The Billionaire Next Door (Billionaire Bad Boys #2)(36)

Busted, she answered honestly. “No.”

He leaned close, keeping his arms in front of him, and challenged her with his eyes and his words. “Then why don’t you tell me what you want.”

So tempting. So, so tempting.

“Okay.” She reached for her wineglass and downed half the golden liquid before turning back to him, swiping her lips with her tongue and saying, “You.”

Tag was off his stool in a flash, tossing money on the bar.

“We’re done here,” he told the woman behind the bar, then snatched his book and Rachel’s coat and purse, before offering a hand.

Rachel laughed in shock. She’d never dreamed he’d react instantly. She was trying to flirt, to tease him, and thought he’d flirt back.

“Not now,” she whispered.

“Oh, yeah,” he argued. “Right now.”

She didn’t move, frozen in place, hand still on her wineglass. This was it. Really it. Oh God. She wasn’t ready.

Tag dropped his hand, took a deep, and possibly impatient, breath, and leaned so his lips grazed her ear. “Dimples, hop off that stool and take your gorgeous, round ass upstairs and into my bed.”

Her nipples grew hard, the heat in her belly trickling lower until parts of her were pulsing mercilessly. He pulled back and some of her hair stuck to his beard.

His mouth. She wanted his mouth all over her. She wanted her mouth all over him.

Oh boy.

“Now,” he said, and his tone brooked no argument.

She slid from the stool and followed obediently, loving the command in his voice, the cocksure strength and confidence in the way he spoke to her. Shaun had been bossy, but also whiny. She thought as she walked with Tag to the elevators how this was different. Tag wasn’t being bossy; he was demanding she obey. There was a subtle yet fulfilling shift. One she was willing to embrace.

In the elevator, he waited until the doors shut, then crowded her to one corner. Her coat, purse, and his book were in one of his hands and he pressed the other against the wall over her head.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

“For you?” Her voice was paper-thin. “I don’t think so.”

He grinned. It was predatory and wicked and downright yummy. Her pulse skyrocketed. At the top floor, he reached for his key.

“Adonis.” She’d totally forgotten about the poor dog. “Shit.” She turned to punch the elevator button, but a big hand wrapped around her wrist.

“How mad would you be if I told you I made a copy of Oliver’s key when you gave it to me the other day and I’ve already spent the evening with Adonis?” Tag’s eyebrows rose as he waited for her answer.

“Not even a little.” Relief flooded her. Going downstairs to tend to the dog would have definitely given her time to think. In this case, thinking was not advised. Fortune favors the bold, right?

Her eyes roamed over Tag’s broad, tall build as he swaggered into his penthouse and dumped their belongings on a chair.

Yeah. She was so not mad.

Inside, she shut the door, and he faced her, rubbing his large hands together and smiling as his eyes roamed over her body. “Man. I don’t know where to start.”

Her face lit. She felt the heat hit her cheeks and spread down her neck.

“This is your fantasy, Dimples. Why don’t you tell me what you want?”

There was an invitation if she’d ever heard one. Her fantasy. And how accurate was that? Tag Crane at her disposal. But her fantasy wasn’t to tell him what to do; her fantasy was to let him lead.

As sex lives went, hers had been terribly lacking. Even when she’d done the horizontal mambo, Shaun had made some uncomfortable suggestions. He’d asked her to talk dirty. He’d commanded she arch or stretch in a certain way so that he could get off properly. In short, Shaun hadn’t found her very sexy, and her memories of being with him were more about the humiliation of trying what he wanted and failing miserably at satisfying him.

Was it any wonder they’d stopped having sex if neither of them were enjoying it?

At the thought, her shoulders curled in, her hands clasped in front of her nervously. Tag noticed and walked to her.

“Where’d you go just now?” he asked, taking her hands in his. “Fun and flirty Rachel swapped places with tentative, frightened Rachel.”

“I’m not frightened,” she said, shaking out of his grip.

“You’re something. Want to tell me about it?” He looked serious, his eyebrows centered over his nose, and now she was seriously humiliated.

“I’d rather die.” She crossed her arms over her stomach protectively, realizing she was once again chickening out like she did last night. Her evening would end with a movie marathon she wasn’t the least bit excited about any longer.

“How about instead you level with me.” Tag unfolded her arms.

“Why does it matter?”

“Because I want to know you.” There was so much sincerity on his face right then, she didn’t know how to react. Had anyone ever said those words to her? The request was simple yet radiated in the center of her heart. She wanted to be known.

“I’ll make you a deal.” Tag’s cocksure smirk was back in place, sincerity switching places with his typical bravado. “For each embarrassing secret you tell me, I’ll take off an article of clothing.”