He practically heard a thud as his hard shaft pressed against the underside of the desk draw.
Damn, the woman was going to be the death of him.
It had hit him like a sledgehammer when he’d gotten in his car with Mackenzie last night. She’d smelled really nice at the compound earlier in the day, and her scent had been even more delicious when she’d opened the door of her apartment. But that all paled in comparison to what it was like to be in a small, enclosed space with her. The perfume she’d worn combined perfectly with her natural scent to create a fragrance so alluring he’d almost driven off the road he was so distracted.
And that had just been the beginning. The entire dinner with her had been one long, slow tease. The way they’d been squeezed into that tight booth, the way her knee had brushed up against his leg most of the night, the way she’d leaned in close and nibbled her dinner in that slow, sensual way she had, the way she’d answered all his questions in that sexy voice of hers. He’d been so turned on he hadn’t realized he’d started caressing her leg until the thundering of her heartbeat couldn’t be ignored. She’d had that distant, glassy-eyed look of a woman in some serious pleasure.
Then the smell of her arousal hit him, and he’d almost come unglued.
Thank God Emile had shown up at the table just then, or he wasn’t sure what he would have done.
He’d never displayed more discipline in his life as he had when he walked away from her invitation to come inside. But he’d needed to get some space between them, get his head screwed back on right, and get his freaking lust under control. This was the safety of his pack, and he was losing it like a horny teenager.
He’d done it, but it had been damn hard.
Even now, sitting at his desk willing his hard-on to go down in the few minutes he had before PT, Gage still had no idea what the hell was going on with his out-of-control sex drive. There’d been a couple times last night while he’d laid in bed staring up at the ceiling that he wondered if maybe Xander had been right. Was Mackenzie Stone some kind of cosmically assigned perfect woman for him, genetically designed to push him over the edge with nothing more than her scent?
In the frustrating darkness, it had seemed more than possible.
Of course, an hour-long freezing shower, a lot of coffee, and the bright light of daybreak had made those thoughts seem ludicrous. Until Becker had forced the image of Mackenzie wearing skintight yoga pants into his head. Now, as he pleaded with his erection to go away, he wasn’t so sure.
“Hey,” Mike’s voice sounded distant even though he was standing in the doorway. “We’re about to get started. Stone is here, too. And she has a guy with her.”
Gage growled low in his throat. Well, he’d finally found something that would make his cock relent—anger. Simple, irrational, jealousy-induced anger.
* * *
“So, why did you need me to come with you today?” Zak asked drily as he snapped pictures in what could only be called a halfhearted manner.
Mac was too distracted by the sixteen sweaty, bare-chested men running around on the obstacle course. While they all looked scrumptious, she found herself focusing mainly on Gage. God, the man would make a Greek god feel inferior. She had no idea if all the crawling, jumping, and climbing made for good exercise, but it sure as hell was fun to watch. She especially liked the way his muscles bunched and flexed as he scrambled up the various towers and ropes. Damn, their rippling movement was downright sensual.
And if all those bulging muscles weren’t enough to make her stare like a kid in a candy store, the incredible matching ink that every one of the men had tattooed on the left side of his chest sure as heck was. She’d never been one to look twice at a man’s tattoo, but the one of the wolf with its long teeth, menacing eyes, and bristling ruff of fur that each of them had in the center of his left pec was just freaking cool. Emblazoned in arching letters over the top of each wolf was the acronym SWAT. The work was expensive looking and had obviously taken a lot of time. She had no idea what a wolf had to do with SWAT, but she one hundred percent approved of the artwork.
Anything to provide another reason to look at a sexy man’s chest was okay with her.
Zak cleared his throat, interrupting her musings. If she didn’t love him like a brother, she’d smack him right now.
“I need pictures of the SWAT team training,” she told him.
“So these pictures of sweaty, muscular men running around in nothing but a pair of shorts are going to be in your article?”
More likely on my personal laptop. She gave Zak an angelic smile. “It’s possible.”
Her effort probably would have counted for more if she’d been able to resist asking Zak to make sure to take lots of pictures of Gage flexing those beautiful muscles of his.
“I should be getting paid overtime for this,” Zak groused, but he dutifully snapped more photos.
Mac leaned back against one of the telephone poles that were part of the obstacle course. She and Zak had picked out a good vantage point for this morning’s PT session. Gage and his team had been going at it hard for almost an hour and didn’t look like they were anywhere near wrapping it up. Muscles and stamina—what more could a woman ask for?
“So now that we’re in, what’s the plan?” Zak asked.
“I don’t really have one,” Mac
