Page 56 of The Casanova Complex

Her arms fold over her chest, and she rolls her eyes, much to my amusement. “You love to annoy me, don’t you?”

Of course, I know how much she hates the nickname, which is precisely why I keep doing it. Because I love getting a rise out of her. If all she gives me is her annoyance, then fine, I’m taking that shit.

“You’re just now realizing that?”

She narrows her eyes, glaring pointedly at me. “Come with me.”

I lift a brow as she spins on her heel and walks back toward the part of the studio she just appeared from. Obviously, I follow after her like the good boy that I am through the doorway that leads out of view.

She stops in front of a thick, black steel door and turns back to me, wearing a smile.

“Do you know what this is?”

“Not a fucking clue.”

That sassy little smirk widens into a grin that makes me want to haul her to me and kiss the fuck out of her. I refrain, but only barely.

“This is the kiln. Where we bake the finished pottery.” Merritt steps closer, and I swallow. Suddenly, she’s surrounding me, her scent of cherries and warm vanilla drowning out the smell of the clay, her five-foot-three-on-a-good-day attitude taking up all of the space left.

I toss her a smirk of my own.

“Cool. Is this part of the tour?”

She laughs, the raspy, low sound enough to make me shiver. Until she lifts onto the tips of her toes, the sound of her cute little combat boots squeaking noisily against the tile, her lips a few centimeters from mine, and then I actually do fucking shiver because I’m so fucked when it comes to her.

So. fucking. fucked.

“Fun fact. Did you know that they can get hotter than 2,000 degrees? It’s like a massive oven.”

I shake my head, swallowing roughly when she slowly slides her palm along the front of my shirt, inching toward my neck.

What the fuck is happening right now? She leaves me on read for two days, and now she’s touching me.

The first is very like her, and the second… well, I think I might be hallucinating.

Her warm breath caresses my ear as she lifts higher on her toes and whispers, “Keep annoying me, Goalie, and I’m going to shove you in there and lock the door.”

For fuck’s sake. If she steps any closer, she’s going to feel my dick pressing into her stomach because now I’m hard as shit.

This girl is fucking me in the head. Either that or I’m broken.

I chuckle when she pulls back and smirks sassily up at me.

“Every time you threaten to murder me, it turns me on, Mer Bear.” I shoot her a wink. “Which I think is the opposite effect you’re trying to accomplish here. Just so you know.”

Merritt groans, tossing her hands up. “You’re impossible.”

“Tenacious.”

I know she likely wants to throttle me, but she doesn’t.

Probably with the same level of restraint that I just had when I was tempted to kiss her.

Most definitely becoming a problem.

“We can work over there,” she finally mutters, gesturing to the small wooden table across the room. “I need to grab my stuff from the front, and I’ll be back.”

Then she’s stalking out of the room, and I definitely do not watch her ass shake in those tight, clay-stained jeans as she does.