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“You can invent rules but I can’t?” he asked.
“Fine. I’ve never undone a lady’s garters,” she threw out.
His eyes narrowed. “Ina.”
“I’ve undone my own,” she said quickly. The challenge had slipped out without her really thinking how it would sound, but she couldn’t take it back now.
“Ina.”
She squeezed her eyes shut, ready for the weight of his embarrassment to come crashing down on her.
“That you even have to ask me wounds my manly pride.”
Her eyes snapped open.
“In fact,” he said with a teasing grin, “I can do it without using my hands.”
Chapter Thirteen
“GAVIN, THAT’S POSITIVELY rakish,” Ina said, a little scandalized but far more intrigued. “And I’m certain impossible. The knots would be too tight.”
He arched a brow. “Are you willing to place a wager on that?”
Her heart thumped hard against her chest and she was slick between her legs with arousal thanks to the low hum of attraction that had been flowing between them throughout dinner. He shouldn’t be able to make her throb for him with just a suggestive arch of his eyebrow, but the challenge in his words twisted her up.
“What would I wager?” she asked.
He pointed to a small basket they hadn’t opened yet that sat innocently at the end of the table. “I happen to know there’s a raspberry tart in there.”
“You’re hiding raspberry tarts from me?”
He held up a finger. “Raspberry tart. One. It hardly seemed fair to bring it out, but now . . .”
“I love raspberry,” she said.
“I know.”
“Then it’s the perfect wager,” she said.
Anticipation fizzed in her as he pulled the pastry out and unwrapped it.
“So, if I can prove you wrong, I win this,” he said.
“You won’t.” She tried her best to smile saucily, but all she could manage was a nervous turn of her lips.
“I will.”
“You’ll have to show me,” she said. “I won’t take you at your word when it comes to this.”
“Now?” he asked. “Right here?”
She swallowed but forced herself to lock eyes with him. “Unless you’re scared.”
His tongue flicked out over his lips, and she could almost feel it slide over her. She knew that she shouldn’t, but she craved him. She wanted her Gavin again.
“All right then,” he said, his voice a low rumble.
He set the tart carefully on top of the basket and pushed back from the table. His eyes darkened as he slowly closed the gap between them. But then he stopped in front of her.
