Page 49 of Late to Love

“Of course it looks perfect to you,” I joke. “You don’t know what you’re looking at.” As the words leave my mouth, I think that maybe I shouldn’t have been so cavalier.

He isn’t fazed. “You’re right,” he admits. “It’s impressive. Whether you got it right is something only you’d know.”

“Oh, anyone would know once all four legs were on the table,” I point out. “Trust me.”

He looks at me, and it’s only then that I realize how close he’s gotten. We’re not even a foot apart, his eyes a dark green and blue in the dimmer light of the garage. I clench my hand into a fist, commanding myself not to reach for him, to stroke his beard and feel its rough bristles beneath my palm.

Because I want to. So badly. And I shouldn’t want him as much as I do. I’m smart enough to know that this isn’t supposed to be…something. The problem, of course, is that I can’t get that message to my heart from my brain.

“You know,” I start, “Agatha’s going to see your car out there and know you’re here. She’ll figure us out if she hasn’t already.”

He shrugs again. “I don’t care.”

I frown. “You don’t care what she thinks? You know what a gossip she is, right?”

He huffs the tiniest of laughs. “Darcy, if you knew all the town gossip I knew. I just keep it all here.” He taps his head. “But no. I don’t care what she thinks. I don’t care what anyone thinks.”

He steps closer. I worry my lip. “But…no one? Not even…”Am I really about to say this?“Not even your parents?”

His expression softens as he reaches to brush a strand of hair behind my ear. “No. I stopped worrying about that a long time ago.” Then he grins, and my heart stutters. “Are you telling me thatyou, Darcy Belle, are worried about what others think?”

Heat flames my cheeks. “I don’t know,” I answer him honestly. “Maybe if I had a better understanding of what we’re actually doing here, I’d be a bit more…settled.”

“Why do you need an answer to that so quickly?” he counters.

NowI’mthe one shrugging.

“Tell you what,” he offers. “Why don’t you let me take you inside your house and make you come.” He smiles wickedly. “That should put you at ease for the night, at least.”

I stare up at him. “You’re dead serious, aren’t you?”

“About making you come? Abso-fucking-lutely.” Then, without warning, he picks me up and tosses me over his shoulders.

“Anthony!” I yelp. “Oh my God, put me down!”

“Next time your feet touch the floor is when I say so, Darcy Belle, and not a moment before.”

I smack at his back, but I may as well be a fly bothering a horse for all the good it does me. He spanks my ass with a pop, and God, it feels so good. Why does getting spanked feel so delicious? I wiggle more. “Put me down!”

Another spanking, which is exactly what I’m aiming for.

He chuckles as he opens the door to my cottage. “Seems like someone wants to be punished.”

I writhe in his grip, half excited and half terrified, as he stalks through the tiny house.

In the bedroom, Anthony walks to the bed and lowers us down so he’s sitting and my face is inches from the mattress. “I’m letting you go, but only so you can get naked. And Darcy?”

I don’t answer.

He spanks me.

“Yes?”

“First, you answer me when I ask a question. Second, you will stand in front of me and strip yourself bare, and you will do nothing but that until I give you permission to do otherwise. Am I clear?”

I grin, my heartbeat racing. “Crystal.”

He levers me off his shoulder, guiding my feet to the floor and steadying me with his hands on my hips, while the blood rushes out of my head and I get my bearings. The heat in his hazel eyes is unmistakable.He really wants me.And it’s heady, the power I feel. Slowly, I unsnap my dusty overalls, letting them fall open before stepping out of my work boots and pulling my socks off. I slide the overalls off, kicking them to the side, my gaze never leaving his face all the while.

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