Fighting Dirty (Ultimate #4)(20)

“You’ve seen the news, Stretch. Lead stories are all about sensational possibilities, not necessarily facts. Once rape is mentioned, it sticks in people’s minds. They think where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Even if I fought the lies, some would still believe them.”

“But...” He couldn’t be serious. “There’s no ‘if’ to it. You will fight them.”

Appearing curious over her reaction, he said softly, “I shouldn’t have to.”

Suspicions stirred, making her uneasy. “Armie?”

His gaze, suddenly heated, moved over her, head to toes and back again. “Hmm?”

“I’m glad you trusted me enough to tell me all this, but...why now?” There had to be a reason that he’d brought it up now.

He smiled at her, his dark eyes scrutinizing her expression. “Because I expected you to be furious.”

The gentleness of his voice stirred the tension coiling inside her. “I am.”

“You misunderstand, Stretch. I expected you to be furious at me, not for me.”

She shook her head. She wanted to comfort him, to reassure him. She wanted to be with him.

His acute interest moved to her chest. “I thought you’d leave—”

“No.” The air between them thickened, and her knees trembled.

“—and be done...”

She snapped out of the daze. “Wanting you?” Suspicions confirmed! “That’s what you mean, isn’t it? You wanted to scare me off.”

He let his silence say it all.

And that made her furious. She got in his space, sharing her anger. “Is that what you want? For me to go?”

Both hands cupped her face, his thumbs brushing her cheeks. “No.” He stared at her mouth. “Not anymore.”

His ever-shifting moods kept her on a dizzying roller-coaster ride of emotion. But this mood, all dark and dreamy, she liked. She leaned in for a kiss.

And he said, “God, how you tempt me. But there’s one more thing we need to talk about first.”

“What?”

He brushed one very light kiss over her lips, then whispered, “The ink on my ass.”

Oh.

Demeanor stern, Armie said, “You want to explain about that?”

Merissa bit her lip and, despite the blush she felt flooding her face, fought a grin.

His brow went up. “You think it’s funny?”

Wow, he sounded so serious. “No?”

“I was in the locker room,” he said with emphasis. “So were Leese and Justice.”

More heat burst into her cheeks. “You didn’t wash it off before you went to the rec center?”

“No, because I left here unaware that you’d played word games on my ass.”

Was he really mad, or playing? She couldn’t tell, and now she was starting to feel guilty. “I thought you’d see it.”

“I don’t make a habit of checking out my own butt.” His touch, oh so tender, tucked back her hair. “Cannon called and I had to rush out of here. Imagine my surprise when I did finally see it—thanks to Leese holding a mirror for me in the shower.”

Picturing that caused a bubble of hilarity that she tried to suppress. This was a new mood for Armie and it left her very confused, too warm, and uncertain. Laughter, she was pretty sure, wouldn’t help the situation. “The, um, the guys pointed it out to you?”

“With a lot of mean mugging, yeah. Being they always have sex on the brain, they made the logical leap into some pretty big assumptions.”

The nervous snicker took her by surprise before she could stop it. She slapped a hand over her mouth, but too late; his eyes had already narrowed. “Sorry,” she whispered with her lips still twitching.

“You know what, Stretch? I don’t think you are.”

Her breath hitched when he traveled his hand down her back, past her waist, to her bottom where he clasped one cheek.

Oh Lord. He didn’t do anything else, just held her. His hand was big enough that he completely enclosed half her behind.

His dark eyes stared into hers. “You put me in an uncomfortable position—and for that, I think you deserve a spanking. Don’t you?”

Seriously, did she still have knees? Didn’t feel like it. Armie was being all macho sexy dominant seducer, and she almost couldn’t take it.

She gulped, snickered again and shook her head. “No?”

“You aren’t sure?”

He looked so incredibly hot in sensual mode; his body angled toward her, his expression warm and intimate, his voice husky. And finally, for the first time, it was all aimed at her.

Unable to speak, Merissa shook her head again.

Slowly leaning in, Armie caught her bottom lip in his teeth, gently teased, nuzzled against her mouth, slicked his tongue past her lips just once, and retreated. “Maybe you need to think about it while I go get my laundry. But make up your mind fast. I’ll only be five minutes.”

* * *

DAMN, SHE LOOKED HOT. Turned on and uncertain but willing. Despite her denials, was this her thing? Armie knew he’d find out. He’d played this game many times with many women, always successfully. Merissa had asked an awful lot of questions about spanking, so secretly, shyly, she might love the idea.

Keeping his smile at bay, he gently squeezed one soft, round cheek. She had a killer body, long and lean, with just the right amount of curves. Now that he’d made up his mind to have her, lust kept his blood singing. If he waited any longer, he’d never be able to keep control.

With that one hand on her ass he brought her into full-body contact, kissed the corner of her mouth and murmured, “Be right back.”

“O...okay.”

Soon as he walked away, the grin came. He knew women, and that small, quavering voice was the sound of excitement. Already he had lethal wood, so hopefully he wouldn’t run into anyone he knew.

Feeling more anticipation than he had in years, he jogged down the steps to the basement, folded the laundry into a basket and was back up to the apartment in the allotted five minutes. Silence greeted him when he stepped inside, but he sensed she hadn’t run off. He locked the door, peeked into the empty kitchen, then headed to the bedroom.

With her socks gone, wearing only her jeans and the cute T-shirt that showed off her small waist and modest boobs, she sat on the side of his bed. Their gazes locked as soon as he stepped in and kicked the door shut.

He set the laundry on the floor and came to stand in front of her. Before he could say anything, she blurted, “I thought you weren’t particularly into spanking.”

He was into whatever pushed her buttons. Sitting beside her, their hips and shoulders touching, he took her hand and asked, “You don’t think you deserve a few swats?”

Embarrassed heat kept her face flushed, making her blue eyes even brighter. She giggled again, swallowed it down and blinked fast.

Gently, his heart pounding, Armie urged her to her feet and guided her to stand between his knees. Through her shirt and bra, he could see her tightened nipples—an irresistible lure. He cupped her breasts, let his thumbs play over her nipples, and relished her quick breaths.

“Armie?” She nervously licked her lips. “I like you like this.”

Ready to put her over his knee? To be sure, he asked, “This how?”

“All intent and sexy and focused on me.”

“Yeah?” He’d been focused on her for a very long time. Sliding his hands under her shirt, over her silky flesh, then up, he lifted the material. “Raise your arms, honey.”

She did, and he whisked the shirt away, then stared. The ice-blue lace of her bra almost exactly matched the color of her eyes. Breathing deeper, Armie said, “Pretty.” He wondered if the panties were the same and brought his hands around to the snap of her very low-riding jeans. No rush, he told himself, and took the time to look at her flat belly, the noticeable hip bones, the slight indent of her navel. Unable to resist, he leaned forward and took a soft love bite of her flesh.

Her hands sank into his hair, and she said, “Oh.”

He raised his face. “What?”

“I thought your hair would be gelled or something.”

Snorting, he went back to kissing her body. “You think I mess with hair products?”

“It...” Her breath caught when he dipped his tongue into her belly button. “It stands up, all crazy, so I assumed—”

“Grows that way, I guess.” Without her realizing it, he’d opened her jeans and now he teased the zipper down.

“I...um...”

Armie looked into her beautiful eyes. “What?”

“Are we going to have sex?”

Absolutely. But he said, “Let’s talk about that after.”

“After what?”

Without warning he shoved the jeans midway down her thighs, then guided her over his lap.

“Armie!”

Keeping one hand on the small of her back he held her steady and traced his fingers over the matching lace of her itty-bitty panties. He rested his palm flat against her.

And she started snickering again.

Hearing her made him smile, too. “You ready?”

“I thought you didn’t want to hurt me!”

He gave her one firm swat, waited for her gasp and giggles to end, then asked, “Did that hurt?”

She could barely get it said around her jittery laughter, but she nodded hard. “Yes!”

“Fibber.” He gave her another one, slightly harder, on the other cheek.