Page 6 of Revive Me

My eyebrows lift. “Damn. I kind of thought you were going to be exaggerating.”

I’m bumped from behind, the bar starting to fill up. But since it moves me closer to Liliana, I don’t even mind it. Especially when it causes her to bite down on her lip in an attempt to hide her smile.

“So do you join your family for these crazy hobbies?” I ask her, letting my gaze drift down to her glazed lips for a split second.

“Of course,” she says with a fond smile. “Although that will probably change now with my degree. I’ll probably be too focused on my career to do the impromptu stuff that my chaos junkie older brother comes up with. But family vacations are always really fun.”

“I can imagine,” I say with a chuckle.

“What about you?” she asks. “Any crazy hobbies? Outside of the obvious, of course.”

I shake my head. “Nope. MMA pretty much fills my quota of crazy.”

Her lips twitch. “What about normal hobbies, then? What do you do when you’re not fighting?”

I mull it over for a second. “Nothing. Fighting is all I do.”

That makes her frown. “Nothing?Your entire life is fighting? Sunrise to sunset?”

I shrug. “Yeah. It’s kind of a full-time gig.”

“Nothing isthatfull time,” she argues, leaning closer as she asks, “What do you do to relax? You have to have time to relax after fights.”

Her proximity makes it hard to think straight as I answer, “I’m actually post-fight right now. So I guess…this.” I gesture around the bar. “Celebrating with my teammates.”

“But we’ve already established that you don’t drink, so clearly this wasn’tyouridea of a good time.” Then something occurs to her, and she quirks an eyebrow. “Unless you came out to meet women.”

I hold her gaze as I slowly shake my head. “Believe me, that was just a happy coincidence,” I tell her. “I was on my way out when I saw you.”

Her throat bobs with a swallow, eyes not leaving mine.

“Suddenly, I’m not as annoyed with my teammates for dragging me out here,” I murmur.

That earns me a blush. It takes her a few seconds to respond, and she stumbles over her words when she says, “So, um, we’ve established you don’t like partying.” She clears her throat. “Whatdoyou like? We still haven’t figured that out.”

I take another chance. “Talking to you,” I say evenly. And it’s the truth.

Her blush deepens as she glances away. “God, and you’re not evenlying,” she blurts out quietly.

I can’t stop my grin. “No, Liliana, I’m not. In fact?—”

I look toward the dance floor, flashes of my usual ‘move’ appearing before me. How I would ask the girl to dance, using it as an excuse to touch her and fan the lust.

And yet…that’s not what I want to do. Not with her.

“Do you want to go someplace quieter?” I ask, then instantly catch the first flash of hesitation in her eyes.

Shaking her head, she pulls back. “Um, I’m flattered, really, but I don’t think?—”

“That wasn’t a line, as much as it sounded like one,” I interrupt before she can get the wrong idea and move any farther away. Jerking my head toward the back, I explain, “There’s a rooftop garden upstairs that no one knows about. You wouldn’t even really have to leave your friends.”

When she bites her lip with clear indecision, I add, “I meant what I said about wanting to talk to you.”

Thankfully, she can tell I’m being genuine. Her expression softens once more, at ease as she nods.

“Let me just tell my friends where I’m going,” she says, then quickly turns to the three girls behind her who are completely wrapped up in an animated, drunken discussion. They’re only shocked out of it when Lily says something into one girl’s ear, and her head snaps toward me.

I weather the once-over that can only come from the friend of the girl you’re trying to hit on, letting her judge me and trying to look as non-threatening as possible. I must get the stamp of approval, because after a moment, she nods at Lily and says something back.

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