Sydney Morgan was a little devil of a girl he’d always baited because, hell, he didn’t know why, maybe because she always bit. She got riled easy and quite passionately. He was almost a decade older, and at twenty five, in every one of the Knight’s big gatherings, Sydney would unfailingly be there with her best friend, Regina.
Bentley and Damien had both played varsity football, and both remained close friends. In every “Knight” family event, Damien would be hunting for the fiery redhead in the room. He’d had his fun baiting her—since fucking her, when she was fifteen and him twenty five, was really not an option.
Hell, it still wasn’t.
She still looked like a little girl.
And if his memory served him right, which it always did in regards to this particular girl, the last time he’d seen her, he’d been enough of an asshole to send her running away. What the hell did she want him now?
“Look, Damien, I don’t want a date. I don’t even like you! You aren’t exactly known for your kindness and funny personality. My memories of you aren’t exactly fond. But I do want something else from you.”
His scowl deepened as a turmoil of emotions he didn’t understand started whirling around in his chest. “I’m not fucking you, Sydney.”
“Excuse me?” She swiveled around, her eyes wide.
“Watch the red light!”
She screeched to a stop, then turned to him again, slack-jawed. “I didn’t say I wanted to be…uh, do you have to be so…oh, you’re exasperating!”
“Sydney, you sound like you grew into a lady with a good head on her shoulders that could perhaps formulate a sentence when under different circumstances. Now tell me why it’s not pointing you in the other direction opposite of me.”
She sighed, then sped again. “You like women. You like them a lot.”
“And you consider yourself a woman? How old are you? Ten?”
She scowled. “Almost ten years younger than your thirty five, yes. Look, you like sex.”
“I am sex, lady.”
“Good. You’re just what I need.”
“What the hell for?” he demanded.
“You’re incredibly experienced and I need to share in that experience. I need a…let’s call it a class. A sex-ed class. I would love you to explain to me how to seduce a man.”
She slid into the parking lot, parked, and turned off the car. Then she looked at him. Her eyes were blue and innocent, and the instant they locked with his, recognition lit up in his system. Something harsh and wild went through him like an avalanche. Holy God, it was her. Up close, the brown hair could not even detract from all those soft, lovely features that made her the damnedest prettiest thing Damien had ever seen this close.
And there it was, simmering inside those electric blue eyes, all that fiery passion in her body, bringing out all that fiery passion in his body, which suddenly pulsed and throbbed.
He didn’t know what to think about that. Except…
Shit?
“My apartment is upstairs,” she said, speaking slowly, like to a child. “But you’d have to remain tied. I don’t want you to do anything except verbally explain to me ways of seducing the man I love. That’s all I want from you. You don’t even have to spend a dime. All right?”
Damien shifted, incredibly restless in his seat. He’d been curious to see Sydney Morgan, and now he’d seen her, he wanted out of her car and out of her life.
“Fine,” he grumbled, not really having much choice. Hell, it could be worse. Much worse. She could’ve asked this from an even bigger asshole than Damien. “Fine. I’ll teach you whatever you want to know. But I won’t be tied.”
She bit her lip and narrowed her eyes, as if considering. “If I don’t tie you, do you promise you won’t try to have sex with me, Damien?”
He studied her with narrowed eyes, confused. Once again, she was an anomaly.
Everyone wanted sex with him. Was something wrong with him now? Did he suddenly grow a horn or shit? She’d been wild about him growing up and everyone had known. Damien had never lived it down with his friends. Ooh, what’s with the redhead panting all over you?
“Do you promise, Damien?” she prodded, her eyes wide and imploring. “You had your chance. And you said no.”
His chest cramped again when he remembered.