Page 16 of Hero & Villain (Super Serum Billionaires #1)

“Oh.” I crossed my arms and took a step away from him.

“Hearts are delicate, like heart attacks are responsible for a third of US deaths.” Was it?

It’s not like I memorized statistics, they just stuck in my brain sometimes and came out at random moments, particularly when my heart kept doing weird things instead of beating the way it was supposed to.

Tingling. It tingled every time I touched him, except for when I freaked out instead.

“Something about genetically evolving to have too large of hearts to pump blood for too large of bodies?” His lips twitched. He was mocking me.

I’d mock me too. I wanted to knife him, or me, but I only glared. “Maybe.”

“You can go lie down and stare at the sky while I work on this. It’ll be a few minutes.”

“Right. I’ll just…” I edged away and found myself looking into the distance with the cliff edge safely far away from me.

The view wasn’t beautiful, but it was startling.

There was so much sky, so much emptiness, it called me to fill it with music.

If only I could have brought Othello. No, he was a snobbish cello.

I’d need something humble that didn’t mind a little dirt.

“Pinkie, a hand?”

I turned and applauded politely before I hurried to help Dagger, holding up the base while he screwed the top piece together, securing it back into place.

“Come on,” he said, nodding towards the edge.

I tucked my gloves into my back pocket and tried to think positive thoughts. I took a step closer and then backed away when I’d looked down. I was positively not going any closer to that certain death. “I’ll just stay here for a few minutes.” Forever.

“It’s not far. Pinkie, I’m clipping you onto me. Okay?” He snapped a clip onto my belt buckle and then winked at me. Be still my tingling heart. “It won’t kill you even if you fall, because you’ll mostly slide and roll to the bottom, but this way, you’re secure.”

I crossed my arms and glared. “You don’t think that my one hundred and twenty-five pounds would rip out my belt loops? How strong do you think denim is?”

He grinned and then pushed me off the edge.

I didn’t even realize he was maneuvering me so close to the chasm.

I gasped, my body leaning far out while the thin cord pulled my waistband.

I grabbed the cord with both hands. He’d pushed me off a cliff!

I was going to kill him! Except that I’d probably be dead first. I would haunt him so hard.

“Step back, Pinkie. You need to start down. Just focus on the wall in front of you. You’re just fine. I’ve got you. Look into my eyes.”

I glared at him while my whole body tensed up, but there was a hint of softness that made my stomach do flip-flops and my heart tingle.

“Take a step,” he said in a low voice.

I put a foot down, and found a small ledge.

“Good. Now the other foot. You climbed up. You can climb down. You’re doing amazing. I’ve got you. I’m not going to let you fall.” His eyes were so absolutely sincere.

I nodded and, holding my breath, started down the cliff. At the bottom, I sat on a lumpy rock and closed my eyes, forcing the breath in and out. I didn’t die. Did I have to do that again? I couldn’t.

“Sure, we’ll just sit here all day,” he said, kicking some pebbles in my direction.

I scowled at him. “To you, it may not be a big deal, but for me, this is life or death. Mostly death. You can’t judge other people from your own frame of reference. I wasn’t made the same way you were made.”

He came and crouched next to me. I stared into his brown eyes and couldn’t look away. His voice was low, gentle. “I can see that. Still, however we were made, there comes a time when we have to make ourselves into who we want to be.”

“How do you know who you want to be?”

He took my hands and pulled me to my feet. “That’s different for everyone.”

“You know, I’d be able to take your deep wisdom much more seriously if you weren’t wearing a pink shirt.”

He laughed, dropped my hands, and headed towards the truck. “I suppose I could say the same thing about your hair.”

I touched it self-consciously. As far as my research showed, he didn’t date women with colorful hair.

Should I have taken that into consideration?

I’d gotten so bad at this. Two years with Clint had made me too soft and weak.

Maybe I had half a heart that he’d break.

No. My heart was already broken and it would stay that way. How was that a good thing?

We drove to two more locations with less difficult climbs and no more awkward comments, but that little blur on the horizon grew into an actual cloud along with a rising wind.

After I’d made it down the third ridge and headed for the truck, Jerk Badger didn’t climb in right away. He went around to the back and came into the cab with a small cooler.

“Lunch of champions,” he said, opening the lid and handing me a sub sandwich.

“Wow. No thanks.”

He frowned. “You’re hungry.”

“No, I’m good. Even if I was, my hands aren’t just dirty in a theoretical sense. I’ve been rubbing them in real dirt.” I wrinkled my nose as I turned my hands over. I had so much dirt under my nails. And I’d been wearing gloves!

His lips twitched. “Let’s see.” He held out his hand and I showed him my filthy palms and jagged nails. He took my hand in his, frowned and brought it closer, like he couldn’t see clearly before he spit on my palm and rubbed it on the hem of his shirt.

My mouth fell open as I stared at him, more shocked than I’d possibly ever been in my life. I snatched my hand away from him. “You did not actually just spit on me. I’ve never in my life been so… so…” I sputtered and wiped my hand vigorously on the leg of my jeans.

He burst out laughing. I was going to kill him. I was going to kill that heap of disrespectful muscle and leave him twitching. No, I was going to seduce him and break his heart. Killing him would be so much easier.

“I’m glad someone’s having a nice time,” I said stiffly.

“Relax, Pinkie. How can you dye your hair and be so uptight?”

“Uptight? I’m sorry, I’m sure all the other girls you drag out into the desert like you spitting on them. Sorry I’m too uptight to enjoy climbing up and down cliffs so I can stand there and be useful for two seconds. You’re such a delusional, warped, sadistic?—”

“Ooh, sadistic, hm? Wow, really level those guns at me, Princess. I can take it.” He was so incredibly dismissive! He had no idea how hard I was trying, with heights and flirting when I just wanted to stab him! Or kiss him!

“I’m not a princess and you’re certainly no hero. You’re just a bored little prince, waiting for something to distract you from the lack of consequence you and everything you do?—”

He leaned close, getting in my face, his eyes hard, focused, like he was about to do something that took every particle of his attention, and all of that was on me.

“Those aren’t terms I understand. I’m a simple brute fighting it out in an ugly world.

You use such big, pretty words, and I think you’re flirting with me. ”

I flexed my jaw and trembled with rage. I wanted to drive something sharp into his thigh and kick him while he screamed. He was the reason my whole life had erupted into a fiery mess. “Ignoramus,” I spat at him.

He smiled, actually smiled sweetly at me. “So cute. You’re absolutely adorable. It’s more flirting than the pretty words. Say it again.”

“Were you going to eat so we can finish up the job?” I said through gritted teeth.

He took a big bite out of a sandwich, not seeming to notice his filthy hands.

I looked away in disgust. “Lack of hygiene is not a sign of manliness.”

“What is a sign of manliness? I’m not sure manliness is what you think it is. Come on. Eat your sandwich. I apologize for getting my spit on you. You’re right, most women wouldn’t mind my spit.”

I turned and caught his wink before he took another bite. Fury built inside me along with this sense of being completely out of control. I wasn’t ever out of control. “If I wanted your spit, I’d take it.”

And then I grabbed his shirt, yanked him across the seat to me, and kissed him.

The rest of the world disappeared. He was the sun, the moon, music and pain.

His arms wrapped around me, holding me too tight as he kissed me back, as desperate as I was.

He felt so good. He tasted like mint and chocolate, felt like safety and desperation.

I melted against him, goosebumps rushing over my arms and down my spine.

I shifted, head against his shoulder as I kissed him, curling up around him and holding on like he was the only thing that kept me from sliding off this world and into dark cold space.

I’d had the hero as my screensaver for years.

I fell into the fantasy, hook, line and sinker, the hero carrying me away to somewhere no one would ever hurt me again.

For another few seconds, there was nothing but a growing sense of contentment until an image popped into my head of the first time I’d ever put a pair of handcuffs on Clint, the first time I’d ever…

I broke away and slid across the seat until I was pressed against the door.

I gripped the handle and stared out at the desert while my thoughts tangled into a mess and my body went through a whole roiling whirl of heat and cold, desire and revulsion that I couldn’t stop or control.

Something was seriously wrong with me, and it wasn’t heat stroke.

Dirk cleaned up lunch and put the cooler back into the truck bed without saying anything.