Free A Kiss to Kill by Nina Bruhns

came around the corner of her cubicle. “Made any headway yet?” he asked.
    Alex switched focus to the SAC. “Still too early to tell,” he said with a straight face.
    Her boss held out an envelope to him. “This was delivered for you.”
    “Thanks.” Alex took it, ripped it open at the end, and shook out the contents. A set of keys dropped onto his palm. “Excellent. Our transpo.” He shot her an unreadable glance.
    Carballosa made to leave. “You good to go, Haywood? Clear on your orders?”
    Hold on. “What orders, sir?”
    The SAC’s gaze flicked between Alex and her. “Mr. Zane didn’t fill you in?”
    A desperate feeling tightened her gut. “Apparently not, sir.”
    “A task force will be up and running by end of day to deal with this situation,” he informed her. “STORM Corps is working with DHS and the Coast Guard. You’ve been assigned to coordinate exchange of info between the Bureau and STORM Corps.”
    Relief spiraled through her. Was that all? “Be happy to, sir.”
    “Good,” he said, and made to leave. “Call me personally with an update at least twice a day.”
    Wait. “Where will you be?” she asked.
    “Right here,” he said. “Mr. Zane said you’d be out of the office for a few days.”
    Out of . . . ? Her stomach dropped. “Why would I—”
    “You’re on loan to STORM for the duration, Haywood. From now on, you’ll take your orders from them”—Carballosa gestured at Alex—“through Mr. Zane, here.”
    Her jaw dropped in consternation. “But—”
    “And Special Agent Haywood?”
    She stifled her cry of protest. “Yes, sir?”
    “You make damn sure we find that trigger before whatever shit these fuckers’ve got planned for this country hits the fan. Understood?” With that, SAC Carballosa turned on a toe and disappeared around the corner of the cubicle.
    Good thing, because she couldn’t have squeezed a word past her blossoming outrage to save her life.
    And she really didn’t want any witnesses to the homicide she was about to commit.
    She rounded on Alex. “Under your command?” she ground out.
    He regarded her with glittering eyes. “Has a certain ring to it, I must say.”
    She clamped her jaw. “Look. I don’t know what’s gotten into you about . . .” She stopped, unable to say it.
    One golden brow quirked in blatant challenge.
    She felt her face flame, but lowered her voice and gritted out, “I don’t know where you got the idea I would just fall into bed with you now that you’re free, but—”
    “No?” He snorted, anger hardening his expression. “Really?”
    “What’s that supposed to mean?” she demanded.
    “You’ll fuck an asswipe like Wade Montana five minutes after you meet him, but not the man you’ve been in love with for five years?”
    Indignation surged through her. “How dare you—” She broke off, infuriated not so much because it wasn’t true . . . but because it was, and they both knew it. “Wade is a good man.”
    But she still chastised herself for her weakness in getting involved with Wade in the first place, and had done so since succumbing to his whirlwind seduction at the precise moment when she’d been at her most vulnerable—right after Alex and Helena had set a date for their wedding.
    How could she have known their engagement would be called off less than two months later and they’d break up for good?
    Not that that should make a difference. Alex had made his choice of women very clear long ago, and only a desperate fool would allow herself to accept second place in his heart.
    No matter how much she loved him.
    A woman had her pride.
    Of course, no one in this conversation, least of all Alex Zane, had mentioned any thing about hearts. Or heaven forbid, love.
    “How dare you?” she repeated, anger at herself fueling her outrage.
    He leaned into her space. “Our kiss this morning, that’s how.”
    She leaned backward, dashed by the cold truth of that, too. “Y-you caught me off guard.”
    Again,