"But let me be perfectly clear: if you're not worth the effort—if you're not a good lay—I won't bother lifting a finger for either of you."
The crude words should have offended her.
They should have sparked the proud fury of a pretty woman and seasoned ranger.
Instead, heat pooled low in her belly.
The bluntness of his warning only heightened the stakes, made the moment feel dangerously real.
Bella let a slow, knowing smile curve her lips.
She stopped mere inches from him, close enough to feel the faint warmth radiating from beneath his cloak.
"Don't worry," she murmured, voice husky with promise.
"I won't disappoint you." She tilted her head, letting a strand of dark hair fall provocatively across one eye.
"And if you must know… you'll only be the second man ever to have me."
The admission hung in the air between them—part truth, part calculated enticement.
Sebastian had been her first and only lover, gentle and reverent even in passion.
