The Naughty One

by Michelle Love

  “Really?” she found herself asking, even though she knew she shouldn’t believe him. But she so wanted to.

  Ethan was everything Kel had ever wanted in a man. He was all man and knew how to push her sexual buttons. She loved his body, his smile, his eyes. He spoke in a way she found interesting and enjoyable. He was what seemed to be the complete package.

  She wondered whether if things had been different, if there’d been no bet, would Ethan still have sought her out?

  He kissed each one of her fingertips as he answered her. “Really, Kel. Tonight doesn’t have to be a one-time thing for you and I.” He meant it too. The bet wasn’t about having sex then leaving the woman. It was just about who got laid first. He could keep things going with Kel if he wanted to.

  The fact was, Kel was stirring him in ways no other ever had. Why would he stop seeing her?

  The way she gazed into his eyes told him she was a bit worried about what he’d said. He knew she’d been deeply hurt by what her jackass of a fiancé had done to her. He had no wish to hurt her. As a matter of fact, he wanted to get to know the woman he held in his arms. She was the beauty to his beast; that was certain.

  “Ethan, how can I trust you?” Kel asked him. “How can I be sure you’re telling me the truth and not just telling me what you think I want to hear?”

  He reached into his pocket and took out his cell. “Give me your phone.”

  Kel didn’t have her phone with her. It was in her purse, behind the bar. “I don’t have it on me.”

  “Tell me what your number is then,” Ethan said and opened up his contact list. He typed in her name and waited for her answer.

  “555-677-5599,” she told him, giving him her real phone number.

  “Your address?” he asked.

  She wasn’t sure about giving him that. He might make his way to her house that night after she ran out on him if he had her address. “Not yet,” she said, stalling him. “Maybe after you call me. Then we’ll see about that.”

  “Oh, I’m going to call ya. On that, you can count,” he said, then put his phone back into his pocket. “Can we get back to where we were?”

  She nodded and put her arms around his neck and let him kiss her again. Things were proving harder to do than she’d thought they’d be. Ethan was either a fantastic liar, or he was being real with her. Kel wasn’t sure which, but she knew making out with him was a thing she’d remember forever!

  Chapter 9

  Phoenix couldn’t believe how amazing it felt to kiss Cait. She was sexy, with a touch of sweet, And spicy, with a touch of soothing, making him wonder if he’d be happy with just one night of passion with her.

  He was already deciding to take her someplace nice for the night. Phoenix wanted to win the bet by getting her to give into him before the others got their women to. But he also wanted more than a quick tryst with the beautiful lady.

  Cait was much prettier than any woman he’d ever been with before. He could see her beauty went all the way down to her soul. She had a spirit about her that he’d never noticed in any other woman before.

  It was a bit unnerving to him that he had met her under the odd circumstances. It was also a little crazy that Ethan had picked her out for him. She’d gone overlooked by him when Phoenix was scouting out a woman for Griffin, and he wondered why that was.

  Maybe because Cait wasn’t meant for Griffin.

  Maybe because Cait was meant for him!

  “Have you ever been to Texas, Cait?” he asked her as he ran his hand through her hair.

  “No, I have not. Are you inviting me?” she asked him as she moved to straddle him in the chair he was sitting on.

  Was he? He had to ask himself. What was he doing? He’d never asked anyone to come to his real home before.

  “I am inviting you. Do you like the beach? I live in a beachfront home.” He watched her eyes dance as she trailed her fingertip over his lips.

  “A beachfront home, huh? Are you rich, Phoenix?” she asked him.

  He wasn’t sure if he should divulge that information. There was the rule about not using money to get your girl into bed. “I have some money. So, what do you say to a visit?”

  “I say, I’ll have to see about that. I’d have to save up the money to get there and get back home. That could take me a few weeks. When did you want me to come?”

  “Soon,” he said, then pressed his lips to the hollow of her throat. “Very soon.”

  “We’ll see how things go,” she moaned as his lips felt so right on her body.

  It was a real shame the man was such a pig!

  Cait could see a future with the handsome guy. She liked the way she felt being around him. He gave off a great vibe. It seemed out of character for him to have made such a bet.

  Maybe it was the bad influence of the other two men, she thought. Perhaps, if she could get him away from them, then he’d be the real Phoenix that she thought he most likely was.

  A man who could be trusted. A man she could see herself falling in love with. Not the liar he was being.

  Then it occurred to her that he was merely lying to her about his invitation to visit him in Texas to get her to trust him and get her into bed. That wasn’t beyond imagination.

  Cait had to admit they seemed to have chemistry, though. Their bodies moved like satin sheets blowing in the breeze on a clothesline, moving with the other, making beautiful waves like one entity.

  Why did he have to be making a damn bet with his stupid friends, instead of really being interested in her?

  Phoenix kissed his way up her neck, then whispered, “Do you have a favorite hotel in town we could go to for tonight?”

  She froze with his question, instantly pissed off. “And what makes you think I’ll be going to a hotel with you, Phoenix?”

  Quickly thinking about how to turn his question around, he said, “I didn’t mean for you to come with me. I was just asking about hotels in town for me and my friends to stay in. I hope you didn’t think I intended to hurry you along to be with me, Cait. I would never want you to think I wanted to use you like that.”

  Her eyes went wide as he blatantly lied right to her face. “Oh, really?”

  It was hard as hell for her to sit on the man’s lap, her crotch against his bulge. “Really,” he said as he pushed her hair behind her ear. “I respect you, Cait.”

  She had to close her eyes and take in a breath and hold it so she didn’t come unglued on his ass. Counting to ten in her head had her calming down. He was a man who was using all the tricks in the book to win the bet after all. Just a damn man who was willing to go to the mat for what he wanted. And he wanted her; that was certain.

  “You know, Phoenix, I respect you too,” Cait cooed as she leaned forward and put her lips to his ear. “And I’m not as pent up about sex as most women are. I see no reason to keep ourselves from enjoying one another. Do you?” She pulled back to watch his reaction to what she’d said.

  His chuckle wasn’t what she had expected. “You’re kind of a back and forth kind of person, aren’t you, Cait? One minute you’re getting angry when you thought I meant to take you to a hotel to have my way with you, then the next minute you’re telling me you have no problem with getting to the physical stuff right away. A complex person is what you are.”

  Cait was taken aback by what he’d told her. Had she been that way? She hadn’t even noticed.

  “I’m a Gemini, Phoenix. I’ve been told I have two personalities before. Maybe that’s my problem.” She knew her real issue was that she wanted the gorgeous, built man but knew she couldn’t have him. It was leaving her feeling like a pretzel.

  Cait knew she wasn’t fragile like her older sister Kel was. She wasn’t young and naïve like her little sister Jess was either. Cait was in the middle of the two. No stranger to love or one-night stands, she took sex with a grain of salt. It wasn’t a huge deal to her.

  She didn’t think of herself as a tramp even though some of the more prudish girls in their to
wn might have called her one behind her back on more than one occasion. Cait saw herself as a realist. She liked to feel good. Who didn’t? Sex with the right partner could feel good. So why not enjoy that without having a damn engagement ring on your finger to do it?

  The way Phoenix was gazing at her made her wonder about him. He didn’t look the part of the guy who wanted a quick piece of ass to win a bet then get on with his life. He had a look that told her he might just want to hang out a bit too.

  “Two Caits,” Phoenix said. “And each one seems fascinating. Tell me what kinds of things you like to do. Do you like French food or Italian? Do you like cats or dogs? I want to know more about you.”

  Another solid ploy to get a girl to let her guard down so the guy could swoop in under the radar and make her think he was a good guy who she could trust with her body. Cait was impressed with his expertise, and if her sisters hadn’t been involved in the bet, she’d have given him what he needed to win.

  Why not help him win? It wouldn’t hurt her feelings one bit!

  But there was fragile Kel and young Jess to consider. Both were in positions where a thing like this would cause damage to their egos and self-respect. No, Cait had to play it up the way they’d all agreed to. Maybe, if Phoenix could ever forgive her for cock-teasing him, he’d ask her out if they ever crossed paths again.

  Cait ran her hands through his dark silky hair as she answered his question. “I like dogs. I hate Italian and French. I love Mexican food. How about you?”

  The smile that moved over his lips made her heart ache, it was so gorgeous. “I like dogs too and Mexican is also my favorite. When you come to visit me, I’ll take you out to get some authentic Mexican food. This part of the country has no such restaurant. If you think you like what’s available here, you’ll believe that you’re in heaven when you taste real Mexican cuisine.”

  “You think?” Cait asked as she yearned to believe the man she was thinking would be the one for her if he hadn’t been into making bad bets about women.

  “I know you will. And I have a dog who will love you too. My neighbor’s watching him for me. He’s a black lab named Toby who loves the water. He’ll fetch things for you. We have a blast playing in the surf back home. I can’t wait to introduce you to him.”

  Cait was growing angrier and angrier at Phoenix, who was being the guy she wanted and yet he was lying to her.

  Why’d she ever have to meet the man she knew would haunt her for the rest of her life?

  Chapter 10

  Jess was beside herself with the emotions that were running through her. Griffin was too good at what he was doing to her. His kiss was electrifying; his hands left paths of lava on her skin; and he said the sweetest things.

  And she couldn’t let herself believe one word he said. He was doing it all to win the damn bet.

  Not because he was really attracted to her!

  In a vain attempt to see if Griffin could be made to feel even the slightest bit of guilt for trying to get her straight into bed only to win a stupid bet, Jess asked him, “How many brothers and sisters do you have, Griff?”

  “I have two younger sisters and one brother,” he answered, then kissed her cheek. “And you?”

  “A couple of sisters and one younger brother. So, about your sisters, are they older than I am?” she asked him, hoping to get him to feel some guilt about what he wanted to do to her.

  “They’re both older than you, and they’re both married with a couple of kids each.” Griff kissed his way to her lips. Not merely to shut her up, but because he genuinely liked the way she kissed.

  Griffin knew Jess was his type of woman. She was funny, beautiful, and smart as hell. When you added in her passion for animals, not necessarily a thing he had but a thing he respected, then she was nearly perfect for him.

  Although he wanted to keep seeing Jess after that night, he wasn’t an idiot. He knew if he continued to see her past that night then she’d inevitably find out about the bet. Probably from him, as he was notorious for eventually telling the truth about anything bad he’d ever done.

  He’d kicked one of his family’s dogs once when he was a kid. The dog was chasing him as he rode his bike down the long road that led to their ranch house. The dog kept nipping at his ankles, and he kicked it to get it away from him.

  The poor dog yelped like he’d really hurt it and limped away, looking sadly back at him. It was then that Griffin realized the dog had thought they were playing together.

  No one had seen what he’d done. He didn’t have to admit anything to anyone. But the guilt was piling up on him. Griffin went back to the house and found a steak in the freezer, nuked it in the microwave, and went out to apologize to the dog and offer him a treat.

  Like most dogs, he accepted the steak and seemed to forgive Griffin for his transgression. But that wasn’t enough for Griff. No, he went to his father and told him what he’d done. His father chastised him, and that should’ve been enough reprimanding.

  Griffin still felt guilt, so he told his mother what he’d done to the dog, and she further guilted him by giving him a good talking to about hurting animals and people.

  Griffin knew he’d eventually tell Jess about the bet if they kept on seeing each other. So he knew he couldn’t see her past that night. But Griff wanted the night to be special for her anyway. At least she might look back and see that he did care about her.

  “Were you that overprotective big brother?” Jess asked when he eased his kiss.

  “Overprotective?” he asked not only her but himself as well. “Nah, I’m not that guy. You’d have to be a hard ass to be like that. A man who doesn’t mind fighting another man over things. I’ve never been in a fistfight. I don’t much care for getting into other people’s business.”

  “So if some dude hurt one of your sisters when they were younger, you didn’t give a flying fuck about that?” Jess asked, suddenly pissed off.

  Griff could tell he’d sparked something in her he hadn’t intended to and hurried to correct his errant tongue. “I mean, if someone had ever done something wrong to them, then I’d have gotten involved, sure. That never did happen, though. So there was never a need to get all big brother on anyone in their defense.”

  “Oh,” she said, looking a little ashamed of jumping to conclusions. “So are you what you’d consider an honorable man, Griff?”

  Not really, was what came to his mind but he said something different. “I do consider myself honorable. I do what I say I’ll do. I think that’s more than most men do. Don’t you agree?”

  “My father does what he says he’ll do too. I admire that in a person. But what I really am asking you is, do you think you do right by people most of the time?” She watched him for some sign he might have an issue with taking her to his bed just to win a bet.

  “Most of the time, yes,” he answered her with a genuine smile on his handsome face.

  The dancing blond curls that framed his chiseled features, the straight nearly Roman nose, the perfect teeth, the caramel lips with the lower one slightly plumper than the top one, all came together to give the man a charming look that no female would suspect could be anything but wholesome.

  But Jess was lucky because she knew more than he thought she knew. She knew what he was really doing with her. It made her stomach hurt to know he’d keep on going. So she pressed it a bit further as she asked him, “Do you think using another person for sex is a nice thing to do?”

  “Um, uh, why’d you ask me that?” he stammered as her question had him wondering if she’d read his mind or something.

  Had he inadvertently let her in on the real reason he was wooing her?

  “I just want to know what you think about such a thing,” she said with a little pout on her red, kiss-swollen lips.

  His light beard had rouged her cheeks, making them glow pink. She was young, so full of that youthful glow he so admired in women. What you got with younger women was a thing you didn’t get with older ones who’d bee
n around the block a time or two. You got trust.

  Griffin knew he didn’t deserve trust from Jess. She was right to be asking him the things she did. She was right to trust her intuition about him and what he was after. If he’d been a man who was not in the middle of a bet that he couldn’t get out of, then he’d have stopped it all right then and there.

  It was true; he hadn’t picked Jess out on his own. But she was perfect for him. Why in the world did she have to be so great and so intuitive? That would make things so much harder!

  Her question had hung in the air longer than it should’ve as he thought about what he should say. It made Jessica worried she’d set him off and she’d lost the chance to get to him and make him sorry he’d ever thought about using her.

  She changed her demeanor as she ran her arms around his neck and kissed him instead of waiting for his answer. It didn’t really matter anyway. She was sure he was still set on the course of getting her into bed before the others got her sisters into their beds. She didn’t need to try to get to him. If he’d had an ounce of respect for her, for real, he’d have told her about the dumb bet and told his friends he was out of it.

  The fact he hadn’t done that spoke louder than any word that had come out of his mouth. No matter how nice he seemed, Griffin was set on winning the bet at the cost of her pride.

  It was odd how her heart felt so heavy over a man she didn’t even know. Jess wondered why in the hell that was. She’d never been seriously in love with anyone before. She had no idea what a broken heart felt like.

  So why was what she knew Griffin Houser was up to with her making her feel like her heart was breaking? Why would anything a stranger do make her feel so full of emotion?

  Jess had no clue as to why she felt that way. All she knew for sure was that she hoped like hell his heart ached like hers was when he found she’d gone without a word to him.

  And she hoped her face would stick in his head for a very long time. She knew she’d be seeing his face in her dreams. He was the best-looking man she’d ever had interested in her. Then she reminded herself that he wasn’t really interested in her at all.