Cocky: A Cowboy Stepbrother Romance Read Online Free PDF Page A

was about standing up for myself, and being a strong woman.
     
    As much as I liked the idea of Jay leading me around in the bedroom, I didn’t want him to think that I was going to be that person all the time. Like he could come in here and tell me that everything was over, and have the nerve to not even apologize.
     
    Jay was standing near the closed door, his hand already wrapped around the knob. But he was turned in to face me, waiting for me to say what I had to say. That patience only seemed to bolster my confidence.
     
    What had started as a walk across a small room had turned into a saunter by this point. The shirt I was sleeping in wasn’t as sexy as the dress I’d been wearing earlier, but I still felt like a goddess as I stood in front of him, lifting up onto the tips of my toes to jab my finger into his chest.
     
    “Now you listen to me.”
     
    I squared my shoulders, looking up to meet those gorgeous eyes. Jay’s face was rife with surprise, and it took all I had not to focus on the soft shock of those lips. Focus, Callie . I had a point to make here.
     
    “You don’t get to come in here and tell me what to do, do you hear me? I’m a grown-ass woman. I made a decision out there just as much as you did. I’m taking responsibility for my actions. But I’ll be damned if you’re going to walk in here and tell me it’s over and done, without allowing me to have any say in it whatsoever.”
     
    Some of that shock on Jay’s face was starting to wear off. I could see his eyebrows knitting together, lips pulling down into a sharp frown. He was getting angry. Good. I was glad. It was about time that I wasn’t the only one having an existential crisis about sleeping with my stepbrother. He shifted his shoulders and stood up tall, so that he was towering over me, even with me standing up on my tiptoes. What a bastard.
     
    “Who the hell do you think you are?” His words were starting to lift up in volume, and I made a hurried shushing motion, trying to get him to keep his voice down. The last thing we needed was someone to come in here and interrupt us. “I told you that it wasn’t going to happen again. What the hell are you even getting pissed off about?”
     
    Jay took a step away from the wall, closer to me. It forced me off the balls of my feet and back onto my heels with a soft thud.
     
    “I—” I put both hands on the muscled plane of his chest, giving him a firm shove. He didn’t budge an inch. What a showoff. “I’m the one who says when we’re done. Not you.”
     
    There was that look of shock again, eyebrows shooting upwards. But Jay was quick to cover his dismay with anger. He always had to get the last word in, always had to be the guy with something to say. But I wasn’t going to let it happen that way. With both hands on his chest, I surged forward and pushed myself upwards until our lips were smashed together in a heated kiss.
     
    It wasn’t the type of kiss that you saw in romance movies on television. It wasn’t soft, nor was it sweet. It was a kiss fueled by years of repressed passion, the flames fanned by anger and proximity. Jay kissed like a man starved, like he would never get another chance to get his fill, and it made me feel wild on the inside.
     
    I returned the kiss with the same fervor, and none of the careful thought and reason I’d used the first time around. I didn’t care if anyone saw the marks I left behind, I just wanted to leave them.
     
    Gasping for breath between heated kisses, I moved to start kissing my way along the stubble on his jaw. I loved the way it scraped against my skin, just that hint of pain along with the pleasure that was going off beneath my skin like fireworks on the Fourth of July.
     
    No other guy could make me feel like this. So wanton, and so full of desire. I let my teeth scrape against the side of his neck, delighting in the hiss that slipped past his lips. Jay’s hands wrapped around my slim hips, giving them a tight