Page 6 of Blood & Ice

Or maybe,I thought with a sigh.It’s just you who can’t stand you.

Self-loathing much, Taliyah?I thought back.Get a grip.

Maverick pulled one hand free of my mug and grasped my arm gingerly by my wrist. The touch was so achingly gentle, my stupid heart gave a painful little squeeze in reply. Maverick might have been on the slender side, but he made up for it with his height and broad shoulders. He cut an imposing figure, no matter what angle you observed him from. It was hard to make a woman like me feel tiny.

But I did. I felt tiny and petite and so utterly feminine around him at times that it made me want to spit. I’d never beenthatwoman. The one who hung the moon and the stars on a man before he deserved that trust. But Ididtrust Maverick, and that was equal parts thrilling and scary as hell. It made him one of the few people I’d kill for, no questions asked. It also meant there was one more person in my life who could destroy it utterly by leaving.

Maverick traced the map of delicate blue veins under the nearly translucent skin of my wrist. When I had my winter on, they looked more like spiderwebbing cracks in ice than veins. My pulse jumped when he pressed the pad of his thumb against my pulse and gave me very serious eye contact.

My breath caught in my throat. It was almost impossible to ignore the pull of those storm-gray eyes. The air between us zinged with the potential for magic. His grip tightened just a fraction before he forced a smile.

“I’m sorry if I was pushy back there,” he said. “On the phone, I mean. It was a stressful situation.”

That threw me. What the hell was he apologizing for? He was being chased by a mass of writhing tentacles and a werewolf on amphetamines. I’d chalked my bad mood up to things a hell of a lot less stressful than that. He hadn’t said anything pushy, in my opinion. I was about to open my mouth and tell him so when he continued, ignoring the baffled look on my face.

“I know I run my mouth sometimes,” he continued, glancingaway, finally releasing me from the magnetic pull of his eyes. “And that’s bound to be annoying. It’s okay if you get pissed at me sometimes, Tally. I get it, really.”

It took an embarrassingly long time for my brain to catch up with his words. The meaning dawned on me almost a full minute later, puzzle pieces slotting into place to form an infuriatingly adorable picture. The big lug wastrying to apologize.He thought I was acting like a basket case because of our last conversation.

I mean, what else could he assume? I’d hung up the phone abruptly and showed up thirty minutes later with more gusto for ass-kicking than usual. He’d been too busy running for his life to sense my distress through our bond. He had no idea what Aurea had said—what she’d forced me into. But instead of thinking that I was a huge bitch looking for a fight, he’d decided he was somehow at fault. The man was so attuned to my mood that he knew something was wrong, but so socially dense he assumed he was at fault instead of considering other factors.

I set my coffee aside and pushed out of my chair and, like I was on autopilot, I walked right up to him. Maverick had to put a hand out to steady himself when I looped my arms around his neck. Truth be told, I was as shocked as he was. But there was something within me that was urging me forward, and I allowed my logical side to be silenced for once. What was more, I muffled whatever well-meaning thing Maverick was about to say next, molding my mouth to his. There was one stunned second before his body responded, hands falling to my waist so he could pull me even closer. And in my own head was only shock. It was like my body had needed this closeness—like it hadn’t alerted my brain yet to what it was going to do and had, instead, just done it. And my brain was still struggling to get with the program.

My heart thundered when Maverick suddenly lifted me onto the desk, nudging my legs apart so that he could step betweenthem.

What in the hell had I just started?

He deepened the kiss, his tongue suddenly seeking refuge in my mouth. And my tongue eagerly met his, like it had been waiting for this moment all my life.

Dear sweet lord the man was going to be the death of me…

But no matter how much I might want to, I absolutelycould notrip Maverick’s clothes off in the precinct. It didn’t matter if I knew the camera’s blind spot. If I did something that unprofessional, I’d never be able to step foot in the building again. I wouldn’t allow myself.

I tore my mouth free of his and shoved at his chest. “I’m at work, Mav.”

Maverick’s tongue flicked out to touch his bottom lip, as though he could still taste me there. A flicker of heat woke in my belly, and it was hard work meeting his gaze again.

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“I kissed you.”

He chuckled. “I’m not sorry for that.”

I looked at him and breathed in deeply. “Neither am I.” I had to hold my hand out when he moved in closer. “But we can’t continue… whatever that was.”

“Right.” He nodded and back away again and then we both were silent for a few seconds as we sought to catch our breath. “Going back to the conversation we were in the middle of having,” he started. “Whatever I did—”

“—you didn’t do anything, you dolt,” I answered with a wispy chuckle.

He looked confused. “Then?”

“I was snippy over a stupid comment you made over the phone. And it was stupid to be upset about it. I mean—it’s so completely minor, in the grand scheme of things. I’m the one who should be apologizing to you for making your nightmiserable.”

His dark brows scrunched together. “I don’t understand.”

I shook my head, fighting back fresh gales of embarrassed laughter. I wasn’t letting myself go to pieces, but the rage was finding expression in other ways. Overreacting to trivial shit, apparently.

“Talking about threesomes bothered me,” I said.

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