive men, he
knew. Melina liked to think she was in control. Men who thought they were in
control with her always lost because the girl was a fucking shark. Mac was
positive she could smell a man’s weakness and she got off on it.

“I bet you’ve had
weak men all over you, right?” Mac laughed and shook his head. “Pussy-weak men
who don’t have the first clue how to handle a woman like you and they don’t
know what to do with you. I think what you need the most is a man who will put
you on your knees because he knows you’ll fucking like it and ask for more. You
want a man that’ll be rough with you, one that will take you and own you,
because he knows you want it like that, not because it’s the one and only time
he gets control over you. How close am I?”

A heat pinked
Melina’s cheeks and her breaths came out harder than before. “You’re getting
there.”

“There’s no
question here, doll,” Mac said, taking a step back from her. “You either go
with me or you don’t, but I won’t ask for it. You won’t see me beg for it. I’m
not that kind of man.”

Melina nodded. “I
know.”

“And you like it.”

“I do.”

Mac unlocked the
door to his apartment and pushed it open. Standing back with a hand to the
door, he let Melina walk in ahead of him.

He let the door
close and then shrugged off his jacket. Out of the corner of his eye, he
watched Melina take in his small, two-bedroom apartment. The open concept of
the place hid nothing except the closed bedrooms and the bathroom at the far
end. The earthy tones, modern furniture, and pieces of art on the walls were
mostly compliments of Mac’s sister, Victoria. She liked to decorate. Mac didn’t
give a damn what his place looked like, as long as it was decent.

“Nice place,” she
said, hanging her coat and purse on a hook.

“Thanks. It’s
livable.”

“It’s comfortable,
cozy.”

Melina smoothed
her dress down by running her hands over her sides. The action had her hips and
ass swaying a little. Mac’s gaze and body instantly tuned in to that and
nothing else. Melina was sexy as fuck and the woman didn’t even have to try. While
he admired the view of Melina in his apartment, Mac kicked off his shoes.

“Did you notice if
your boss’s guys followed us from the club?” Melina asked.

Mac was done
worrying about Guido’s nonsense for the moment. “Hey.”

Melina tossed him
a look over her shoulder. “What?”

“I don’t know if
they followed us or not. I’ve been too focused on you to care.”

“That’s not very
smart.”

“I have
priorities, doll,” Mac drawled with a sly grin.

“Like getting me
into your bed.”

“I’m not trying on
that end at all. You’re already here.”

Melina laughed.
“So, why are we still talking?”

Why, indeed?

“The heels stay
on,” Mac said.

Melina’s brow
furrowed. “My heels?”

“The heels stay
on, doll, until I take them off.”

Mac didn’t give
her a chance to respond. Before she could blink, Mac was on her. His hand
tangled into Melina’s hair and he tugged her head back. Wide, brown eyes gazed
up at him with a heat burning brightly. Mac grabbed her waist tightly and gave
a little yank on her hair. Those pink lips of hers parted with a quiet moan.

“I’m sure you
know, but you’re beautiful.”

Melina released a
shaky breath. “Thank you.”

“Never thank me
for the truth, doll.”

The sharpness was
back in Melina’s eyes in a flash. Mac felt her fingernails score into his
midsection through his T-shirt. Pleasure danced up his spine at the sting her
touch left behind.

Melina yanked on
his shirt. “Kiss me, Mac.”

“You don’t make
the calls here, Melina.”

She pouted.

She fucking pouted
.

And it was goddamn
beautiful
.

“But—”

Mac didn’t let her
get whatever she was going to say out. He kissed her instead, bruisingly hard.
Melina’s gasp allowed Mac the chance to dive into the heat of her soft mouth
all over again. He hadn’t forgotten what she tasted like, but he still felt
starved for it all the same. Pulling her hair again, Mac tipped her head back
until she was bent in his hold and under his power. Without his hands holding
her up, she would surely fall.

Melina trembled
under the kiss. Her tongue danced with his, fighting for control. Mac refused
to let her have it. He kissed her deeper, feeling her teeth scrape over his
lips until the soft pants of her breaths turned ragged.

Pulling away, Mac
flashed his teeth in a wicked smile. “But I’ll kiss you for doing that, doll.”

Melina’s tongue
peeked out to swipe her lips. “What did I do?”

“You’ll figure it
out. You’re a quick woman.”

“Can we stop
talking now?” she asked.

Fuck, yes.

Mac released his
grip in Melina’s hair and spun her around. He found the tiny little zipper at
the top of her dress and yanked it down. Once the dress was opened and split
down her back, he ran his palms from the bottom of her spine all the way to the
top. A shudder worked its way over her body as Mac pulled the dress down over
her shoulders and let it drop. Under her dress was nothing but navy blue lace
and caramel-toned skin. Mac took a couple of steps backwards just to admire the
view.