Mackie's Men by Lynn Ray Lewis Page A

up her purse to find a tissue, and overbalanced in the five inch heels. Luckily Darryl caught her and held her in his arms for long moments. He pulled a clean handkerchief from his back pocket and wiped her cheeks, all the while telling her more about the little old woman with the libido of a teenager.
    “You think that’s funny, huh? Well you would have had the guys with the white jackets come and take you away when we had to dance with her at the Governor’s Annual Ball. She kept playing grab ass, and Liam had to socialize with the dignitaries while we babysat her. One old guy who had been courting the lovely Isabella for a while, challenged me to a fistfight over the honor of dancing with her. I gave in too easily and she didn’t forgive me for that. She sicc’d her dear companion the prissy Mz. Darling on me. Trust me, that woman was the bible thumper from hell. Sadly the delightful lady went to meet her maker last year.”
    He finished wiping her face and ran the corner of the material under her eyes one last time, and said, “There, good as new.” He leaned further down and kissed her lightly on the lips, then placed another whisper soft kiss on the end of her nose before assisting her back to her seat, and retrieving her purse from the floor.
    Surprise was the reason she didn’t deck him for taking advantage. At least that’s what she told herself. She hadn’t imagined the kiss, it was brief, but it happened. He had given her more human contact in the few minutes than she’d had in years and she didn’t know what to do or say about it. If she examined her feelings about it, she would be forced to admit that she liked feeling feminine. She refused to say or admit she felt almost safe in his arms as he wiped the tears of laughter from her cheeks. It was crazy. She needed to get a hold on herself and stop this shit before she turned into some apron wearing doormat. That wasn’t her style. Deciding to ignore what happened was her way of dealing for now and she nodded to herself in reassurance.
    She tried to formulate a sentence and decided to continue the topic of Liam’s grandmother. Before she opened her mouth, Liam said something that sounded like well spoken French to her untrained ears, “ Grand-mère, s'il te plait, arrêtes d'appeler l'infirmière par des noms coquins, et tu ne devrais pas pincer les fesses de John le jardinier. Sois sage, et je viendrais te voir le mois prochain. Je t'aime ,” and pushed the button to end the call. He tossed the phone on the table and she had to smile at the way his hands went to his hair and he pulled two fist fulls away from his head and groaned.
    His hair spiked upwards and Darryl laughed. She turned her head to hide a smile. This had to be one of the strangest evenings she’d participated in for as long as she could remember. Who knew that these men were such comedians? Darryl had purposefully made her laugh, but Liam was unaware of the picture he presented to his audience. The hair spikes resembled short red toned horns and his face was red from whatever his grandmother had said at the end of their conversation.
    Darryl spoke up and brought Liam’s attention back to the people in the room. “You’re horns are showing man, the sweet Isabella giving you advice again?”
    Liam flipped him the bird and Darryl laughed out loud for the first time, and Mackie had to smile at his enjoyment at Liam’s expense.
    Liam shook his head and gave her a long look, before holding out his hand expecting her to take it in hers. When she gave hers into his hand, he pulled her to her feet and stared at her for a heartbeat before pulling her closer and bending to kiss her lightly on the lips.
    What was it with these men that they thought it was all right to randomly kiss her any way? “Okay, was there a reason for that? Or are you planning to give me bad news and want to soften the effect?”
    The way he smiled with a short laugh gave her inappropriate thoughts, and she tamped