Free nb1 by Lora Leigh Page B

out just far you’ve been hiding since that bastard attacked you? You stopped dressing like the girl I knew and started dressing like your damned grandmother instead. You’re scared.”
    “Well duh!” she mocked him. “Go figure. Maybe I should just prance around naked for you, Rowdy.” She wasn’t really angry, yet. Her eyes were sparkling though, her cheeks flushing with irritation.
    “That would work for me.” He grinned wolfishly. “Let’s try it and see if it will work for you. Take yours off and I’ll take mine off.”
    “You would take yours off anyway.” Her laughter was soft, knowing.
    “For you baby, anytime.” He winked.
    “A far cry from your answer in the past years.” The shade of mockery in her voice wasn’t lost on him. “Why now? You come back and suddenly can’t wait to get into bed with me? It’s enough to make a girl suspicious.”
    “No doubt,” he agreed, grinning back at her. “There’s no secret there, sweetheart. I wasn’t about to take a kid to my bed. Being a virgin will be hard enough for you, I at least wanted you to be mature enough to know what the hell you were getting into. But I had no intentions of not coming back for you.”
    Surprise reflected in her eyes.
    “And if I decided I wanted someone else?” Her eyes narrowed, her lips thinning at the confidence he knew she was reading in his tone.
    “Then Dawg or Natches would have taken care of it until I made it back on leave.” He shrugged easily. “I put claim on you a long time ago, Kelly. You just didn’t realize it.”
    “Somewhere between the little sex games that your buddies shared in?” Ohhh, now was that just a little shade of jealousy there? He watched
    -68-

    NAUTI BUOY
    her closely from the corner of his eyes as he kept the teasing grin in place.
    “Sex games are for adults.” He scratched at his chin as he glanced back at her. “You couldn’t handle them.”
    And that could very well be the truth. Not that he couldn’t do without them, but damn, the Kelly he had known four years ago had been wild, impetuous and filled with hunger. He had always liked the sex games, played them carefully and in deadly earnest.
    “Who says I couldn’t handle them?” She frowned back at him as she straightened and placed her hands on her hips. “You never gave me the chance to try.”
    He snorted. “Don’t let your mouth write checks your body can’t cash, baby. Don’t dare me.”
    He gave her a dark, warning look, one she immediately recognized.
    He wasn’t playing here. Not yet. And before he started, he wanted her aware of the rules.
    “I’m not stupid.” She pushed her hands into her jeans pockets, staring back at him with an edge of anger, of arousal. “I paid attention to your reputation a long time ago.”
    She wasn’t shying away from him. That was good. He didn’t want her shying away from him; he wanted her curious, interested. He wanted her horny.
    “Did you now?” He ran his hand over his chest as he guided the houseboat into a turn that would take it off the main section of the lake and into a more narrow waterway leading to the cove. “And you still teased me every chance you had. You’ve stopped teasing me. Maybe you decided you can’t handle it.”
    She rolled her eyes. “You’re being a prick.”
    -69-

    Lora Leigh
    “I’m being honest, Kelly.” He gave his head a quick, negative jerk.
    “You listened to the rumors, you say. Evidently you didn’t listen close enough.”
    “What does that mean?”
    “Exactly what I said,” he answered, narrowing his eyes as he glanced back at her. “I’m fine with having the princess. I’ll take you to my bed, treat you like crystal and love you with everything I have to give you, for as long as you can put up with me. But don’t tempt the beast, sugar, because when he gets hungry, you might get more than you’ve bargained for.”
    He watched her expression go blank.
    “You love me?” She blinked back at him, so damned