Page 77 of Redeeming Harmony

“It stings like hell,” Lucas said, still turning his head back and forth so she couldn’t dab at the scratches.

“Listen, I have to run. My next appointment is here. Thanks for trying to catch her. I really appreciate it,” Nathan said.

“Later.” Lucas shoved his phone back into his pocket, still avoiding Emma and her antiseptic pad from hell.

“Lucas,” Emma said in exasperation, “hold still.”

“No, thank you,” he said.

She huffed out another sound of annoyance before grabbing his chin and holding him firmly. “For God’s sake, you’re worse than a little kid.”

He winced as she wiped the scratches then showed him the blood-covered pad. “That cat really got you.”

“Tell me about it,” he said. He gave in and let her do her thing. As she concentrated on cleaning the blood from his face, he stared at hers. Intent on what she was doing, she didn’t notice. She had clear blue eyes with long lashes and the cutest little nose. She smelled so fucking good. He wanted to bury his face in the curve of her neck and just breathe her in. He studied the birthmark that started at her left temple and covered her cheek, the dark pink a startling contrast to the rest of her pale skin. His gaze skimmed down her throat, following the birthmark to where it disappeared beneath her shirt.

He briefly wondered how far it went down before his gaze arrowed in on something far more interesting - the cleavage he could see at the opening to Emma’s shirt. His cock already stirring in his pants, he couldn’t force himself to look away, even though he knew he was being a disgusting pervert. But Emma had an incredible set of tits, and he’d let that damn cat scratch his entire face and his back, for even a glimpse of Emma’s naked breasts.

Wouldn’t you rather have Emma scratching up your back? How much teasing do you think it would take before she lost that no-nonsense, rigid control of hers and started begging you to make her come?

Great. Now he had a semi. If that didn’t scream pervert, what did?

Emma’s fingers tightened on his chin, and she tugged until he bent his head downward. That gave him a spectacular view directly down her shirt, and he studied the swell of those perfect tits and -Christ- was that a red lace bra?

He swallowed hard, telling himself to stop being disgusting and close his fucking eyes already, as Emma finger-combed through his hair. His obsession with Emma’s tits came to an abrupt end when her fingers brushed over the scratches on his scalp.

He hissed out a breath, jerking his head back and breaking her grip on his chin. “Fuck!”

When she picked up a fresh antiseptic pad, he shook his head. “Nope, no way. Not gonna happen.”

“Don’t be a baby,” she said. “If I’ve learned anything from volunteering with Rayna’s rescue, it’s that cat scratches and bites can get infected easily. It needs to be cleaned, Lucas.”

“I’ll take my chances,” he said.

“No, you won’t,” she said in that firm, brook no refusal tone of hers.

Christ, did it fucking turn him on when she talked like that.

He cleared his throat. “Fine, but I want an hour in the chair.”

“I’m doing this to help you. I’m preventing the possibility of a giant abscess developing on your scalp and then exploding and raining pus all over you and whoever happens to be standing next to you.”

“Gross but also epically cool,” he said.

“My point is, I am not giving you an hour in the chair as a bribe for doing something nice for you.”

“Think of it as a reward then,” he said. “For allowing you to keep me from developing some horrible cat infection and becoming patient zero in the zombie apocalypse.”

“If this scratch does turn into some weird mutant infection and you become patient zero in the zombie apocalypse, you know I’ll shoot you in the head, right? Zero hesitation,” Emma said.

“Stop flirting with me, Emma. I just want to be friends,” he said with the grin the ladies found irresistible.

She resisted. “Bend your head, Lucas.”

“One hour,” he said.

“No one has ever sat in my chair before,” she said.

“So, you’re saying I’m your first?” He wiggled his eyebrows at her.

---