Page 43 of Lawless in Leather

“How much?”

“Enough,” she said. She didn’t want to tell him about her plans for the club and why she was so keen to get her nest egg back up to scratch.

He nodded, obviously happy not to keep pushing the subject for now. “Well, I own a third of a baseball team and I have my own company. I’m not looking to skip town anytime soon and I promise you I don’t need your money. And I’ve never hit a woman in my life.”

“I didn’t think you had,” she said. “But it’s not quite that simple.”

“I understand being gun-shy,” he said. “But you have to take a chance sooner or later.”

“Why? My life is complicated enough right now. I’m not sure I even have time for a man. Why complicate it more?”

He ran a finger over her sole and she shivered.

“For one thing, there’s that,” he said.

“I can pay someone for foot rubs.”

“I don’t think that shiver was purely due to my foot rub skills.”

Was she imagining things or had his eyes gone a shade darker? Was that even possible?

“You mean sex?” She tried to sound casual even though her mouth felt dry. Rookie mistake to bring up sex with a guy. In her experience, talking to guys about sex was best left to those times when you were trying to get said guys to sleep with you. Was that what she was doing? “Last time I checked there was no rule that said single women don’t get to have orgasms.”

He stilled. He pinned her with those eyes. Which were darker still. Near black. A hot liquid black. She swallowed.

“That may be true,” he said. “And maybe one day I’d like to discuss that in more detail—” He stopped. Took a breath. Shook his head as though to clear his mind of something. Something no doubt involving the thought of her naked with her hand between her legs. “But you know, I’ve always found team sports more enjoyable than solo ones.”

So had she. And now she was the one with pictures in her head. Naked pictures. Of Mal with his hand between her legs. Much more fun. Though far more dangerous. She tried to pull her foot back. He didn’t let go.

“I think we’ve strayed from the subject,” she said, trying to ignore the throaty note in her voice.

“You brought it up.”

“And I’m shutting it down.”

His fingers released. “If you say so. Which brings us back to bad choices. And why I’m not one.”

“I only have your word for that.”

He smiled. “You want references? I can call Alex right now.”

“Alex knows that you’re a good boyfriend?” She tilted her head at him, glad to ease the conversation back to lighter territory. “Is there something you’re not telling me, Mr. Coulter?”

“Alex has known me since I was eighteen,” he said. “And good looking as he is, he’s never tried to convince me to bat for the other team. Mostly because he’s pretty firmly entrenched in the same team I am. Team Girls Are Good. Now, stop changing the subject.”

She sighed. “I don’t know. It’s just kind of hard to forget all the wrong choices, sometimes.”

“I’ve made wrong choices, too,” he said. “Everyone does.”

“Not like mine,”

“You might be surprised. But that’s a conversation for another time. You don’t have to be perfect, Raina. No one does.”

“Maybe. But you know what they say. Two wrongs don’t make a right.”

“I’ve never really cared what ‘they’ have to say about things. Two wrongs might not make a right. But maybe they make a good enough.”

“A right for now?” She wanted him to be right. But she was horribly afraid he wasn’t. “I’m not sure I have another right for now left in me.”

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