His Lover to Protect - Katee Robert Page 0,9
unable to help poking at him. “I hear there’s a place down the street where the local football team hangs out.”
His brows slanted down, sending a delicious thrill through her. “You’re testing my patience.”
What is he waiting for? He was like a big, mean grizzly bear, and she had to be insane to want to go to bed with him. But she did. She wanted it more than she’d wanted anything in a very long time. What will it take to push him over the edge? Maybe she needed a really sharp stick. Obviously the thought of her jaunting off with another man—or multiple men—bothered him, so she’d just run with that. She shrugged. “You bought me a beer. I’m no longer your concern. Have a nice night.”
Alexis got three steps before Luke swept her into his arms and tossed her over his shoulder. Her heavy backpack flopped down and smacked her in the back of the head. “What the hell?”
“You think I’m going to let some crazy soccer player strip you out of those jeans and taste you when you’re wet for me? Not fucking likely, darlin’.”
Yes. She grinned against his back, though she put as much snarl into her voice as she could. “Then stop running your mouth and actually do something about it.”
Whatever intentions Luke had upon meeting Alexis had burned up in the attraction that flamed up between them. She thought she could just walk away and let some other man between those sweet thighs when they were shaking for him? The very idea made his blood pressure rise dangerously. She wanted him. She’d been all but begging for it when she was in his lap.
The time for hesitation was long gone. He turned his head to the side and sank his teeth into her ass, just hard enough to make her squirm. “Are you listening, darlin’?”
“Yes, goddamn it. Put me down and let me walk.”
So she could walk away from him again? He tightened his grip, feeling like a man possessed. Reason reared its ugly head to point out he was carting around a woman he barely knew in a foreign city. Damn it. As much as he wanted to haul her back to his room and follow through on the promise of their kiss, the local authorities might label that kidnapping. She might have given him what he considered a green light—several, in fact—but it paid to be extremely clear in this scenario. With a growl, he set her on her feet. Alexis looked flushed and she was breathing heavily, but he needed more than that to move forward. He needed her words. “What do you want?”
“Why do you keep asking me that?” She pushed at his chest, her hair falling into her eyes. “Stop gloating and take me to bed.”
Couldn’t get much clearer than that. “It’s not going to be nice, and it’s not going to be sweet. If you want romance, you’ve got the wrong fucking man.”
“No, really?” She glared at him, but her desire was written all over her face. “You’re wasting both our time right now.”
There wasn’t much more he could do—except walk away. And that was the one thing he sure as hell wasn’t going to do. He nodded once. “Come on.” Luke took her hand and dragged her down the street, each step spiking the need and jealousy tangling in his system. These goddamn Irish guys would love to get their hands on a woman like this. Hell, the tourists in town would, too. And she was just going to waltz off and give away what should be his? A little voice whispered that he had no goddamn business thinking like that, but he told it to shut the fuck up.
He needed Alexis naked and in his bed, and he needed it now.
She stayed silent as they crossed the river, though her breath puffed out in the chilly night in her effort to keep up with him. His knee groaned in agony with each step, still not recovered from the combination of earlier hike and assault. Luke took a deep breath and forced himself to slow his pace. “Do you know what I’m going to do to you when I get you upstairs?”
“Tell me.” No hesitation, no waffling, no threatening to go elsewhere.
It should have calmed him down a little. Instead, it only served to push him closer to the edge that was his hold on control. “After I get you out of those clothes, I’m going to