“These read your heart’s electrical activity,” I said. “I’m going to place them across your chest and ribcage.”
“Can’t wait.”
The VO2 meter beeped. I checked his reading. “Good reading.”
He beamed like a little kid who had just been praised.
“I need you to remove your shirt… uh, flight suit.” I swallowed. “Just the top part, please.”
Reed’s gaze turned heated. He used both hands to slowly unzip his flight suit. It was a single-piece garment that ran thelength of his torso. Slowly, the fabric parted and fell away from his muscular chest.
I didn’t know where to look. Locking eyes with him would be catastrophic, but looking at his well-defined pecs covered in dark swirls of hair wasn’t helping either. The zipper kept revealing inch after inch of rock-hard body.
“Stop,” I breathed when he had reached past his stomach.
He stopped and let the flight suit fall off his body, with the bottom portion still on.
“All yours, Doctor,” he murmured.
With trembling hands, I pressed the first electrode just below his collarbone and smoothed the edges flat against his warm skin with two strokes of my fingers.
Reed’s breath hitched.
I was wearing gloves, but I could feel the heat of his skin at each fingertip through the thin latex. Moving to the next position, I worked methodically: collarbone, sternum, the left side of his ribcage, below the pectoral, two more along the lower ribs—peeling, positioning, and pressing each one flat.
Neither of us spoke, but I could feel his eyes tracking each placement and traveling north toward my face between them. Once I was done placing all the pads, I stepped out from between his legs to go to the monitor, but before I could take even one step, he yanked me back. The sudden movement caused me to stumble and fall into his arms.
I glared up at him and pushed off his ridiculously hard body.
“Love it when you get mad at me.” He ran a fingertip down the column of my throat.
I shivered.
“I want to mess up that neatly combed hair. I want to mark this clear, smooth skin.”
I swallowed repeatedly, suddenly rendered mute. I could see him savoring the satisfaction of watching me struggle. It wasn’tlike he was physically forcing me. That was the most annoying part. My body and brain were at war.
There was something about his appearance, the wild and untamed energy radiating off him, that made me run hot. He leaned forward and blew warm air against my mouth.
“I want to do dirty things to you, my prince.”
I squeezed my eyes shut and groaned. This was just plain unfair. He was using every weapon in his arsenal. The proximity of his body, using my call-sign as an affectionate pet name, and, worst of all, showing up in my life without any notice.
I took a deep breath and opened my eyes. I needed to be professional. He was my patient and a research subject. Nothing else.
With a stern look, I warned him, “Stay still and behave.”
He lifted his palms off me and grinned. “Sorry.”
He was not sorry at all.
I leveled a stare at him. “Do I have to make that an order?”
His smile disappeared, and the black of his pupils in those blue eyes dilated so fast right in front of me that it stunned me.
I swallowed. Shit, wrong thing to say.
“Forget I said it,” I hastily added. “Just… hold still, please.”
