HEY GUYS

I HAVE TO SAY I HAVEN'T GOT MY SMILEY FACE ON 2NIGHT.

AN 8 YEAR OLD KID GOT RUN OVER OUTSIDE OUR HOUSE TODAY. WE SAW IT HAPPEN AND I'M STILL FEELING PRETTY SICK.

DRIVER TOOK OFF BUT WE GOT PART OF THE NUMBER PLATE, SO AS YOU CAN IMAGINE MY HEARTS NOT IN THE WRITING. I HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO COMPLETE THE REST OF THE CHAPTER.

THIS CHAPTER'S AROUND 1600 WORDS. I THOUGHT ABOUT NOT SUBMITTING IT UNTIL I'D WRITTEN MORE BUT I'M GOING TO GET THIS SHORT BIT UP BECAUSE I THINK YOU JO / MAC FANS WILL LOVE IT.

PLEASE R&R

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What Happened At The End Of The Previous Chapter.

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Mac turned Jo to face him. "You were Obsessed with this case."

Her eyes flashed back at his. "Mac. I was not . . ."

He cut her off quickly. "You wanted to forget what happened in Hollis Lane that night. You hated what it was doing to you and so you moved out of Washington to try and get away from it."

She shook her head in denial. "No. You're wrong."

"You couldn't bring yourself to throw out the case file though could you? That's why you've still got the Crime Scene and Autopsy Photo's, as well as the rest of the Evidence Reports from 2007, oh and let's not forget the the recent Newspaper cuttings of Alex Cole."

She stared up at him, her eyes wide."You broke into my . . . back room?"

He saw the hurt and anger in her eyes. 'Dammit!' "I . . . needed to check."

She tried to push him away, but he just held onto her more firmly. "Why would you do that?" She shouted.

Their eyes locked on each other, Jo became suddenly very still, and a silent, immeasurable moment passed between them. Then slowly, Mac leaned toward her until his mouth was a mere breath away from hers. "Because . . . I love you." He whispered.

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CHAPTER 7.

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He moved in and pulled her against him.

His mouth was suddenly on hers, so soft and tender. Then his hands were in her hair, fingers streaming through it, clutching at it, and before she knew it her arms were locked around him, the desires she'd ruthlessly buried, breaking the surface, screaming to life as the kiss became hot, greedy and demanding.

He wanted, craved the heat that swept through him as the demanding crush of her insatiable lips, electrified his body. He'd never known such a steep rise of desire build through him. God. He was being driven toward delirium with just one kiss. Passion radiated from her and he wanted to give her more, and take more.

She pulled away from the kiss and stepped back, her breaths coming fast and rapid. "You. . .What?"

He turned away trying to find some semblance of self control, but the tangle of emotions blocked all logic and reason. He whirled back around to face her. "Yes I love you okay? . . . I just. . . I didn't want things to become complicated between us. . . I . . ." He released a long pent up breath. "I don't know what else to say."

Jo stood there frozen to the spot for several seconds unable to make sense of any of this. "But. . . you're with Christine."

Mac sighed inwardly. "I was. I'm not any more." He looked back at her and immediately saw the emotions flicker in her eyes. He swore inwardly. "Look I'm sorry. I shouldn't have. . . kissed you tonight. You've gone through enough today."

Her eyes widened, then she blinked, seemed to focus. "You broke up with Christine?"

"Yes."

"But . . . Why?"

He moved toward her once again and smelled her. It was like inhaling a tropical forest, exotic flowers, erotic woman scents that heated his blood and had skippy waking up by degrees. "I told you already."

She went to back away again, but he reached out and gently grasped her arm. "When you disappeared last night, When I saw your car at the bottom of Inham Hill, I thought I'd lost you Jo. That's when everything changed. I realised I couldn't deny these feelings any more. I couldn't keep seeing Christine. I don't love her. I love you."

She became very still once again and her breath as soft and sweet as a midnight breeze whispered across his face. In that moment he knew she was as aware of him as he was of her. And that like him, she didn't have a clue what to do about it.

She swallowed hard and stared down at the floor. "Okay Mac. The last twenty four hours has been kind of crazy. Tomorrow you'll have all of this in perspective and . . ."

She stopped mid – sentence as he lifted his hand to her hair. And sank into a softness so silky and alive as anything he'd ever encountered. He brought his mouth close to her ear. "Jo. I know I love you. . ." He whispered. " . . I got your note by the way."

She raised her head and met his piercing eyes. "You weren't suppose to find me."

"I wouldn't have given up looking for you until I'd found you." He gazed back at her for several more seconds. "Why didn't you want me to find you anyway?"

"I didn't want you to . . . find out." She whispered.

He frowned. "You already knew about the family connection you had with Cole?"

"Seth told me. . . before he died."

"Why didn't you tell me this last night?" Suddenly Mac noticed the shame and guilt flicker in her eyes. His breath hitched in his throat. "My God. You thought if I found out I'd think any less of you?"

Her eyes flashed back at his and he realised she was trying to fight back the tears.

"Mac! He's my . . . Uncle."

"So?"

Fear tightened her chest and a sob escaped her. "He went into the FBI . . . so did I . . ." She turned away.

Mac pulled her back to face him. "Whoa, wait just a minute. Jo you're nothing like him." He brought his arms around her and held her. "You're nothing like him." he repeated quietly.

For several minutes she just clung to him. He felt her tears on his shirt, but she was so silent.

She released a long shuddering breath, pulled away and met his anxious gaze. "Mac. We can't get involved."

He swallowed hard as a raw, dull ache gripped his heart in a vice. "Why?"

"You can't be with me. I won't drag you into this. . ."

"You're not dragging me into anything." He interrupted. "I'm not leaving your side."

Fear and panic strained her features. "Mac please . . ."

He moved toward her and gently cupped her face in his hands, his thumb lightly brushing away a stray tear from her cheek. "Jo it's gonna be okay."

She drew in a breath that was spiced with his scent. She was so close to him and she could feel all that solid strength and masculine heat. That's when she lost it. Forgot about everything that had happened in the last 24 hours, about right, about wrong, about who she was. Mistake or not, she remained too aware of the night closing in, the silence, the cocooning isolation of his apartment and the residual effects of the past few minutes of heightened sexual awareness.

Silence settled, heavy and thick. It was time to back away before, he ended up totally losing control once again. "I . . . brought you some clothes from your apartment . . ."

On a deep breath she pushed her body against his and cut him off with a deep, long kiss.

Heat speared through him like lightning as the kiss intensified and several seconds was all it took, before his blood was firing through him, blasting a bubbling charge of lust straight to his belly.

"I feel dizzy." she whispered. "Something about you makes me dizzy."

"Then you should get off your feet." In one quick move he scooped her up in his arms.

"Mac. What are you . . ." She was cut off, her skin springing to life with a thousand nerves as his lips wandered down her throat. The sensation rippled through her and had a lovely fog settling over her brain. ". . .Never mind."

He started for the bedroom, then he felt sexy little tremors run through her. God He suddenly felt dizzy too. He carried her to the couch instead. "God your hair drives me half crazy Jo" He buried his face in it as he lowered the two of them on the couch.

Then his mouth was on hers again, hot with passion. Those nerve endings exploded electric shocks, as his hands, his lips ran over her like he was starved now for each separate taste.

Hard hands, rough at the palms, rushing over her with both skill and desperation. Riding on the thrill. She dragged at his shirt until her hands found his hot, bare skin and dug in. Man and muscle.

As senses awakened, Jo pulled at Mac's shirt and pants, desperate to get them off him and in no time at all Mac also had her naked beneath him.

He stopped to stare down at her. "You're so beautiful." It drove him toward delirium with her creamy skin, her lovely curves. In the softening light she looked beyond exquisite lying there clouded with pleasure.

He found her breast and had her arching in delicious pleasure, stirring her blood into feverish pulsing life. She rose with him, body to body, moved with him flesh to flesh and passion radiated from her, meeting and matching his own.

He murmured her name, savouring and exploiting as they explored each other. And there was more, he discovered, more than he'd expected.

The orgasm came in one hard, fast wave that swamped her, drowned her and tossed her helplessly over the next crest. "Mac. Stop . . . I cant," She managed, and her head whipsawed, even as her hips arched for more. "It's too much."

"Let go Jo." He slipped inside her slowly, inch by inch, watching her eyes go blind and dark as he moved, driving her over the next edge.

And when she was limp and her breathing in tatters, he shifted to long, steady strokes. "Take more," he murmured, swallowing her groans.

He didn't let himself fall until she did.

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Her head was still spinning when she woke from a dead sleep. Her eyes flew open and she sat bolt upright on the sofa. She felt immediately exposed and reached for the blanket to cover herself.

"Hey."

She whirled around and saw him leaning across the breakfast bar gazing across at her with those gorgeous, piercing eyes. He hadn't bothered with his shirt. God his body was so . . . heavenly.

She stayed very still for several seconds while she tried to swallow her heart back into place.

"Guess I'd better feed you now," he said at length.

She quickly got off the couch and wrapped the blanket tightly around her. "Er. . . Yea." Her eyes shifted to her bag of clothes that had now been placed on the chair several feet away. "I'm just . . . going to get dressed first." She grabbed the bag and disappeared quickly out of the lounge.

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WE WILL GET ACTION IN THE NEXT CHAPTER. THINGS WILL REALLY START LIVENING UP.