Rebel Hard (Hard Play #2)(36)

She fell asleep wondering if he’d mind recreating a live-action version of that image and woke the next morning bad-tempered and wildly aroused. No matter what, she was hunting him down tonight and ordering him to do something about it! It was his fault she was a walking bag of hormones.

The phone vibrated while she was scanning through her private Raj folder.

Tonight?

Nayna bit down hard on her lower lip and almost broke the phone typing back: Soon as it gets dark. Bring the hard hat.

That night, fate decided to have another giggle at their expense.

A water pipe broke while she was impatiently waiting for night to fall, and, after turning the water off at the mains, her father said, “Call Raj! He probably knows a plumber who’ll come out during the holidays at night!”

Raj turned up himself and crawled under the house to diagnose the problem as something he could fix. He’d brought supplies and was under there for an hour while Nayna’s father held the flashlight for him and Nayna despaired of ever getting time alone with him. When he finally emerged, the pipe was fixed and he was filthy.

Nayna wanted to haul him into the shower and join him there. Naked.

But after shaking hands with her father and directing a nod toward her that held none of his playfulness in the messages, he left. Her phone vibrated two minutes later: I can shower and be back in thirty minutes.

Nayna’s heart pounded. Meet you then.

Which was how she found herself literally sneaking out her window. “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” she muttered as she pushed up the window with care for squeaks. Everyone was still wide awake—and though Aji had given her a measuring look when she said she was tired and turning in early, she didn’t think her grandmother had any idea Nayna was about to sneak out.

She hadn’t even done that as a teenager.

Lower lip caught between her teeth, she got one leg over, then the next, and dropped easily onto the grass in her tennis-shoe-clad feet. All she wore above that were panties and a strappy sundress over which she’d thrown a light cardigan. It was a very deliberate choice of outfit. Nayna wanted Raj’s hands on her body and she planned to be brazen about it—after she finished being flustered by his masculine beauty.

Since she had no intention of leaving the window up as an invitation for any opportunistic burglar who might be wandering the streets looking for a chance, she carefully pulled it all the way down. She’d have to sneak back in via the kitchen door—if Aji could do it without being busted, so could she.

Raj was waiting for her at the end of the drive, smelling of soap and freshness, his hair damp but his jaw still scruffy. Her insides clenched. And clenched even harder when he ran his hand down her back and leaned down to murmur in her ear. “Come for a ride in my truck.”

A gorgeous hunk of a man was luring her into his truck in the dark of night while all she wore was a thin layer of cotton and not much else. “Let’s go.”

He didn’t kiss her when he boosted her up into his truck, but his eyes smoldered so hot that she felt singed. Hauling himself up on the other side, he shut the door and pulled out. Throat dry, Nayna rubbed her palms down her thighs as the radio played slow night music, and tried not to wriggle in her seat.

“Nayna.” His voice held a warning.

Startled and all but bursting out of her skin, she said, “What?”

“Stop wriggling.” The words were extremely calm, but a muscle jumped in his jaw.

As Nayna had already learned, Raj wasn’t actually calm when he got like this. To test her theory, she crossed her legs, causing the sundress to ride up a little.

He slammed through the gear change, the truck’s tires squealing as he turned the corner of a deserted road. Nayna’s entire body sizzled. “Where are you taking me?” she asked belatedly.

The muscles in his arms stood out as he spoke, his big body all but humming. “A private place.”

It proved to be a hilltop that looked out over one of the wild west coast beaches… and was currently utterly deserted, not another human or human habitation in sight. “How do you know about this place?” It wasn’t an official parking lot or route; she’d seen no signs, no streetlights along the last part of the drive.

“I worked on a site not far from here. Found it one day while checking out the area.” Turning off the lights and the engine, he opened his car door.

Not sure what he intended, Nayna stayed put until he came around and opened her door. But when she swiveled her legs around to get out too, he stopped her by putting his hands on her thighs and stroking upward. Nayna’s panties went embarrassingly damp at the rough caress of his touch and she waited, breath tight in her throat, to see how far he’d go.

To a dangerous edge, then back.

Again and again.

Watching his hands and her trembling thighs the entire time.

When he lifted his head, his gaze was way beyond a smolder. “Wait,” he nearly growled, then left her to go get something from the back of his truck.

She sucked in a breath when he rolled out a thick outdoor blanket onto the ground, her heart drumming in her chest.

Raj came to her, put his hands on her waist. “Yes?”

Nayna nodded. Wherever this led, she wasn’t about to back away. She placed her own hands on his shoulders, and he swung her down to the ground, then shut the door behind her. Feeling awkward, Nayna turned to him. “What—”