04 Naked Games by Anne Rainey

eyes lit up at the reminder. “How could I forget? I’ve been dying to see that 3-D movie since they started advertising it.”
    Gracie clapped her hands in front of her. “And we’re going to Genji’s restaurant for dinner afterward. I love their yum-yum sauce. I’m buying!”
    “Ha!” Catherine snorted. “We’ll see about that.”
    Dean tugged on her hand, and Catherine got the hint. He was anxious to leave. Anxious to be alone with her.
    Her heart sped up at the notion.
    After grabbing her purse and saying their good-byes, Catherine let Dean practically drag her out of the nightclub. When they reached his red four-wheel-drive truck, he unlocked it and held the door open for her. She took a chance and looked into his eyes. The heat she witnessed turned her on like nothing else, but it also sent a bolt of fear through her.
    “Here, let me help,” Dean murmured as he reached down and took hold of her waist to lift her onto the seat.
    Catherine could feel the heat of his touch clear through her dress. “Thanks.”
    His smile was pure sin. “Seat belt,” he gently ordered before slamming the door shut.
    Once they were on their way, Catherine decided to lay it all out on the line. “I’m not sure what I’m doing here,” she admitted. “I’m not even sure why I agreed to go back to your place with you.”
    He reached across the middle console and took hold of her hand. “Aren’t you?”
    She shook her head and looked out the windshield. The streetlights seemed to be going by way too fast. The man was definitely in a hurry. “I won’t deny that I want you,” she softly replied. “But to go home with you when I don’t even really know you. I feel like I’m easy or something. Even though I’m not,” she rushed to reassure. “I mean, I never go home with a man on the first date. Not to imply that what we had tonight was a date exactly, it’s just that—”
    “Catherine,” Dean said, stopping the speeding race car of her mouth. “It’s okay. I don’t think you’re easy. In fact, it’s not exactly my MO to take a woman home so fast either.” He spared her a look, one that she couldn’t quite read in the darkness. “How about we just agree to share a nightcap and see what happens from there. Okay?”
    She cocked her head, wishing she could see him clearer. “Why are you so sweet one minute and the next you’re looking at me as if I’m the bogeyman? Or in my case, the bogey-woman.” She clutched her purse tighter. “I just can’t figure you out.”
    He chuckled. “First, there’s no such thing as the bogey- woman . Even if there were, I don’t think you’d resemble her in any way. You’re way too pretty to be something so nasty. Second, I can’t help the way I feel. I’m into you, sweetheart. My head is telling me it’s a bad idea, that I shouldn’t trust you. Thing is, my head isn’t running the show right now.”
    Catherine both hated and loved Dean’s brutal honesty. One thing for sure, she’d never have to wonder if he truly meant what he said. “And my head is telling me I should go back to my hotel room,” she blurted out, giving him her own dose of candor. “To go to sleep like the good girl I was raised to be.”
    Dean chuckled. “How about we let the bad girl in you decide how the evening should end?”
    Considering she wasn’t even sure she had a bad girl side, Catherine had to give that some thought. Or tried to. With Dean stroking the back of her hand with his thumb, Catherine kept getting sidetracked with ideas of how good that thumb would feel on other parts of her body. In the end, Catherine decided it was high time her nearly nonexistent inner bad girl got to come out and play. “Your house,” she finally said, throwing caution to the wind for the first time in her life.
    She heard Dean curse before squeezing her hand gently. “You won’t regret it, I promise you.”
    Catherine hoped that was true, but she had a terrible feeling that nothing would be