Page 1 of Rugger: The Huntress

PROLOGUE

“I’ve been such a naughty girl.”

“Bad behavior must not go unpunished,” Lionel claimed, sucking the skin of his teeth with a shake of the head.

An hour ago, he’d slid next to me at the bar top. Thirty minutes ago, we were thirty minutes into our conversation. Twelve minutes ago, we’d made it to his home.

And, six minutes ago, I’d discovered the bulge in his briefs was ninety percent scrotum and ten percent dick. Disappointment surged through my veins, but the night was too beautiful to waste and I’d come too far to disengage.

The allegations aren’t true for all thin men, I gathered as I sat atop his frame.

“Then, punish me,” I insisted, placing both wrists in front of me.

“Is it my occupation that fascinates you?”

With a hearty, confident smile, Lionel pushed the hair that had fallen into my face backward. I lifted my head and quickly lowered it. The nod confirmed his suspicions.

“Umm hmm.”

His brown eyes were captivating. They held my gaze as the next question surfaced.

“What is it that you like about it?”

At the sound of the word echoing in my head, my eyes brightened and my spine straightened. Saliva pooled in my mouth and my heart pumped wildly against my chest.

“Hm?”

My hesitation wasn’t solely due to confusion or the lack of a response. In fact, I wasn’t confused at all and the word was at the tip of my tongue.

“What is it?”

I cleared my throat, in no rush to speak. It wasn’t until I was ready that he’d hear a single syllable from me. And, quite frankly, I was too busy collecting myself.

Too busy regulating my heartbeat and my nervous system. Because at the mere thought of the object, I was in an uproar.

Finally, after a full ten seconds, I turned my lips upward into a smile and dropped my hands beside me. I leaned forward and placed my lips against his ear. What I was about to reveal was no secret to anyone who knew me well enough, but it was to Lionel.

“Guns,” I whispered.

“Guns?”

His neck shifted as his head pulled backward. With raised brows and a smile that matched mine, he waited for another response.

“Rhetorical.”

“It is, isn’t it?”

I nodded.

“Have you ever held one?”

I shook my head, “No.”

Flawlessly, the lie escaped me. Though repulsed by the idea of never feeling the steel between my fingers, I managed to keep my stomach’s contents down and my features from changing.

“Tonight, you’re in luck.”

Lionel’s hand slipped from my waist and onto the bed. He slid it across the fresh linen and then underneath the pillow behind him. When his fingers were visible again, they were wrapped around a Smith & Wesson.

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