Footsteps approached from behind. He tossed his dirty gloves and grabbed a water, guzzling it in one long drink.
Dropping her brow against the side of the Jeep, she gagged again. It was all she could do to keep her stomach from emptying precious nutrients.
He moved in behind her and spoke at her ear. “A cock in the ass stops the gag reflex.”
Her heart sputtered. “Are you offering?”
“It’s a helpful tip.”
“So you’re offering just the tip?”
“For you, I’ll bury it to the root.” His breath heated her nape, his body heavy and damp against her back.
Her skin tingled in response, in memory, and she hated herself for it. “Get off me.”
“I read the messages on your hookup apps and know for a fact that anal isn’t just a notion in your lexicon of filthy thoughts. It’s a must-have for your one-night stands.”
If he was trying to insult her, he needed a different approach.
“That simply isn’t true.” She twisted to face him, smirking. “I enjoy all sorts of sex. I’m open-minded that way.”
“If I knew that women your age were kinky, I would’ve bagged a horny old lady years ago.”
That hit the mark.
The outrage this man inspired in her was fast and sticky, climbing through her limbs and burning her hand. She swung, slamming her palm across his face.
He didn’t flinch or raise his hand. His chilling calmness was threatening all on its own. “You wouldn’t have the strength to do that if Cole hadn’t fed you.”
Denial tangled in her throat and surged onto her tongue. “He didn’t.”
He strode toward the back of the Jeep, lifted a huge container of water, and poured it over his head. His wet, powerful physique defied the downpour, standing proud and mighty like an impregnable fortress.
Bronzed by the sun, his chiseled chest provided deep grooves for the rivulets of water to travel. It streamed down his well-thewed arms and darkened the denim at his hips. More trickled over the blunt angles of his face and along the thick column of his neck, racing between the hollows of his bulging chest muscles.
He lowered the container, and a fat, glistening drop clung to the ridge of his brick-hard pec. Finally losing its slippery hold, it cascaded down his flat abdomen and into the thin line of hair that led an enticing path beneath the waistband of his jeans.
“I smelled the bacon on your breath.” He stepped forward, his eyes ablaze with malice.
She backed up. “I stole a piece off Cole’s plate when he wasn’t looking.”
In a blur, he dumped the rest of the water on her head. As she sputtered beneath the deluge, he gripped her tank-top and ripped the straps, the neckline, and the material straight down the front.
It fell to the ground in tatters, leaving her braless breasts exposed. She didn’t bother covering herself in some pretense of being a shy virgin. They both knew she was anything but.
He watched the water run over her bare chest the same way she’d watched him. The appreciative gleam in his hooded eyes hardened her nipples and boiled her blood.
“You insult my age then ogle my tits?” She grabbed the shovel she’d left against the Jeep. “What kind of bastard are you?”
“A hungry one.” He licked his lips, his voice smooth, deep, dangerously masculine. “Remove your jeans.”
“Like hell I will.” She raised the shovel with both hands.
“Make me hurt you, Rylee.” He wrapped his mouth around the words, enunciating slowly. “Beg me.”
She swung.
He seized the weapon with a vicious jerk, yanked it from her grip, and flung it out of reach. She slapped his face. Or tried. A fist caught her hair, whirling her off balance. She swung at him again, and he snared her wrist.
“You can’t keep your greedy eyes off me.” He forced her backward and sideways, crushing her between his body and the Jeep, his breaths coming so hard and angry against hers. “Because you like what you see.”
“You have nice hair. Healthy bones. But your personality needs work. Far more than I’m willing to invest.”
“Liar. You want me so badly it scares you.” He leaned his weight against her, letting her feel the hard, impossibly thick, rigid length of him. “You like it rough and crave an aggressive, heartless man who will smack you around and fuck you like you just kicked his dog.”
“You make me sick.”
“You lied to me about breakfast, and you’re lying now.” He wrapped a hand around her throat. “But you’re going to make it up to me by taking every inch of my cock.”
She couldn’t help it. She laughed, a loud, coarse, mocking guffaw that was cut off by his mouth as it slammed down over hers. He kissed her so cruelly and with such sublime devastation of heart and body that it only made her more furious, spurring her to kiss him back with equal venom.