With the exception of his lips, no part of his body touched hers. There was something intensely erotic about it—and, she was forced to admit, something intensely Spencer about it. She felt the same way whenever he buttoned his cuffs back up or stood just out of reach. His restraint was almost more intoxicating than his touch. It was as though he knew he had the power to break her, but he wouldn’t.

Not yet.

He tasted of the cookies his mom had baked for the boys, light and sweet and a little bit chalky. It was such an innocent way for a man to taste—and in the place where he’d grown up—that she couldn’t help smiling against his mouth.

“Well, that was very obedient of you,” she murmured. “Do you know any other tricks?”

“I know enough,” he said, his voice ragged. She wasn’t sure if it was the kiss or the dog reference that caused that sharp edge, but she liked it either way. This was the sound of a man who let no challenge go untested, who treated Ruby as his equal in his resolve to get the better of her.

“You told me nothing I did would move you,” she pointed out. “‘I’m determined not to let you get to me today.’ Those were your exact words.”

His defense was a simple and powerful one. “You said ‘please.’”

Not unsurprisingly, this response set her pulse alight. It was true. She’d asked him to kiss her, and he had—deeply and thoroughly and with so much intensity that her knees started to buckle. How had she not realized it before? Spencer wasn’t a man who required a green light or danger word to get started. There was no need to play games and throw porcupines into the ring. Even the thrill of competition was an unnecessary burden.

With this man, all she had to do was ask.

Twining her arms around his neck, she pulled Spencer in for another kiss. This one was her doing and hers to control, deep and unrelenting, not just their mouths but their bodies entwined. She couldn’t get close enough to him, her legs entangled with his and her hands curling in his hair. If it had been possible to climb him, she’d have done it, curling up in his arms and refusing to leave until all her desires had been sated.