Page 39 of Puck You Very Much

Okay, maybe he was angryandturned on. But only because he had been fully expecting to have sex tonight. It wasn’t this woman, it was the situation!

“You know that you acted like a Neanderthal, right?” she asked sweetly, wrapping her arms around her body and looking past him toward the door of the Snow Hut. She was probably wondering what the chances were that Dax would let her go back into the bar to get her jacket.

Well, it was minus ten percent, so she didn’t even need to bother.

“Yes, you’re right,” he replied tonelessly. “So even though you’re the one who just announced to thirty people that I was a sex addict, I was the one misbehaving!”

“Well, maybe it’s the truth,” she said innocently, lifting one shoulder. “I mean, consider the number of women who have occupied your bed and draw your own conclusions.”

“Oh, really?” he asked roughly, although he tried to remain calm because he knew it upset her more when he stayed calm than when he lost it.

Nervously, she shifted from one foot to the other.

Yep. He knew her much better than either he or she would have liked.

“Fine,” she whispered brusquely. “I admit I might have crossed the line.”

He laughed dryly and ran a hand through his hair. “Might have? More like did! You’re supposed to save my image, not trample it!”

“Oh, please!” She waved it off. “Nobody in there knew you. Otherwise, some of them would have hijacked you as soon as you went in. Besides, I said your name was Steven, didn’t I?”

“Oh yes, Steven, the devoted father of Rex and Reilly,” he quoted, grinding his teeth. “You know I don’t normally have a problem with being an asshole. But today,youmade me one!”

“What choice did I have?” she exclaimed, annoyed. “You would have taken Brandy with you to the hotel, you would have been photographed, and the press would have portrayed it as a frustration fuck!”

Yes, and that’s exactly what it would have been.

Shit, maybe he was an asshole. But at least not the biggest one in the stadium tonight.

“There werea hundredways you could have gotten rid of Brandy,” he snapped. “A hundred that wouldn’t have embarrassed me. But you enjoyed it, didn’t you? Making me look like a dick? Because I managed to make you look like one so many times. So you thought, hey, I’m angry, I’ll exact my revenge.”

He raised his eyebrows and looked Lucy directly in the eyes.

She did not reply. She didn’t have to. Her silence and the guilty look in her eyes said more than enough.

They stared at each other in silence for several endless moments. There was nothing but air and heat between them.

Finally, Lucy murmured, her voice trembling, “It’s all irrelevant. You broke the agreement and I stopped you. The only woman you’ll be going home with tonight is me.”

Dax paused. He savored the sound of those words. Images flashed through his mind. He knew exactly what he would do to Lucy if she actually came home with him tonight. He knew exactly how he would torment her until she needed release more than her next breath, how he would tease with her his tongue until her eyes glazed over. How, after all her diligence, he would get her to beg him to take what he wanted—to finally forget all the rules she had ever imposed on him.

She wouldn’t be cold anymore. He wouldn’t be so angry anymore.

He lifted the corners of his mouth in a leisurely smile.

It would never come to that. He was turned on, but he had yet to give in to the pull. Lucy was the last woman in this world he should be lusting after. Above all, she didn’t need to know that he was.

“Well, well,” he drawled. “Interesting. And the evening takes a surprising turn.”

She obviously realized she’d said something wrong. He could see her swallow before nervously stroking her ponytail and stammering, “I didn’t mean…you…you know what I meant!”

“Do I?” he whispered, taking a step toward her. Slowly, as if he had all the time in the world, he let his eyes slide to her reddened lips, down her body, and back to her face. He caressed her with his eyes like he would have with his hands. Because she should imagine it, every detail, until she was as hot as he was. “I’m sorry, but I seem to be a bit off today,” he continued softly. “This whole evening is a riddle. But what you just said… Well, that sounded like a promise to me.”

He took another step forward so that her breasts brushed his shirt and he had to lower his chin to continue looking at her face. But Lucy didn’t back away. Of course she didn’t back away—her pride wouldn’t allow it.

That was a mistake. A huge mistake, because if she was allowed to provoke him, then the same applied in reverse. And she shouldn’t have started a game that he was so much better at.

“Ah, now I understand,” he murmured gruffly. “You don’t care about my reputation. You’re not interested in revenge. You are jealous. You wanted to be in Brandy’s place. That’s why you acted like a crazy person.”

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