Page 53 of Rowdy Hearts

His voice held an almost soothing tone, that only served to rile me even more.

“You need to get with the program.”

“Oh, I’m definitely on board with the program.”

“Then you need to kiss me.”

His smile was slight but taunting. “I am kissing you. Am I not doing it right? Maybe they do it differently in the big city? You know I’m just a country boy.”

Damn his teasing. It’d been a damn long time since someone had played with me. Did I remember how to play this game? The male-female, flirty-sexy game. I’d been out of practice for so long, which was ridiculous considering I was twenty-seven. But I’d never really had the opportunity to learn the rules of this game when I’d been a teenager. I hadn’t had regular dates. Most of my “dating” had been with other actors, specifically chosen for that particular moment in time.

Sure, I’d had crushes and had thought myself in love once or twice, until I’d realized they were all playing a part, even me, though I hadn’t known it at the time.

That had been another life, and the life I’d been living lately hadn’t included a man.

“And I’m just a woman who hasn’t done this in a long time.”

The words came out raw and a little too truthful. I immediately wanted to take them back. Mortification began to set in, but Rowdy’s grin made it disappear into steam.

“I’m glad to help you back on that horse.”

I immediately burst into laughter, raising my hand to cover my mouth when I started to snort. His grin just kept growing.

“Oh my god. I’m sorry, I’m not laughing at you?—”

“Hey, nothing to be sorry for. I just love to hear you laugh.”

No man had ever said that to me before, and I blinked in sheer and utter confusion.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, and I’m gonna make sure you do a lot of that tonight.”

“You want me to laugh at you in bed?”

“Well, I certainly hope you don’t laugh when you see me naked, but otherwise, I’m good with it.”

I couldn’t stop smiling. “I like you, Rowdy.”

“I like you, too, Princess.”

I scoffed. “I’m pretty damn far from being a princess.”

“When you walk into a bar in the middle of nowhere, dressed in a ballgown and high heels, with your hair studded with diamonds, I get to call you Princess.”

I’d had other people call me princess before. It came with the job. Creepy directors who wanted little girls to like them. Clueless publicists who considered children a necessary evil of the job and didn’t bother to learn their names. Crew members who were too busy to learn their names.

I’d come to hate the nickname. Except when Rowdy said it… I wanted to go down on my knees right here and unzip his jeans. And I wasn’t that kind of person. I’d never been that kind of person. But right now, I wanted to do all the naughty, bad-girl things I’d only read about in books. And Rowdy was the person to let me be that girl.

“Fine. I’ll allow it. For now.” My smile continued to grow, along with the heat in my blood. “Kiss me, Rowdy.”

“Whatever you want, Princess.”

He cupped my head in his hands and sealed my mouth against his. This time, his kiss stole every drop of breath in my body. Open-mouthed and wet and hot. His tongue licked between my lips, teasing and playing. But this felt different. He kissed with purpose now.

And the purpose was to make me melt for him.

Yes. This is what I want.

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