House of Payne: Rude by Stacy Gail Page A

like he’d teleported her there.
    “There.” He sounded satisfied in a manly sort of way while his hand steadied hers as it held her coffee. To her amazement, not one drop had been spilled. “Problem solved, and you got what you wanted. You’re sitting right here .”
    He bobbed his knees up and down for emphasis.
    “We’re in public,” she hissed, mortified and more than a little flustered to find her booty planted snugly in his lap. The body heat that poured off of him radiated through the fabric separating their bodies, and it flowed into her bloodstream like a narcotic. If she didn’t get off of him soon, she feared she’d find him as addictive as he claimed she was. “You cannot Chuck-Norris judo-flip people onto your lap in public. Or in private, for that matter, now that I think about it. I’m sure it’s a law.”
    “Chuck Norris wishes he had my moves, and I didn’t judo-flip you. I merely helped you get where you wanted to go.” Before she knew what he was going to do, he took her cup and sampled it, before wrinkling his nose. “Shit, Sassy, you sweetened it.”
    “Of course I sweetened it. It was so strong it was threatening to crawl out of the cup and challenge me to a cage match.” Then she blinked, realizing she was back to using wrestling analogies. She also realized she was making it easy for him to keep her there. Somehow her arm had gotten looped around his neck for stability, and her hip was now resting against his crotch in a surprisingly comfortable position. She took note of these points, just as she took note of how well they fit together, when she should have been snapping to her feet and heading to the car in a snit.
    And she would. In a minute. When this stopped feeling so warm and cozy, she’d get on that whole snit thing. Really.
    “And I know we’re in public.” His voice dropped to a low rumble for her ears alone, and the sound of it was so velvety smooth she had to work extra hard to not shiver in response. “So obviously you’ve got to know you’re perfectly safe.”
    “Safe?” What an odd word. Was she ever safe when he was near?
    She almost snorted. Yeah, no.
    “Mm-hm, safe. The only reason you’re still sitting on my lap like a warm bundle of temptation is because deep down you know I’m going to act like the gentleman you say I’m not.” He set her coffee next to his on the table, then pulled her deeper into the cradle of his lap, with one hand resting on her knee, the other coming to rub slowly up and down her back. “Being in public like this with you prevents me from being ungentlemanly.”
    “What ungentlemanly thing would you do if we weren’t in public?” Then she bit her lip, horrified. That hadn’t been what she wanted to say at all.
    His eyes heated in that hungry, avid way she refused to admit she was beginning to like. “What an unexpected and provocative question, Sass. You sure you want the answer?”
    He wasn’t her type. He was aggressively masculine. She could never control him they way she controlled the men in her life. He’d hated her when they were kids. He had to be playing her now.
    She knew all of this. So it made no sense at all when she heard herself say, “Yes.”
    Something fierce and wild unleashed in his eyes, and it took her a second to recognize it.
    Triumph.
    “I would run the hand I have at your back down to cup your ass to see if it feels as perfect as it looks. I would take my other hand and slide it up your thigh, just to see how far you’d let me go. How far do you think that would be, Sass?”
    She couldn’t find the strength to untangle her gaze from his. “Um…”
    As she watched, the faint lines around his eyes crinkled. “Between you and me, I’m thinking I could get pretty far. And if you were really in the mood to take a risk, I’d undo the button of your jeans and that teeny little zipper I haven’t been able to keep my eyes off of. I’d get everything nice and loose so I could get my fingers