Page 33 of Raven

It’s nothing serious. After all, I calculated that punch. But the brush of her fingertips against my skin makes me tense up. She is so close that I can see that she is wearing more makeup than usual, including lip gloss. Her perfume is not overly sweet but slightly bitter, like cool water or something. Our faces are on the same level, and I stare her down, wondering if something will give away her nervousness, though she seems calm.

“You were great in the octagon,” she says and, without looking at me, steps away and grabs a bottle of peroxide and a box with first aid supplies.

She comes back and starts cleaning my wound.

I can’t stop looking at her. Despite what I told myself before coming here—that I will behave, see how she reacts—I can’t stop myself from setting my hands on her hips.

She shifts at my touch and steps closer.

Oh, Maddy baby…

She is a flirt. Is she teasing me? Does she want more?

“It’s not your shift, Maddy,” I say, tilting my head, trying to coax her to look at me, though her eyes are on my wound. “What are you doing here? Or did you come specifically to take care of me?”

She doesn’t look up, continuing to disinfect my wound like it’s the most important task in the world. “If I say I did, does that make you excited?”

I cock my brow.

“What are you doing here, Raven?” she asks, turning away to grab a tube of antiseptic ointment. “Or did you come here for a specific nurse to check on you?”

Finally, she lifts her eyes to meet mine, then quickly drops her gaze to my wound again.

She is perceptive, and I like this. Her movements are slow and calculated, and her touch is soft and unhurried.

She smells sweet and forbidden, and my dick stirs to life.

My hands slide down her hips and behind her, cup her ass, and squeeze gently, pulling her closer.

She follows by inertia and lifts off her heels as I bring her closer to me.

I feel myself swell in my jeans while the pretty girl’s expression remains calm.

She doesn’t stop what she’s doing, gently applying ointment to my wound, and that gentle touch, the fact that I’m shirtless in front of her, and she’s standing between my legs, are enough to make me stifle a groan.

My skin breaks out in goosebumps. She can see it but doesn’t say a word. And I don’t give a fuck. She must know this arrangement is not for the feelings or the cute courting game. It’s a physical thing.

Women got it easy in terms of hiding their arousal. To a point, of course. We men have it on full display. Hard. There, look at that, we want you, take notice. It’s definitely one of the cleverest mating mechanisms designed by nature.

Oh, and Maddy can feel it too. Of course, she can. But her face expression doesn’t change.

“Hold still,” she says softly, not giving me a single glance, like I’m not pulling her against my hard-on.

Her pretty lips are pressed tightly together. Her blinking is slow. Her breathing is even. Nothing is giving away that she might not be as calm as she wants to seem. Except—yes, right there. My eyes slowly glide to her neck, a tiny repetitive bulging of her artery, her pulse drumming against her skin—tuk-tuk, tuk-tuk, tuk-tuk—so fucking fast.

Immediately, my body rages with want.

I can smell her. If I stuck my tongue out, I could taste her, too, just a little lick against that hummingbird pulse on the side of her neck, making it run threefold faster.

She quickly sucks in her lower lip, moistening it.

If she let go of her silly rules, I could suck on that lip, then plunge my tongue in her mouth, ravish her with a kiss, make her head spin. We could get lost in each other.

Instead, we are playing a game. Because, yeah, rules, hers, for some silly reason that makes sense only to her and drives me insane. It makes me angry, too, because I wasn’t planning on denying myself anything, and now that I can’t devour that pretty mouth, it haunts me. I fantasize about kissing her for hours.

But I’m patient. I’m taking my time with my prey.

I lean in close, my cheek brushing against hers, and bring my lips to her ear. “Did you look forward to seeing me here, Maddy?” I tease her in a whisper and plant a little kiss on her earlobe.

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