“This whole time, I kept thinking, man, it’d be funny if Madeline Finch could see herself right now, and you’re telling me, you, my Satanic Barbie, have actually been here?” He wipes away a few tears collecting under his eyes. “Oh, that’s rich.”
“It’s not that funny.” I scowl.
“Oh no, you’re right. I see absolutely no humor in the fact that I’ve had you begging for me this entire week, thinking it was some docile fictional Maddie, but it’s been you.”
He steps forward. My back finds the bookshelves. His hands press to either side of my head. My body betrays me, screaming to lean and brush my lips against his. “You’ve been starved for me, Madeline. How has that felt?”
“Now that I know it’s you, Lumberjack Frasier, I can confidently say I’ve lost my appetite.” The words fall out of my mouth in an unconvincing wispy way.
Okay, I’m still a little hungry.
Maybe even famished.
God, I want to kiss this infuriating man.
“Maddie.” He tsks, twisting a lock of my hair around his finger. “You and I both know I have you wrapped around my finger here and that I’ve been showing you mercy—maybe don’t push it, or I’ll be tempted to make you the lovesick puppy you’ve turned plenty of guys into over the years.”
Anxiety roils in the pit of my stomach. I’m not proud, but I know if Seth wanted me at this point to be just about anything, I would comply.
“Maybe I don’t want mercy.” I slap his hand down from my face. “And maybe I think you’re entirely too confident, Seth. You’re not all that and a bag of chips.”
“All that and a bag of chips.” He snorts. “You’re so wholesome. So cute…”
“Claws still work fine, bud.” I wiggle my fingers in front of his face.
He catches my wrist, rubbing slow circles on the inside. I swallow, hoping he misses the erratic way my pulse skitters at his touch. “Ten minutes. You’d forget there was ever a Seth Aarons you hated and be begging me to kiss you in ten minutes.”
“Set a timer. I’m free.”
He cocks his head to the side. I don’t think he expected me to accept his hypothetical challenge. “Your funeral.”
“Boy, you’re going to be so embarrassed when that timer goes off.”
“Very cocky for someone I’ve had back arched, crying for me multiple times this week.”
“I know my heart and your personality will be enough to repulse me,” I say with all the confidence I severely lack. Seth awake in this world is the worst-case scenario when I’m trying to get him to fall in love with me. Especially when the woman he’s actually in love with just told me she wants him back. I don’t know what to do, but running away and hiding, however tempting, won’t get Seth where I need him, so I have to try something.
“Want to make it interesting?” he asks, resting his forearm above my head with a devilish grin.
“What were you thinking?”
“Give me ten minutes. If you’re not begging me to kiss you at the end, I give you permission to have Ellie write an hour of my life in whatever way you want, me in a chicken suit on the side of the street, me worshiping the ground you walk on….”
“Oh, you in a chicken suit worshiping the ground I walk on, tempting.” I run my fingers together, all evil-like.
“They were two separate ideas….”
“My prize. My rules.” I wag a finger in his face.
He rolls his eyes. “Whatever, you’re not going to win anyway, so I’m not too worried. Now, when I win.”
“You won’t—“
He silences me with a determined stare. “I will, and when it happens, I get to write an hour of yours.” His eyes swirl and sparkle with an alluring mischief. “And I won’t be merciful for once.”
With a large, doom-filled gulp, I consider my options. Opening myself up to this kind of vulnerability with the real Seth Aarons is a terrible idea. Seth’s right, there’s no way I win this, but it’s the only way I can get close to him again. No way he’d kiss me for the sake of kissing me now, and if I want my deal with Ellie to come through, I will have to sacrifice my dignity a bit in this world for my real life.
As for the hour—I don’t know how many interactions Seth has had with Ellie, but I’m not too worried. I doubt she’d rewrite a page for either of us over this silly bet.
