“I don’t lie,” she muttered.
He stiffened for a moment then the tension eased out of him. “Evasive answers are something I consider a lie. When I ask a question, I like an answer in return. Or if you can’t answer for some reason, I want you to tell me that. I probably won’t like that, but it’s better than saying nothing is wrong when something is. All right?”
“All right.” She guessed she could deal with that. The rest of it. . .shit, he’d given her a lot to think over.
He fed her a forkful of potatoes. Some of them smeared on her lip and she reached over to grab the cloth.
“Uh-uh, where is your hand meant to be,” he chided.
Her hand slammed down to her thigh. Shoot. She glanced up at him, but instead of looking annoyed, his eyes were dancing.
“Relax, baby. This isn’t serious. It’s a game. When it’s serious, you’ll know.”
A game?
“So, you’re not really going to spank me?”
“Oh no, you just earned yourself two. But whatever the tally reaches by the end of the meal, it won’t be a hard spanking. Course, break my other rules and that’s a different story.”
He wiped her mouth himself. Jeez, when was the last time someone had done that?
She took another bite. She was starting to get full and she wasn’t even a fourth of the way through the plate of food.
This time he held up a forkful of spinach. He looked from the fork he held to her and she swore this devilish look crossed his face. “Want me to do the choo-choo train?”
Her eyes widened. “You wouldn’t.”
Oh, she should have known better than to say that.
He pulled his hand back. “Here comes the choo-choo train. Choo! Choo!”
She tried to frown at him, she really did. But it was so ridiculous. This big, serious man who probably knew thirty ways to kill a person and get away with it, was doing the choo-choo train. She found herself bursting into laughter.
And she finally got that smile she’d been waiting for. It was fleeting. There one second, gone the next. But it had been there, and her heart grew lighter. She even ate a mouthful of the damn spinach. Then wished she could spit them out. With a grimace, she swallowed them down then jumped up and raced into the kitchen to grab a can of pop from the fridge to wash down the slimy taste.
“Getting out of your seat is ten,” he called out.
Damn it.
7
If anyone had told him a week ago that he’d be sitting on a couch with Daisy tucked up against him, watching some reality TV cooking show, he’d have thought them delusional. But he was here. With her.
His girl.
After she’d jumped up to grab some pop to wash down the spinach, he hadn’t made her eat anymore. He had insisted on a few more mouthfuls of steak and potatoes, though. He’d even let her have some ice cream. He’d have to watch or she’d have him wrapped around his little finger if he wasn’t careful.
Although, she’d moaned so much about the small amount he’d given her, that he’d ended up tacking on ten more to her tally. Hmm, seemed his girl wouldn’t sit well for a while come reckoning day if she kept this up.
He ran his hand up and down her arm. He didn’t want to push her too hard too fast, last thing he wanted was for her to run. His body tightened at the thought. She’d done it before. Could do it again.
But he wasn’t the boy he once was. He was going into this with his eyes wide open. This was about working her out of his system. And he also knew how to track things down. There was no where she could hide that he wouldn’t find her. If he wanted to chase her.
“Jed? You all right?”
He stared down into those deep, gray eyes. His body stirred. The thought of lying down and pulling her over him, of getting those tight jeans off her, of stripping her naked and having her ride him or sit on his face so he could eat her out. . .fuck, he needed to stop. It was too soon.
“Need a bit of your sugar.”