Tell Me You Want Me (Search and Seduce, #2)(19)

One thing he’d said stuck in her mind. He didn’t give up easily. Technically, she hadn’t finished her training, and that bugged her. It was just another notch in the not so independent person she was trying to become. It also bugged her that Dex was annoying, cocky and way, way too sexy to be legal. She wanted to experience the extent of her sexy list with him, but she couldn’t commit to more than that. And with this arrangement, she’d be at his mercy for the most part. That didn’t sit well. A flash of him tying her up and dominating her body made a rush of wet heat hit between her thighs. Okay, the thought wasn’t all that bad.

Still…this was a bad idea.

She didn’t chance looking behind her, because one more run in with the sexy search and rescuer, and she just might cave and let him train her…all night.





Chapter Five


“Oooh, I love this one!” Natalie said and twirled in a little pink dress.

“I just got that in last week,” Michelle replied. Natalie and Chloe had made her feel welcome since she’d first moved to Beaufort. Now, a few months later, they were all great friends, something Michelle had never had before.

“It’s so pretty. And look!” Natalie did another twirl. “It’s all flowy when I spin.”

“It’s a great dress. You look amazing in it,” Michelle agreed.

“Yeah, I think I’ll have to get it.”

“Big date?” Michelle asked. “Dancing maybe?”

“No big dates,” Natalie said with a huff. Which was crazy because she was beautiful. “I’ll just bake cupcakes in it.”

Michelle laughed. “Well, you’ll look good doing it.”

“So…” Natalie sauntered to the counter and put her elbows on it to lean in and ask, “How was your wild time last night?”

Michelle’s heart stopped. She hadn’t told anyone about Dex. Then she realized what Natalie was really asking about. The class. “The wilderness training?”

Natalie nodded like, duh, whatever else would she be talking about.

Michelle took a deep breath. “It was good. Well, parts of it,” Michelle started.

“Which parts?”

Mostly Dex’s parts. But she couldn’t really say that. Not that it was a secret. In fact, she kind of wanted to confide in a friend since she’d never done anything like this before.

“Well…the night time was interesting,” Michelle said. “It was just Dex and me and…”

Natalie’s eyes went wide. “Ooooh! Don’t stop now! Tell me everything!”

Michelle gave a light smile. “We had sex. Outside!”

Natalie nodded. “Hot. And very nature-esque of you.”

“I’ve never done anything like this. I know Dex has.”

Natalie scoffed. “Yeah, he has. I think one night at a time is all he does actually.”

That made Michelle’s heart stutter, and Natalie must have sensed what was happening, because she suddenly backtracked.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I just mean that I know Dex. We went to school together, and he has that bad-boy reputation that all the girls like. Problem is, he knows it.”

Yeah, Michelle figured that. “He’s confident,” she admitted. And capable, dominant, and fun, and sexy, and…fun.

“Do you like him?”

“Not really,” Michelle said. “I mean, yes, in some ways. But he irritates me like no one ever has.” And he wanted six more hours with her. Hours she was fighting against, because seeing him once was one thing, but multiple times? No, that was too easy to develop things like feelings, expectations, commitment. Even a six hour commitment to him would be too much. She could barely keep her panties on as it was in a single encounter with the man.

“That’s Dex. He’ll push your buttons. But he’s a good guy deep down.”

Michelle knew that. He’d played a nasty trick on her, but he was thinking of her comfort at some point. If she had wanted to throw in the towel early last night, the outpost had been right there, and he’d kept her safe and praised her willpower. But as much as that made her kind of happy, it also made her kind of pissed. She had tried last night. Done the training and ruined her favorite shoes trying to be adventurous and survive. But he’d walked her in circles, so maybe, deep down, he didn’t think she had it in her to execute her goals.

Oh, she could execute!

Part of her wanted to show him just how well she could hang on for the ride. But it was better to stay away. Tying herself to one man, six hours or not, was against her independence policy.

“It’s not fair that he looks even better in the morning,” Michelle mumbled.

Natalie piqued. “Oh, so you saw him this morning, huh?”

“Yeah, he came over.”

“That is interesting.”

“Why?”

Natalie shrugged. “Never knew Dex to chase anyone.”

“Oh, he wasn’t chasing me. He was demanding I spend six hours with him.”

Natalie smiled. “Uh-huh. So he didn’t chase you to your doorstep after you ditched him, only to demand you spend more time with him? Yeah…the guy clearly hates you.”

Okay, Natalie was being sarcastic. And yeah, she got it, but no, Dex didn’t like her.