She wanted that. She wanted him.

All she had to do was push him over the edge he was obviously teetering on. “Go ahead.” Alexis dragged her nails over his jaw as she slid off his lap. “Call my bluff.”

When he just sat on the stool, seeming to consider, a wave of apprehension rolled through her. Had she misjudged the whole situation? Embarrassment beat in time with her heart, scalding her skin. She took another step away, testing him, but he didn’t move. Was he really going to let her walk out of here? The Old Alexis tried to surface, to do something to relieve the tension strung between them so tightly she could almost see it.

No. I’m not going to beg him to want me. I refuse to.

She lifted her chin and grabbed her pack off the floor. Pride might be the only thing she had left to herself, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to sacrifice it now, to some man who meant less than nothing. She hadn’t survived everything she had to break now.

With one last look at the still-unmoving Luke, she shook her head and started for the front door, refusing to glance over her shoulder. Over the years, she’d learned the hard way that looking back at what could have been was the best way to break her own heart. She’d duck around the corner and make her way back to the hostel and…take a cold shower or something. She most definitely wasn’t hurt enough by his rejection to cry. That would be downright pathetic.

She barely made it out the door when she felt his presence at her back, unmistakable despite their minuscule time spent together. “Going somewhere?”

I wasn’t wrong.

When was the last time her instincts had actually been correct? She couldn’t remember and was grinning too hard to care. This was confirmation that the trip was the right answer. Two days, and she was already reclaiming a little piece of herself.

The night wasn’t over yet. Forcing a disinterested expression onto her face, she turned around. God, he was magnificent. Tall and lean and glowering down at her like she’d gone and kicked his puppy. He wanted her, and he just as obviously didn’t like that, and hell if that didn’t make her whole night. She raised her eyebrows, unable to help poking at him. “I hear there’s a place down the street where the local football team hangs out.”

His brows slanted down, sending a delicious thrill through her. “You’re testing my patience.”

What is he waiting for? He was like a big, mean grizzly bear, and she had to be insane to want to go to bed with him. But she did. She wanted it more than she’d wanted anything in a very long time. What will it take to push him over the edge? Maybe she needed a really sharp stick. Obviously the thought of her jaunting off with another man—or multiple men—bothered him, so she’d just run with that. She shrugged. “You bought me a beer. I’m no longer your concern. Have a nice night.”

Alexis got three steps before Luke swept her into his arms and tossed her over his shoulder. Her heavy backpack flopped down and smacked her in the back of the head. “What the hell?”

“You think I’m going to let some crazy soccer player strip you out of those jeans and taste you when you’re wet for me? Not fucking likely, darlin’.”

Yes. She grinned against his back, though she put as much snarl into her voice as she could. “Then stop running your mouth and actually do something about it.”

Whatever intentions Luke had upon meeting Alexis had burned up in the attraction that flamed up between them. She thought she could just walk away and let some other man between those sweet thighs when they were shaking for him? The very idea made his blood pressure rise dangerously. She wanted him. She’d been all but begging for it when she was in his lap.

The time for hesitation was long gone. He turned his head to the side and sank his teeth into her ass, just hard enough to make her squirm. “Are you listening, darlin’?”

“Yes, goddamn it. Put me down and let me walk.”

So she could walk away from him again? He tightened his grip, feeling like a man possessed. Reason reared its ugly head to point out he was carting around a woman he barely knew in a foreign city. Damn it. As much as he wanted to haul her back to his room and follow through on the promise of their kiss, the local authorities might label that kidnapping. She might have given him what he considered a green light—several, in fact—but it paid to be extremely clear in this scenario. With a growl, he set her on her feet. Alexis looked flushed and she was breathing heavily, but he needed more than that to move forward. He needed her words. “What do you want?”

“Why do you keep asking me that?” She pushed at his chest, her hair falling into her eyes. “Stop gloating and take me to bed.”

Couldn’t get much clearer than that. “It’s not going to be nice, and it’s not going to be sweet. If you want romance, you’ve got the wrong fucking man.”

“No, really?” She glared at him, but her desire was written all over her face. “You’re wasting both our time right now.”

There wasn’t much more he could do—except walk away. And that was the one thing he sure as hell wasn’t going to do. He nodded once. “Come on.” Luke took her hand and dragged her down the street, each step spiking the need and jealousy tangling in his system. These goddamn Irish guys would love to get their hands on a woman like this. Hell, the tourists in town would, too. And she was just going to waltz off and give away what should be his? A little voice whispered that he had no goddamn business thinking like that, but he told it to shut the fuck up.

He needed Alexis naked and in his bed, and he needed it now.

She stayed silent as they crossed the river, though her breath puffed out in the chilly night in her effort to keep up with him. His knee groaned in agony with each step, still not recovered from the combination of earlier hike and assault. Luke took a deep breath and forced himself to slow his pace. “Do you know what I’m going to do to you when I get you upstairs?”

“Tell me.” No hesitation, no waffling, no threatening to go elsewhere.

It should have calmed him down a little. Instead, it only served to push him closer to the edge that was his hold on control. “After I get you out of those clothes, I’m going to sit you in my lap facing the mirror so you can see exactly who is driving you out of your mind. Those magnificent breasts of yours are practically begging for my attention, so I’ll start there.” The words felt forced out of him. He wanted to mark her, brand her, until she was as consumed with him as he was with her. “Then I’m going to spread those sweet thighs of yours and stroke you until you’re begging for release.”

“What if I don’t beg?”

“Trust me, darlin’, when I’m done with you, you’re going to be on your knees and begging for my cock to fill your tight little pussy.” A sound suspiciously close to a whimper came out of her, but when he looked back, she had that unflappable expression on her face that he was already starting to resent. Luke stopped walking and pulled her into his arms. “Don’t believe me?”

She licked her lips and pressed against the front of his body. Christ, how was he supposed to make it back to the hotel with her body fitting so perfectly against his? Alexis slid her hand up his chest. “All I’m hearing is a lot of talk. Put your money where your mouth is.”

Even as a small part of him admired her refusing to be railroaded, he wanted to curse her for not feeling as frantic as him. Luke grabbed her ass, using his hold to lift her until she pressed against his hard length. “Careful there, darlin’, or I’m going to put my mouth on you right here.” Her breath caught, and he allowed himself to grind on her one last time before he set her back on her feet. “We’re almost there.”

He focused on getting up to his room before he gave in to her challenge and put his money exactly where his mouth was. Who knew that all it took to drive him out of his damn mind was to have a woman who refused to pull her punches? She hadn’t held back since she met him, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to hold back now.