Sinners' Playground (The Harlequin Crew #1) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,91

her very much.”

“I like her so far,” I mused and she frowned at me like I was dense.

“Why?” Her nose wrinkled and it was so fucking familiar and cute and one of the million things I’d missed about her, I couldn’t help but smile. “I hate you. So what part of my attitude towards you is turning you on? Because if it’s the challenge, you need to get your head out of your ass because I am off limits to you. That is not an invitation to try harder. It’s an invitation to fuck off and take the Brady Bunch with you.”

Her fiery tone was getting me hot and I realised I didn’t really give a shit how much she ran her mouth at me. So long as she was still fucking here, I’d take anything on offer. “I can read you just like I could always read you, baby. It’s why I call you hummingbird, remember?” I reached out to place my hand over her heart, but she slapped it away before I could get close.

“I’m not your hummingbird. That little nickname doesn’t mean shit to me anymore. You’re really not getting the message, are you?”

“Nope.” My gaze dropped to her mouth which was parted with panting breaths then to her chest which was heaving, the way her thighs were pressing tightly together and I just fucking smirked. Because I wasn’t deluding myself. She wanted me. Maybe just to fuck right now, but it would be more than that in time. It would be just like it was when we were teenagers and we were always so close to crossing that fucking line. But when I got my shot again, I wasn’t going to pussy out this time. I was going to claim her as mine so deeply, that she’d never dare deny to the world who she belonged to ever again.

“You should put some sunscreen on,” I said.

“And you should get some sleep. You look like shit, Badger.” She looked at my eyes which were no doubt heavy with dark rings, but I’d have gone a whole fucking year without sleep just to be sitting next to her here in the flesh again. I had no intention of closing my eyes anytime soon in case fate dared to steal her from me once more.

I reached for the bottle of sunscreen beside her dog and the mutt jumped up, growling at me. I pointed at him and barked, “Sit,” in my sternest voice and the beast whimpered as its ass hit the sand, but it still glared at me like it was considering mauling my hand.

I swiped up the bottle and Rogue pouted at me. “So you want me to lie under a massive fucking umbrella, in a t-shirt and put sunscreen on? Are you into pasty vampire ass or something?”

“I’m into you not getting skin cancer,” I deadpanned, opening the bottle and squeezing some lotion into my palm. Then I grabbed one of her legs, rubbing it into her flesh and she only kicked once before she fell still and let me continue. I worked up her calves, my heart pounding hard as I reached her thighs and dipped my hand between them, making sure she was covered all the way up to the hem of my shirt. Though I was seriously tempted to reach further. But even as I thought it, her thighs clamped shut on my fingers and her eyes narrowed at me.

“I don’t need your help.” She snatched the bottle away from me and my palm tingled with the warmth of her flesh.

It started off a chain reaction in my skin as I hungered for more. I wanted to touch her everywhere, examine all of her tattoos, seek out her scars and mark her with my tongue and teeth. I always grew bored of the women I’d pursued in the past. But I’d pursued her in my dreams for year after year. I would never grow tired of her. Would never be fucking sated.

“Stop looking at me like that,” she snipped.

“Like what?” I asked in a low tone and goosebumps spread across her leg as my fingers brushed her flesh once more.

“Like you want to drag me back to your castle and lock me in a tower.”

“But I do want to do that.” I smiled darkly and she bit her lip for half a second before her expression turned to stone.

“I’m not coming back to your house, Fox. I have a new home.”

“Where? The fucking