Page 12 of The Sadist and the Brat

They’re just arms,she reminded herself, and shifted her focus to someplace benign, like his hair.

He wore it long, just past his shoulders, thick and wavy. The rich dark-brown color was streaked with red and blond, contrasting with the summer tan that still clung to his skin, even though it was October. His beard was neatly trimmed and looked as thick and soft as a mink pelt—she had to dig her fingernails into her palms again to keep from finding out.

He wore his hair down unless he was playing, when he put it in either a ponytail or a man bun to keep it out of his way. She’d never been a fan of man buns, finding them silly looking on everyone who wasn’t Jason Momoa, and it was absolutely irritating that Jack seemed to be the exception to the rule.

He wore heavy silver rings, two on his left hand and one on his right. He had tiny silver hoops in both ears, and a leather bracelet wrapped around his right wrist.

He cleared his throat, with a kind oflook at me, little girlgrowl at the end of it that made her want to roll her eyes and drool at the same time. Instead, she fixed a bland smile on her face and looked up.

His eyes were dark and thickly lashed, but instead of the irritation or exasperation she was used to seeing they looked almost…amused?

Bite me,she thought, and scowled before she could tell her face to behave.

The amusement deepened. Without breaking eye contact he said, “Rebecca, where’s Nick?”

“Um. The last time I saw him he was talking with James and a couple of visitors,” Rebecca replied, and she sounded so gleeful that Sadie pinched her again.

“Why don’t you go find him. I need to talk to Sadie.”

“Oh,” Rebecca said, clearly disappointed. “Well. Okay. Unless Sadie wants me to stay.”

Normally Sadie would’ve asked her to stick around, if only to irritate Jack. But since Rebecca was only offering for her own entertainment, Sadie fluttered her lashes and smiled. “Aw, you’re so sweet. But you can go. I’ll be fine.”

“I can totally stay.” Rebecca turned so Jack couldn’t see her face and aimed pleading eyes at Sadie.

Sadie reached out and patted her hand. “Totally unnecessary.”

Rebecca scowled. “Fine.” She stood, shoulders slumped in defeat, and began to walk away so slowly a snail could’ve run laps around her.

Sadie rolled her eyes at the slow retreat, then turned to find Jack still staring at her. It threw her off, and before she could think better of it, she snapped out, “What?”

“Hang on,” he said, and without looking away called out, “If you’re not out of eyesight in five seconds, Rebecca, I’m going to have a chat with Nick about the way you follow orders.”

Rebecca squeaked and shuffled away so fast Sadie wouldn’t have been surprised to see skid marks, and she couldn’t help but laugh.

“Your friends are loyal,” Jack remarked.

“My friends are nosy,” she corrected, and reluctantly turned to look at him. His arms were no longer crossed over his chest, his hands hanging loose at his sides, but he looked no less imposing, and no less gorgeous. It was irritating and loosened her tongue. “What’s the deal?”

One dark eyebrow quirked up. “The deal?”

“You know what.” Sadie kept her eyes on his so she didn’t have to see his lips curl into that disconcerting smile again. “Why’d you tell Nikki I’d fill in for her?”

“She would’ve spent the whole night fretting if I’d canceled the demo.”

“You could’ve told her you’d find someone else. It didn’t have to be me.”

“True,” he acknowledged. “But she trusts you, and you fit my criteria for a demo bottom.”

She started to fold her arms across her chest, but she didn’t want to seem defensive. “And what criteria is that?”

“Experience, comfort in front of a crowd.” He angled his head so the light caught his hair. “Being an interactive player is a big plus.”

“An interactive player?”

“Not quiet,” he elaborated, and shocked her to her toes by grinning. “I assume your mouth doesn’t stop running when you’re playing.”

“You assume correctly,” she managed, and let out a careful breath. Holy crap.He was hot when he scowled, but that grin waspotent.

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