“Worried about me?” I ask, my voice low and teasing as I duck down to catch her eyes. They’re sopretty, shimmering even in the over-bright fluorescents, with long, delicate lashes. “I’m a big boy, I can take care of myself, sweet th—Magnolia.”
The near slip of what I’d called her before I learned her name is enough to snap reason back into my brain. Fuck, I can’t be doing this. Standing this close to her would be a death sentence if David ever saw, and the last thing I need to do is call her something I fantasized about saying to her when my hands were down my pants.
I step back and sit my ass down on the plastic bed, blood rushing through my ears in a mix of torturous arousal and panic.
“Jesus, I’m notworriedabout you, idiot,” she blusters, her blush flaring even brighter over her face. “It just looks gross.”
I glance down at my arm—it’s a much safer place to look than where my eyes have been lingering—and grimace at the sight of it. The cut bisects one of the roses I got tattooed for my family, the edges of it tattered and crusted with blood. Hopefully, the doctor can stitch it so it doesn’t fuck up the tattoo when it heals.
“And my name isMaggie,” she continues, her tone getting sharper. I look up to find her glaring at me, and my self control evaporates again. Thank fuck I’m sitting down this time. Easier to hide a hard-on like this. “No one calls me Magnolia. You can either call me Maggie or you can keep your mouth shut around me.”
Goddamnit. It’s been a long time since anyone gave me this much sass, and even longer since I couldn’tdosomething about it. I want to fuck that attitude right out of her plush little mouth.
I’m trying to be good, to remind myself that this will get us both in trouble, but her eyes are so full of fire and Iwant.
“Whatever you say, sweet Magnolia,” I say, grinning around the words.
Her whole body stiffens in response to the way I say her name, but she glares at me like she hates me.
“I’ll go get Dr. Mulaney to stitch you up,Bennett.” She stresses my name like she’s punishing me by saying, but it just makes my dick throb.
She turns on her heel and storms toward the door, yanking the door shut behind her causing me to grin. Just before it slams closed, she freezes and shoves it back open, leaning in past the threshold to stare me down with her eyes narrowed threateningly.
The blush on her cheeks takes the heat out of it.
“And I’m notsweet, either.”
She lets those words hang heavily between us before stepping back and closing the door with a decisive snap.
My breath rushes out of me on a near silent laugh, and I lean back against the wall, propping my head up against it. The lights in the ceiling are harsh, but they glare brightly enough in my eyes to erase the afterimage of Maggie’s pretty little face.
This is not how I should be playing my cards right now. Do my job, then go home. Don’t fall into some sort of flirty game with a girl I can’t have, even for a night. Maybe she’s playing the same game I am right now, toeing the line and seeing how far flirtation can go before it turns to action, but I can’t let it go any further.
The chase is fun, but any more than this could be catastrophic. Pa trusts me to do this job for him, and I’m not going to let him down just because a pretty girl bats her eyelashes at me.
Fuck, but she really is pretty. That attitude combined with the look in her eyes every time I say her name is enough to have me itching with need. The way she looked at me when she leaned in to say her final piece almost broke me.
Not sweet, huh?
I bet she’d beplentysweet on my tongue. But I won’t let myself get close enough to find out.
Chapter Seven
BENNETT
The barn is deserted,which is good, because I’d get my ass handed to me if David saw me out here right now.
I spent the day lounging around in my trailer after getting stitched up, pointedlynotthinking about sweet little Magnolia. No, I tidied up the small space and caught up with Ma and Pa and Benji and scrolled through mindless social media posts. Essentially, I did fuck-all, and I’m antsy.
I don’t do well sitting still.
My arm hardly hurts at all, especially with the pain relievers Dr. Mulaney sent me home with after stitching me up. It was definitely worse than I thought, and I’m glad I got stitches, but she told me I should be good to get back to work tomorrow as long as I’m not lifting anything heavy. I haven’t read through the list of restrictions she sent me home with, but I’ll get around to it.
Eventually.
I came out to the barn with plans to just make sure all the lights were off and talk to the horses for a bit until I was tired enough for bed, but there are feed bags slung against the wallof the tack room, so I might as well put them away while I’m out here. The only reason they didn’t get sorted in the first place is because I was on bed rest, per David’s insistence along with orders from the good doctor.
It feels good to move around a bit, loosen up my muscles and do some mindless work.
