“If you don’t trust your men, there’s no need to take it out on me. I doubt you spank all the people who try to bribe cops.”
“No. Only you.”
I felt perversely happy knowing I was the only one.
“And it’s not that my men are corrupt. They’re good people, for the most part, but you would be more than a little temptation.”
I blinked at that.
He seemed pleased with my surprise. Leaning into me, he brushed his arm against mine. “So you see, I had to nip that behavior in the bud.” His tone gentled. “Did I scare you?”
“No, not really. Well, maybe at first. But a little bud nipping never hurt anyone.”
His eyes crinkled, and my panties gave up hope of ever being dry again. I hadn’t meant to be flirty, but now that he’d taken it that way, warmth rushed over me.
I licked my lips and he focused his gaze on my mouth. Arousal hit me so hard I felt dizzy.
Oh my god, were we having a moment?
I shivered and my nipples hardened.
“The truth is,” he said, “I could charge you, but I’d rather handle things differently.”
What were we talking about? Oh right, my crimes.
“I’m okay with that.” I liked the idea of Cole handling me.
“You might not agree when you know what it entails. When I say you’re in serious trouble, I mean it, Regina. And not just because of the stunt you pulled tonight.”
A part of me felt relief that he might know about all the ways I’d broken the law, even before I got fired. Nothing got past those hazel eyes. His lashes were long as a girl’s, and dark brown, the color of chocolate. Yum.
Now I was hungry.
“Regina, focus. How much?”
“What?” I’d missed the question.
“How much money do you need?”
All the warmth sucked out of my body. I sat up, muscles stiffening. Cole put his hand on my knee, but the reassuring touch wasn’t enough to calm me down.
“I don’t know. A lot.”
Admitting that I needed money was more humiliating than the spanking, than being manhandled by my lifelong crush, than being forced to totter to the car with my jeans around my thighs.
“Your mom’s been sick for…”
“Awhile,” I whispered.
He nodded. “Okay.”
“Okay? Just okay? It’s not okay, Cole.” I tore my gaze from his dreamboat eyes. What was I doing in this house, sitting next to this perfect man? Any other girl would kill to take my place. Of course, they’d be here because he asked them out on a date, nice and proper, and invited them in afterwards for a nightcap. He’d put his hand on their knee and it would be just the beginning…
My stomach soured. I didn’t deserve to be on the couch with this golden boy. “You should just charge me,” I muttered.
“I’m not going to do that. There will be consequences, but instead of the law, you’ll be answering to me.”
The thought of answering to Sheriff Sadist and his iron hand made me shiver. And not because I was afraid. The tingles in my panties had only grown stronger, spreading through my entire body whenever he touched me. Even when he had been spanking me.
