Page 43 of Bull Rush

“But I do have one rule,” she says softly. I close my eyes and bite my tongue for a full ten seconds before I speak. I’m doing my best, but even I have my fucking limits. I force a smile when I reopen my eyes.

“You have a lot more than one rule, sugar.” I raise my brow to find her matching my expression in defiance.

“No kissing.”

“You didn’t mind me kissing you last night.” I do my best to mask the way the request tears into me.

“I mean on the lips.”

“Again…” I smirk.

“Don’t be a smartass.”

I reach out and run my thumb over her lower lip, trying to make peace with the fact I won’t get what I want—yet. But I will. Eventually, she’s going to cave, and I can wait as long as it takes.

“Fair enough. This set only spits poison, and the other tastes like sugar, so it’s not much of a loss.”

She lets out a little sigh and shakes her head at my comment. Her eyes are still on me, though, studying my face and lost in thought. All I can think about is how much I want inside her. How none of the rest of it will matter when I’m buried in her and she’s saying my name.

“Any more rules? I want to know them now.” I run my fingers down her jaw, and she leans into my touch.

NINETEEN

Hazel

“No other rules.”I shake my head. I probably need some. A lot of them where he’s concerned, if we’re being honest. Anytime I’m around Ramsey Stockton I’m in danger of losing everything—my mind, my dignity,my heart. I straighten and pull myself out of his grip, leaning back from him. I have to remember that part of me needs distance.

“You sure about that?” He takes one step forward, and I take one step back. I know what he’s asking. It’s not like I could forget the kind of games we used to play—the ones I asked him for. I nod my yes as I watch him close the distance between us, and my ass bumps the counter behind me.

“There’s no other part of yourself you want to save for him?” His lashes lower as his eyes leave my mouth and run over my body. He rolls his lower lip between his teeth as he surveys me, and the sheen it leaves behind has me wanting to lick himalready. Not kissing him has nothing to do with Curtis and everything to do with saving myself.

I shake my head.

“Use your words, sugar.” He snaps my attention back to the present.

“No,” I confirm with a subtle shake of my head.

“You should set limits now if you have them,” he warns.

“They’re the same as they’ve always been.” With him at least.

Another thing he doesn’t need to know is that I’ve never let anyone else explore them. I might hate him, but there’s no one in the world I trust like him. There’s not a misleading bone in Ramsey’s body, and that kind of blunt honesty makes me feel safe in a way no one else ever has.

“Well then, it’s not like he thought he was getting a virgin on his wedding night, right? All the things I taught you. I get why you lied to him. It’d crush his ego to know how thoroughly I fucked you. All the ways you let me have you. How much better I can fill up this perfect body. How loud you get when I make you come…” His hands coast their way down my sides, and everything is already pooling low and warm.

I’m a very weak woman when he’s in this sort of mood. Especially because he’s also painfully aware of the truth without being told, and I have no intention of confirming that secret for his ego.

“Sometimes, bigger isn’t always better. With some men it doesn’t matter what size they are, just that they know how to use it to their advantage.”

“Some of us are lucky enough to have it all.” His lips are on the side of my throat.

“Is that what all your girls told you?” I regret the question as soon as I ask it. I don’t really want to know. I’m as bitter as I am curious, even if it’s not fair. “I bet they say anything whenthey see those tight little pants you wear on the field and all those zeroes in your bank account.”

He pulls back like I’ve slapped him, but then a slow light of recognition forms as his eyes search mine.

“You sure did.” He smirks, and I shove back at his chest, trying to create space between us, but he doesn’t move.

“Fuck you,” I grit out.

---