"You're a fool," she said, rolling her eyes. "It's not as though I thought any better of you for denying yourself pain relief for your nose. That's not courage. That's obstinacy."
"Well, I was flirting with you. I hardly wanted to look like I had the pain tolerance of a child."
"While you had a broken nose?" she demanded. "You were not!"
"I assure you, I was."
Kincaid would flirt with her dead grandmother. Ava turned away with a scowl of her own. She didn't know why that thought bothered her so much. "I shouldn't believe a word that comes out of your mouth."
But a little part of her was still wondering....
Disadvantages: he is arrogant, he hates blue bloods, and he drives me insane.
Advantages: he thinks I'm not like other women. In a good way. And he called me beautiful.
There was silence.
"What?" she demanded.
"Nothing."
But she could tell it was something all right. He had that thoughtful expression that made her feel a little wary at times.
"Spit it out. It's not as though we've ever kept secrets from each other." Indeed, the blunt way he spoke his mind often made her feel relaxed-she had a terrible habit of blurting whatever came to her mind, after all, and it was nice to know she could do that with him.
Kincaid grabbed his coat, slinging his arms through it. The metal spars of his mech hand caught in the fabric, and he worked them free. "You may think the worst of me, Ava, but the truth is, you also think the worst of yourself. The very idea a man might be flirting with you or find you attractive doesn't even occur to you, does it?"
She was trapped between him and the door, and the sudden lack of space between them made her nervous. Ava dashed a blonde curl behind her ear. "What... what do you mean?"
Kincaid pressed a hand against the door beside her head, leaning closer. The scent of his cologne did wicked things to her, and the hunger within her awoke, whispering naughty thoughts inside her head.
"I mean... if you weren't off-limits, then I'd have had you in my bed a dozen times over already." His gaze slid down her body in an intimate caress, and Ava froze, feeling that look on her skin. "You're beautiful, and intelligent, and a part of me wonders exactly what you're hiding beneath all those ruffles and lace. You think you're not the sort of woman that men look at, but you're dead wrong. I've been looking."
"You'd say that to any woman," she retorted, flushing hot.
He made it sound like she was highly desirable. Me, Ava McLaren. With my stuttering awkwardness, and my logical assessments, and my slender, pale body....
"No." Kincaid leaned closer, his mouth a bare inch from her ear. "I'm not going to let you tarnish me with a lie, nor yourself with doubt. I've never been a saint, Ava. I never will be, perhaps. But there's something about you that takes my breath." He lifted his mech hand, those steel fingers almost, but not quite, brushing against the spill of lace at her throat. "I think together, you and I would be explosive. I sometimes see you looking at me, and there's some part of you that wants to be utterly wicked. And I want to help you unleash her. I want to be wicked with you, see if we're just as good together as I suspect we'd be."
He pushed away from the door, gesturing her through it with a particularly scorching look that lit her toes on fire, almost as if he was challenging her. "But I guess we'll never know, will we? Unless you make a choice."
Ava practically fled.
Eight
AVA MCLAREN WAS ridiculously easy to flummox.
Kincaid stretched his arms across the back of the seat as their hired steam cab took them to the vaccination clinic listed on Mr. Thomas's certificate, watching as she tried to pretend what had happened in his rooms hadn't happened. "I think you've read the file several times. Or that particular page, at least."
Big green eyes locked on him, and for a second he tensed, for she looked ready to flee. Perhaps he'd pushed her too far?
The very idea a man might be flirting with you or find you attractive doesn't even occur to you, does it? He didn't even know why he'd said it, but he disliked the idea she saw herself as beneath the notice of a man's attention.
"I'm merely familiarizing myself with the details," she blurted, refusing to take the bait. "I don't want to fail. Not with this case."
"Why is this case so important?"
"It's my first one, working as the lead. I just... I want to be something more than a laboratory assistant. Gemma and Ingrid are-"