He stepped closer, bracing one arm above my head against the locker and caging me in with his body. The heat radiating off him warmed my already flushed cheeks. His other hand still held the rose, dangling it between us. “Nothing, Hales.”
My heart was doing absolutely unhelpful things, cartwheeling in my chest and sending blood rushing through my veins. “I can’t tell if I’m supposed to take that as a warning or as…a promise.”
“Depends.” His gaze roamed across my eyes, down my nose, and to my lips, where they lingered. “On whether we’re friends or not.”
Friends?
I wasn’t sure I wanted to be his friend. My mind was too twisted up when it came to Maddox to think rationally.
I reached for the rose, needing to break whatever this moment was becoming before I did something crazy like lean in and kiss him. It crossed my mind, and once it had, I couldn’t let it go, the wondering. Just what would it feel like to kiss Maddox Corvo? What would he taste like? What kind of kisser would he be? Not that I had much experience to compare him to, but it didn’t take a genius to know when it came to locking lips with Maddox, I was out of my depth.
And that should scare me.
My fingers wrapped around the stem, intending to take the flower from him, but a thorn bit into my thumb sharply, puncturing my skin. “Shit,” I hissed, jerking my finger back. A tiny bead of blood welled up on my fingertip, bright red against my skin.
Maddox caught my hand, his fingers wrapping around my wrist, and he lifted my finger into his mouth, sucking the tiny bead of blood away.
Holy shit.
Did he just put my finger in his mouth?
His lips were soft and hot against my skin, his touch gentle in a way that contradicted everything else about him. My stomach twisted and pulled. His eyes flicked up to mine while his mouth was still on my finger and heated. He was fully aware of what he was doing to me.
The hallway disappeared. Everything narrowed down to the pressure of his mouth, the warmth of his breath, the way his thumb stroked once across my pulse point. It was the single hottest thing I’d ever experienced.
“All better, Hales,” he said huskily, releasing my hand.
I was not better.
I fucking needed CPR or something to make me start breathing again.
I swallowed and tried hard not to look like I was internally combusting, like every nerve ending in my body wasn’t lit up and buzzing. “Will you be at the party?” I asked, tucking my hands behind me.
“Where else would I be?” He stepped back slowly, putting distance between us that felt simultaneously like relief and loss.
“I’ll see you there?” I asked, suddenly feeling so unsure and awkward.
“I hope not.”
I frowned at him, confusion cutting through the haze. Why did this boy make absolutely no sense?
He took another step back, already turning away, his shoulders tense beneath his shirt. “Don’t forget,” he said over his shoulder, “masks are mandatory, Hales.”
Slumping deeper against the lockers, I watched him walk away and tossmyrose into the trash. I made a noise in the back of my throat, contemplating whether or not I was going to stomp over to the garbage and pluck the flower out. Had he really needed to throw it away? What a waste of a perfectly beautiful rose.
I touched my finger to my lips without thinking. It still tingled where his mouth had been.
I was in serious trouble of falling for the wrong guy. I doubted my mother would approve of me dating someone like Maddox Corvo, someone who walked the line of darkness my mother crossed often. She didn’t want that life for me, and yet my heart seemed determined to go down that path.
I came downstairsto the soft chiming of my mom’s bracelets and the smell of her warm, floral perfume. She lifted her gaze, eyeing me from head to toe. “Where are you going?” she asked, her eyes lingering on the black tights covering my legs, the laced boots that came up to mid-calf, and the short black dress hugging my curves before flaring slightly at the hem. The fabric was thin, clingy in all the ways that made me feel sexy and exposed at once.
I prayed it wasn’t windy tonight because a single gust and I’d be sharing more of myself with the world than I was comfortable with. Shrugging, I retorted casually, “To a party.”
“Hmm.” She bumped her hip to the side, leaning it against the counter while one hand came up to fidget with the clasp of her necklace. “Did I approve this?”
My eyes rolled skyward, exasperation bleeding through even as affection warmed my chest. “It’s not a big deal. Don’t you have a date or something?” Better to deflect than have her focused on what I was up to.
“I do orsomething,” she mocked, but the little crinkles around her eyes didn’t smooth out. Her eyes were saying more than her mouth. She wanted to tell me to go upstairs and change, but she’d never censored me a day in my life. “How are you getting to this party?”
