Page 8 of Claiming Bennett (Montgomery Dreams #3)

I’ve been careful to keep my bloody arm off the counter, but when I shift back to stand straight, she catches a glimpse of it, and her eyes go wide.

“Jesus Christ, new guy, what the hell did you do to yourself?” she asks, all bratty snark and sneering, glossy lips.

“Damn, not even going to give me the benefit of the doubt? Who says I did this to myself?” I ask with a disbelieving laugh.

Maybe she’s got more of a bite to her than I expected. That shouldn’t make me want her even more, but the thought sends a bolt of heat straight to my cock.

“What, did one of the chickens try to rip your arm off?” She laughs at her own taunt, pushing up from her chair and nodding her head toward a door to my left. “Go through there, I’ll bring you back to a room. Don’t get blood on anything, I’m not cleaning that shit up.”

I follow her instructions and make my way through the plain white door to meet her in a hallway lined with open doors to exam rooms. I make sure not to get blood on anything as I pull the door closed behind me, giving her plenty of time to rake her eyes over me in a way that has my blood heating in my veins.

She looks like she wants to take a bite out of me, and I’m rather inclined to let her at the moment.

It’s a bad idea, but so is standing close enough that I can see down her shirt and get firsthand proof that she’s not wearing a bra.

Fuck . Maybe I can attribute my filthy thoughts to blood loss. One glance at my arm tells me I haven’t bled nearly enough for that to be the case, but I’ll take the excuse anyway.

She looks up at me with those sweet honey gold eyes, practically daring me to do something. I drag myself back from the edge of temptation by the skin of my teeth.

“Chicken wire, not a chicken. I slipped and cut myself on it,” I grunt out, forcing my brain away from thoughts of pinning her to the wall and taking her here and now. “Think there was a nail that caught me too.”

Magnolia blinks a few times, like she has no idea what I’m talking about, and then her face flushes red.

“Right. Your arm. Well.” She clears her throat and turns on her heel, leading me down the hall toward the last exam room.

I couldn’t have kept my eyes off her ass if there was a gun to my head.

“Dad has a tab here for the guys at the ranch. I’ll have Brooke get you set up in the computer and whatever. ”

I know it’s stupid, but when she turns toward the door like she’s going to leave, my mouth starts running before I can stop it.

“You’re not even going to clean this up before the doctor comes in?” I ask with a glance to my arm, desperate to keep her from walking out the door. “We haven’t really met yet, but you’re David’s daughter, right? I’m Bennett. Just here for the cattle drive.”

I don’t know why I’m telling her all this, especially when she arches an amused brow at my babbling. Damnit, I’m usually much smoother than this. I know how to flirt, for fuck’s sake.

Not that I’m flirting.

She’s David’s daughter. I’m not stupid. I’m just… introducing myself. That’s it.

“I’m not a nurse, Bennett,” she drawls, dragging my name out like she’s savoring the taste of it.

I ignore the immediate urge to grab her by the back of her neck and make her say my name again, low and sweet in my ear. “At least get me some paper towels to clean this up, then?”

I peel back the blood-soaked gauze and toss it into the hazardous trash can by the door with a wet plop.

The wound is still bleeding sluggishly, but it’s clotted up for the most part.

Worse than I thought, but not as bad as it could’ve been.

She hasn’t moved from her spot at the door, probably ignoring my request just like I knew her bratty little ass would.

It’s not until she finishes rolling her eyes at my request that she looks back at me, and her eyes lock onto my arm.

That has her moving forward, and she steps into my space again, close enough I can smell the flowery perfume wafting off her skin. God, what I wouldn’t give to sink my teeth into her and taste .

“That looks like it hurt,” she murmurs, reaching out like she wants to touch it before stopping herself and dropping her hand back down to her side.

If I wasn’t actively bleeding, I’d grab her hand and tell her to touch me wherever she wants to.

“Worried about me?” I ask, my voice low and teasing as I duck down to catch her eyes. They’re so pretty , shimmering even in the over-bright fluorescents, with long, delicate lashes. “I’m a big boy, I can take care of myself, sweet th—Magnolia.”

The near slip of what I’d called her before I learned her name is enough to snap reason back into my brain.

Fuck, I can’t be doing this. Standing this close to her would be a death sentence if David ever saw, and the last thing I need to do is call her something I fantasized about saying to her when my hands were down my pants.

I step back and sit my ass down on the plastic bed, blood rushing through my ears in a mix of torturous arousal and panic.

“Jesus, I’m not worried about you, idiot,” she blusters, her blush flaring even brighter over her face. “It just looks gross.”

I glance down at my arm—it’s a much safer place to look than where my eyes have been lingering—and grimace at the sight of it.

The cut bisects one of the roses I got tattooed for my family, the edges of it tattered and crusted with blood.

Hopefully, the doctor can stitch it so it doesn’t fuck up the tattoo when it heals.

“And my name is Maggie ,” she continues, her tone getting sharper.

I look up to find her glaring at me, and my self control evaporates again.

Thank fuck I’m sitting down this time. Easier to hide a hard-on like this.

“No one calls me Magnolia. You can either call me Maggie or you can keep your mouth shut around me.”

Goddamnit. It’s been a long time since anyone gave me this much sass, and even longer since I couldn’t do something about it. I want to fuck that attitude right out of her plush little mouth.

I’m trying to be good, to remind myself that this will get us both in trouble, but her eyes are so full of fire and I want .

“Whatever you say, sweet Magnolia,” I say, grinning around the words.

Her whole body stiffens in response to the way I say her name, but she glares at me like she hates me.

“I’ll go get Dr. Mulaney to stitch you up, Bennett .” She stresses my name like she’s punishing me by saying, but it just makes my dick throb.

She turns on her heel and storms toward the door, yanking the door shut behind her causing me to grin. Just before it slams closed, she freezes and shoves it back open, leaning in past the threshold to stare me down with her eyes narrowed threateningly.

The blush on her cheeks takes the heat out of it.

“And I’m not sweet , either.”

She lets those words hang heavily between us before stepping back and closing the door with a decisive snap.

My breath rushes out of me on a near silent laugh, and I lean back against the wall, propping my head up against it. The lights in the ceiling are harsh, but they glare brightly enough in my eyes to erase the afterimage of Maggie’s pretty little face.

This is not how I should be playing my cards right now.

Do my job, then go home. Don’t fall into some sort of flirty game with a girl I can’t have, even for a night.

Maybe she’s playing the same game I am right now, toeing the line and seeing how far flirtation can go before it turns to action, but I can’t let it go any further.

The chase is fun, but any more than this could be catastrophic. Pa trusts me to do this job for him, and I’m not going to let him down just because a pretty girl bats her eyelashes at me.

Fuck, but she really is pretty. That attitude combined with the look in her eyes every time I say her name is enough to have me itching with need. The way she looked at me when she leaned in to say her final piece almost broke me.

Not sweet, huh?

I bet she’d be plenty sweet on my tongue. But I won’t let myself get close enough to find out.