“I’m not talking to you,” she grumbles groggily, shoving me away and flipping onto her side. I scowl at her lace-covered arse and slap it hard, pulling her back and pinning her down. “That hurt!”

I grin at her. She’s confused, wondering why I’m smiling and not puffing like a raging bull. Not today. Today is going to be so perfect that leaving me will be unthinkable. “Now,” I start, spelling it out for her. “Today can go one of two ways. You can stop being unreasonable and we’ll have a lovely day together, or you can continue being a defiant little temptress and I’ll be forced to handcuff you to the bed and dig you in your tickle spot until you lose consciousness.” God, I’d love to tickle her stupid, just to hear her chuckles. But I’m hoping she’ll opt for option one without fuss. “What’s it to be, baby?” I dazzle her with my megawatt smile while she thinks, still clearly confused. Then she brings her face closer, and everything inside tingles. Yes, I’ll take a kiss in answer.

“Fuck . . . off,” she snarls, and my face drops like a rock.

“Watch your fucking mouth.”

“No! What the hell are you doing having doormen advise you of my movements?”

I sigh and drop my head. I have to try and explain with words rather than actions. “Ava, I just want to make sure you’re safe. I worry, that’s all.”

“I’m twenty-six years old, Jesse.”

Yes, and that’s part of my problem. I’m hot, I know I’m hot, but I’m far from in my mid-twenties anymore. There are plenty of eligible bachelors who are, though, all with clean pasts and no demons, and they’re waiting on the sidelines ready to whisk her off her feet. And in that dress? “Why did you wear that dress?”

“To piss you off,” she snarls, fighting my hold of her. And there we have it. Pure and utter irrational behavior.

“But you thought you weren’t going to see me.”

“It’s the principle.”

Principle? Fuck that. It’s nothing but stupidity. I hope she realizes it now, and if she doesn’t, I’ll happily shred all ridiculous dresses until she does.

“You owe me a dress,” she mutters, and I smile, knocking her back a little.

“We’ll put it on our list of things to do today,” I say. I’ll buy her a million dresses, all beautiful, all expensive.

All below the knee.

But she’ll be stunning in them, and I’ll preserve my sanity.

The scowl that hits me is impressive. Then she rolls her hips up into my groin, and I fall apart on the inside. There she is. This mid-twenties woman who can’t resist this man who’s knocking on forty.