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Now there wasa defense I hadn’t seen coming. And I had to say I approved. Would it be too cheeky of me to stick out my wrists?
Probably. I was tempted just the same.
Things moved quickly after that. The Chief approached and Christian turned to have a hushed conference with him as Mav grabbed my upper arm and hustled me out the door. On the way, he stopped to exchange words with Austin.
All the curse words I’d expected him to aim at me, he fired at his buddy instead. Including saying, “next time, don’t let a pretty pair of blue eyes twist your balls in a knot.”
Austin just held up his hands palms out and shrugged.
I frowned. He was blaming Austin for my being an ass? That was a first. I was used to taking full responsibility for that one.
“It was my fault.”
Mav didn’t spare me a glance. “Oh, believe me, I’m well aware, Vanessa.”
Many Vanessas, no Pocket Pluses. He must be really mad. Maybe that cuff thing wasn’t an idle threat.
A hint of guilt tried to worm its way between my shoulder blades. I could’ve really messed up things for him on the job, which hadn’t been my intention at all. I’d just been really worried and foolish and maybe a tiny bit jealous toward the end there.
Breasts had always been a sore spot for me, and his nurse had been blessed by the boob fairies many times over.
But before I could apologize—to himandAustin—he was gripping my hand and tugging me along across the parking lot and then around the side of the brick building to the alley alongside of it. Something little and furry scurried behind a dumpster, but I didn’t have time to consider that before he was spinning me around and pinning me against the wall with my wrists above my head.
“Explain yourself,” he growled against my ear.
I opened my mouth to reply and realized his hips were pressed entirely too snugly against my back. And things were going on in that region of his body that were not appropriate for a man in uniform.
He wasn’t even repentant about being as hard as the brick wall my nose was squished against. He was cocky and, well, fully cocked.
Large and in charge and practically puffing out his chest with it. No part of Maverick McNeill was lacking in any way.
I took a deep breath and wondered what would diffuse this situation so I wouldn’t end up losing our bet before he’d even gotten a hand in my panties. Shaming myself should do it.
“I was worried about you.”
He released my wrists so fast I had a moment to mourn the loss of his grip. His hands were calloused and strong and authoritative. I didn’t mind being ordered around in bed. Far from it. If the dude tried it when I wasn’t naked, he’d likely be lacking a nut before he finished speaking, but during sex? Yeah, I had no qualms there.
And while we weren’t having sex, somehow everything between us since I’d showed up on his dock had seemed like a precursor to this particular dance.
I had a feeling I’d be finding somewhere new to live soon. He might not even have to do more than speak or look at me in that dark, dangerous way he had, and he’d win by default.
“You were what?”
“Worried. About you.” I rubbed my wrists with more than a little regret as I turned to face him, realizing he hadn’t stepped back so our bodies were still entirely too close. I craned my neck to meet his gaze and tried to keep my voice even despite the heat in his molten brown eyes. It was past sunset but the alley was well-lit and his eyes were full of emotion. Mostly the kind I couldn’t read. “Shocked me too,” I added. “Seeing as I basically hate you.”
“You hate me?”
“Yes.” I shook my head while I said it, doing my favorite Bender move fromThe Breakfast Club.Tab and I had watched that movie a million times when we were home sick from school as kids.
He braced his arm on the wall above my head. “No, you don’t.”
“Probably not. But I didn’t mean to mess up your stakeout.”
His lips twitched. “It wasn’t a stakeout. I thought it was an in-progress armed robbery. Instead, it was a young kid armed with a water gun and enough bad judgment to pull the fire alarm and shoot off his fake gun at a cashier. The cashier held onto him until we got there, but by then, the sprinklers had soaked everything. Customers were still trying to come in, and it was just chaos.”
I reached up to trace a fingertip over the Band-Aid on his arm. “Did he tag you with his water gun?” I asked in the silkiest voice I could manage, despite my still racing heart from hearing him recount what had happened.
Fake gun or not, false alarm or not, the fear inside me had been very real.
