Surprised he seemed to mean the question, she thought about it. “Well, I’d be a little less heavy on the insults. You don’t need to call your players dipshits all the time.”
“Noted.”
“But the positive reinforcement was nice. The examples too. A lot of people have trouble with instruction. Seeing a demonstration helps a lot. Too bad you couldn’t have showed them yourself. But using my brothers to beat up on each other was inspiring.”
“That was for you, you know. An early Christmas gift.”
She blinked at him prettily. “Oh, Damon. Thank you so much!”
He chuckled. “Anything for you, honey bunches.”
“Outstanding. I want cake.”
After they’d ordered the restaurant’s famous date cake, she toyed with her drink while he studied her.
“Speak,” she ordered. “I can see smoke coming out of your ears, you’re thinking so hard.”
He rolled his eyes. “What are your plans next week? I figure you’ll probably see your brothers win tomorrow.”
“Confident much?”
“Um, yeah. They don’t call me Demon Sinclair because I’m a nice guy.”
“Oh? I thought you had fans who can’t spell and confused the A and the E.”
He tried not to laugh, but she caught him.
“Look, Ms. Mouth, I?—”
“Ms. Mouth, not to be confused with Ms. Mean.” This time, she rolled her eyes. “Not very creative.”
“Shut it. I’m trying to ask you a damn question,” he growled.
The teenager sitting near them stared with wide eyes.
Marlie turned to the boy and pointed at Damon. “This is what law enforcement calls ‘stranger danger.’”
Damon covered his eyes in embarrassment and groaned.
The teen grinned and said something to his father, who laughed.
“What’s that, dear? I didn’t hear you,” Marlie said sweetly to Damon, having the best time.
He lowered his hand and glared at her with that mean-guy look that made her ovaries sit up and take notice. “Are you done?”
She mimed zipping her lips.
“I was going to ask you to recap what exactly you want. You want a bad boy, right? Do I tie you up and spank you? Call you dirty names when I’m sexing you up? Will there be whipped cream involved at some point?”
She saw the teen grinning from ear to ear while his father asked for the check and pushed the boy with him toward the front.
“Damon, shush.”
“Hey, I’m trying to get to know you.” He grinned at the teen’s approval before the boy’s dad yanked him out of the room.
Marlie groaned. “I live here, you know.”
“And with any luck, that kid will tell all his buddies that you’re taken by Demon Sinclair. Then no one will ever mess with you again.”
