Free For Her Protection: 1 (Personal Protection) by Amber A Bardan

through the incomplete
paperwork she’d taken from Gregory’s office.
    Her skin prickled. Gregory . Memories of the darkened
parking lot flashed through her mind and the knotting in her stomach twisted
into a sickening cramp. “Tell Frank I expect to see him in my office at 9:00
a.m. Monday morning, no excuses.” She slammed the phone down then picked it up
and slammed it again for good measure.
    “That good, huh?”
    Charlize glanced up at Connor and shook her head. She couldn’t
deal with him right now. Not unless he planned to do something about the sexual
frustration he’d seen fit to add to her long list of aggravations.
    He placed a paper bag on the table. “Come eat.”
    She stared down at the papers covering her desk. Her head
pounded. If she ate something, the food would probably come right back up. “I’m
busy.”
    “Have you been sitting there since I left?”
    “I’m fine.”
    “Have you eaten anything at all since breakfast?”
    Charlize rubbed her temples and glanced at him. “I’m a big,
busy girl, Connor. I’ll decide when I need to eat.”
    “I said come eat.”
    She pushed back from her desk, energy surging through her
sapped body. “I don’t care.” Her skin heated, her heart picked up speed. She
knew she was about to unravel, lose her shit, but she couldn’t care. “I’m sick
of you telling me what to do. I’m sick of you hovering over me. Get out.”
    Connor gave her his caveman glare. “I’m not going anywhere,
kitten. Your well-being is my responsibility so you may as well do as you’re
told.”
    “Do as I’m told?” she spat then picked up a mug from her
desk and hurled it at him.
    Connor ducked and the mug flew over his head and bounced on
the carpet. He rose, rolling up slowly, his gaze taking on the predatory gleam
from the first time she’d seen him. Shit. She’d gone too far again. He stalked
toward her. Charlize backed away from her desk.
    “You’re out of control, Charlize,” he growled, his head
lowered, his strides long and smooth.
    Her heart spurted frantic energy through her system. He
reached her but she didn’t give him a chance to do whatever he planned to do.
She slammed her palms against his chest and pushed then darted around him for
the door.
    She didn’t make it a step. He seized her around the middle
and took her down. She hit the ground on her back. Connor shifted over her,
scooping her wrists in one clean movement and pressing them above her head. The
back of her hands sank into the carpet.
    He panted above her, gazing into her face. She twisted
against him but her movements only made her breasts brush against the solid
wall of his chest. Damn him. Maybe, just maybe if he hadn’t done what he had to
her that morning, she might’ve had a chance to resist him.
    Charlize stilled and looked at him. A muscle pulled under
the skin of his temple. She ran her gaze over his face, the deep blue of his
eyes, the strong bridge of his nose, his wide lips.
    Lips that drove her crazy with all the arrogant, bossy shit
they said. Lips that made her want to run her tongue over them, see if maybe
there was a shred of softness in this hard man. She groaned and raised her
head, planting her mouth on his.
    His stillness dissolved. His mouth opened, capturing her
tongue and sucking deeply before pushing his own between her lips. Her body
hummed, the neediness tormenting her all day racked her. He moved, his knees
nudging hers apart. He settled between her thighs and she wrapped her legs
around his hips, arching when his hardness ground against her.
    He pressed her hands deeper into the carpet and sank his
tongue farther into her mouth, leaving no crevice untasted.
    She opened to him—melting—arching—desperate. She squeezed
him closer with her legs, needing that hard cock against her.
    Then, in one sudden movement, the heat and hardness against
her were gone. Connor had leaped off her as if her panties were on fire.
Charlize scrambled to her feet, tugging her