Perfectly Toxic (Sterling Shore 9)

Seriously, what am I going to do with that thing? Damn Maverick Sterling.

“Changing your code so that Maverick doesn’t have it anymore. Why the hell does he even have it anyway?”

He doesn’t even look up from the instruction book.

“Um… He helped me move Allie into Wren’s house. Why are you changing my code without permission?”

“Because the only guy who should have your fucking code is me.”

Is that jealousy Ethan Noles is displaying again? Or is it just a little bit of possessiveness? And why do I find it cute?

“Hmm,” I say, pulling one of his hands away and making a dramatic show of studying it.

“What are you doing?” he asks as I grab his other hand that is still clinging to the book.

My eyes stay on his hand as I answer. “Looking for scabs,” I state as though it’s obvious.

“Why?” he drawls, sounding as though I’m the crazy one.

“Because you sound like a guy who is still dragging his knuckles,” I say while looking back up, batting my lashes at him with a sweet smile on my lips. “If you pull a club out of your loin cloth, we’re going to hav

e problems.”

He grunts, which only feeds my Neanderthal angle, and I arch an eyebrow as if to say as much. He rolls his eyes and resumes his lock research, ignoring my vocal and silent barb.

He walks away, moving toward the door, and a series of beeps sound out as he reprograms the lock.

“Why did you cancel on my parents’ dinner?” he asks, not looking at me as he continues his task.

“I didn’t,” I say, confused.

“Yeah, you did.”

“No, I didn’t. I made a joke. A dirty joke.”

He looks utterly bewildered when he shuts the door and switches the lock into place.

“Does Jane get the new code, Tarzan?”

“What dirty joke?” he asks instead of playing along.

“You asked if I was coming at dinner. Not to dinner.”

His eyebrows go up, and I grin. “I thought coming at a family dinner needed a little more relationship development first. Of course I’m coming to dinner. I like your mother, and she’s going to show me a lot of really embarrassing pictures of you.”

That earns me a groan, and he rakes a hand through his hair while shaking his head.

“Thanks for coming to my rescue, by the way. I’ll kill Maverick later for sneaking that damn cat in here. Need a kitten?” I ask him, grinning.

He doesn’t smile though as he looks over at me. Nope. That’s not a man in the mood for jokes. He looks hungry… Actually, he looks starved.

Heat blooms across my chest, and my core contracts as I stare into those dark eyes. My bottom lip folds between my teeth as I lose all the humor I was clinging to moments ago.

“You haven’t been dodging me?” he asks.

Confused, I shake my head. “No. I’ve been busy, and I’m working on something special for your mother. She seems really sweet, and I wanted to do something nice for her. It’s taken me longer than I thought it would.”

He takes a step closer, looking more like a predator than the cocky jerk he usually is.