Sunday Smooch with Helen Lacey .......

Welcome to another LoveCats DownUnder Sunday Smooch!


Today we have a smooch from His-And-Hers Family by Helen Lacey, but first ...

the winner of last week's Sunday Smooch Giveaway is Mary Preston! Congratulations Mary....


Can you please contact Sue Mackay at lsmackay (at) ts (dot) co (dot) nz to claim your prize .......


And now for today's Sunday Smooch from His-And-Hers Family by Helen Lacey ........

Fifteen years ago, Fiona Walsh made a choice: to give her daughter up for adoption. But she'd never given up hope of meeting her little girl. So when opportunity for a reunion came knocking—in the form of her daughter's tall, dark and sexy uncle—she opened the door to her past…and found true love on her doorstep!

Businessman Wyatt Harper liked his life carefully ordered, with details falling neatly into place. As Cecily's guardian, her welfare came first. Yet his searing attraction to Fiona turned his entire world upside down—it was unlike anything he'd ever felt! This could be for keeps. But Wyatt had been burned before, badly. Could Fiona's tender ways win Wyatt's scarred heart—and make them into a family?

Scene set-up [Fiona and Wyatt have been doing their best to deny the chemistry between them, but after a few days apart they can't pretend any longer.]

She came around the bench and settled her hips against the counter.

            Wyatt tried to not think about how good her legs looked stretched out from the short skirt she wore. He had a hell of a time thinking about anything when she was so close.
            One brow came up. “You were surprised they granted you guardianship?”
            “Yes,” he replied, and wondered how she seemed to know what he was thinking. “My sister three years younger is married with her own children so I assumed Karen would believe that Ellen and Alessio would have been a better option.”
            “I think they made the right choice,” she said quietly. “Cecily thinks you’ve hung the moon, so you’re off to a good start.”
            “I don’t want to screw it up for her sake. She's been through enough.”
            “You won’t,” she assured him. “It’s been eighteen months since her parents passed away and she’s happy and healthy.”
            Wyatt bit back a laugh. “I’m not sure if that has anything to do with me.”
            “You’d be surprised. In my experience – as a teacher,” she qualified. “I see children from different backgrounds and situations, single parents, foster parents, grandparents, two parent families and they’re all doing the best they can. The thing is Wyatt no one gets it right every time.”
            He knew she was right and her words offered the kind of comfort he'd somehow forgotten existed. “Do you mean like thinking every teenage boy who so much as looks at her is after something?” Spoken out loud, it sounded ridiculously paranoid.
            She nodded. “Exactly. I wouldn’t encourage her to be friends with Trevor if I thought he couldn’t be trusted. You didn’t expect Cecily to spend every minute of her holiday with either of us, did you?”
            “I’m not sure what I expected,” he said candidly, suddenly wanting to kiss her so much his whole body was on high alert. “I didn't expect . . .”
            She stilled. “What?”
            “I didn't expect I’d be this . . .” Wyatt stopped, pausing to consider if admitting anything was wise at this point – when they both knew it couldn’t go anywhere. But for the last few days, he’d been going quietly out of his mind thinking about her. “I didn't expect I’d be this attracted to you.”        

Fiona sucked in a breath. Okay . . . what now? “Me either.”

            Not the most sensible response. Not even close.
            “Inconvenient then?”
            She nodded. “Very.”
            “Is avoiding me helping any?”
            Fiona rubbed her hands down her thighs and didn’t miss the way his eyes followed her every move. “Not so far.”
            Something hot and seductive swept into the room. It toyed with them for a moment, tracing the edges of the building awareness and she experienced a surge of longing so deep, so intense, her knees threatened to give way.
            “Fiona . . .”
            How he came to be in front of her she wasn't sure. She vaguely heard the chair being scraped back. There were no other sounds. Only her heart beating madly. Only some faraway voice telling her to stop whatever was about to happen.
            “Wyatt . . . we can’t . . . it’s not . . .”
            “I know we can’t,” he said softly.
            Fiona said his name again. Anything more wouldn’t come. When his arms moved either side of her, trapping her against the counter it merely intensified the desire scorching her skin, her blood, and her very bones. She tilted her head back to look at him and recognized the raw hunger in his blue eyes.
            She drew in a soft breath, waiting, feeling the heat between them rise like a coiled serpent. Her lips parted, anticipating his kiss. And wanting it. When he touched his mouth to hers every ounce of lingering resistance disappeared. There was nothing else. Only feeling. Only his kiss. Only Wyatt.
            She reached up and laid her hands on his shoulders. He was solid, strong, just as she’d expected. She'd been kissed before, had experienced desire before. But never like this. He leaned into her and continued to kiss her mouth, slanting his lips over hers with gentle provocation.
            Whoosh . . .     
            She'd heard about it, read about it, secretly dreamed of one day finding someone who would make her feel so alive.
            It’s only lust.
            Powerful, heady and electrifying. Exactly what it should be. But the warning voice in her head prevailed.
            It’s only sex.
            And sex wasn't enough to sustain anything other than a brief, forgettable relationship. She knew that. But as his tongue gently wound around hers, for one crazy moment it felt enough. The fact he wasn't touching her in any way other than the kiss was incredibly erotic to her senses. Nothing rushed. No quick hands. No hasty gratification. No demands. This was slow and seductive and captivating and he coaxed a response she gave willingly.
            When the kiss was over and he lifted his head Fiona kept her hands where they were. She looked up, met his gaze and knew her lips quivered, knew he’d see every scrap of desire brimming in her eyes.
            “Not a good idea?”
            She swallowed hard. “No.”
            He pulled back and straightened. “You’re right. It won’t happen again.”
            It seemed like a monumental promise. Too big. Too much. Something neither could hold to. He wanted her. She wanted him. But it wasn't enough. Cecily was too important. “You’re right . . . it won’t.”
            “I should back off.”
            “Yes, you should.”

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Come back next Sunday, when the winner of today's giveaway will be announced -- and a smooch by Jennifer St George will be posted!