Chapter 2 — Lara
"Aww, thank you, Chibi. What do I owe this desperate presence of yours?"
There he is — the Greek god himself, Mr. Kitten, a.k.a. Raven Lane.
That velvet-smooth voice of his always comes with a faint hint of sarcasm. His light hazel eyes scan me from head to toe before locking with mine again.
I have to look up at a sixty-five-degree angle just to meet his gaze — and that's with three steps between us.
He stands there, tall and effortlessly composed, arms crossed over his broad chest, his plain black t-shirt and trousers doing dangerous justice to that body.
Every housewife's fantasy, and unfortunately, my best friend.
Can't he, for once, stand straight without leaning against the doorframe — and without that smug smirk that says, "I know you're here because you need something"?
Shameless. Arrogant. Self-centered.
Pick any vocabulary word, he's earned it since adolescence. Somewhere between high school and adulthood, Raven turned into this dangerously charismatic mass of muscles — with a face that could make anyone's knees weak.
"Move," I said, brushing past him into the apartment. "And you better listen. This is serious—health-related serious."
Behind me, I heard him close the door with a faint chuckle.
"I bet you still can't deliver bad news without cutting the air with that sharp tongue of yours."
Why does he know me so well?
And before you ask — yes, that's exactly why I call him Mr. Kitten. Soft voice, deadly claws.
In one long breath, I blurted everything out — the missed cycles, the doctor's expression, the ridiculous "stress" diagnosis, and the need for… well, relief.
For all his flaws, Raven knows when to shut up and listen. And that's what makes him dangerous — he actually listens.
"I get it," he said after a pause, his tone thoughtful. "Your body's reacting, doctor told you to de-stress. So… are you here to inform me or to break your stress spell?"
The teasing lilt at the end didn't go unnoticed.
I glared at him. "What a generous, God-sent soul you are."
"That I am," he said, that infuriating smirk tugging at his lips. Then, voice dropping lower, "But jokes aside — what do you want from me, Chibi?"
The shift in his tone sent a chill crawling down my spine. He took a slow step closer, eyes never leaving mine.
"I want you to set me up on a date. You know… with someone nice, and—"
Before I could finish, his arm snapped around my waist like a steel bar, pulling me flush against him.
"Over my dead body, Chibi."