flickered over her face. ‘What?’
‘Don’t act so surprised. Did you really think those little glances you kept stealing wouldn’t get me as hard as a rock?’
She blinked rapidly. ‘Uh... Are you sure you’re not talking about the blonde chick? I mean, she was the one who had her hand on...um...you.’
Was she serious? Or was she playing with me? Some women liked that kind of game, but I didn’t. I preferred straight-up honesty, especially when it came to sex.
However, there was no doubting the surprise in Ellie’s eyes: she really had thought it was the blonde.
‘No, I’m not talking about the “blonde chick”,’ I said, increasingly annoyed at the hard-on in my jeans and my apparent inability to get the fuck out of the car and away from her. ‘You kept looking at me like you wanted to join in.’
Her cheeks turned an even deeper red. ‘I didn’t want to join in.’
‘No? Then why did you keep staring?’
‘I...’ She looked away. ‘I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have. That wasn’t very professional.’
‘Screw being professional. Just answer the bloody question. And look at me when I’m talking to you.’
She stiffened then abruptly twisted around in her seat so she was facing me, the dusting of freckles across her nose even more fascinating close up without the distancing effect of the mirror.
Gone was the cheerful smile. Green sparks of anger danced in her eyes instead and they were every bit as interesting as her freckles.
‘Look, you’re being a bit bloody rude,’ she said flatly. ‘I’d heard of your reputation, but seriously, mate, you need to tone it down. I’m just doing my job.’
Mate? She’d really just called me ‘mate’?
This pretty little thing in her chauffeur’s cap, who didn’t know what the hell she was getting into, thought she could talk to me like that? Because if so, she really did have no idea what she was doing.
I was a man who liked a fight, who was all about the challenge. And if that challenge was a pretty woman I could get down and dirty and sweaty and raw with? Who I could take apart with pleasure, make her beg, make her want all kinds of filthy things?
Fuck, yes.
Which made me too much for this sweet-faced girl, no matter how badly she called to the warrior in me.
The blonde would have been able to handle me. The blonde knew what she was getting into.
You don’t want the blonde.
And that was the problem. I didn’t.
‘Say that again, and there will be consequences.’ I didn’t disguise the naked threat in my voice. It was explicit.
She didn’t appear to hear it. ‘So you keep saying. What exactly are these consequences, then?’
‘You don’t want to know.’
‘If you’re too bloody afraid to say them out loud then maybe you shouldn’t go throwing vague threats around.’ Gold glittered briefly in her eyes. ‘Mate.’
If that wasn’t a gauntlet thrown down, I didn’t know what was.
Exhilaration pulsed through me and I leaned forward, getting in her face, giving her a taste of what it would be like to tangle with me and enjoying the way her breath caught in response.
‘You’re a pretty thing, Miss Little. And pretty things shouldn’t mess with men like me.’
‘Pretty thing?’ she echoed, incredulous. ‘Dude, seriously?’
‘You’re pretty and you’re a little thing.’ I leaned forward even more, getting closer. ‘And I eat pretty little things for breakfast.’
We were almost nose to nose, but she didn’t move away or back down. She was so close. Close enough for me to see the fine grain of her skin and the sparks of gold and green glowing in her eyes. To feel the heat of her body and smell the warm, musky scent of her.
Her pulse beat fast at the base of her throat and her mouth looked soft and kissable. Fuckable, too.
‘That’s not at all patronising.’ She glared at me. ‘How would you like it if I called you...big dick or something?’
Oh, yes, I was getting to her. I very definitely was.
Desire spiked in my blood, a hot, raw feeling. ‘I’d like it just fine,’ I said roughly, trying to resist the urge to grab her hand, draw it over my fly and hold it down so she could feel how big I actually was.
She went scarlet and I didn’t miss the way her gaze dropped to my groin, where my cock was pressing hard against the denim. ‘Of course you would,’ she muttered. ‘But firstly, I’m not pretty or a thing. And secondly, you’re not...uh...’ She stopped.
‘Big?’ I finished. ‘Are you sure about that?’
Her hazel gaze flicked up, the fire I’d sensed in her beginning to ignite. ‘What? You want me to check?’ She sounded defiant and angry, yet the heat in her eyes told a different story.
I went very still. ‘Be careful what you ask for, Miss Little. Because you might just get it.’
She stared at me, no trace of that sunny smile evident now. ‘You think I can’t handle you?’
‘I know you can’t handle me.’
‘Oh, yeah?’ Heat flared in her eyes. ‘Try me.’
I shouldn’t have goaded her, because I knew what her reaction would be. And I knew myself. I knew what I liked. And the fact that she was responding without fear, without being intimidated by me...
Christ, it was the biggest turn-on I’d had in years.
I wanted to see what she would do, whether she’d rise to the challenge. Whether I could get under her skin as deeply as she was getting under mine.
‘You want to touch me?’ I said it out loud so there could be no mistake. ‘You want to feel me for yourself?’
She didn’t blink this time. Not once. ‘Yes.’
The word was thick and breathed out, making my fucking cock ache, and I had to grit my teeth against the intense rush of desire.
‘Give me your hand, then.’ I tried not to make it an order.
Without hesitation, she held out her hand and I took it. Her palm was small, her fingers delicate, her skin very soft. Electricity bolted the length of my arm, a direct line straight to my dick.
And she must have felt it, too, because her breath caught, her eyes widening. But she didn’t pull away. If anything, her chin lifted higher.
So
