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Chapter 7-The Love Bite

Miranda Barone's POV

I opened my eyes sleepily and sat up lazily on my bed. Yawning, I got up and ran my fingers through my bed hair and went into the bathroom for morning necessities before heading into the kitchen for my daily dose of coffee.

Without it, I'll probably resemble the zombies in World War Z. I sleepily entered my kitchen and took the cup of coffee that was handed to me by Slade and drank it.

"I didn't know you would just wear an oversized shirt with your underwear to sleep. I really should stay over tonight."

I stopped and glanced down at my cup of coffee before turning to Slade with wide eyes and I choked. "What are you doing here?!" He merely chuckled and smirked in response.

I looked down at myself, or rather what I was only wearing before letting out a loud shriek as I hurriedly slammed the cup of coffee onto the table before running to my room to change. I quickly donned a pair of shorts and stomped out of my room angrily.

"This is seriously an invasion of privacy! How did you even get in?!" I yelled and glared at the tall figure leaning against the stove.

"I made pancakes." That was his simple reply before he set a plate of steaming hot pancakes drizzled with maple syrup and butter in front of me. I eyed it longingly, the smell was heavenly before sitting down warily. "Alright. But answer me!"

Slade grinned at me as his blue eyes took my appearance in. His eyes darkened when I licked my lips. Wow, even though he was a criminal, his pancakes were out of this world. "Your door wasn't locked properly."

I glared at him even though my tastebuds were singing with happiness from the mouthwatering pancakes. "What made you think that I would welcome you into my home?"

He smirked, "You're eating my pancakes are you not?" I rolled my eyes before stuffing another forkful into my mouth in response. I scoffed and scowled at him. When I was done, I took the plates and my coffee mug and rinsed them before loading them up in the dishwasher. At the same time, I could feel Slade's intense gaze on my back.

I turned to face Slade and crossed my arms, "Seriously, what are you doing in my home?"

"I was in the neighbourhood. And Mikael wanted to pass you these." He handed me a bag of lollipops. I took them warily before unwrapping one and sucking on it. Slade's gaze caught onto my mouth and his eyes darkened. I inhaled sharply and turned away.

"Alright, now that you've done your delivery service, please leave." I gestured towards the main door. Slade shrugged before brushing past me and into the living room instead. "Hey!" I frowned indignantly and caught up with him.

"What if I want to stay here?" He grinned mockingly at me as he crossed his arms on his chest. Whoa, did he have to do it that way? His shirt was straining against his muscles and I couldn't help but stare at his tattoos.

Unfortunately, I had a thing for sexy tattooed men. "What do you want?" I groaned exasperated as I took out the lolly from my mouth.

"I told you, you got my attention."

I crinkled my brow in confusion. "So what is that even supposed to mean? I don't want your attention! I want you to leave me alone!"

Liar! My conscience shouted at me.

Slade leaned towards me until our faces were one inch apart and I couldn't help but realise that his lips were almost touching mine. I held my breath and stared at him with my eyes wide. Was he going to kiss me? My heart was beating so loud that I was afraid he could hear it.

His lips neared mine before he murmured huskily, "I want you." Instead of kissing me like I wanted, I mean like I expected, his mouth enclosed the lollipop in my hand before taking it away from my grasp with his mouth and he moved away from me.

That was hot. I blinked at my dirty thoughts before shoving them away. I gaped at the smirking Slade who had a satisfied expression on his face. "What's with that expression sweetheart? Did you want me to kiss you?"

I scowled at him, "No! I certainly did not. Who knows where your mouth has been."

Slade blinked before he threw his head back and laughed. My scowl deepened and I gave him a frosty glare. Once he was done laughing, he stalked towards me and I began moving backwards.

Unfortunately, my sofa was behind me and when I tried to move backwards to get away from Slade, I fell onto the sofa and he crawled on top of me. I froze and now, we were pressed together intimately. I could feel his entire body on mine including a very noticeable bulge pressing on my stomach.

The bad thing was I liked the feeling of his body on mine. His scent filled my nostrils and it was of peppermint and something that was masculine-it suited him. It was a good thing Slade was mostly supporting his weight on his forearms if not I'll probably suffocating.

He smirked down at me, his crystal blue eyes turning into a darker shade. "Well that's a shame because I want to." And again, instead of his lips claiming mine like I had expected, his lips glided to the side of my neck before leaving a hot and wet trail to the point where my neck met my shoulder.

I shut my eyes, trying not to let out a moan but I was enjoying the sensations that he was giving me. One of hands moved to my waist where his fingers began caressing the exposed skin on my stomach where the shirt had ridden up.

His mouth began nibbling and sucking on that particular spot and unconsciously, my hands moved to wrap themselves around his neck. When he finally lost interest at that spot, his lips pressed soft kisses to my collarbone and his hand began moving up my shirt and reached the underside of my bra.

Warning bells sounded and I pushed him away. "What?" He gave me a scowl, his blue eyes dark with desire and I was pretty sure mine were the same. I just stared at him for a while, trying to catch my breath before totally pushing him away and got off the sofa.

What was I doing? "What?" Slade questioned. I turned around and stared at him, my mind desperately trying to think of a response. "I-that can't happen ever again. I barely know you. We're just acquaintances." I stated breathlessly. Slade cocked his head and a hard expression took over his face. "We're acquaintances? And why can't that ever happen again? You liked it."

I pursed my lips and straightened myself. "We can be friends but what just happened can never happen again. I'm the type that commits and you're not. And besides, I'm not interested in you."

Lies!

Slade simply stared at me unflinchingly and I turned my gaze away. He came towards me and he fingered a red curl that came loose. "You're right. I don't do girlfriends nor romance. But we can be friends can't we?"

"Yes. We can." I replied quietly.

A slow smirk pulled at his lips, "Friends with benefits?"

I narrowed my eyes at him, "No!"

"Alright then. Friends." He gave me a toe-curling grin and I almost melted from how handsome he looked.

***

"Really neat as always Mel." Alexi mumbled as he entered my home for dinner. After agreeing to be friends with Slade, I had forced him to leave immediately as I had to go to the store to buy food and prepare dinner when Alexi came over.

"I live here so of course its going to be neat. Why is Christopher here?" I asked in confusion when I spotted Chris walking up the driveway.

"He heard that you were cooking so here he is." Alexi said as he wandered into the kitchen, obviously smelling the lasagna that was still baking. "Hey Mel. Hope you won't mind, the minute i heard you were cooking, I came. I love your cooking."

Christopher grinned and pecked me on the cheek before following Alexi. I blinked in surprise, Christopher never did that before. I shook my head before serving the lasagna to the two men.

"So how is work? Nothing bad has been happening to you right?" I asks concerned. Alexi and Christopher exchanged glances before Alexi gave me a reassuring smile. "Relax, nothing bad has happened to me. Just rival companies that has been stealing my business. That's where all the grey hairs are from." He ended teasingly. I rolled my eyes and grinned before pushing my curls behind my ear.

"Your cooking is really good!" Christopher grinned at me and I shrugged, "It's not that great as you say." He smirked before narrowing his eyes. "Is that a hickey?!" Christopher demanded.

My eyes widened. Hickey? Oh no! I must have forgotten and pushed the hair away that was covering it. Crap! Yes, Slade had given me a love bite earlier when we were getting hot and heavy. I had shrieked when I discovered it in the washroom.

I quickly covered it with my hair before blushing profusely. "A hickey? Who the fuck gave you that?" Alexi boomed. I flushed before frowning, "That really is none of your business. And he's no one."

Christopher frowned while Alexi seethed. "No one? Tell me. I have guns at home."

I scoffed, "You're a pacifist Alex. You don't even dare to hurt a fly. Do you really expect me to believe that you have guns?"

Christopher remained quiet and Alexi flushed before admitting sheepishly, "You know me too well Mel. Alright, next time, bring the guy over so I can have a talk with him."

I rolled my eyes, Slade was someone I'll never invite over to meet my family. He was the definition of commitment phobe. "Sure. Whatever. Can we change the subject now?"

Alexi scrutinised me before giving in, "Alright fine. I'll drop it." With that he launched into a story about how Christopher and he had managed to settle a deal and whatnot. For me, I was barely paying attention to it as my mind was still stuck on Slade and his kisses. 

I was freaking screwed.

***

Dedicated to AtlantaSummers.