Page 66 of Carnal Wagers

“Feel better?”

Again, I bobbed my head and sucked in a shaky breath.

“Good. Now you’re going to tell me what just happened.”

“Nothing happened.”

He scoffed. This time, he didn’t let me stay hidden. With my chin in his hold, he forced my face up.

“Run that by me again. This time, no lying.”

“I’m fine.” Tears threatened to surface.

“What did I just say?”

“What do you care?”

“That’s a good question.” He wiped a trail of wetness off my cheek. “I shouldn’t.”

“But you do?”

“Aye, I do.”

For once, the emotions in his eyes weren’t closed off and untouchable. They brimmed with pain and angst and enough longing to rival my own. It made me want to dive in for a closer look and discover what else we had in common. He’d always been the kind of attractive that made you dizzy to look at for too long, but never more appealing than in this moment. I should loathe him, but when he looked at me like I mattered, those venomous feelings poisoning my skin melted and dissipated into the ether.

“I’m no gentleman, sweetheart. Keep looking at me like that, and we’ll have a problem.”

If anything, his warning was the sweetest dare.

“Do your worst.”

A corner of his mouth lifted, and I almost cried victory.

His hand crept around me to the curve of my breast. Slowly, it slid lower, down my waist, grazing over my skin to unbutton my pants.

“Say the word and this stops.”

“Don’t you dare,” I whispered.

His fingers weren’t soft and gentle as they delved into my panties. Instead, they conquered new territory exactly the way I needed him to. More than words, more than petty seduction. It was a moment of shared desire and a way to forget the past.

He cupped my mound like it was precious while making it clear he had the power. He excavated through my folds with slow swipes that made every worry disappear. There was just the slow build of pleasure knotting deep inside me and a written challenge in his eyes, daring me to think of anything else but this.

“That’s a good girl.”

“If you start with that condescending attitude, I swear—”

The thrust of his fingers inside me, fast and hard, on the edge of painful, stole my breath.

“You what?” He pushed aside the collar of my faux-fur jacket and licked along my collarbone. “You didn’t say stop. You still haven’t because you want what I’m offering.”

“What is that exactly?”

“Release. I’ll be your distraction.” He nibbled up my neck, and I tilted my head to give him better access. “Now take off your pants.”

I didn’t argue or balk at the order. Not with the way his eyes glimmered with heat, or how his fingers stayed inside me the whole time I shimmied out of my clothes. Or the way his other hand just couldn’t stop touching my waist, my hip, my ass. Like he needed this as much as I did.

The instant my pants were off, he jerked me against him, and his fingers stroked over my clit.