Page 80 of Out of Bounds

I snorted. "Those won’t be needed."

"That was a joke."

My fingers were tied in a crossed-over, halfway loop across my hip, but I stopped. "Oh. That was funny."

"Thank you."

There was another momentary bout of silence while his outline shifted away from the wall.

"I have to keep up with you somehow," he murmured.

I stilled over the strap on my thigh. "You think you can?"

"Some days I do. But some days I think, I don’t think I ever could."

What’s that supposed to mean?

31

Kassie

Stuck

I shifted from my position, and my breathing evened while I pondered his words. He was usually so straightforward.

Kassie, don’t be late.

Kassie, don’t say ‘eat a dick’ to reporters.

Kassie, stop offering to pay.

Those made sense. The sentence he spoke did not.

Is he complimenting me?

"That almost sounds like praise, Cross."

His voice was soft. "It could be, Ragar."

Warmth pooled between my legs in a momentary recognition ofthatvoice. It was husky and rough and dipped down low. It was a voice I only heard from him right when he woke up in the morning. His voice was always nice but the timbers ofthatvoice stroked all of my buttons.

I tugged up another strap and stopped, glancing down.

Wait, no. That was the second strap. No, that had to have been the third strap looped over the first. Or the fourth strap tied over the second, or—

"Shit."

"What is it?"

"Shit, shit,shit." I snapped back and forth between the mirror and the bottom of the dress. "Fuck!"

Ryan pushed up from the chair. "What is it?"

"Can you…?" I struggled to weasel my left hand from the knot. "Shit. Fuck me. Can you grab the attendant?"

"What happened?"

"I’m not ruining this dress and I need an outside, impartial witness that’ll see they can’t fine me—"

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