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keep from throwing her over his shoulder and carrying her off to
his cave.
    Except for one explosive kiss the day he’d asked her to the
prom, he hadn’t touched her back in high school. She’d been so innocent…because
of her overprotective mother, she’d never even been on a date. He, on the other
hand, had slept with a dozen girls, all of them as experienced as he was.
    Kali’s innocence had been oddly intimidating, as though
contact with him might sully her somehow. For months he’d resisted his desire
for her and tried to be satisfied with friendship, since he knew she wasn’t
ready for more.
    It had almost killed him. Just like sitting beside her was
killing him now.
    But he wasn’t a kid anymore, and neither was she.
    He took a deep breath. “I dare you to sit without moving or
speaking for ten minutes.”
    She sat back in surprise. “That’s it?” She thought about it
for a moment. “I suppose that’s your snide way of telling me I do talk too
much. Well, fine.”
    She grabbed her purse and pulled her cell phone out of it.
After a puzzled moment he realized she was programming her alarm to ring after
ten minutes, and in spite of the tension vibrating through him, he had to
smile. She’d give him ten minutes to the second and no more.
    It would be enough.
    She set the phone on the table and turned her eyes back to
the front of the room, her arms folded across her chest and a sour expression
on her face.
    They’d moved their chairs closer to each other over the last
few minutes, and her right leg was only inches away. The thought of her soft,
bare skin made his palms tingle, and the anticipation was so sweet that he made
himself wait a few extra seconds, just to prove to himself that he could.
    Then, under the cover of the tablecloth, he put his hand on
her thigh.

 

Chapter Four
    Kali jerked her leg away in outrage, only just stopping
herself from saying something out loud.
    But she managed to stay silent. Did he think he could win
the game that easily? Well, he could forget it. She was made of tougher stuff
than Luke Tanner realized. She wasn’t an innocent schoolgirl now, who could be
overwhelmed by a simple touch.
    Luke’s eyes, like hers, had been trained on the speaker. Now
he turned his head to look at her, and something in his intense, predatory gaze
made her go still, as if she were a mouse in the shadow of a hawk’s wings.
    He didn’t say a word, but his eyes stayed on hers as he
found her leg again.
    The big hand circling her thigh was blatantly possessive.
When she tried to pull away again he gripped her harder, tighter.
    And then, finally, she understood.
    This
was the dare. She had to sit here for ten
minutes while he…what? Exactly how far was he planning to take this?
    She stared at him, her expression stony, and he looked back
at her. He seemed cool and detached, his blue eyes giving nothing away. His
face had never looked more handsome or more remote.
    Then his fingers moved, softly, massaging the muscles just
above her knee.
    And one corner of his mouth rose half an inch.
    He was taunting her. He didn’t think she would last ten
minutes. He thought she’d give up without a fight.
    And suddenly, the only thing that mattered was proving him
wrong. Proving that his touch wouldn’t affect her in the least. That his
vaunted sexual power could work on every woman in the world except for her.
    So she gave an impatient sigh, as though she were bored.
Then she settled back in her chair with her eyes once again fixed on the
network VP, who was droning on now about social media and viral marketing and
God knew what else.
    She felt Luke’s gaze on her for a moment longer. Then, out
of the corner of her eye, she watched him turn his head to face the speaker
again. She breathed a quick sigh of relief and tried to ignore the waves of
pleasure that had begun to radiate from his palm on her bare skin.
    Her relief was soon over. Because now his hand slipped under
her dress and started to move