Page 162 of Timeless

I was positive he had no idea what he was doing. Then his other hand went to my face, pushing back my hair from the side of my face. Okay, that was sweet and unexpected. Then before I could even say a word, his lips were on mine.

He was soft, gentle, like I was a fragile doll and he didn’t want to break me. The last time he kissed me, he was possessive, frantic even. This kiss was anything but. My hand spread across his cheek. I didn’t push him away. Everything about him should be scaring me away. Yet here I was. Willingly kissing him back. And I loved it. It was a slow and steady rush.

My lips were slightly parted and I was expecting him to take it further but then he pulled back.

My blood was pulsating quicker through my body, just a small taste of him sparked a craving, causing me to have an appetite for him. Did he even realize he had done that to me? My hand was now on the back of his neck, and while he had pulled away, I hadn’t. I was still there, wanting more.

He moved his hands out of the back of my dress. I immediately missed his touch on my bare skin. I thought he was going to take his hand off me completely, instead his ran down my spine.

“That should have been our first kiss.” His words were low, and the gentleness he had shown me in that kiss was in his voice. “I’m sorry for attacking you the other day.” He sounded nervous again.

“I understand why you did it.” I didn’t move away from him. Though I took my hand off the back of his neck. My hand went to his shoulder. My eyes dropped to his tattoos. I wanted to look at each one, take in the details. But I knew that wasn’t my place. So, I looked him back in the eye, giving him a smile, and went to pull away from him completely.

His hand was still on my back, and he pushed me back to him again. “You do?”

Well, I had an idea on why had kissed me that day. It was because of Mason. It had to be. As soon as Amber disappeared up the hall to get the door, Troy made a move. He had to know it was my ex. So, him kissing me then was no mystery. However, why he kissed me tonight was.

I nodded, still giving him a smile. “You did it to make a point to Mason. I totally get it.” I kept smiling at him, though knowing he had kissed me for that reason didn’t sit well with me. But I hid that behind a smile. “You know Amber didn’t expect you to do it. But she did tell me once, when you take on a job, you go to the full measures to get it done.”

He frowned, and then his eyes narrowed on me. I wouldn’t lie, having him looking at me like that, made me not want to be near him at all. God, he looked threatening.

“You think I kissed you to make a point to your ex?” His words were low, the fact that what I had said had pissed him off was clear.

“Guess it doesn’t matter,” I finally said and it didn’t. Because if he hadn’t kissed me to prove a point to Mason, then it was just because he was guy, and he just acted on instinct.

“I’m not good with this shit.”

I looked back at him. I didn’t know what he meant by that. But by the look in his eyes, he was hoping I understood what he meant.

But I had no idea what he meant by, ‘I’m not good with this shit’. I just gave him a smile and moved out from between his legs. My attention went to his burn. Darn, it looked sore.

“How good is your pain tolerance?” I asked, my eyes now on his burn and not his dominating blue eyes.

“I’m not going to pass out if that’s what you mean.”

“Good, because this is going to hurt.” I dabbed on a little hydrogen peroxide. I was hesitated to apply it. I glanced at him, and he seemed to realize I didn’t want to hurt him. He nodded for me to do it.

Maybe just get it over with?

So, I did, and to my surprise he stayed deadly still. I didn’t want to see pain on his face, so I focused on the burn. I knew this would be excruciatingly painful.

I then took it off and started to apply saline on another pad and covered the burn. “You do realize you not getting this treated right away keeps the heat in your leg, causing it to burn through more layers?” I wasn’t telling him off but I felt like he had to know how stupid he was for leaving it.

He didn’t say a word.

I applied saline, waited for it to dry, and applied it again. I did it a few times, not rushing and giving it time to absorb the saline. When I thought I had done it enough, I grabbed a clean gauze and then started to wrap a bandage around it, firmly.

“You need to make sure not to let it rub on anything. So, keep it covered. The bandage has to be changed every day.” When it was covered, and I was sealing the end of the bandage with tape to keep it in place, I finally looked at him. “It’s going to blister and let it, because it helps protect the wound from getting infected.”

He didn’t say anything, just kept staring at me and I didn’t look away. Why was he looking at me as if I was a puzzle he couldn’t solve?

I sighed and then broke eye contact, picking up Amber’s supplies, which I had raided. Standing up, I walked the supplies back to the cupboard. I always wondered why Amber had this need to always have first aid supplies. Clearly, she had been brought up needing it.

I was on my tiptoes putting it back.

“Wanna start explaining what happened to your arm?”

I spun around. Shit. I was standing right under a light. The lighting was dim in the living room, so he hadn’t seen the bruising. But now, stupid me was standing under a light in the kitchen. He had his jeans back on, and it would seem even from the living room, he had spotted the bruises.

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