Third Chances (Men Of Manhattan #2) - Ivy Smoak Page 0,29

and slipped his hand in mine again. It had been a long time since someone had held my hand. It made me feel safe somehow. Almost protected. But what I currently needed protection from was Rob.

I glanced up at him out of the corner of my eye. He was gorgeous, confident, and a great kisser. A really, really good kisser.

I was never one to condone public displays of affection. I was always yelling at kids in the hallway at school. There was a time and place for everything, and kissing by a set of lockers wasn't that time or place. But I hadn't even been thinking about the appropriateness of it when he kissed me. All I wanted was more. A lot more. And the thought terrified me. I was only going to be here for a week. I had no idea how long he was going to be here. I didn't do one night stands. Why am I even thinking about this?

Because he's gorgeous, confident, and a great kisser. I quickly looked away from him when he turned his head toward me. Those three things were on my list for my soul mate. Pretty high up there too. But he was also infuriating. He assumed I wanted to kiss him, he didn't seem to have any filter whatsoever, and his confidence was borderline cocky. He was definitely not my soul mate.

"You still need to take off my bracelet for applying your sunscreen," I said, trying to push aside the thoughts rolling around in my head.

He smiled. "How long has it been since then?"

"I don't know. Ten minutes maybe?"

"Too bad. I think the rules state that the card must be swiped against the bracelet within five minutes of the activity being completed."

"What rules? There don't seem to be any rules at all for this game. If you don't swipe my bracelet, I'm going to tell Javier that you took that stack of cards."

"Yeah, I was talking to Javier the whole time. He knows I didn't take anything."

I didn't care how good his hand felt wrapped around mine. Besides, he was making me incredibly nervous and I was pretty sure my palms were getting sweaty. Which was mortifying. I pulled my hand away from his.

"Rob, you have ten seconds to swipe my bracelet."

He raised his left eyebrow. "Or what?"

"Or..." I let my voice trail off.

He smiled. It was no longer a question if he was cocky or confident. He was definitely cocky.

"Or, I'll tell Javier that you murdered an iguana and you'll be sent to Costa Rican prison."

He laughed. A low, deep, sexy laugh. "I can handle Costa Rican prison." He started walking again.

What? I quickly caught up to him. "What do you mean you can handle it? I bet the conditions aren't nearly as nice as American prisons. And I watched a documentary about that. American prisons aren't exactly nice either."

"Do you watch a lot of documentaries?"

"I'd say a normal amount, yes."

"That doesn't surprise me at all. But you're right, I'd rather not go back to Costa Rican prison. James was not happy at all when he had to bail me out last time." He grabbed my wrist, making me stop. "Besides, I am a man of my word." He pulled a card out of his pocket and swiped it across one of my bracelets.

"You've been to prison here?" I caught the bracelet as it fell off. That was another red flag. I didn't date guys that went to prison. Was that supposed to elicit a different reaction from me? Was I supposed to think it was sexy that he was all tough and rugged and went to Costa Rican prison? Damn it, why is that sexy?

"That depends on whether or not you're more or less attracted to guys that went to prison?"

"Definitely less."

"I'll take that as more. It's not even a good story, though. I'll spare you the details."

"Well, you have to tell me now."

"Make me."

I laughed. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean, there are plenty of things you could do to me that would make me tell you whatever you want."

"Like..."

"Like," he grabbed a card out of his pocket, "give me your underwear."

I laughed. "I don't think so. I think I can live without the story."

"So that's a no for that one too." He shoved the card back in his pocket. "I was lying to Matt when I said I'd give him all the dirty cards, but if you're refusing to do them, it looks like I