TroubleinChaps (3 page)

When she moved back, he reached for her but she stepped back, leaning against the door.

“Well?” he asked.

She cocked her head slightly to one side.
“Sorry, Beckett.”

“Your eyes tell a different tale, sugar.
A kiss that makes promises.
Very hot and wet promises.”

Unfortunately, hot and wet was just how she felt. Were it not for the bet, she’d be on him like white on rice. But losing wasn’t an option and all she could do was bluff her way through the moment.

“I like it hot.”

He moved too fast for her to evade and pulled her to him. “Then you’re gonna love this, sugar.”

His mouth crushed down on hers, one hand fisting in her hair and the other moving up to cup one breast. It was like a bolt of electricity. Every nerve ending in her body went into high gear, sensation screaming through her from his touch. When his thumb tracked over her nipple, she fought to stifle a groan and was only partially successful.

He lifted away from the kiss, a cocky smile on his face. “You are so going down.”

His tease brought her back to the game, allowing her to establish some measure of control over her traitorous body that was screaming for her to rip his clothes off and fuck his brains out there on in the vestibule. She stepped away and circled him.

“Not on you. And since we know we’re not doing
that,
what else you have for entertainment around here?”

She moved into the den, taking a look around. Cliff sure had a nice place. Clearly he wasn’t hurting for money. And that was curious. Sure, Chaps did a good business, but she didn’t see a small town bar providing the capital for this kind of house and certainly not for the furnishings it contained. He had to be into something else to afford all this.

She walked over to the massive entertainment center that dominated one wall. Who the heck needed a television that big? Apparently, he did. When she spotted an Xbox console in one of the glass cabinets to the side, she smiled.
Ah ha, a gamer.

“What kind of games do you have?”

Cliff nearly groaned. The last thing on his mind was playing video games. What was on his mind was touching and tasting every inch of her. But like his granddaddy always said, “You can hog that ice cream cone fast or lick it slow and savor the taste as long as possible.” That was a pretty smart old
fella
, as far as Cliff was concerned. So he gave in. Prolonging the anticipating and taking it slowly only made the having that much sweeter.

“In the cabinet beneath.
Take your pick.” He took a seat on the couch and watched as she knelt down and opened the cabinet.

Gypsy.
That was the first thing that came to mind when he looked at her. With the colorful shirt hanging low on her hips and its irregular hem giving glimpses of bare legs and her hair loose and flowing down her back, he could imagine her in a Gypsy camp, dancing around a fire and tempting every man in sight.

She selected a game and put it in the console then turned to him. “Where do you keep your controllers?”

“Drawer to the left.”

Roxie took two controllers from the drawer, kicked off her sandals and took a seat on the sofa beside him, hiking her skirt up then tucking it between her legs as she arranged herself, Indian fashion.

The complaint that rose to his lips died as an idea came to Cliff. “What’d you pick?”

“Left 4 Dead.”

“One or two.”

“One.
I have a thing for Francis.”

Cliff chucked. Why didn’t that surprise him? Of course, Roxie would go for the character
who
looked like a big muscular biker and had a hair-trigger temper and a bad attitude.

He reached for the remote and turned on the television. “So, we teaming up or playing versus?”

“Versus.”

Cliff nodded. “You play much?”

“When I can.”

“Enough to put a wager on the outcome of the game?”

He could see hesitation on her face. “It’s okay, if you’re not up to it then…”

Oh, he had her. He could tell from the way her jaw tightened and her eyes narrowed that she couldn’t back down.

“What’re the stakes?”

He let the moment draw out, running his eyes over her. Damn if he didn’t like what he saw. Like the way her tank top clung to her breasts.
And those big hazel eyes going a shade darker when they met his.
He most decidedly liked what he saw.

She rolled her eyes at him. “Come on, Beckett. What’re the stakes?”

“I
win,
we spend the rest of the day in bed.”

“Nope.
That cancels our original bet.”

“I didn’t say I’d get in you, baby. How ’bout this? I win and you get naked with me in bed and everything but that is on the table.”

“Define everything.”

“Tasting, touching—anything two people can do except actual intercourse.”

“And if I win?”

“Name it.”

“You fix the Caddy and chip in two grand, cash, so Lola, Emily and I can get
outta
this town.”

Shit. That wasn’t what he’d hoped for. He wasn’t ready for Roxie to leave. Was she that certain she could win? Bigger question, could he beat her?

The gambler inside decided for him.
“Done.”

Now came the moment. He could almost hear the wheels turning in her brain. Could she take him? Seeing the uncertainty in her eyes bolstered his confidence.

She gave him a smile that spoke of determination. “Maybe I should call Emily and Lola and tell them to start packing.”

“Maybe you should wait till tomorrow and tell them about how I drove you damn near crazy with my hands and mouth.”

She smirked. “Get your game on, stud. You’re about to go down in flames.”

Cliff started the game, hoping she was wrong.

Two hours later, Cliff was starting to worry that she was right. She was good. They were in a dead tie. As the next match loaded on the console, he turned to look at her.

She watched the screen, unaware that he was watching her instead of the television. He liked the way her brows drew together slightly as she studied the available weapons and made selection. Not to mention the sexy way she pursed her lips. Damn if this woman wasn’t a breathing hard-on.

“This is it,” she said.

He looked at the screen. “I’ve heard that before.”

She cocked her head to one side as she studied the screen. “You won’t survive this one. I’ve got your number, Beckett.”

He hoped not, but just in case, maybe he’d better try to turn his game up a notch. This match, he was playing a zombie and she was playing a human survivor. If she was smart enough to keep out of areas where she had no room to maneuver and got a good bead on him, she just might survive. Or worse, she might get the drop on him and take him out.

And if she took him out, that took her out.
Of town.

“Get ready to get naked, Roxie.”

She cut him a sassy smile and then turned her attention back to the game. “You’re such a flirt. Okay, here we go.”

A stab of something akin to anxiety lanced through her. They’d battled for hours, evenly matched, neither of them able to get more than one match on the other. Now suddenly her character was trapped in an alley with zombies coming at her from both directions.

Gritting her teeth, she fought harder. She couldn’t lose. This was her chance to get out of town.

That thought brought another. Just why was she so eager to leave? She had nowhere to go and no one to go to. Was she running toward something or away from something?

That was what undid her, because suddenly it all caved in on her. The truth was she was running away. Away from Cliff Beckett and the feelings he inspired. Not just the lust. That was a horse she could ride. There was something else.
Something more.
Something about him that said it would be all too easy to lose herself in him.

And that scared her. She’d sworn off love a long time ago, sworn never to let herself become lost in a man. It only brought pain.

Distracted, she lost focus and made a fatal error. His character, a special zombie called a Hunter, pounced. “Come on, come on, help me out!” she nearly screamed at the artificial intelligence characters who fought alongside her. If one of them didn’t shoot the hunter off her, she was a goner.

Seconds ticked by, her life force clicking down steadily until those fatal words appeared on the screen. “You Are Dead.”

“
Noooo
!”
Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.
It was all she could think. She’d lost.

She turned to look at Cliff and when their eyes met all the air in the room seemed to have been sucked out. Locked in the desire in his eyes, she could only stare.

“Looks like I’m not the only one going down, today, sugar.”

It took all the control she could muster to tear away from his eyes. It wasn’t going to take much more for her to fall victim to him and she couldn’t allow that to happen. She had to play it cool. “God almighty, you’re cocky. But I’m curious. Do you always go to such lengths to win?”

“I go after what I want.”

“Yeah, that’s obvious.” She added a little snort for effect, hoping she appeared completely unaffected by his nearness. “But the question was
,
are you always so determined?”

“Only when the situation calls for it.”

She shook her head. “Okay and I’m supposed to translate that…how? That you feel a
hankering
for a new diversion and I look like a likely candidate?”

The frown that appeared on his face surprised her. He reached out to take her hand and tug on it so that she angled to face him.

“Listen up, Roxie. I’m only going to say this once. I don’t meet many women who intrigue me. But you do. So while I do have a hankering for you, it’s not just a conquest. It’s more a discovery. Discovering what’s beneath the surface. And sugar, I’m just as interested in pleasuring you as myself.”

Nothing could have surprised her more. Had she gotten him completely wrong, assuming he was just another guy looking for a quick slap-and-tickle who would immediately move on to the next candidate?

“Why? “

“Because you’re all mystery and fire.
You’re bold but wary and you bluff like a champion. You don’t trust easy and you keep a tight rein on what’s inside. You’re smart, strong and …”

“And?”

A slight flush rose on his face along with a grin. “And thinking of you keeps me awake at night.”

“Well…well, I’m flattered. But don’t confuse me with the fantasies, Beckett. Reality rarely lives up to fantasy.”

He pulled her closer, reaching up to run one hand through her long hair. “I know the difference between fantasy and reality, honey. Just like I know there’s one hell of a fire burning beneath that cool exterior.”

“And yeah, I play to win. Now that I have, I sure as hell hope you’re not gonna welsh on the debt, ’cause you can bank on it that if you let me, I’ll take you places you’ve never been before.”

“Promises, promises.”
She tried to tease but was largely unsuccessful. At the moment she was feeling completely overwhelmed.

He shook his head. “Iron-clad guarantee.”

For a few moments they just sat there. She searched his eyes and, uncharacteristic to her nature, took the bait.
Hook, line and sinker.

Cliff watched her eyes, waiting for her response. Was he about to get shot down? He hoped not. Something inside him said that she just might be the woman who could match him. Not just in verbal sparring, brains and talent, but in passion. That concerned him a bit. When had it become about more than just sex?

Then she gave him a sexy smile and his mind went blank to everything but his hunger for her. “Well, hell, Beckett. When you put it like that…”

Before he knew it, she’d grabbed his shirt in both hands and ripped it open. Buttons popped free, flying this way and that as she bared his chest. He had time to do little more than smile before her mouth was on his chest and her fingers were working on the button of his jeans.

Eagerly, he pulled her to him, claiming her in a kiss. Her hands abandoned their task of unfastening his belt to snake up around his neck, fisting in his hair, and she returned the kiss with unbridled passion.

Passion hot as a five-alarm fire.
And the blaze had burned south of the belt way too quickly for comfort.

He wasn’t accustomed to instant heat, the kind that made you lose your mind and revert into a primitive man with only a single thought—to get in and stoke hard. But that’s where he was and it gave him considerable discomfort knowing that he’d stick to the terms of the deal and not push for that.

Still locked in the kiss he pressed her back onto the sofa, his hands tugging at the rolled waist of her skirt. She raised her hips, allowing him to slide the skirt down her legs.

He ran his hands down her sides, traveling over the curves, feeling the reaction when her thighs tightened. Damn, she felt good.
Firm muscle beneath the soft skin.
The return journey was every bit as good, moving up her sides to take hold of her tank top and pull it up over her head.

Her hands loosened in his hair when he tore away from the kiss to let his lips roam down the length of her neck to the hollow of her throat where her pulse hammered against his tongue through the soft skin.

Good Lord, thank you for women
, he thought when he reached her breasts. Soft, round mounds that filled his hands, topped by a perfect pair of dusky nipples that screamed to be licked, sucked, bitten.

Roxie’s fingers fisted in his hair when he flicked his tongue across the taut nub of one perfect nipple then sucked it into his mouth. His dick jumped in excitement when she arched up, pressing against his mouth with a small exhalation of pleasure.

That sound stirred a side of him he wasn’t ready to reveal.
The side that few people knew.
Secreted away within was a man who needed to dominate. To know that his woman was his to pleasure at his leisure, to propel her to the edge of madness with wanting then stop her from crossing so that he could carry her toward release time and again until at last she achieved pleasure beyond her dreams.