Bonnie’s bones trembled. She bit at her lower lip to keep it from quivering, but staring down the mountain of muscle leaning over the pool table was not a feat for the weak-hearted. Rex had two rules. Never interrupt one of his games. And he never played a woman.

So far, she’d broken the first rule and was fast on her way to breaking the second.

His head dipped while the weight of his thunderous gaze lifted to settle on her diminutive, and very female frame. His intent was to intimidate and dominate. Two things Rex Reynolds did very well.

“What the fuck is this, Bonnie,” he growled.

The urge to take a step back was nearly overwhelming, but she needed not only him, but also his respect. To do that she had to stand up to him, as well as his crew. Her gaze skittered around the room, to the smirks lifting the corners of mouths and to the over-muscled biceps and expansive chests of his team. Rex and the rest of the firefighters hung out at London’s bar every Monday night to play pool, drink heavily, and fuck as many women as possible.

She took a step forward until she could rest her fingertips against the wood grain of the pool table. Stiffening her spine, she rolled her shoulders back and met Rex’s intense gaze.

“You’re going to help me, Rex.” Surprisingly, her voice held firm.

“The fuck I will. That chit is a fucking ass, and deserves what he got.”

That chit was her younger brother, and she didn’t care if everything Rex said was true. Slowly, she leaned across the table, grabbed Rex’s pool cue, and dragged it away from him.

His hand slapped down on the handle. “You’re fucking with fire, Bon.”

“One game,” she said. “I win, you help me out.”

His eyes narrowed. “I don’t play pool with chicks.”

“You’ll play.” He wouldn’t be capable of refusing once he heard the terms. “If I win, you help me.” She took a ball and rolled it down the length of the table.

A flicker of interest sparked in Rex’s eye. “You're going to lose, Bon. Better be very careful because there’s only one thing I want from you.”

And she had no intention of giving him that, but she was prepared to take the risk. “You’re such an ass, you know that?”

“That’s why chicks dig me.”

“Fine. I win and you help me with my brother. You win and I’ll let you take me home for the night.” She couldn’t say ‘let him fuck her.’ He’d been trying to bang her for years, but she was one of the few women within a hundred-mile radius who hadn’t shared Rex’s bed. That she refused pissed him the fuck off.

His low, throaty laugh gave her pause. He grabbed his cue stick and chalked the tip. “Oh no, Bon. When I win, you’ll belong to me.”

“For one night,” she clarified.

He shook his head. “Not just one night.” And there it was, the same ultimatum she’d been running from for years. He didn’t want a piece of her, he wanted everything.

Bonnie gulped, but what choice did she have? Her brother was dead otherwise; besides, she had no intention of losing. “Deal.”