Whistlin' Dixie (Tempered Steel Book 1) by Maggie Adams Page A

willingly and with such sweet surrender, was enough for him to know just how deeply her affections ran. It rivaled the intensity of his feelings for her. And they hadn’t even had their first official date yet.
    “Will you go out to dinner with me on Friday?” he whispered.
    She lifted her head and stared at his handsome face. “I think asking me for a date after what we’ve been doing is a lot like putting the cart before the horse.”She smiled and then took herself on tiptoe, trying to reach his lips to give her answer.
    Mac was more than happy to meet her half way, and their kiss was slow and sweet and nowhere near as satisfying as what they both wanted. As he lifted his head, the porch light blinked off and on several times. “Very funny, Jamie.”
    Dixie laughed softly then pulled on his shirt to bring his head down yet again. Minutes later, Mac reluctantly loosened his hold. “Go on in, little girl.” He turned her loose and gave her a swat on her bottom just to be silly.
    “Don’t, you little girl me. If you hadn’t noticed, I am a woman,” Dixie said with feigned haughtiness.
    “Oh I noticed alright. I can promise you I am going to be remembering throughout the night, cold shower or not,” Mac rumbled as he opened the truck door.
    Dixie laughed as she walked up the front porch steps and turned back. “Good night.” She blew him a kiss.
    “I’ll see you in the morning.” With a long last look, Mac turned and climbed into his truck. As soon as she was safely inside, he drove off into the night.
    Dixie leaned against the front door, closed her eyes and sighed. This was what falling in love was like. Grandpa Harris was right. It was unlike anything you had ever felt before and better than anything you could ever imagine. When she opened her eyes and drew away from the door, she spotted the damp towel and hurried to pick it up as her brother came out in the kitchen.
    “Any luck fishing tonight?” she asked politely, trying to gauge what he saw.
    “Nope. Fish weren’t biting.” He stared pointedly at her swollen lips. “Something was, but not the fish.” He plopped on the sofa with a bowl of ice cream. “At least one of us got lucky.”
    Dixie threw the towel at him. “Beast.”

 
    CHAPTER SIX
     
    Both Mac and Dixie were busy the rest of the week, with little time for communication except for telephone calls late at night and early morning kisses when he showed up to take Jamie to work. It was driving him crazy. No more than a kiss or two was allowed thanks to Jamie and his obvious bad timing. He never failed to show up just as things were getting interesting, leaving Mac frustrated. He could hardly wait until Friday night.
    Adding to Mac’s frustration, another break-in had occurred at one of the model homes in a new subdivision Chance was supervising across town. In his inimitable flair for the dramatic, Chance had committed himself to putting a stop to this travesty of justice as he loudly and drunkenly proclaimed at Montana Max’s saloon one evening. He’d magnanimously offered a reward for anyone with information leading to an arrest, and declared that he and his brothers would be personally overseeing the security of each new home. Unfortunately, he forgot to mention that fact to his brothers until later that week. Mac was ready to strangle him.
    “I can’t believe you announce to the world that we would be providing night watch for these homes.” Mac stormed into the weekly staff meeting held in the office conference room on Friday afternoon. Brandon, Chance, as well as two other brothers, Nick and Lucky, were consuming coffee and cookies provided by Dottie.
    “Well, look at it this way. Business is bound to pick up when people know we’re providing security,” Chance boasted.
     
    “You have any idea what that will cost?” Mac fumed. He didn’t want to listen to this shit. He wanted to be getting ready for tonight. Once this problem was resolved, he’d head home to a