warning: slightly suggestive material
He studied your face, vastly enthralled by the way your eyebrows pinched together when you were concentrating on something. He never realized how cute he found it until this moment. But he quickly pushed the feelings aside. You were helping him clean a wound along his lower rib—one that he had received by protecting you—and you thought it only best that you clean and bandage it as a way to thank him.
He cursed himself for loving the way your hands felt on his skin. It didn't help that you sat so close to him either. Your radiating beauty brought a warm flush to his face. And unlike some women, your beauty rooted itself in your heart. Now that he had gotten to know you, he thought you were the prettiest woman in the world.
When he was assigned this mission with you, he thought you were going to be a liability. He hated the idea of someone slowing him down or getting in his way. Unbeknownst to him, you were a very valuable asset. He hated himself for hating you at the start. He was impatient and snippy with you when you were only ever kind to him. All of it was evidence of how insecure he really felt, and he hated it. He would do anything to take it all back.
You sat quietly as you cleaned the wound, working as gently as you could to avoid hurting him. "Thank you for saving me back there," you said. "I'm sorry you were wounded like this."
He shook his head. "Things like this happen. None of it is your fault." He paused for a moment. "Thank you for helping me."
"It's the least I can do." You smiled.
He stared at you, mesmerized, and watched while you wrapped a bandage around his torso with delicate precision. Anything you touched turned to gold. He was proof of that.
"Did I wrap it too tight?" you asked.
"No, this is great," he replied. "Thank you."
When you finished wrapping, you glanced up at him, and he was already looking at you. His lips were parted like he was about to say something, but nothing came out of his mouth.
"What is it?" you murmured.
He looked down at your lips and then back at your eyes. "I don't know what it is, but I can't stop looking at you."
Without realizing it, you were both leaning closer to each other. He tilted his head to get better access to your lips and slowly ran a hand up your thigh. His lips brushed yours, and he paused to look for any signs of discomfort. When you didn't do anything, he pressed his lips to yours. The kiss was soft and sweet. He didn't realize how badly he wanted this until it happened.
The kiss turned desperate when you touched his skin, running your hands up his arms and on his shoulders. When he nipped your bottom lip, a quiet noise escaped the back of your throat. Your hands made way into his hair, and he couldn't stop himself from leaning on top of you. He gripped the plush skin along your waist and still needed to feel more of you. When he began to remove your shirt, a strange buzz came from his pocket. He stopped and cursed against your lips.
He sat up and pulled the pager out of his pocket, studying the message. "We need to meet at the bottom of the mountain at dawn," he said frustratingly.
You sat up on your elbows and nodded your head. You were still dazed from the kiss.
He sighed. "We should go to bed. There's only a few hours until sunrise."
It took everything in him not to resume the heated moment you both shared together, but he knew it was stupid. Especially when you both had a mission to complete. He hoped to keep you off his mind long enough to get some sleep, but unfortunately for him, that wasn't the case.
