Page 51 of Ruff and Tumble

“Does this mean you’re not going to argue with me about the beautiful part?”

Hailey felt his smile curve against her lips. It was a wicked smile, slow and sensual, and it sent shivers of pleasure down her spine. “No, Hailey. I’m going to make you regret that in other ways.”

If she’d thought it was strange to have this man’s tongue inside her mouth, it was nothing compared to having the full, hard press of him between her legs. He used the grinding leverage of his hips to pin her against the wall, which freed one of his hands to explore her body at will.

The first thing that hand did was whip her shirt away and fling it into the nearest corner. She hadn’t been expecting company of this variety, so her bra was just a basic comfortable beige, the sort of thing one wore when jumping and shouting at the television for hours on end. If Cole noticed it, he found nothing strange about its bland functionality. He was much too busy taking advantage of her suddenly bare skin. His hand ran up and down her side, reveling in the shape of her, memorizing each dip and curve.

“I’ve been dying to find out where your blushes end,” he murmured as he began pressing kisses over the line of her jaw and down her neck. “They usually follow this path right here, but then your clothes get in the way.”

The path he highlighted went past her neck to the line of her shoulder and then down, down, so close to the upper swell of her breast that she gasped. Cole had yet to remove her bra or explore its contents, but the gentle kiss he dropped on the softly rounded curve was all the more powerful because of it.

“Hmm.” He pulled back, eyes narrowed as they scanned her chest. “I thought for sure that would make you blush.”

He was wrong. In social situations, Hailey’s blood was quick to rise to the surface and betray her—a thing Cole knew and used to his advantage all the time. In sexual situations, her blood was usually too busy elsewhere to bother. If this man knew how hot and pulsing the sensation between her thighs was right now, he’d realize that getting her to blush wouldn’t be the easy task it had been before.

“Sorry,” she said, arching her back so that her breasts thrust more enticingly toward him. “You’ll have to try harder.”

He lost no time in doing just that. With the same look of concentration she’d seen on his face hundreds of times on the football field and the other day as they drafted their puppy teams, he tested the various parts of her body. A deep, penetrating kiss only caused her to moan. The flat of his palm brushing over her breasts merely caused her to gasp. And the quick, effortless way he flicked her bra off did no more than kindle a fire low in her belly.

“I’ll be damned,” he said, gazing at her bare, upturned nipples. She might not be blushing right now, but there was no mistaking the havoc his kisses were wreaking on those body parts. He flicked his thumb over one tightened peak—yet another action that made her body ache for more. “I thought for sure having you half-naked in front of me would do it.”

He loosened his hold on her hips, allowing her legs to slide down so she was once again standing on her own two feet. They weren’t very stable feet, and the way he looked at her bare torso wasn’t helping matters, so it was a good thing there was a wall at her back.

“Actions don’t affect me nearly as much as words,” Hailey admitted. “I don’t know why, but it’s always been like that. I’m like the opposite of that famous saying. Sticks and stones can’t break my bones, but words will always hurt me.”

“Really?” Cole sounded far too excited about this new development for Hailey’s peace of mind. He took a deliberate step back and placed his hands behind his back, touching her with nothing but his gaze. “So if I were to describe your body in explicit detail, you’d start squirming?”

Yes, actually. Even discussing theactof discussing was starting to make her flame up. If he started using X-rated terminology, she was going to be done for.

“The first time I ever saw you, I thought you were cute,” he said, his head tilted slightly. “In a gray sweater dress and red tennis shoes, looking like a woman who’d just rolled out of bed and went to work without a care in the world.”

Some of the heat died. Was he forgetting the part where she was naked from the waist up? “Um, this isn’t exactly what I had in mind…”

“Quiet.” He held up a warning finger. “I’m getting to the good part.”

She clamped her lips shut and waited. If nothing else, this would be one more thing she could add to her Cole Bennett knowledge base. Size twelve shoes. Dry cappuccinos. A propensity to talk when a woman was basically throwing herself at him.

“You almost always look like that,” he said and drew closer. It was just one step, and he wasn’t touching her, but she could feel the air between them start to move. “Cute. Comfortable. Quiet.”

Again, this wasn’t exactly what she’d been thinking—

“Now I know that’s just how you lull a man into thinking he’s safe. A friendly face, a Lumberjacks T-shirt, a puppy in your arms.” He shook his head and took another step forward. Nothing he was saying was causing her to blush, but she was definitely feeling something warm spreading up from her stomach. “But you, Hailey Lincoln, are fuckingdangerous.”

Oh yes. That something warm was definitely starting to take over. He reached out and grabbed the waistband of her jeans, giving it a strong enough tug to pull her hips toward his. He also expertly flicked the button open to reveal the top line of her panties. Like the bra, they were boring and functional, but Hailey couldn’t find it in her to care. With any luck, she wouldn’t be wearing them long enough to matter.

“You’ve been hiding the body of a pinup and the soul of a warrior,” he said, dropping his lips to her ear. Her whole body quivered in response. “You make every part of me ache to be inside you. I never saw you coming, and now I’m completely under your spell.”

Hailey had never felt less like blushing in her entire life. He’d done it—Cole Bennett had done it—found the one thing in the world that wouldn’t send her into a spiral of mortification. He’d taken the heat from the surface of her skin and turned it inward, lighting a fire that scorched in the best possible way.

She placed her hands on his chest and used all the strength she had to shove him. It wasn’t much when compared to a man of his size and stature, but she took him enough by surprise to force him to take a step back.

“What are you—?” he began, but she didn’t give him a chance to finish. He’d kindled this thing inside her, and now he was going to have to do something about it.

She pushed again, this time keeping her hands in place long enough to guide him toward the couch. He must have realized what was happening, because he took a few willing steps backward before falling to the cushions in a whoosh of air and laughter.

“Uh-oh,” he murmured, his smile deepening into that charming, dimpled expression she knew so well. “Was it something I said?”

“Shirt. Off.” She nodded at him once before kicking her shoes away and tugging her jeans over her hips. Later, she’d realize how odd it was that she didn’t stop to think about how she looked with the full lights of the living room behind her or regret that it had been a few days since she’d last bothered to shave her legs. In this moment, with Cole Bennett obediently stripping off his clothes on her couch, she could only think of how powerful she felt.