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?’