Page 38 of Puck My Life

“You want another kiss?” Her voice is hoarse.

“I’ve had one of those.”

“Well, what do you want? Deacon, this isn’t right.”

“Ah, but I think it’s perfectly right.” I inch closer, taking in the red in her cheeks, the way her lips part just a little bit.

“Pan,” she murmurs my nickname in an almost desperate attempt to recall me.

But I am recalled. I know exactly what I’m doing.

“I want something more than a kiss.” My whisper fans over her lips because we are so close.

“No.”

“All right then.”

I step back and pull my phone up, quickly sending off a group text party invite.

She snarls and turns away from me, fury in every line of her body. I stand there leaning against the cupboard, watching her until she stalks off.

“I can cancel it.”

She stops in the doorway. “What do you want?”

“Play a game with me.”

She shudders. “What kind of game?”

“The kind where whoever loses…has to face the consequences.”

“What are the consequences?” She sounds like she might scream, but I know her too well. Deep down inside, she wants to play just as much as I do.

I slide my hands around her waist and rest them there. “Just a small thing. An item of clothing.”

“I am not playing strip anything with you.”

“Why not? What have you got to hide?”

She exhales roughly. “What about your girlfriend?”

“Indy and the pack were never exclusive, and I told you yesterday at the shops that we ended it.”

“Oh, that makes it so much better.” Her sarcasm only amuses me.

She grabs my hands in a fierce little hold and shoves them off her. I allow her to, instead leaning in so my chest grazes her upper shoulders.

“In or out, Hook?”

She snarls, a fierce, sexy little growl that has me wondering why I never saw this side of her before.

It was Malcolm’s fault. I’d felt a little pulse of jealousy seeing her in Raynor’s room and been annoyed with him for changing things.

But it wasn’t until that conversation at the kitchen table that I started really looking at why Hook all of a sudden wanted to leave. Love, a pack, a baby. Then there was the kiss, then her kiss with Mal. She’s started something she can’t undo now.

Hmm. All of those things are things I had no desire to have. What I really want is for things to stay exactly the same, and that means she’s not allowed to leave.

“Fine. Cancel the party, and I’ll play your game.”