Get a Clue

nads, she didn't care; she was going to take him down. Now.

But he just laughed low in his throat, and then again when she struggled to karate-chop him with her legs caught together by her own jeans. Laughed, as he crouched beside her, a big hand on either of her thighs and said, 'Give in, Princess.'

'I never give in.'

Holding her down with ease, he reached for the fallen vibrator, lifting it up. The obnoxious thing still glowed neon-pink. 'Never say never.' Then he grinned at her in the firelight, looking just like the devil must look in the dead of winter with no one to torture. 'This thing keeps showing up. Maybe you should claim it.'

'It's not mine!'

'I don't know… earlier you were gripping it like it was your long-lost best friend.' With a flick of his wrist, he turned it on.

The low hum filled the air, and with it came a buzzing in Breanne's ear-the sound of her brain coming to boiling point.

'Ready for use,' Cooper said, suggestively waggling it in her face.

'Good.' She struggled to get free, trying not to think about the picture she was presenting him with. 'You can shove it up your-'

'Oh, no,' he said. 'Ladies first.' He dropped the thing to the couch next to her, where it rumbled against the soft, buttery leather while he slid his hands down her legs to the jeans pooled between her knees.

'Don't even think about it,' she choked out.

But he wasn't only thinking about it, he was doing it, fisting his fingers into the wet denim and yanking them past her knees to her ankles, where they caught on her boots.

His gaze met hers, intense and raw, and along with it a heart-stopping heat.

Did he have to pack such a sexual energy? She felt her entire body clench with a punch of shocking yearning.

'High-heeled boots,' he murmured. 'Ever so practical out here.'

She stared down at the top of his head as he worked on stripping her. Her little triangle of white satin had not only slipped sideways, it was now riding up into parts unknown. She'd had a bikini wax two days ago-again for the rat bastard Dean-and judging from the very soft, very rough sound that escaped Cooper at her movements, he'd caught an eyeful up close and personal. 'If I wasn't so tired,' she murmured, sagging back, suddenly exhausted, 'I'd kick your ass.'

'Next time,' he said, trying to untie her boots. The laces were iced. 'I guess you were all prettied up for the honeymoon.'

No. She'd prettied up for herself, to feel sexy, but she was not going to argue with a man when her pants were around her ankles; when she had a vibrator bouncing on the couch next to her, taunting her; when she had bigger worries, such as her panties, and what they still weren't covering. Shoving the sweatshirt down as far as she could, which was to the tops of her thighs, she leaned forward to hurry the process along.

While she worked on one boot, Cooper continued to work on the other, his fingers managing to work faster and far more efficiently than hers. His bowed head was close enough to her thighs that he could have lifted his head and drunk his fill, but he kept his gaze on her boot, pulling it off, pushing her hands aside, then removing her other as well. Finally he hooked his hands into her jeans again and peeled them away. Her legs were pink and mottled from the cold, and when his knuckles brushed against her, she flinched. Without a word he stood, I ›nce again turning his back to her, staring into the fire, looking a little more tense than he had a moment ago.

'A little late now,' she muttered, pulling on the sweat bottoms.

He didn't respond to that.

'Done,' she said, and stood.

Only then did he turn back to face her, his gaze sweeping from top to bottom, taking in the way his sweats looked on her. The only sign of strain was a tic in his jaw. 'You want the couch in front of the warm fire?' he asked. 'Or the cold honeymoon suite? We can start you a fire there.'

She couldn't concentrate with the vibrator continuing to hum and jump on the couch, but she knew she didn't want to go further into the depths of the dark house. With an annoyed sound, she reached for the vibrator, desperate to turn it off.

Cooper beat her to it, turning it off himself before handing it back. 'Keep it. You never know when you might need a friend.'

She rolled her eyes, but the thing provided a tiny bit of light so she grabbed it. Plus, given that she was off men, it might be sooner than later before she'd need a friend of the battery-operated variety.

''Night,' he said with an irritating, knowing smile. He began to walk away.

'Wait!' When he turned back to her, she had to come up with something to say. 'We… can't both really stay here.'

He just raised a brow.

'And I think you should be the one to leave,' she said, lifting her chin.

'Why me?'

“You said it yourself-I had a bad day.'

'Hell, Princess, I've had a bad year, and you don't see me whining about it.'

She wondered how bad was bad, and if it could possibly match hers.

'You want to trudge out in the snow and try to get into town?' he asked.

With the coyotes, bears, and God knew what else? 'No. I thought…'

'That I'd do it.' He shook his head. 'I was here first.'

'That's gentlemanly.'

He laughed. 'Yeah, well, you're not stuck out here in the middle of nowhere, in the storm of the century, with any sort of gentleman.'

For some insane reason, that caused another flicker of heat to spiral through her.

Which proved it, really. She had lost her mind.

'We both know the roads are closed by now,' he said. 'And I for one am not snowshoeing into town. In fact, I'm not going anywhere.'

'This is not how it was supposed to be,' she said softly.

'No kidding. But shit happens, and we deal with it. Now are you going to pick a spot, or am I?'

There weren't many people who'd argued with her. Not her four older brothers, or the father she'd long ago wrapped around her finger. Fact was, she'd been getting her way since birth.

Aside from her family, the other men in her life had also let her get away with just about anything. Her first fiance, Barry, had spoiled her rotten. Even Dean, King of Rat Bastards- whom she hoped had choked on his own tongue-had never so much as crossed opinions with her, but that was probably because he'd been too busy.

So the fact that this strange man was not only quarreling with her, but telling her how things were going to be, surprised her into momentary silence.

'Nightie-night, Princess,' he said.

She looked around and once again panicked at the thought of being alone. Damn him, but he truly was the lesser of two evils. 'Wait!'

He turned back, propping up the doorway with a shoulder as if he didn't have a care. 'Yeah?'

She opened her mouth, but her pride ran away with her good sense. 'Nothing.' She casually dropped to the couch but something must have given her away, whether it was the sudden panic pumping her heart loud enough to wake the dead, or the renewed tension that gripped her body, because he sighed. 'Are you going to be okay?'

Was she? She wished she knew. Alone, she'd go back to obsessing about spiders and coyotes and bears, but if he stayed, she'd have new things to obsess about…

Still, he'd stuck by her side, even helped her when she'd needed it, and hadn't once thrown it in her face as any