She took a deep breath, but it went in shaky. Like she’d run for her life. Hell, maybe she had. The poor rodeo clown received a full-on bitch slap when he tried to hold her hand in public. The look of horror he gave her still stuck in her mind. But Nik had been all over her and she didn’t care.

In fact, she still didn’t care. The only thing she cared about was that goddamn thumping.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Really, who knew a clit could make that kind of racket? Christ, could the neighbors hear?

Could his mother?

A soft knock at the door almost had her diving out the window.

“Angie, Sugar. Open the door.”

She almost screamed, “Are you fuckin’ nuts?” But, instead, she took another shaky deep breath, pulling the door open.

The hillbilly stood there. A brown blanket wrapped around his hips.

“Can I come in?”

She was staying in his house and he was asking her if he could come in.

Only in the South.

Angie nodded, not sure if she could create an intelligent sentence if she decided to speak, and stepped away from the door. She went and sat down on her bed, then jumped back up again.

Sitting on bed… not good.

Nik closed the door and slowly walked over to her. When she stepped back, he stopped.

“You okay?”

She finally spoke, unable to hold it in any longer. “In less than twenty-four hours, your mother has seen me break a man’s nose, hit him with a chair, and molest her son. No, I’m not okay.”

Grinning, he took a step toward her. She jumped back, slamming into the bed. She held her arm up. “Stay!”

He laughed. “Aw, Sugar. That only works with dogs.” Then he was right there. Right in front of her. She put her hands down at her sides to prevent herself from rubbing that amazing body all over.

“It’s not a big deal. Really. My momma don’t care.”

“I do. That woman probably thinks I’m a whore. A dangerous, psychotic whore.”

“Naw. Daddy has twenty-eight stitches where momma mauled him one time. Trust me. In my family, this is nothin’.”

***

He couldn’t believe how beautiful this woman was. She wore no makeup, her thick hair still damp and tangled from their roll on the floor, her clothes a simple T-shirt and shorts. Yet to him she was ten times more beautiful than she had been the night before when she’d gotten all fancy. At some point, he’d tell her never to wear makeup again. She didn’t need it. It actually stole some of her natural beauty. And she was a natural.

One of his hands held the blanket. The other reached up to touch her face. She took another step back. Or, at least, she tried to. But the bed got in her way.

Nik waited until she stopped moving, and he lightly touched her cheek. To his surprise, shedidn’t swat him away this time. Instead, she closed her eyes and made that sexy little whimpering sound.

“Okay.” Her eyes snapped open and focused on him. “Let’s get this over with.”

“Get what over with?”

“You. Me. Let’s just fuck and get it over with.”

She had to be the most entertaining female he’d ever met in his damn life. Where the hell had she been hidin’? Were all the women in Texas like this?

“What?”

“Look, Hillbilly, I want you. You want me. Let’s just bang this out and go on about our day.”

Nik shook his head slowly, “No.”

She frowned, then nodded in understanding. “I see. You don’t want me.”

“Sugar, you must be kidding.” He grabbed her hand and wrapped it around his cock, the blanket the only thing between them. “Feel that? You did that. You keep doin’ that to me.”

“Oh.” She stared down at where her hand connected with his body. Then those beautiful brown eyes snapped up to his. “So what’s the problem?”

“There will be no banging out anything.” He stepped even closer to her. “When we do this…and we will do this…I don’t plan to rush a goddamn thing. We’re not something to ‘get over with.’ ”

She stared up at him, brown eyes wide, “We’re not?”

Since she seemed quite content to keep a healthy hold on his growing erection, he moved his hand back up to her cheek. He brushed the smooth skin with the tips of his fingers…and she let him.

“Nope. We’re not. We’re going to take this slow and easy, Sugar.”

“We are?”

He pressed his body against hers, her hand caught between them. “Oh, yeah. We are.”

“Why?”

And she meant it. She had no idea why he wouldn’t just throw her down on the bed, come, and go on about his day. But he had no intention of rushing anything where Angelina Santiago was concerned. This was a woman you savored. Enjoyed. Fucked. Hard, long, and as often as possible.

No. She’d have to forget about “banging out” anything.

He had other plans. Bigger plans. And they all involved her coming all over him.

“Because, Sugar… you make me purr.”

***

She had men say many things to her over the years. Some nice. Some sweet. Some thoroughly disgusting. But no one had ever told her she made them purr. And she never knew it would have the kind of effect on her it did.

Angie wrapped her hand tight around his cock and squeezed. Nik closed his eyes, leaning down until his forehead rested against hers.

“Damn, darlin’. That was just mean.”