My palms drench with sweat and I gasp. I close my eyes tightly shut to keep them from popping out of my head completely. Why is this guy so forward? Trav doesn’t do me the honor of hiding his laughter this time and his shoulders roll repeatedly.
“You don’t have much in your room, Maggie.” Ran’s back is still to me, so I allow myself to explore every angle of it—every pull of his navy blue shirt over the muscles that are so evident underneath.
“No. I don’t really live there. I’m supposed to be away at school, but I came back for Mikey’s game,” I explain. “Then everything sorta got turned on its head.”
The irony in my statement isn’t lost on Ran and he chuckles faintly. “Well then, I’m glad my gift could serve an alternate purpose as temporary room décor while you’re visiting.”
Trav shakes his head and rolls his eyes, catching my gaze. It appears he thinks we’re pretty entertaining, which says a lot, considering their line of work.
“I’m not visiting. I’m taking the semester off.”
Ran lifts another bag to Mikey’s mouth and collects his vomit like it’s no big deal while he rotates at the waist to face me. “Then you’ll need some more decorations. I’ll see what I can do about that.” Aside from just having nice lips, he has nice eyes, too. More than nice. Entrancing, with their light blue hue rimmed with dark, thick lashes.
“Do you give gifts to every girl you transport to the hospital?” I’m stunned by my confident question, but decide to own it while his penetrating stare is locked with mine. “Or just the ones who nearly bleed out on the way there?”
“No.” He shakes his head and a lock of chestnut hair falls onto his forehead. “Just the ones that pay me lots of compliments. You gave me three. That was deserving of a balloon bouquet.”
“And what would four have gotten me?”
Trav is talking to someone on what looks like a walkie-talkie, and Mikey is either completely drugged into unconsciousness, or lulled into sleep from exhaustion, so it suddenly feels like it’s just Ran and me in the vehicle, despite the drone of noise and the physical bodies around us.
“Four would have gotten you flowers. Five might have gotten you a chance to lick my lips.”
I choke. “I didn’t say I wanted to lick your lips!” My volume is too high, so I try to pull it back down by speaking through gritted teeth. “I just said I liked your lips. And I don’t even remember saying that—you could have made that up for all I know.”
“Oh, you said it. And you have to admit that you at least thought it.” He folds his arms across his chest. “And right now you’re thinking about it again, aren’t you?”
“No.” I toss my head back and forth violently. “No, I’m not.”
“Maggie, you and I both know that it’s nearly impossible not to envision the subject matter of conversation.” His unbearably long lashes flutter as he blinks and his eyes hold mine. His fixated stare would be intimidating if he wasn’t so intriguing. “Puppies.”
“Excuse me?” I cough.
Ran smirks at me devilishly. “See, now you’re thinking about cute, furry puppies.”
“No, I’m not.”
“So you’re not, not thinking about puppies?”
I let out a frustrated sigh. “I’m thinking about how annoying this double talk is and that I’m glad I passed out so many times during my own ride last month so I didn’t have to endure it back then,” I defend in a rush of words.
“Lips.”
“Shut up!” I shoot my very best glare at him, but Ran is totally unaffected. His lips spread into a slow, measured smile and I think I even see his tongue run deliberately across the surface of the bottom one. My stomach clenches and my breathing accelerates. “Are we almost there?” I hate the shaky sound of my voice.
“You anxious to get to the hospital?” He cocks his head to the side, his bottom lip now pinned between his teeth. It does something strange and unfamiliar to my insides. “Didn’t spend enough time there last month?”
“I’m anxious to get out of this ambulance and gain some distance from you.”
“Won’t you miss this nice face?” He waves a palm across his features. He’s so good looking that it makes nothing about this conversation fair.
I scowl, but it’s hard to do when my eyes can’t stop staring at his perfect mouth. “No, I’ve got that stupid balloon to remind me of your goofy