“As little as possible.” He tucked one of my curls behind my ear, causing a shiver to slither up my neck. “Just keep him busy and distracted for at least an hour.”
“An hour. Bloody hell, Roy, how can I keep him distracted for an hour without talking about something?”
Half hidden behind a tree, we stopped a few yards from the fence where a soldier was standing next to a makeshift gate all askew and tilting to the side.
Roy pulled me closer. “Showing is more effective than talking.” He undid the top buttons of my shirt. I swatted his fingers away and tried to rebutton my shirt. He swatted my hands away in turn and undid them again. “Of course, sometimes it doesn’t work, but it’s a distraction nevertheless.”
The result was that my shirt now had a plunging ‘V’ neckline that showed the top of my breasts. Then he took the tails of my shirt and knotted them together, leaving part of my belly bare. With a yank, he lowered the waistline of my trousers that now fell suggestively over my hips. Heck, I was dressed like a belly dancer.
“This is embarrassing.” I tugged at my shirt again. Between the knot under my breasts and the undone buttons, there wasn’t much fabric to cover me. I’d always been as thin as a match. Pale and sickly. But since I’d moved to Raven Park and started eating and exercising with Roy, my beast had woken up and swollen, and I’d put on some weight, especially in the right places. That didn’t mean I was eager or comfortable enough to show off my curves to everyone. Deep down, I was still Kristin the Stick who had gotten beaten in the head by a schoolmate.
“This is perfect.” His voice lowered to a husky rumble as he raked a slow gaze over my body. “And stop tugging at your clothes.”
“I’m nervous.”
“Don’t be.” He chewed his bottom lip. “I don’t think I can watch it, though.”
I scowled and folded my arms over my chest. “What?”
He roamed another heated gaze over me. “You flirting with that guard.”
“It was your idea,” I half hissed, half whispered.
“Yes, but I don’t have to like it.”
“You make no sense.” Annoyed, I brushed past him and climbed the last part of the path towards the fence. Roy’s jealousy was rubbish. We weren’t friends, nor lovers either. We were in that wishy-washy in-between that excited me and frustrated me in equal measure. He didn’t want to be with me, but he didn’t like seeing me with someone else. His problem, not mine.
I slowed my pace when the guard spun towards me, gaze narrowing. He was younger than I was, probably twenty, if the still round face and lack of beard were any signs. The guard post behind him leaned to the right, and a piece of the roof was missing. A gate closed the fence, and he was standing right behind it, feet in a wide stance.
“Good afternoon.” I waved and smiled, aware of all the skin I was exposing as I straightened.
He frowned. His lips didn’t even twitch. Great. “Good afternoon, madam.”
The plan Roy had prepared seemed to slip out of my mind as sweat turned my hands clammy. What was I supposed to do with this chap? “Ahem, is the fence working again?” I uselessly pointed at the said fence.
“Not yet. Can I help you with anything, madam?”
Crap. This wasn’t going well. “I, I was—”
“Yes, madam?” he prompted. For being so young, he was a determined one.
“I’m a little worried to be honest. Since that awful bomb exploded, everything is upside down here. Were you present when the bomb went off?” I arched my back, pushing my chest out. The fabric of my shirt stretched over my breasts, shaping their curves. The urge to fold my arms over them caused my hands to twitch.
The trick wasn’t going to work, even though the open shirt showed more than I was comfortable with. Why would this chap be so distracted by my… No, his gaze dipped to my neckline before returning to my face, and then to my breasts again. A light flush coloured his cheeks. I was thrilled that he’d noticed me, and ashamed at the same time.
“I was on duty when the accident occurred, yes.” He shifted his weight, the pistol at his side catching the sunlight.
“Were you injured?” I inched closer to the locked gate, the waistline of my trousers lowering further and showing my hip bones.
“Only a scratch.” He glanced down at my cleavage again, this time for a long minute.
Blimey. Who would have said it was so easy? “Are you all right now?”
“Almost.” He lowered the neckline of his black uniform and showed me an angry, raw cut that slashed the base of his neck and disappeared into his shirt.
The gasp that came out of me was genuine. “Has anyone disinfected it? It looks red and swollen.”
“I cleaned it myself. There was too much chaos and more seriously wounded for the medics to tend.” Grimacing, he scratched the wound.