Page 38 of The Duke's Hellion

She walked up to him and raised her hand to slap him, but he caught her wrist. Her face was inches from his. “You are an odious man.”

“I won’t disagree with you.”

“You should be punished for how you’ve been treating me.”

Sam’s eyes coasted over her body, his intense gaze meeting her eyes. Challenging. Daring.

“Ishould be punished?”

“Yes,” her voice actually trembled. She tried to pull her wrist free.

“Me? I’m the one who should be scolded?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t think so. If anyone needs a spanking, it’s you.”

A spanking? A tremor wrestled through her muscles. “Wh-why would you say that?”

He licked his bottom lip and his hand gripped her hip. “Because if I spanked you, then you might reconsider your behavior.”

Never in all her fantasies had she ever imagined spanking, but the thought of Sam…and his hand…on her bottom…God. Her nipples were pebbling and her body had entered a new climate. Hot and wet. She felt as though she could be wading through a jungle for all the dampness that had suddenly appeared. And wouldn’t that be just the fantasy? To be taken on a jungle floor by an astonishingly handsome man that she couldn’t stand. Yes. She wanted that to become her reality. Right now. He was offering. In a way. Or she had turned it around so that he thought he thought he had been offering. Either way, this was her chance.

Her bottom lip was tucked into her mouth and her arms were already wrapped around his neck.

“What are you doing?”

“I think you should do it,” she whispered in as sultry a voice as she knew how to produce.

“What?” Sam’s eyebrows shot to the ceiling.

She inched closer to his mouth, “You should do it. Spank me.” She pushed up on her tiptoes and pressed her mouth against his ear. “I dare you.”

His voice sounded a bit hoarse, as though his tongue was tangled in one of the large jungle leaves they were currently wading through. “What about Roger?”

“Roger, who?” Roger was…well, confusing. Fate had not dealt her a clear hand. Roger was out.

“So you’re not going to pursue your destiny?”

“He’s not my destiny.” She could say that now because at the very least, she knew that to be true. The man wasn’t interested in her. Never had been. She had wasted enough time and effort on him. And now she could see that she had never truly been interested in him. Only in archery and the possibility that fate was speaking to her.

Sam studied her face. “What is your destiny?”

The question was too deep, too personal for the moment. Right now, she didn’t care about her destiny. She wanted here and now. She wanted her fantasy. Devil take it, she wanted reality, and reality was a curious thing. Reality was Sam, right in front of her, giving her a good reason to be naughty, and she wanted to take it. He was a gorgeous man. Any woman would gladly take her place, but he was with her. He had chosen her in this moment. He was reprimanding her, but wasn’t that some twisted version of protection? He was here for her. That was the point. Was he bluffing when he said he would spank her? She would know soon enough.

“I don’t know my destiny. I just want what’s here for right now.”

He was obviously struggling with making a decision.

“I want a man that knows what he wants, Sam. If you need to think about that or you’re not man enou—”

Strands of her hair were flying around her cheeks, she was being hauled—again.

“Don’t,” he said, tossing her on the bed, “question me, and my manhood.”

Breathless, she lay there, waiting for what was about to come.

“Get on your knees.”

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