Cowgirl Up and Ride (Rough Riders #3)(43)

AJ’s belly did a little flip. “I don’t know. Jenn and the kids moved in, and if she’s upset and needs someone to talk you, I can’t blow her off to blow you.”


“Amy Jo that was just plain…raunchy.” He paused. “I like that side of you.”


“Not so sure you’ll get to see that side of me tonight.”


“Wrong. I expect to see you tonight. You’d better find a way to make our deal work.”


“Or what?”


“Or I’ll create a suitable penalty.”


“Penalty? I didn’t agree—”


“Ah ah. You agreed to whatever demands I make.”


“Like?”


“Like if I tell you to bend over this fence, I’d expect you to do it. If I decided I wanted to spank your butt until it turned the same pink as your *, you’d let me do that too.”


“But—”


“No buts. There are consequences for disobedience. I don’t see you as the disobedient type, but I hope I’m wrong because dishin’ out penalties oughta be interestin’.”


“Have you…penalized women before?”


Cord stared straight ahead. “What if I say I’ve always wanted to but I’ve never had a woman willin’ to give me that much control?”


“I’d say no is a much safer answer for me than yes.”


“Why?”


“Because I’d like to give you something no other woman has. Do your ideas for kink go beyond spanking me?”


No answer.


“You want to tie me up?”


“AJ, I’m warnin’ you.”


“What?”


“Stop talkin’ before you get yourself inta trouble.”


“Hah! You can’t do a damn thing to me right now.”


“I can make you pay for it later.”


She loved the dangerous glint in his eye. Loved that she could incite him to cut loose, to show a side of himself to her no one else knew. “You’d like to take me to that edge. Make me beg. And isn’t it just a little sweeter to know that I’ve never begged another man for anything? No man has ever touched me like you plan to? Or done any of the things you’re itching to do to me?”


“You are so in for it tonight, baby doll.”


AJ faced him. “Go ahead and think up a penalty, cowboy, because I’m telling you right now, I plan on being a little late.” She whirled on her bootheel and returned to the house.


She heard him say, “Big, big trouble,” and she smiled.


When Jenn and the kids showed up a few hours later, AJ and Jenn struck a deal. As AJ was the daytime caretaker, she wanted her nights free. Jenn didn’t argue, although AJ


sensed her disappointment that she wouldn’t be around in the evenings.


Only within the safety of her room did AJ wonder what she’d gotten herself into taunting Cord McKay.


You’re getting exactly what you want: the full scope of his passion. You aren’t a little girl or a shrinking violet; you are a woman going after what she wants. This might be all you ever get from him, so be greedy and take it while you can get it.


No fear, no apologies, and no regrets.


Words to live by.


Chapter Twelve