Page 53 of Colt

“Will you cuff me before or after that happens?”

Now I’m the one laughing. “Before, probably. But knowing you…hell, you’d still find a way to hurt me, wouldn’t you?”

“Getting punched would be your kink.”

“What an inappropriate thing to say while on the job.”

“You know what’s inappropriate? The fact that you won’t take your hands off me⁠—”

“Because I’m tryin’ to do my job here. Let me.” I use my foreman voice. The one that brooks no argument, except from my son. But that’s neither here nor there. “Put your hands on my shoulders so I can get you down and then I can get the fuck out of here.”

“Fine. But only because I want you to leave.”

“You want me to leave, why do you keep talking?”

“Because.” She pauses, and I smile at the idea that I caught her out. “Maybe I like the idea of cuffing you. Maybe to a post or something. Teach you some humility.”

“I’d like to see you try.”

“Watch me.”

She turns and plants her hands on my shoulders, and heaviness settles between my legs when she leans her weight into me so I can shape her waist with my hands and slide her off the saddle.

Then we’re standing face-to-face. Close enough that her tits brush my chest when she breathes in.

Is the space between us tightening? Pulling us closer? Or am I doing that?

Is she?

A hot drip of awareness works its way through my core. I’m suddenly aware of the fronts of my thighs, how they want to be pressed against hers.

Her eyes flick to my mouth again. My dick leaps.

The tension between us is unbearable. It has been a day. And to top it off like this? I feel like I’m about to snap. Do something very, very stupid.

I wait for her to pull away. Slap me even.

Instead, she stays. And looks. And burns with what I thought was anger. Maybe it is anger, but it’s also that hunger I glimpsed in her too.

Hunger I feel in every corner of my being. I’m struck by the ridiculous thought that here in this barn, we’ve become animals too. Animals with appetites that refuse to be ignored.

“You fucking liar.”

I blink. “What?”

“The handcuffs.” She gives me a shove. “If you actually had them, you’d be using them on me right now. I know you’re a dick, but I didn’t know you were a coward too.”

Anger flares hot and pure through my center.

Hate sex. Is that what is about to happen? My body leaps at the prospect, even as a funny feeling takes root in my gut. Lainey’s kinda putting herself out there right now, isn’t she? If anyone’s not a coward, it’s her.

And that really, really pisses me off. And turns me on. So fucking much.

“Aw, Dallas.” My chest rumbles with a low, sinister chuckle. “You should know better than to talk trash like that. I ain’t no liar. And I’m certainly no chickenshit.”

“Prove it.”

The defiant tilt of her chin. The fire in her eyes. The honesty of all that.