Page 28 of Dangerous Rhythm

“You’re shitting me?” Lina glared at him. A few lines of the refrain came to mind. “‘Ice runs through her veins. She turns me into a rock with one frosty look’?”

He nodded with the melody as he sang the lines and grinned. “Yup.”

If ice really ran through her vein, it dripped through her voice now. “Is that what you guys really think of me? An ice queen? I can’t believe Brandon would write something so insulting—”

“Insulting?” Curtis frowned at her. “No. It’s a compliment. And Brandon didn’t write that. I did. I can string together a word or two. Brandon doesn’t write all our lyrics.”

Lina cocked her hands on her hips. “You? You wrote that song?”

“Yes.”

“About me?”

“Yes.”

“Being untouchable?”

“Yes.” His voice got more amused with each yes.

“How is that a compliment?” Lina demanded.

“It’s right there in the line. Plain and simple,” he said. “Nothing rattles you, like you have ice in your veins. And that turns me on. Big time.”

“What?” Lina frowned at him.

“Think about it.” He sang the line again, “She turns me into a rock with one frosty look.” And he slowly turned his gaze to his crotch with a small smile.

Lina froze as her eyes followed his. Heat flooded her face.

“Do I finally fluster you?”

She quickly snatched her gaze away from his very interesting groin and schooled her face before she forced herself to meet his eyes.

“No, you don’t.”

Curtis just smirked. “It’s okay, y’know.”

“What’s okay?”

“You don’t have to be formidable all the time,” he said as he stood and approached her. “Not with me, at least, because I already know you are.”

Lina let her arms fall from her waist as she watched him come closer. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as he looked into her eyes.

“Now, can we talk about that kiss last night?” he asked.

Did I fucking misread her?

It wouldn’t be the first time Curtis fucked up with a woman. He imagined it wouldn’t be the last, either. Lina’s initial shock was short-lived. Her face was once again controlled and showed little of what she was thinking.

She backed away from him, stood ramrod straight with her arms locked behind her back. She stared at him with a steady, sharp gaze he imagined she’d used to address her underlings when she’d been in the Army.

“I’ll let that one slide because you were drunk,” Lina said levelly. “But that can’t happen again.”

Curtis folded his arms at his chest and studied the woman standing in front of him. In a pair of snug black pants and black sweater, she should look boring, but her five-nine stature, combined with a disciplined body, made the look alluring. Add in the superior expression she sported, she looked as if she was about to order him to drop to the floor and give her twenty. The thought made him hot.

A new kink, activated, he mused.

But he was never the obedient type. “Why not? You liked it.”

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