Page 127 of Face Off
I smiled even though he couldn’t see me. “Operational error?”
“Keep walking, mami.”
His voice had roughened.
We reached a split in the path. I chose left. Ryan attempted to steer me right.
“Left,” I insisted.
“Right.”
“The map showed the center east of us.”
“The sun is behind us.”
“That doesn’t make right correct.”
“It makes your map irrelevant.”
“You hid the map in your shorts.”
“You keep mentioning my shorts.”
“Your erection is against me. They’re currently relevant.”
Ryan stopped walking.
His arm tightened around my waist before he turned me inside the narrow corridor. My back met the hedge, and he braced one hand beside my head while keeping his body close enough to make escape irrelevant.
The laughter remained in his eyes. Desire burned beneath them. “You’ve gotten reckless since last night.”
“You called me reckless before you kissed me.”
“I was warning you.”
“I thought you liked being heard.”
His gaze dropped to my mouth. “You hear whatever creates the most trouble.”
“I learned from you.”
“You keep saying that.”
“You keep proving it.”
Voices approached somewhere beyond the hedge. Ryan remained where he was, sheltering me from sight with the width of his shoulders.
I touched the lettering across his chest. “Your pastel shirt is wrinkled.”
“I’ll survive.”
“Bliss may not.”
“She created this pastel hell.”
“The maze?”
He nodded, “and you in those shorts.”
