Page 63 of My Unhinged Alphas
I smile a little. “Maybe I enjoy the scenery.”
The girl looks disgusted. “You’re insufferable.”
“And yet,” I say, looking back at her, “you keep talking to me.”
“Because apparently I don’t have a choice.”
That wipes some of the amusement off my face.
Not all of it. But some.
I know what this room looks like. I know what I look like standing over her while Knox blocks the door. I know exactlyhow this feels from her side, and for one irritating second, that gets under my skin.
I straighten and drag a hand over the back of my neck.
She notices that too. Of course she does.
I’m used to people falling apart under pressure. She doesn’t. She studies. Adjusts. Files things away. That’s what makes her dangerous.
That’s what makes her interesting.
And that’s exactly why I know I need to get out of my own way before I turn this into something messy just because Knox is standing there looking at me like he’d enjoy breaking my jaw.
So I look at him.
He goes still.
It’s not obvious to her, probably, but he knows what I’m doing. Knows what the look means.Take over.
I don’t say it out loud. I don’t need to. Because for all the ways Knox and I get under each other’s skin, he reads me better than most people ever will.
He pushes off the wall and steps forward.
The girl notices the shift immediately. Her eyes move from me to him, uncertain now.
I grin at Knox like I didn’t just lie to his face and almost ruin everything. “Relax,” I say easily. “I’m just getting to know her.”
His eyes narrow. He knows exactly what that means.
Good.
I turn back to her before he can say anything else. “Where were we?” I murmur, stepping in close again like the interruption never happened.
“You’re getting in my space again,” she says.
I grin. “Good. I’d hate for you to get comfortable.”
My fingers find her wrist first, and her breath catches immediately. I drag my fingers up her arm, slow, deliberate, watching the way her skin reacts, the way her shoulders tensebefore she melts just a little into the touch. She’s trying to hold it together. Her breath stutters again, and I follow the reaction like it’s a map I’ve already memorized.
“You’re very reactive,” I murmur, sliding my thumb slowly over the inside of her wrist. “That’s dangerous, you know.”
“For who?” she manages.
I tilt my head, considering. “Depends how this goes.”
I let my hand drift higher, slow enough that she can stop me.
She doesn’t.
