Page 57 of Scotch on the Rocks

“You neglected to mention we’d basically have to curl around each other to fit.” The tops of her coat-covered legs brushed my inner thighs. I bit my lip to hold off a groan.

“All part of the fun, don’t you think?”

She laid the first aid kit on the counter beside my hip, flipping the lid and riffling through until she found a gauze and a pair of latex gloves. “If I were a suspicious person, I might think you’d planned all of this.”

“To get you alone?”

She raised an eyebrow, the action deceptively casual as she unbuttoned her coat. “IfI were a suspicious person.”

“Harpy.” The journey of her fingers over those delicate buttons held me captive. “I would do an extraordinary amount of things to get you alone. But even I draw the line at self-mutilation.” No, I couldn’t take any credit, but it was working out fucking fantastically.

She twisted to hang it from the back of the door. And this time, I definitely groaned at the first glimpse of her preppy little pinafore dress. A string of white pearls encircled her throat, so prim and proper I longed to replace it with one of my own.

A little demon, I reminded myself.A maddening, stunning little demon.

In the taut silence she rolled up her sleeves, pausing long enough to ask, “You’re not allergic to latex, are you?”

Fuck. “No.” It came out more grunt than word.

She nodded to my team jersey, splattered with a collage of blood, mud and sweat. “Take that off.”

“Twice in one day? Perhaps I should accuse you of scheming.” The memory of her eyes on my body was enough to make me burn. She might not like me, but this afternoon she’dwantedme.

She merely scoffed as I complied, drawing the jersey over my head and dropping it into the sink.

“Want me to remove my shorts, too?” My thumbs were already at my waistband.

“I have zero interest in your sweaty jockstrap, Macabe.”

Laughter tore free so suddenly, pain slashed across my face. My hand shot up just in time to catch the fresh trickle of blood. “Thanks for that.”

Her eyes flashed and she pulled on the gloves with theterrifying snap of a Victorian doctor ready to perform an amputation. “It’ll teach you to take your eyes off the game.”Not so oblivious after all.She stepped back into me. Thigh to thigh. My feet bracketing hers. “Tip your head forward and pinch the bridge of your nose.”

“Want me to bite down?”

She sighed, but her lips twitched. “Do you ever get tired of being the funny guy?”

“All the time. It’s more of a curse, really. That and my good looks.”

“Fucking Macabes,” she muttered, grasping my chin and dragging it down for a better look. Trapped in close quarters, treating a professional medic and she had no qualms in taking the lead. I could only pray she knew what she was doing, because I’d allow her free rein to do just about anything so long as she kept touching me.

Balling gauze in her palm, she pressed it gently beneath my nostrils. “This is going to leave one hell of a bruise.”

“Good job you like bad boys.”

She huffed again, creeping closer to that full laugh I craved. “You’ll be closer to a labrador that swallowed a bumble bee.”

I’d treated enough to easily picture it and chuckled. “Aye … you’re probably right.”

She searched through the box again and I brought my hand to the one still holding the gauze. I’d meant to take it from her, but as soon as I encountered her bare wrist, my fingers caught there instead, brushing once over the bone, just to see if she’d pull away. Her eyes snapped to mine, flaring hotly before she cleared her throat. “It looks like the skin is split.”

“That explains the stinging.”

“We’ll wait for the bleeding to slow and clean it up.” Shepeeled the gauze back, peeked, then pressed it back into place. “Hopefully it isn’t deep enough to need stitches.”

I nodded in all the right places, only registering the way her lips moved when she spoke. Every configuration casting a spell over me.

I could meet a thousand women and never discover this energy.I’d tried. Date after date after date I’d searched for something even remotely comparable. It only existed here. With this woman I shouldn’t want and could never truly have.

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