I try to pull myself at least to a sitting position, but he forces me to stay on my back. “Don’t move too quickly. You’re a med student. You should know this stuff.”
“It’s a bump on the head. Nothing lethal.”
“Just relax. Lemme get some ice.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I watch him scramble to his feet and hustle over to the freezer to grab an ice pack. He kneels next to me, pressing it to my head.
“Cold!” I yelp.
“Well, the part of your brain that recognizes sensations still works. That’s good.”
“Parietal lobe,” I mumble, clenching my teeth as he presses harder. “It hurts.”
“Yeah, well wrought iron will do that.”
“And you know from experience?”
“Yep. Occupational hazard.”
I place my hand on the ice pack, my fingers brushing against his. I ignore the tingling sensation that shoots up my arm. “You don’t have to sit here and hold this. I can do it.”
He could be the enemy, Kristina.
Good thing you didn’t black out and forget the plan.
“I’m really okay,” I say, pulling away slightly. He slowly sits back on his heels, snaking an arm around my back to help me sit up. I drop my hands to the floor, pressing them against the tile for balance and support since my head feels like it’s morphed into a cinderblock. My vision clears a minute later and I take a deep breath.
Yeah, my moves are so not the stealth kind.
I could not have executed them worse if I tried.
And I can’t very well seduce him while I’m in this condition.
Besides, he’s not even paying attention to how my boobs look in this sports bra.
He seems genuinely concerned about me.
I start to rise from the floor, hanging onto the side of the island to guide me. Massimo loops his arm around my waist, supporting the rest of my body.
Would someone who wants me dead be so doting? So attentive? So concerned?
Or is that just the result of the ripples of excitement rolling through me?
I look up at him, his deep-set gaze fixated on me.
I want to believe that my theory is wrong, that he’s with me, not against me.
But dammit, someone is against me, and he’s the closest I have to a potential enemy.
If I clear him, if I find out my theory is flawed…and oh my, I hope I do…then I can revisit these insane feelings of lust and desire.
Take advantage of them, even.
But I refuse to put my sisters at risk because of my oversight.
I diagnose the problem first.
Cure the ailment later.
His breath is soft against my cheek. It flutters against my skin like feathers, tickling and teasing me just enough to make my knees wobble.
He grips me tighter. “Almost lost you there,” he murmurs. “You want to sit down?”
I shake my head, the words dying on my lips as my heart flutters against my chest.
This is bad.
I’m losing focus.
His cologne is so deliciously intoxicating. It swirls around my still-fuzzy head, forcing me to breathe it in.
Oh, God.
I’m getting more and more tipsy as the seconds pass.
I continue to stare.
He never breaks his gaze.
Wait, what am I doing here again?
And can I stay in this position forever?
Ring! Ring! Ring!
I gasp, popping to an upright position. I grab hold of the stool because too much blood rushes straight to my head in my haste.
I clap a hand over my thumping heart.
The phone. It was only the phone.
Massimo turns to grab the handset, handing it over to me. I press the Talk button. “Hello?”
I furrow my brow at the static on the other end of the line. “Hello?” I try again, raising my voice.
More static followed by a loud humming sound.
“He—?”
Click.
I roll my eyes and hand him the handset.
“Wrong number?”
“Something like that.”
It may have been the wrong number, but it sure happened at the right time.
I smooth back my hair, cringing as my finger grazes the lump on the side of my head. Even Massimo recoils slightly.
“Is it that bad?” I slowly walk into the powder room to see the damage up close and personal. “Damn…” I breathe once I flip on the light. “I look like a prize fighter.”
“Purple is definitely your color,” he says with a smirk, staring at me in the reflection.
I spin around to deliver a snarky retort and promptly lose my footing when the dizziness assaults me yet again.
I am seriously the queen of bad timing.
He reaches out to grab me before I stumble into the wall and once again, I land in his muscular arms.
Or am I?
Some might say I’m manifesting this reaction from him with my clumsiness.
Maybe that’s true.
I’ll take it any which way I can get it.
“You can’t seem to stay on your feet today.”
“And somehow you’re always there to catch me.”
Oohh, that was a very romance-novelish thing for me to say.
So cliché.
And yet, so fitting, especially in light of our very first meeting.
“I didn’t mean that in the cheesy, Hallmark movie way,” I say, clearing my throat.
“I didn’t take it that way.”
“And now that I think about it, I’m taking it back. You didn’t save me from the stool.”
“I didn’t. Fuck me.”
“I thought you said you couldn’t get involved?” I ask in a breathless whisper.
He furrows his brow and a slow smile lifts his lips. “That’s not where I was going, dirty girl.”
“Okay.” My pulse slams against my throat. “Good because neither was—”
His lips crush against mine, preventing me from fully vocalizing the lie that was so close to rolling off my tongue.
Tongue.
Oh, Lord.
What a devious one he has.
It slips into my mouth gently at first before it launches a full-on carnal invasion, coiling heat spiraling around my own and flooding my insides with a kind of nervous anticipation I haven’t felt since I got my MCAT scores in the mail.
He presses his fingertips into the small of my back, his other hand roaming around the back of my head, stroking the back of my neck. Goosebumps pebble my skin, my legs wobbly as cubes of Jell-O.
Thankfully, he has me captured in his embrace like a mouse in a trap.
Without the excruciating pain and death that follows, of course.
No, this is pure bliss, something I’ve fantasized about but never actually gotten to experience before now.
I couldn’t escape if I tried.
My body simply would not allow it.
I run my fingers through his thick, dark hair, tugging at it harder and harder the deeper he penetrates. He captures my bottom lip between his teeth, tugging gently at it as I moan against his mouth.
Oh my God, I sound like…well, someone who hasn’t ever been properly kissed, I would guess.
Spoiler alert…I haven’t.
Until now.
He gathers me into his arms, lifting me onto the counter, his hands sliding down the side of my torso, his fingertips digging into my hips to draw me closer. I wind my arms around his neck, locking my legs around his waist. I dip my head backward, giving him access to devour my neck which he does like a champ. He slides his tongue around the outer shell of my ear, eliciting a mewl that only eggs him on.