He blinked at her in surprise. “You don’t need to be sorry, Pilar. I’m not upset.”
She sighed at him. “I shouldn’t have gotten carried away like that. Obviously, we’re much less compatible than I thought we were.”
Maverick couldn’t help but feel a sense of pleasure at hearing those words. “So, you’ve thought about us?”
She frowned at him. “Maybe it’s a good thing this happened early on.”
He couldn’t help but tilt his head. “What do you mean?”
“We can’t be together, Maverick. I’ll just end up doing this again. Or worse.”
That made him press his lips together. He didn’t like her talking like that without even giving them a real chance in the first place. His office had been a fluke … something they hadn’t planned for at all. It was stupid to base anything on such a spontaneous interaction.
She pressed a fresh bandage to his chest, taping him up before stepping away to throw the soiled products into the trash.
“You really feel that way?”
She turned back to him. “Yes.”
Maverick couldn’t help but read into her bland tone. There was just something off about the way she spoke … almost like there was another layer hidden beneath it.
“Right …”
She shook her head at him, not entertaining any more conversation before she stepped out of the bathroom and headed down the hall again. Maverick couldn’t help but stand there a little bit baffled. He hadn’t imagined the spark between them … right?
This had to be some kind of shifter test. Play hard to get to see how far he was willing to go. How far he was willing to take this cat and mouse game of theirs that they seemed to have fallen into.
Lucky for her, Maverick was practically ready to throw himself onto the sword for her at this point.
Following after her, he found her sitting on the couch in the living room. Her legs had been tucked up to her chest with an arm around them in an almost casual way. Though, the longer he stared at her, the more uncomfortable she looked.
“Well, guess we got that out of the way.”
She narrowed her eyes at him, a strange expression crossing over her face at his words.
“Yes … I guess so.”
“Platonic friendship it is, then.”
Her eyes narrowed further. “Yes.”
“Great.” He stretched a smile over his face, hoping like hell that he was passing whatever test this was. “Why don’t we watch a movie then?”
“Sounds great …”
“Awesome.”
He flopped down onto the couch next to her, grabbed the remote that had been wedged between the cushions, and flicked on the big screen. He pulled up a streaming channel and clicked on whatever the first suggested movie was, hoping that it wouldn’t matter in a few minutes anyway.
By the time the opening scene finished, he hoped they were busy doing something much more interesting.
He tossed the remote on the cushion next to him and lounged back, throwing an arm over the back headrest while the beginning credits started. He felt Pilar glance at him out of the corner of her eye.
Patient … I just need to be patient…
He felt a pair of hands grab onto the front of his shirt and yank him over across the couch and practically into Pilar’s lap. He felt his eyes widen at the sudden movement and looked up at her in surprise.
She stared down hungrily at his lips and pulled him into another heated kiss.