Free Midnight Action by Elle Kennedy Page B

subterfuge?”
    “What subterfuge? I said I wanted to go dancing—I went dancing.” She sipped the expensive alcohol, hoping it would ease her high-strung nerves. “I also happened to eliminate a slimebag and make a million bucks. What’s it to you? In fact, why the hell are you still here?”
    His long fingers hooked into the belt loops of his olive green cargo pants. She saw a muscle in his jaw twitch, and then his throat dipped, as if he was fighting the words that finally left his mouth.
    “I want you to help me find the person who hired Girard.” When he met her eyes, she’d never seen him so ill at ease. “So...I’ll ask you again. Will you, please”—he blanched at the word—“help me?”
    A smug smile stretched across her face. “Aw, was that so hard?”
    “Yes or no, Noelle.”
    “Yes.” Her grin widened. “But only because it means you’ll owe me one.”
    “Nothing comes from the goodness of your heart, huh?”
    “Of course not. Generosity gets you nowhere.” She slugged back the rest of her brandy and slammed the glass on the bar top. “I’m turning in now. We’ll do some digging in the morning.”
    As she stepped forward, she deliberately allowed her bare arm to brush his, and enjoyed his intake of breath.
    Before she could blink, his hand curled over her wrist to keep her in place.
    “This teasing bullshit needs to stop,” he snapped.
    “Let go of me,” she said coolly.
    His fingers only dug harder into her flesh. “And your pretense of indifference is getting old, baby. Go ahead and flaunt your body, rub up against me, try to get me going, but don’t pretend it doesn’t affect you too.” He pressed his thumb on the pulse point in her wrist. “You want to fuck me.”
    She let out an incredulous laugh. “Oh really?”
    Jim’s answering laugh was dark and sensual. “You. Want. To. Fuck. Me.” Each word came out in a slow, infuriating rasp.
    Noelle tilted her head, and the look on his face sent her pulse careening. Hot and feral, with raw resentment thrown into the mix.
    He hated this as much as she did. The tension thickening the air, the volatile emotions whipping between them like unsecured cables in a windstorm.
    As she peered up at him, signs of arousal bloomed in her body. Her breasts grew achy. Her core throbbed. Her heart pounded. And in the center of the carnal storm raging inside her was her own hefty dose of resentment. She hated him for having the power to do this to her. To ignite her body this way.
    “Not gonna try to deny it?” he taunted.
    Noelle sucked in a shaky breath.
    “Nah, didn’t think you would.”
    Keeping her wrist in a death grip, he brought his other hand to his groin and cupped his package. Hard.
    Her sex clenched as she watched him stroke the hard ridge of arousal beneath his pants.
    “You want this, don’t you?”
    “Fuck off,” she managed to squeeze out.
    Jim wasn’t finished tormenting her. “Baby, we both know you want my cock inside you. Remember how deep it filled you? Remember the way I made you moan?”
    Oh God. She did. She remembered it like it was yesterday. Their naked bodies entwined on crisp linen sheets, her pussy stretching to accommodate him, her inner muscles clasping his thick shaft.
    Moisture pooled between her legs, while the saliva in her mouth turned to dust.
    “Do you remember?”
    She swallowed before responding. “No.”
    “Yes, you do.” He stroked the inside of her wrist with the pad of his thumb. “You remember every second of it.”
    She yanked her hand away as a spike of anger pierced her chest. “No, what I remember is your lies. I remember your betrayal. I remember
that
. So I repeat,
fuck off
. Fuck off and don’t ever touch me again—”
    His mouth came down on hers without warning, his kiss hot and demanding, a greedy domination that almost knocked her off her feet. She had no choice but to grab on to him, bunching his T-shirt between her fingers as his tongue plunged inside her mouth.
    The