Page 14 of King of Temptation

“He’s married?”

“He is. Unfortunately for me,” she added with a deep sigh. And it really was. Dom was pretty much perfect. Hot and rugged with a hint of danger around the edges, just enough to make him interesting and not an actual threat.

Nothing like the brooding man holding her captive. Brody actually was dangerous, in a way she should be running from instead of constantly trying to antagonize.

Said dangerous man let out another low growl as they slowed to a stop in front of her apartment, and she barely managed to suppress a shiver at the sound.

“Give me your keys.”

“Please.” More poking. More growling. More of that delicious arousal pooling in her panties.

“Marigold…”

“Brody.”

The arm around her tightened and he dipped his head, his voice somehow managing to drop even lower. “Be a good girl and give me your keys, before I decide you need more than just my hand applied to your bare ass tonight.”

Ho. Lee. Shit. Was spontaneous combustion a real thing? Because she was pretty sure it was about to happen, right here in her hallway.

“You can’t spank me,” she managed to protest, even as she reached into her purse for her keys. “I didn’t consent to this.”

“Sure you did.” Taking the keys from her numb fingers, he smirked down at her. “You consented by ignoring the warning I gave you not once, but twice in less than a week. That tells me you want your ass spanked. And I’m nothing if not obliging.”

Anger sparked in her chest. “The bookstore actually was a coincidence.”

“Sure it was.”

“Fuck you, O’Rourke.” Tears filled her eyes, humiliating her more than anything else he’d done to her. “I might be a menace, but I’m not a fucking liar.”

His chest rumbled with laughter, but only for a moment before it cut off abruptly and the hand holding her keys gripped her chin, forcing her to look up at him. “Why are you crying?”

“I’m not.”

Again with that fucking eyebrow. “Didn’t you just tell me you’re not a liar?”

Dammit. Fine. If he wanted the truth, she’d give him the truth. She’d already been humiliated, and if he had it his way she was going to be bare-assed over his knee in a few minutes, so why not just complete her mortification? “I’m crying because I hate being accused of shit that I didn’t do. And it hurts my feelings that you don’t believe me.”

He blinked down at her. “It… hurts your feelings.”

“Yes. Some of us actually have those, you know.”

“I’m aware of the concept.” But to her surprise, he didn’t laugh at her again. He moved his thumb, brushing at a tear that slipped free. “I’m sorry I hurt your feelings.”

In a night full of shocking twists, that might have been the most shocking of all so far. “So you believe me?”

“You have to admit, it’s a big fucking coincidence, you showing up right across the street from where Killian was having a business meeting.”

“And you have to admit it’s a small city and sometimes people just bump into each other.”

Silence stretched between them, heavy and fraught with meaning before he sighed. “All right. I believe you. But if I find out you lied, I will come back here and stripe your ass with my belt. Understood?”

Fear and arousal spiked in her veins, and it was all she could do to keep either from showing on her face. “That’s fine, because I’m not lying.”

“Good.” Pulling his hand from her face, he juggled her keys until he came to the right one and unlocked her door, pushing it open. “But that’s not going to save your ass tonight, menace.”

Chapter 6

Brody