Page 17 of Raven

I keep his gaze. Rumor has it, he and Maddy were tight back on the Eastside. Still are. I wonder if there’s something going on between them. The way he looks at me is unusually hostile. If he is somehow involved with Maddy, I’ll make sure he doesn’t set foot near her while I’m around.

The medical center is cool when I walk in, but the anticipation of seeing Maddy and finally laying down the rules burns my every cell with pleasant throbbing.

I wait in a patient room, leaning back against one of the walls when the door opens and Maddy walks in.

When she works with patients, she wears scrubs. When she’s on front desk shifts or in the office, she wears other clothes. Today, it’s a cute red summer dress with yellow stripes. Her dark hair is in a ponytail. She has white socks and tennis shoes on. Maddy dresses simply, even at parties. Barely any makeup. Except for today. I want to say that she is more polished than ever, but I might be overthinking it.

Maddy walks to the examination table and leans back against it, crossing her arms at her chest. She knows this is not a medical appointment, and I take my time studying her as we share a minute of silence.

“How can I help you, Mathew?” she finally asks.

She knows I don’t like being called by my name—I made it clear the very first time I was here, in the medical center. But here she is again, teasing.

My body tenses at the sound of her voice. “For one, you will call me Raven.”

She nods but doesn’t say a word.

“Two, what I want is obvious,” I say.

She cocks her brow.

Right, we didn’t specify the terms of the deal yet. “What’s the most common trading coin between women and men?”

She doesn’t answer. I expected her to be nervous. Maybe overly cocky, because she should be nervous. Maybe, I want her to object, so I can push her buttons.

She is none of the above, or at least not on the surface.

“You are mine, Milena,” I say, punctuating her name.

She flinches just barely. Good.

“You call me Maddy,” she says. “I can’t jeopardize?—”

“I’ll call you Maddy in public,” I cut her off. “When we are alone, I will call you anything I want.”

She doesn’t answer. Doesn’t blink. She holds my gaze like a soldier, one of the few who can.

“And I want a lot of alone time with you. That’s the deal, Milena. Unless you want me to go to Archer and Marlow and discuss the fact that we have to contact your father.”

She is quiet. She doesn’t need threats to understand why this deal is important to her.

“Define alone time,” she says softly, shifting the topic in my desired direction.

She is playing, and that’s all right, because I like it.

“You know what I mean,” I say.

“If it’s a deal, you need to specify the terms clearly.”

Bossy, all right.

I let my gaze linger on her body a little longer and then raise my gaze to hers. “I want to be in your bed. Whenever I want. Doing whatever I want.”

That’s a simple way to put it. But the words are out, and I feel anticipation tickling my nerves. I’m testing the waters. If she doesn’t agree, I’ll figure out something else.

But nothing in her expression changes. God, she is good.

“I have a problem with whatever,” she says.

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