Read Beach Lane for Free Online Page B

Mack got the distinct impression he’d stirred up her temper in ways he couldn’t possibly envision.
    Fortunately, the last play had been fourth down and his team had the ball back. He took the hike from center and started to run, only to have 110 pounds of fury cut him off at the knees. This time when he hit the ground, Susie rolled with him. She jumped up before he could catch his breath.
    “Okay, now we’re even,” she said. “I feel better. How about you?”
    He stared at her incredulously. “You’re a little crazy. You know that, don’t you?”
    She grinned. “I’ve spent a lot of time being one of the guys. Don’t sell me short, Mack. I have moves you can’t possibly imagine,” she boasted, then grinned. “On and off the field.”
    Suddenly heat flared in Mack’s belly. All of the moves he envisioned were in a bedroom, not in the middle of a yard with her entire family surrounding them. He reached out, snagged her hand and pulled her into his arms, then leaned down to whisper in her ear.
    “Do not taunt me, Susie. You’ll be asking for trouble.”
    Amusement lit her eyes as she stared right back at him. “You don’t scare me. You’re all talk. I have years of experience to testify to that.”
    “I beg your pardon?”
    “ All talk,” she taunted again.
    It was Matthew who walked over, gave his sister an odd look, then broke up the standoff. “Hey, guys, we’re playing football.”
    Susie blinked and looked away, her cheeks flushed. Mack dropped his hold on her and walked back to his own team, not sure if he was more disconcerted by her taunt or infuriated by it.
    Will and Jake were grinning. “This O’Brien holiday tradition has just gotten interesting,” Jake commented. “You might want to keep in mind, though, that Jeff and Mick are sitting right up there on the porch watching. I’m not sure how thrilled they’re likely to be if you decide to seduce Susie right here and now. I know Mick, especially, talks a good game, but at heart, they’re pretty old-fashioned guys.”
    “Seducing Susie never crossed my mind,” Mack said with grim determination. Making her take back her words, now, that was something entirely different.
    Jake rolled his eyes. “Just like I didn’t pine away for Bree all those years she was off in Chicago writing plays.”
    Mack just stared him down.
    Across the yard he overheard Susie’s brother Luke arguing heatedly with Matthew.
    “You’ve got to stop giving her the ball,” he told Matthew. “She’s not exactly a secret weapon right now.”
    Susie marched right up to her brothers. “I am in this game to win it,” she declared fiercely. “Give me the ball.”
    Mack had to hide a grin at the family squabble. He could hardly wait to see how it turned out. His money was on Susie. She was determined to run the ball past him and score. That grit was another aspect of her never-say-die spirit that he enjoyed. At least until today, when she seemed determined to use it to drive him wild.
    On their next two plays after they got the ball back, Matthew tried passing downfield to Kevin, but Connor broke up the plays. On the next play Susie took a handoff and tried sprinting around Mack’s blind side. He caught her by the waistband of her pants and tumbled to the ground with her.
    “You are so annoying,” she grumbled, but she didn’t scramble away from him quite as quickly this time. In fact, as she looked into his eyes, she suddenly seemed a little out of breath. He didn’t think it could be blamed entirely on her run or their fall.
    Mack reached over to brush a streak of dirt from her cheek. To his astonishment, his fingers trembled as he touched her skin.
    His own breath hitched.
    “Susie,” he murmured softly.
    She couldn’t seem to tear her gaze away, either. “Uh-huh,” she said in a distracted whisper.
    “We should stop this before you get hurt.”
    She blinked for a second, then punched him in the ribs. “Me? What about you? Or Will, or any of the