Page 23 of Late to Love

“You. I was thinking of you, Darcy Belle. Taking my cock into my hands and imagining you. Thinking about bending you over my knee to teach you some lessons, and then, once your ass was nice and red from being spanked, I thought about laying you out on my bed and burying my tongue in your pussy.”

Red stains her cheeks as her mouth opens, and she’s breathing hard now.

If it’s this easy to get a rise out of her with a few sentences—sentences that I made up to see if they’d get her going as much as they did me—I can only imagine what would happen if I let myself really go there with her. But that’s not possible. I lean down and put my mouth next to her ear, making certain my lips hit the metal of the piercings running over the top of it. “The next time you come in my house uninvited, you’ll be punished. Do you understand?”

“Yes.” Her voice is rough. Raw. Needy.

I clench my hands, desperate to take her. To show her exactly what I mean. But I don’t.

I walk away without another word, shutting myself in the bedroom that, thankfully, is now completely private and locked away from the rest of the space.

Chapter11

Darcy

MY BRAIN CAN’T seem to get the words to my mouth.

My eyes can’t seem to do anything but land on Anthony’s ass as he walks to his bedroom and shuts the door.

And my mouth can’t seem to close.

Anthony Hall wants me.

More than that, Anthony Hall wants to punish me.

The ache between my legs is nearly unbearable. I lower myself to the couch and squeeze my thighs, angling over the seam of my overalls for any sort of precious relief.

What am I going to do?

I’m going to do something, that’s for damn sure. Because he finally gave me the tiniest glimpse of what’s happening in that mind of his, and that taste was enough to leave me gasping.

Never mind listening to him in the bathroom. And for the record, I wasn’t creeping on him. I came in and set my bags down, and it was impossible not to hear the way he was grunting and moaning in there.

And it was hot, okay? It was fucking hot as hell and even though him being with another woman was definitely a possibility, I was drawn to the damn door like a moth to a flame.

Then I thought he might have actually said my name, which I’m sure was wishful thinking. I heard the water turn off, and I should have left. I know. But then I realized there was definitely not a woman in there, and before I could pull myself out of the fantasy of wondering what his ridiculous body might look like with water sluicing down it in the shower, the door opened and there he was, glaring down at me like it was my fault he had to get himself off in the shower.

And the things he said? Holyshit.

Never has it occurred to me that I might want to be punished, but now that he’s said it, I…think I do.

I think I might be desperate for it, in fact.

But for now, I need to do my job.

Assuming I can actually focus.

With a groan, I leave the couch and make my way to the huge windows overlooking the ocean. What an incredible view. Who needs television when you havethisto look at every day? The building faces northwest, and I bet this place gets a gorgeous sunset.

Maybe that’s why he said he liked blues, greens, yellows, and oranges. It’s the damnsunset.Grumpy, grunty, masculine as all get-out Anthony Hall loves sunsets. I know it like I know there are fish in the ocean.

Grinning, I turn to the day’s work. I know exactly how to finish the pool table, for one thing. And now I know how to finish decorating.

If only I could finish myself. Ha.

Anthony emerges from the bedroom a few minutes later, dressed in his typical dark jeans and black Hall’s Balls T-shirt, looking even more furious, if that’s even possible. His boots stomp as he makes his way to the kitchen to brew coffee. I bite my lip at the noise coming from in there, the sound far more intense than it needs to be.

Good. Heshouldbe as frustrated as I am. I don’t know why he didn’t just kiss me. But I could have kissed him, too, so this is a two-way street.

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