Page 96 of Bad Attitude
She pauses. “Yeah, I get that. I’m the same.”
I know she is. Chaotic and free-spirited, just like me.
“But the point is, you saved my life.” I take a step toward her, and she backs up, her lip caught between her teeth as she meets my gaze.
“It’s… uh… nothing.”
“Nothing?” I raise a sardonic eyebrow, limping another step.
“I mean… you’re welcome.” She backs into the wall, delightfully flustered, and I put my hand against it, leaning in like I’m bracing myself. What I’m really doing is cornering her.
“It’s nothing to you, it’s a lot to me,” I say, voice low.
“I didn’t mean…nothing.” She swallows, meeting my eyes then glancing away. “Obviously it’s not nothing, it’s absolutely something. No one’s life is nothing, especially not—”
She stops talking only as I kiss her, and her hand presses flat against my chest. Her mouth opens to me with a little whimper as I find her tongue, and it deepens to a moan as I lean in more, my cock pressing against her stomach. Her other hand snakes around my neck, pulling me down as our kiss deepens, while her palm remains flat over my heart.
I break the kiss first, but only because my leg is hurting, and I’m feeling lightheaded again. I pull back, hissing in a breath, and it’s not for show or sympathy.
“Jesus, Declan, you’ve gone white.”
“It’s fine. Just need to… lie down again.”
“Couch, maybe? Or the bed?”
“Couch is good. Give me a minute and I’ll be fine. We can eat together?”
“Sure. Let’s get you there.”
With her help, it doesn’t take long until I can collapse onto the couch. Raven fetches me a clean sheet to wrap around myself and drags over a cushion to prop my leg on. Then she changes my dressings, kneeling on the floor at my feet as she works on my thigh. Only then does she leave to change her T-shirt for one that’s dry and less clingy—more’s the pity.
“Now you’re up and about, I should move the TV back,” she calls from the bedroom. “We can watch while we eat.”
“I’d much rather talk to you.”
She walks back in, towel-drying her damp hair. “Yeah? What about?”
“Anything you like.”
She’s quiet for a moment, her back to me as she focuses on her cooking. “Ever played ‘truth or dare’?”
I chuckle. “Sure, but not since I was eight. It’s a bit juvenile.”
“Depends how you play it,” she mutters. “All right then, truth ortruth.”
“Raven, I have no secrets from you,” I tell her. “Ask me whatever you want, and I’ll answer.” And I realize I mean it, too. After all, I’m certain she’s not just going to come straight out with ‘Are you an undercover FBI agent?’
Fuck, even if she does, at this point I might just admit to it.
The hell, Declan? You’d risk throwing away your career just because she takes care of you?
But it’s so much more than that. Even before she saved my life—gave meherescape route, got me home—she’s pulled me in. Her spirit, her fire, her strength. She’s already worked her way under my skin, past all my defenses.
I don’t want to lie to this girl anymore.
Grow up. You need to get out of here.
But that’s my training talking, not me. I don’t want to leave at all. Ever.
