“Pig,” I spat toothlessly.
“Am I supposed to pretend that I don’t find you attractive, Arken?” Kieran laughed, cocking a brow as he stretched one arm behind his back. Bare and golden-brown muscles flexed beneath shimmering panes of late-afternoon sun as it streamed through the ceiling’s skylights. “Or that I don’t enjoy touching you? I’m a damn good liar by trade, but I’m notthatgood.”
Oh, fuck off.
“Keep it in your pants,” I muttered.
“I fully intend on it,” Kieran purred. “You’d be far too distracted otherwise.”
Abyss take me, we were on another level of our bullshit today. But with the endorphins and adrenaline swimming in my veins alongside the aether this afternoon, I was far too competitive to just let him win.
“You mean like howyou’vebeen distracted by my ass all day?”
“Among other things,” he replied smoothly, unphased.
It was rare that he was so flippant, so open in admitting he was attracted to me. He was usually more subtle about it… Subtle enough that from time to time, I honestly forgot. It was easy to assume that this addictive allure was one-sided, but good fucking gods, did the confirmation otherwise do unspeakable things to my ego.
“Are you gonna teach me how to do this kick, or not, Captain?” I demanded, skirting around our flirtatious exchange for a moment so that I could catch my damn breath.
“Get back into position,” he replied easily.
Tightening my ponytail, I bounced on the balls of my feet before running through the motions again.Hands up. Elbows in. Lean back. Aim with the ball of your foot.
“Lift your knee a little higher,” Kieran instructed, keeping his hands to himself this time. He had taken a step or two back, giving a more comfortable berth. Something tight in my chest softened a bit, appreciative for how responsive Kieran was when it came to my boundaries.
He always seemed to respect my limits more than I ever could.
There was a particularly satisfying slap and thud against the striking bag this time when I kicked it—he wasn’t wrong. The higher I lifted my knee, the more power I could put behind the jab.
“See?” Kieran said.
“Yeah, yeah,” I groused. “You were right. What else is new? And what now?”
“Now do it again.”
Chapter Forty-Six
Kieran
Good. Fucking. Gods.
My walk home from Arken’s apartment had felt so torturously slow that I’d been half tempted to bite down on my palm and cut-cast a rift just to make it safely behind my own door a little faster. I needed to lock myself in this townhouse and throw away the key in order to resist the overwhelming urge to run right back and shove my tongue down her throat.
ArkenfuckingAsher.
You’re just friends, you’re just friends, you’re just friends.I chanted that shit like a mantra as I brewed myself some tea, stripping out of my sweaty clothes in the kitchen, tossing them to the corner of the room to be dealt with later.
Just friends.
And it was just an accident, I told myself as I recalled the way Arken’s fingertips had brushed up against my groin right before we’d wrapped up her sparring training. There was nothingintentionalwhen she’d tossed her hair back, either—nothingcalculatedabout the way she shook out that dark brown mane while she’d arched her back to stretch right in front of me. There was certainly nothingstrategicabout that breathy little moan that had escaped her mouth while she did it.
Nope.
It’s not like I had any room to deny it at this point. Hel, I’d never been able to deny how aggressively attracted I was to that woman. That was partially why this entire friendship had developed in the first place, I simplycould notstay away. But godsdamn, we’d been playing with fire this afternoon.
And still, I burned.
I could handle the heat most of the time. I could handle that fire. I was damn good at compartmentalizing the parts of me that roared anytime another prospective partner deigned to evenglancein her direction. I could manage the lust in my veins, I could keep my obsession in check without letting it infringe on our friendship. And when I got too close to the edge of slipping up around her, I had my ways of redirecting that energy with a handsome stranger or two.