“Nah.” He watched her as she shrugged it over her shoulders, holding it tight to her body. “It’s a little small for me.”
“All of Cade’s clothing is a little small for you,” she told him, her gaze straying to the too-tight fitness club T-shirt he wore.
“Yeah. These jeans are seriously crushing my balls. I’m gonna be gelded before the weekend’s over.”
She got that weird look on her face that told him she was probably blushing in the moonlight, though it was too dark to tell. “Well, maybe you being gelded wouldn’t be such a bad thing,” she told him in that prim little voice, “considering your reputation.”
“I’d be depriving the world of greatness if that happened,” he drawled, enjoying when her posture got just a little stiffer.
“You have a very high opinion of yourself.”
“Someone should.”
“Yes, I suppose someone should,” she said, and gave a haughty little sniff.
Time to wipe that smugness from her face. “So, you ready to give me my kiss now?”
Even in the shadows, he couldn’t miss the withering glance she shot at him. “Do you know how much I hate you right now?”
“Don’t know, don’t much care, but I’m sure you’ll tell me.”
She was mutinously silent.
“It won’t be that bad,” he teased her, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning up against a nearby pier beam. “I’m told I’m quite a good kisser.”
“You do have quite the ego,” she muttered. “Did it ever occur to you that I don’t want to kiss you? That I’m not bowled over by your so-called charm?”
“Is it because you think you won’t be any good at it? Performance anxiety?”
She sputtered.
“That’s it, isn’t it? I can give you lessons, you know. So you’re good and ready by the time Cade pulls his head out of his ass.”
Audrey’s gritted teeth flashed in the moonlight. “I despise you.”
“So, lessons?”
“Not in your wildest dreams,” she bit out. “That wasn’t part of our negotiation. Our agreement was one kiss in exchange for your silence.”
He rubbed his chin as if pretending to consider this. “I’m pretty sure we didn’t give specifics.”
“We should have!”
Reese gestured at her. “Let’s set the groundwork, then. You tell me what you thought our kiss should entail and I’ll tell you what I thought, and we can meet in the middle.”
The look she gave him was wary, but hopeful, and she clutched the borrowed jacket tighter to her shoulders. “That sounds reasonable.”
“I’m a reasonable man.”
She snorted with disbelief, and he had to grin at that. Perhaps that stick wasn’t crammed so far up her ass after all.
“A kiss on the cheek,” she offered.
“Get real,” he told her. “We both know that wasn’t the bargain. I’m talking an honest to goodness kiss.”
“You didn’t specify where. I should get to choose where I’d want to put it, and I’m saying there.”
“Well, since we’re picking body parts out of the air, I’ll say that I want the kiss on the head of my cock.” At her outraged gasp, he continued blandly. “So I guess we can meet in the middle and settle on the mouth.”
“You’re despicable.”
“Yeah, yeah. You’re the one who started the bidding low, sweetheart. I had to go high to counter it.”
“I’m not your sweetheart! Fine. On the mouth. But no tongue!”
“Oh, there’ll be tongue,” he told her. “But if it’ll make you feel better, I’ll lead.”
“You’ll lead?” There it was again, that weird, half-startled, half-mortified look on her face that told him she was probably blushing again. “What do you mean by that?”
“I mean my tongue can do all the work. You can just let me be in charge of any tongue action.”
She shook her head again. “I’m pretty sure I didn’t agree to tongue.”
“It’s not a kiss if there’s no tongue.”
“Gee, you sure didn’t seem to be thinking that when you suggested I plant a kiss on your dick!”
He laughed, surprised and amused by her retort. He liked her, stiff shoulders and all. “Now now, how do you know I wasn’t referring to tongue?”
She made a choked sound of fury.
“Don’t distract me from our bargain,” he teased. “Let’s keep things on track here. How long?”
“How long, what?”
“How long should the kiss be?”
“I don’t have a timer!”
“Should you get one?” He gestured at the cabin up the hill. “I can go back to the house and tell Cade that we need one to make sure we get the kiss right—”
Her hands went to his chest, stopping him as he pretended to get up. “You’re not going anywhere.”
A smile tugged at his mouth. “Whatever you say.”
“I sincerely wish that were the case,” she told him pertly.
He laughed again. “So we agree to three minutes on the kiss?”
“Three seems like a long time.” She gave him a skeptical look. “I vote one.”
“Three.”
“We’re settling on two, then.” When he didn’t challenge that, she added, “What about hands?”
He raised an eyebrow at her. “You want to start the bidding on that one?”
“No thank you. I learned my lesson with the lips bargaining.” She put her hands on her hips, challenging him. “I just wanted to know where hands factored into this equation.”
Reese grinned. Quick learner. “I suppose we can leave hands off the table for now. Unless you object.”
“Hardly.” She contemplated for a moment, and then gave him a narrow-eyed look. “Did we leave anything out?”
“You tell me.” He was enjoying this far, far too much.
“I feel like if I miss something, you’re going to use it against me.”
He laughed. “Double entendre?”
“See, there you go again.”
“Hey, I’m ready whenever you are.” He gestured expansively. “Just waiting for you to get a move on.”