He stretched, laughing, and my gaze betrayed me, tracking every flex.
“Gotta keep up with this body,” he said, cocky. “Can’t let the girls at college think I’ve gone soft.”
The words landed sharply. His tone was joking, but his eyes cut to me. He was waiting for a reaction, for jealousy, or possession.
Unfortunately, he got it. The flare of it burned in my stomach before I could school my expression.
He, apparently, liked it because he ran his tongue along his bottom lip and checked me out so hard, I thought his eyes might fall out of his head.
“Besides, I gave you more than a hickey last night,” he smirked, rolling onto the balls of his feet.
My eyes dropped down his body, and when they snapped back up to his face, he was smiling like he had won a game.
“You checking me out again?” he teased, like he hadn’t just baited me on purpose. “You make this too easy.”
“Make what easy?”
“Keeping up your facade,” he said. Before I could move, his hand hooked my waistband and yanked me against him. His mouth brushed mine in a quick, taunting kiss that was just enough to make me crave more.
When he pulled back, that devil’s grin was plastered across his face, smug and infuriating.
“Don’t let it go to your head,” I muttered, shoving him back.
“Too late,” he laughed. “You looked so beautiful underneath me last night.”
I exhaled sharply, my body betraying me. I turned towards the first aid cabin. “I’ll see you at our station at nine.”
But before I could step away, his hand slid down my arm and closed around my elbow. It was incredibly possessive, the way he grabbed me.
“Trouble, wait—” His voice dropped, quieter now, softer. “I didn’t mean to be a dick. I’m just teasing you.”
I looked at him for a beat. “It’s okay, Max.” My fingers brushed his hand before I could stop them, a squeeze meant to soothe. “I don’t think you’re a dick.”
But I sure as hell was thinking about his dick.
His jaw clenched tightly, and his eyes fixed on a burn scar on my arm with a piercing suspicion, as if he desperately wanted tosay more. I instinctively raised my hand, covering the mark. It was little, right above my left elbow.
“If I ever find out that you hooked up with him, I’ll do far worse than this to you,” Jackson had hissed, as he held me down in the back of his car, extinguishing his cigarette into my skin. The smell of seared flesh filled the air as I let out a shrill cry.
“Trouble, I…” Max’s voice broke me out of the memory, but he abruptly cut himself off, leaving a heavy silence hanging between us.
“What?”
“Never mind.” He shifted, letting out a resigned sigh. “What are you doing?”
“Looking for bug spray,” I said, turning away. “Unless you want to watch me get eaten alive.”
His lips curved, eyes darkening, and I knew exactly what he was thinking. Something indecent.
I could have him eating out of the palm of my hand if I wanted. I smiled as I walked towards the nurse’s cabin.
The air was cool inside, and the cabinets were lined up. I started rifling through them.
“Band-Aids, gauze, Dramamine… seriously, where does she hide the bug spray?”
Max lingered at the door, leaning against the frame, his large body filling it entirely.
“Trouble…” he said suddenly, voice lower now. “Can I ask you something?”
