Page 45 of Stags

“Real sorry about that,” he said.Hisvoice was kind of scratchy. He reached up and fingered her earring.

“What are you doing?” she said, and her voice wasn’t demanding or insulted, though she could have sworn that was what she was trying to convey. “Do you just touch other people’s jewelry without permission all the time?”

“No,” he said. “I don’t. Usually.” He did not let go of the earring. “I’mgoing to give you the consolation baby, how’s that?”

“You… I don’t like you,” she said.

“No, I get that,” he said. “I don’t like you either. But I think you want me to be the father of your fawn.” He paused, waiting for her to deny it.

She didn’t deny it. She didn’t even breathe. She froze and fixed her gaze on the way his antlers jutted up into the air.

His voice grew even more scratchy. “I think right now, when I’m talking about how I’m going to run you down out there and how I’m going to fight off any other buck who thinks he has has chance at getting between your pretty thighs and how I’m going to pin you down and breed you, I think you’re getting all warm and bothered.”

“Is that what you think?” She was shaking. Damn this guy, because whatever he was sayingwashot, and shewasturned on. She sputtered, searching for something to say, something to restore some shred of her dignity. She finally breathed, very softly, and shesoundedturned on: “You’re a real asshole, you know that?”

“I think you just bring it out of me,” he said with a shrug. “I think you want me to be an asshole.”

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.” She was whispering.

“You could stop this right now,” he said. “Tell me to move away. Tell me not to touch your earring. Say, ‘Athos, I would not have sex with you if you were the last buck on earth.’ Tell me no.”

She swallowed. “Don’t tell me what to do,” she gasped.Fuck, Iamflirting with him. Thisishow I flirt. What the hell is wrong with me?

His lips curved into a smile. “You going on the run this morning?”

She nodded. Her breath was noisy and shallow.

“I’m going to find you,” he said.

“That a threat or a promise?”

He chuckled. “I really don’t like you.”

“Ditto.”

“What’s your name?”

She dragged her teeth over her lower lip again. “Tawny.”

“You’re the most infuriating woman I’ve ever met,” he said.

“Ditto,” she said again.

“I’m going to kiss you,” he said.

“No, you’re not,” she said. “You’re going to catch me first.”

He sucked in air through his nose. “Okay, that was hot. That was really fucking hot. So, I’m going to catch you first.”

“And you’re going to back off now,” she said.

“Okay,” he said, letting go of her earring. “I actually take direction well, Tawny,” he said with a little smile she would probably call wicked, as he backed away.

Her heart was pounding in her chest. She had just forgotten how to flirt. That must be it. That was the only excuse for whatever this travesty was right now. How did… did she somehow go from ripping him a new one to him thinking she was a sure thing?

I am a sure thing, though. I wanted him the minute I turned around and he was looking at me like a piece of meat.

The truth was, it had been a long time since a man had looked at her like that. When she and her ex-husband had first started dating, when they’d first started living together, they’d barely been able to keep their hands off each other, like any typical relationship, after all. But by the time they had gotten married, that whole phase of the relationship had already cooled, and she hadn’t really missed it at the time.

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