Page 161 of Timeless

“Just take off your fucking pants,” I snapped. I would not be standing here, blabbering sentences, just for his amusement. “And sit down.”

His hand went to his belt, that small smirk still on his face. “So, we have an understanding then?” He sat down on the couch in front of me.

My eyes ran down his legs. Then I saw his burn.

“Sure, I won’t say a word.” I don’t know why he was still concerned about me telling his brothers, I had just told him that what happened between us stayed between us- and I had made it imply that I wanted something more to happen between us.

“No.”

My eyes had been on the wound on his leg, which was revealed when his jeans were off but that made me look up, my frown deepening. What did he mean no? “What?”

“I’ve stripped for you, so when I tell you to, you’ll do it.”

I couldn’t believe what I heard. Was he serious? His smirk got slightly bigger, I think because he’d made me speechless. Well, if he thought he had an upper hand he was wrong, I was about to flip the tables on him.

“Sure. But you really shouldn’t have stopped me before.” My eyes dropped to his leg. Shit, that looked nasty.

“Why?”

I glanced back at him for a second. I’d forgotten for a second the game I was playing with him. I took my eyes off the burn completely, going to my knees in front of him.

He swallowed sharply, his eyes focused on me. As if me kneeling in between his legs had his mind going wild.

I ran my fingers nails slowly up his thigh, leaning into him slightly. “Because I’m not wearing a bra.” My voice was low, on purpose. As soon as the words left my mouth, his smug expression disappeared. “You would have caught me on a rare day.”

I couldn’t stop the smile, as I saw the disbelief on his face. I loved seeing it. I’d shocked Troy Shield; that was something to be proud of. The always confident, dangerous, and deadly Troy Shield was speechless and in shock.

I didn’t want to gloat for too long. Though it was a major accomplishment on my behalf.

Okay, enough games. The point to him taking his pants off was his burn. My eyes went to it. Shit. It was going to hurt when I disinfected it. I felt guilty and sorry for him all at once.

I reached across him, getting the hydrogen peroxide off the couch beside him. Just as I did, he moved forward, his hand going to my back. I wasn’t sure what he was doing, until I felt his fingers slip in the back of my dress, his fingers running along the back of my dress.

Seems he needed proof I wasn’t wearing a bra.

He was lucky that this strapless white dress let his hand in to begin with. Usually, all my dresses were skin tight.

I moved back, his hand staying where it was.

We were face to face now, I was up on my knees at his level. And his fingers still under my dress. I knew I shouldn’t. I knew it was a bad idea. But I wanted to touch him. And my willpower was slipping.

My grip on the hydrogen peroxide tightened in my hand. But unfortunately, my other hand had nothing to grip and before I even knew it, my hand was on his thigh and then my fingers went to his face. I moved slow, so he knew he could stop me. But he didn’t.

My fingers slowly started tracing his jaw, starting at the top of his cheekbone and going down. I don’t know what had me thinking I had no right to touch him.

I realized just how close we were. Touching him had caused me to lean into him. I could hear his breathing, steady and in control. Well, he was two things I wasn’t.

My fingers stopped, and I couldn’t help but look in his eyes. I had never seen blue eyes like his. They were enchanting. Light at the pupil and darker around the rims.

Everything about Troy pulled me in. No, it wasn’t the fact he would be classed as a bad boy, or an outlaw, that didn’t have me leaning into him, touching him. What pulled me in was his confidence, how sweet he was with Jack and how he always was the father figure to his brothers and sister. Amber mentioned once that being a president suited Troy, because he was always level headed and was a natural leader.

Everyone looked up to him with this respect and I could understand why.

I swallowed sharply. My fingers lingered on his jaw. I dipped just slightly closer to him and then realized what I was doing.

I went to pull back but his hand on my back pushed me back to him. God, what was he thinking?

God, his lips were close, did he realize that? This time, he didn’t have to kiss me to scare away my boyfriend. Well, I still don’t know if that was the reason he had kissed me but I just assumed it was. Trying to send the message to Mason that I was taken. When I wasn’t at all.

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