“Not at all. I just need you to play fair.”
He laughed in a slow and easy way as he pulled his hands free and within a split second, ripped off his shirt using the back ofthe neck. When he threw his arms out, he purposely flexed his muscles. His physique was exactly as I’d envisioned, structurally perfect, carved from the imagination of the gods above.
“Fair enough?”
“For now,” I managed, the two words barely audible. He returned to what he’d been doing, cupping my breasts. Only this time, he pinched my nipples between his thumbs and forefingers. When he twisted them, the flash of pain was instant.
And delicious.
The tiny moan was met with a smile on his face when he lifted his head. There was something so powerful about the way he was looking at me. Almost as if this was the first time he’d really paid any attention to the fact that I was all grown up.
The girl who’d dolled herself up in skimpy shorts and a flame-red halter top, sporting glossy red lips and way too much makeup to try to seduce him had certainly disappeared. In her place was a woman with unkempt ringlets for hair, almost no makeup, and wearing clothes meant for raking leaves or cleaning the house.
Not for trying to entice a man like Stephen Beckett.
Neither of us could catch our breath.
I’d never been shy before, rarely embarrassed given my profession, but on this afternoon and in front of this man, the heat had already risen across my jaw. Even with my legs shaking, I almost ran away. How stupid. Where in the world did I think I was going to go?
“Fucking beautiful. Then again, you always were,” he gritted out and the moment of shame disappeared. He lowered his head, swirling his tongue around first one nipple then the other.
“You know how to say all the right things.”
For a few seconds, he lifted his head, his eyes hooded. “Only the truth, Palomino Girl.”
I shuddered from the sound of his voice.
The sensations were powerful, keeping my entire body on fire. He pulled one hardened bud into his mouth and I threw my head back, half laughing. Half moaning. All of me shuddering deep within my core.
All the reasons I’d told myself to drive him from my mind, all the childish hatred fell away. He brushed his lips from one side of my chest to the other, engulfing my other nipple. I wrapped one arm around his head, holding him in place as the sound of him sucking floated between us. Even that was sexy as hell.
When he finally lifted his head, we locked eyes.
Those deep blue eyes that had captured a portion of my soul so long ago.
I was finally allowed to brush the tips of my fingers from one shoulder blade to the other. Cocking my head, I followed the trail with my eyes as I moved down his chest, marveling in the sculpted look of his muscles. All his hard work had paid off. He was perfect in every way.
The flash of heat crawled up my arm and just as I neared the waistband of his jeans, he yanked my hand away. “I didn’t tell you that you could touch.”
Not only had the sound of his voice had changed. So had his demeanor, becoming more controlled. More dominating. When I dared try to touch him again, he shoved my hands aside, crowding my space. Very slowly he placed his hands on either side of me, arching a single eyebrow.
I remembered how he used to look at me that way when chastising me for whatever bad choices he’d thought I’d made with boys. That had occurred often.
“I suggest you learn your place or I’ll be forced to tie your hands.”
Why was it that every word from his mouth further encouraged me? Maybe that’s why I shoved him away, managing to dart away.
But I only managed to take a few steps before he snapped me back to the same position. This time, he cupped my face and crushed the full weight of his body against mine.
“I can see we’re going to have a problem.” His deep voice created a swell of hunger that started at my toes, creeping ever so slowly along every inch of skin.
“There’s no problem. I’m just not the kind of woman to follow any man’s rules.”
Why was it impossible to keep from staring at his long, dark eyelashes or how sexy his eyes could be when half closed?
Every time a lazy smile tipped the corners of his mouth, I was pulled into the exact same dreamlike state I’d been in when he’d kissed me the first time. This time I blinked, finding myself uncertain once again. Why was I nervous around him? There was no reason. Other than showing his grumpy side, which hehad a reason to display, he’d done nothing to warrant my sudden anxiety.
Except the obvious.
