NAUGHTY BUT NICE Read online

  "Questions?"

  All of which had been met with resistance so far, but he was a patient man. He had this wild, incredible woman alone on the beach with nothing but the water for company, and he was just smart enough to take advantage of it. "You're not afraid of a few questions, are you, Cassie?"

  "What about the strip part of the strip poker?"

  "If it suits you."

  "It's going to suit you." She gestured to her cards. "I'll take two."

  "Me, too."

  She accepted her cards then fanned them out and showed him a straight. Keeping his gaze locked on hers, he tossed his cards away and peeled off his uniform shirt.

  Her eyes flared as his bare chest came into view, and she made no attempt to hide the way she looked him over. "You're in pretty good shape," she murmured. "Considering."

  "Considering?"

  "Your age."

  He barely managed not to sputter. "I'm hardly over the hill at thirty-two."

  "Maybe not, but studies do prove you are a decade past your prime. But I wouldn't worry too much…" Again her eyes went on a little tour. He wondered if she'd notice he was hard as a rock. "You seem to be holding up. Deal the cards."

  Oh, he'd deal. "Holding?" he asked sweetly. He had a full house.

  She laughed and slapped down one card. "Hit me once, but don't hold on to your pants, cowboy. It's nearly over for you."

  "All talk, Cassie," he said softly, letting out a husky laugh when she shot him a saucy look.

  "We already proved I'm not all talk," she reminded him, her voice just as soft. "Or do you need another lesson?"

  He dealt her another card and waited while she lifted a sly eyebrow, cocky as hell, so damned beautiful it almost hurt to look at her. "Isn't that something," he murmured.

  Distracted with her cards, she didn't look up. "What?"

  "You look amazing when you smile for real."

  Her smile started to fade and he put a finger to her lips and shook his head. "Don't stop," he whispered. "I'm sorry."

  "Don't be sorry," she said, fanning out her cards for him to see. "Just be naked."

  She had two pairs. Studying them, he nodded seriously, then exposed his cards.

  "Cheater," she said to his full house.

  "You know I didn't cheat."

  "Yeah. Damn it." A huff escaped her, and she was still shaking her head when she looked into his eyes and brought her fingers up to the knot beneath her breasts. The three buttons came next, leaving the white gauze open but still covering her breasts. "Lucky hand." With a shrug, the material slipped off her shoulders. For a moment she held her hands over her breasts, then dropped them to her lap.

  The blouse fell away, and since she wore nothing beneath it but glorious, generous curves, Tag sucked in a careful breath. "You … have to answer a question now."

  "I can't believe you're going to stick to that."

  "Yeah." Her breasts were white and creamy, standing out in comparison to the rest of her tanned torso. More than anything he wanted to touch. To lean in and nibble. If he kept thinking along those lines, his pants were going to cut off his circulation. "Give me a sec, I'm having a bit of trouble thinking."

  Her nipples slowly hardened.

  He swallowed hard and forced his gaze above her chin, remembering he'd done this for a reason. "Why do you hate that I'm a cop? Truth."

  She looked away. "I'd rather take a dare."

  "You going to welsh on me?"

  Her eyes flashed hot. "It's no big mystery, really."

  "Then tell me."

  She wrapped one arm around her bent knees, hunched over—blocking him from the incredible view of her breasts—and started drawing in the sand. "You might remember, I didn't exactly have the most conventional of childhoods."

  Not with a mother who'd switched relationships like some switch shoes. Not with an entire town watching, waiting for her to fall on her face. "I remember."

  "You might also remember, my mother was—is—fond of men. We had a lot of them around. For the most part, I hated them all. They were weak and malleable. Led around by their egos. Except one. I thought he was different." Her face hardened. "Turns out he was just like all the other penis-carrying humans. On prom night, he…" She closed her eyes. "He proved it. Asshole."

  "And he was a cop?"

  "Yeah."

  God. Prom night… "Weren't you with Biff?"

  Her eyes shuttered and he shook his head. "No, don't clam up, I never believed those stories he's so fond of telling."

  "Let's just say Biff wasn't the problem that night."

  She'd been seventeen. Underage. Tag's gut twisted. "What exactly happened?"

  "Probably nothing as bad as you're thinking. Let's just say we disagreed on what I was willing to put out, so to speak."

  "Did he hurt you?"

  "No."

  Not physically at least. "Cassie."

  Another shrug. "You know, to be fair to him, I did have quite the reputation. Being a Tremaine and all. It was no big deal."

  She'd been a minor, with someone she'd trusted, when trust had not come easy, and that cop had destroyed that trust. Fury bubbled, but she was looking at him with eyes that dared him to offer sympathy. "We going to play or what?"

  Reaching out, he stroked her cheek. "I'm sorry, Cassie."

  "Water under the bridge."

  "No, it's not."

  She let out a little laugh. "I know, a shrink would have a field day that I still hate a uniform. Sue me." She grabbed the cards, shuffled and started dealing. "Anyway. End of story."

  Hell if it was. "Who was it?"

  "That's another question, and…" She looked over her cards. "You'll have to win first. Which I don't plan on letting you do." She showed him her three queens. "What do you have?"

  A damn pair of twos. He turned his hand to show her.

  "Bummer." Her gaze was glued to his body as he stood up and unzipped his pants. When he kicked them off and tossed them to where his shoes, socks and shirt already lay, she grinned. "I have to give it to you, Sheriff. You're a man of your word."

  And that appealed to her, he could see that. With his uniform gone, she'd warmed up toward him, in a way that was warming him up, as well.

  She'd sat back, resting her weight on her palms behind her. Beneath the glow of the stars, her bare breasts were offered up like a feast. "You're also a man with the most incredible physique." Leaning over, she ran a hand down his chest, swirled it around his belly button, then toyed with the elastic edging of his dark blue knit boxers.

  He was already hard. He knew she was trying to seduce him to deflect more questions, and if she hadn't been so incredibly sexy, it might have been infuriating. As it was, he didn't have enough blood left in his brain to be infuriated. "Cassie—"

  "My turn for a question," she said softly, her finger just barely under the edge of his shorts. A fraction of an inch more and she'd meet hard, hot flesh. "Ever been in love, Tag?"

  It was the last thing he expected her to ask. And with her finger now dipping into his shorts, he could hardly think. "Twice."

  Her eyes flickered. Disappointment? "Twice?"

  "Kelly May Johnson." Oh, yeah, definitely a flicker. Maybe even more.

  Interesting, very, very interesting. Enlightened, he took his own finger on a tour, too; ran it up her arm, watching her nipples pebble tighter. "She was so pretty. Dark hair, heart-shaped face, petite little thing." When his fingers ran over one soft shoulder and down her collarbone, she shivered, and slapped his hand away.

  "You asked," he reminded her, biting back his grin.

  "My mistake."

  He brought his finger back to her collarbone and very carefully traced the very top of her breasts. "I was in fifth grade." He laughed when she shot him a look. "She broke my heart at second recess when she left me for Tommy O'Mara."

  She grinned. "You were dumped." Her grin went shaky when his finger danced down, down … right between her breasts now.

  "And the second?