Page 160 of Timeless

“You’ve got nothing to say sorry about.” I wanted to make sure he knew that. “I was the one dragging you into my problems.” And that didn’t even cover what he had done for me. Yeah, I really dragged him into drama. “How’s your hand? That isn’t the reason you are up, is it?”

Suddenly, guilt crept through my body. It made sense if his hand was sore.

“Nah.” He paused, looking me in the eye. “I wanted to talk to you.”

I arched my eyebrows. “You seriously got out of bed after three in the morning just to talk to me?” If he wanted to talk to me, why hadn’t he when he was up earlier?

“Well, I couldn’t sleep because of my leg and I knew you were still up, so…” He stopped, frowning. “I should go. Night.”

“What’s wrong with your leg?” I said, stopping him before he turned around and heading back to bed.

“Burned it on my exhaust.” He seemed hesitant to even tell me that. “I’m fine.”

“Has Amber looked at it?”

“She’s been busy.”

I rolled my eyes. “Typical alpha male,” I muttered and headed for him.

“What did you say?”

“Nothing,” I was quick to say. “Where about on your leg?”

“Calf.”

I walked to the cupboard. I didn’t even have to ask if he had treated it himself. Clearly, he had ignored it and now it would be burning. “Take your pants off and sit on the couch.” I caught his double take just before I turned to get the saline. “Don’t worry, Troy, I’m not going to jump you.”

I kept the smile to myself, with my back to him. Grabbing what I needed, I headed to the living room. It would seem he had heard me, his hands were on his belt. But he wasn’t undoing it. It was like he wasn’t sure if I meant what I said.

“Didn’t take you as a shy type of guy.” I didn’t mean to make fun of him. But the dry look he gave me after I said that made me laugh. I only laughed for a few seconds but he automatically looked insulted and embarrassed.

“How would you react if I just told you to strip down to your underwear?” he snapped at me, like my request was completely outrageous.

I shrugged. “If that is you asking me, then sure.”

His outraged expression dropped. I couldn’t stop my smirk. He looked terrified at first, and then I saw he slowly realized what I was offering. And it was like, him seeing me in my underwear was one of his fantasies.

I don’t know where I was getting this confidence from. I dropped the stuff I had just gotten out of the cupboard to treat his leg on the couch. I don’t know why but seeing him so stunned, and mesmerized with me, well, it had my hand going to my zipper. Then I started pulling the zip down on my side, slowly. He was watching as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The fact I wasn’t wearing a bra did run through my head but I didn’t stop slowly dragging down the zipper. Then he snapped, realizing what was happening.

I suppressed my smile, because I knew he was going to stop me. I don’t know how I knew that but I did.

He moved quickly toward me, closing the gap between us. I hadn’t factored in what my little stunt could cause. Him being closer to me. His fingers were on the zipper, and he started pulling it up. God, he was close, and the fact I wasn’t wearing my heels at the moment meant I didn’t have any height.

Him standing so close to me, his fingers still on my zipper, well, it was causing the confidence I did have before to start slipping.

He didn’t move away from me. Even when he had completely done the zipper up. I couldn’t look up all of a sudden. I was never the girl who teased guys. I was the girl who followed the guy’s lead. I couldn’t look up now, my eyes glued on the carpet.

“Would you really strip?” His words lingered with wonder and he was still standing extremely close to me.

Surprisingly, I managed to look him in the eye, that confidence coming back. “We’ll never know, because you’ll never ask.” That he wasn’t expecting. A smirk spread across my face. “So, are your pants coming off or not?”

He sighed, his hand going off my zipper and running through his hair. “If you tell one of my brothers that I stripped for you…”

“What happens between you and me, stays between us.” I was quick to end his concerns about me telling his siblings. But then I suddenly realized what else that could mean. Shit. “Um, I mean. Not like anything is going to happen between us. But you know what I mean…” I bit my bottom lip nervously.

The slight smirk on his face caused me to narrow my eyes at him.

Well, I’m glad he was getting enjoyment out my slip up.

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