“Go.”
She tried to tickle him.
Pfft. Is that all she had? Not that he was objecting to her putting her hands on him. That he was enjoying. But there wasn’t any part of him that was ticklish. Suddenly she drew her hand back, whacking it against the edge of the counter.
“Ouch! Ow!” she cried, holding her sore hand with her other one.
“What did you do?” he demanded. “Show me.”
“No, no, I can’t.”
He wasn’t putting up with that shit. “Show me.”
“But it will hurt more if I show you,” she cried.
“Maeve. Show. Me.”
She slowly pulled her other hand away and he peered down at her hand. It looked all right, but if it hurt as badly as it seemed to, then he should get her an ice pack.
“Poor baby, I’ll get—”
Suddenly, she tugged her hand free of his careful hold and threw herself to the side. He reached out to grab her, managing to capture her at the last second.
He set her back on the counter. “Maeve! What the fuck?”
Her bottom lip dropped. “Darn it, I thought for sure that was going to work.”
“You . . . what . . . fuck . . .that wasn’t . . . you can’t do that!”
“But I thought that was the game?” she asked, looking puzzled. The phone’s buzzer sounded. He reached over and turned it off.
“Ahh, looks like I lose.” She grinned, looking unperturbed. “Strip and sit on the bed.”
“What . . . no . . .” This was not the way things went. She didn’t order him around.
The brat.
“No.” He waggled a finger at her.
“No, what? You don’t want a blow job anymore?” She bit at her lip. “Was it no good the other night?”
“No. That’s not what I was saying . . . Maeve, you pretended to hurt yourself to win.”
“Hey, you didn’t say there were rules.”
That’s right, he hadn’t.
And part of him kind of admired the way her mind thought. She’d obviously determined that injuring herself would be the best way to distract him. And it had worked.
If he hadn’t had such good reflexes and been so close to her . . . yeah, she might have gotten past him.
Fuck. She needed close watching. It wouldn’t take much for her to run circles around anyone she was with.
Not him, of course.
He was onto her tricks.
“Harming yourself is always a rule, understand me? You are never allowed to hurt yourself under any circumstances.” He made his voice stern, cupping her chin as he spoke.