“Heat?”
“From what Raven said, there was plenty.”
I waited a few seconds before responding, simply watching Maddison continue to worry her lip.
“Does your friend always have the tendency to over-exaggerate?”
“She’s always been assertive.” A smile tugged at her lips.
“I was thinking more along the lines of aggressive.” Maddison raised her brows and finally stopped torturing her lip.
“What’s wrong, Mike? Do confident women scare you?”
“I’m perfectly capable of handling a strong woman,” I assured her, suddenly feeling a little more awake than I had been five minutes ago. “Or any kind of woman, for that matter.”
I watched the way Maddison’s throat bobbed when she swallowed hard and felt my own pulse quicken just a bit. Maybe it was wrong of me to taunt her and to flirt, but she wasn’t actually acting as if I were out of line, so what was wrong with a little fun? That, and the fact that it was almost unstoppable, like second instinct, whenever she was looking at me the way she was now. Hell, even when she wasn’t looking at me, I found the need to get just a little closer, say just the smallest thing that would trigger a reaction from her.
“It’s the ones who make it too easy that cause me to pump the brakes. There should be a little cat and mouse, a small fraction of resistance maybe, and definitely some heavy flirting.”
“So you enjoy a good flirting game, then?” I had known Mad for years, and I knew her well. Well enough that I could pick up on the fact that she was a little nervous.
“Oh, yes,” I said in a lower tone than I intended, but hell, why not? “Flirting is what builds the interest…triggers desire. There should always be flirting. Always.”
Maddison nodded, her stare still locked on mine and her chest rising and falling in quick, uneven breaths. “From what Raven said, there was a whole lot of flirting, a challenge set into place, some plans being made even of corruption. You corrupting her, or her you. I’m not sure which way it went, but there was definitely talk of some wild times.”
“Your friend has an over-active imagination.”
“Most men like that.” Maddison looked down at the table, and part of me wanted to reach across and make her look at me once more. I fisted my cup tighter to keep from doing just that.
“I’m a man, Mad.” She lifted her gaze once more, her brows scrunched as if she was deep in thought. “But I’m not an animal. I think your friend was hoping for me to be someone I’m not. Like some dark soul with hidden secrets that she can somehow uncover by seduction.”
“If you’re not that guy, Mikey, then who are you?”
I had never in my life felt around Maddison the way I felt in that moment. A strange sense of needing her to see me as me, not as this person Raven hoped I could be. “You already know who I am, Mad, better than most, so why don’t you tell me?”
She took in a deep breath, and just when she let it out slowly, her watch beeped with an alarm that made her entire body jerk in surprise. “I’ve gotta go,” she said in a rush as she pushed back in her chair and caused it to teeter before straightening once again. I didn’t miss the way her hands shook as she grabbed for the back to steady it before sliding it toward the table once more. “Hope the rest of your shift goes by in a hurry. You look exhausted. Maybe you should tell your dad and Reed to go easy on you at the farm.”
She spoke quickly and bit at the side of her cheek once again.
I offered her a nod, the disappointment I was feeling crippling my words. I wanted her to stay and not for the reasons I had before. Maddison had always been the one the rest of us used as our sounding board. She was the girl with all the logic and all the answers. She had a heart of gold, an eye like an eagle, and a tenderness about her that I couldn’t help feeling better just being in her presence after a long, hard day.
No, what I was feeling was different. It was strange but intriguing.
“You should call Raven,” she added before taking another step back. I felt a lump form in my chest at her words. “She may seem wild and persistent, but she’s fun. And she’s the most loyal person I know. I think you’d like her if you gave her a chance.”
With that, Maddison spun on her heel and hurried off toward the elevators that led up to the surgical floor, and I couldn’t manage to take my eyes off her.
When the doors opened and she stepped inside, she looked up, and our eyes met across the cafeteria once more. I offered a nod, and she lifted her hand and gave me a little wave in return, triggering my heart to race in my chest.
What in the hell is happening between us?
We’d been here before, this uncomfortable yet intriguing stage. The one where flirting came so naturally, yet we were questioning it at every turn. It was a yo-yo of events, this nervous feeling of not knowing if what we were doing or even feeling was wrong. There were so many different outcomes to what could happen.
The unknown was the scariest part.
Chapter Fourteen
Maddison
“Does he wear scrubs too?”
“Yes,” I said in response to yet another question from Raven about Mike. With my back to her, I placed
