Free Flirting With the Forbidden by Joss Wood Page B

bodyguard...
    She was intensely irritated with Noah on so many different levels that she wasn’t sure which one she ranked highest. How dared he and James talk over her head and make arrangements for her safety as if she was a child? Okay, there was a crazy Colombian gang who wanted to use her as a bargaining chip, but Noah could have asked how she felt about him guarding her. She wasn’t sure what her answer would have been if he had asked her... No, I’d rather shag you instead ?
    James would have had a coronary on the spot.
    Noah irritation number two. How could he switch gears so easily and smoothly? Oh, she was royally ticked that one moment his hand had been tipping her into orgasm and the next he’d been all work—Mr I’ll-Protect-Her-and-Give-You-a-Discount!
    And on top of that there wasn’t any chance of her getting lucky now; she knew that Noah took his duties seriously, and if he wouldn’t sleep with her while she’d simply been organising the ball then there was an ice chip’s chance in a fat-fryer that—having taken on the role as her bodyguard—he’d even consider picking up where they’d left off earlier.
    And, really, did she want to get it on with a man who could flip it on and off with such ease? He had too much control and she too little...where he was concerned.
    Well, no more. She was going to stop acting like a tart around him; she’d be cool and calm and collected.
    Cool. Calm. Collected. Yep, she could do the three Cs!
    ‘Sulking?’ Noah asked from the doorway and she whirled around, her heart slamming against her ribcage. She had shut the door behind her, hadn’t she? She was sure she had...
    ‘Heard of knocking?’ she demanded, hands on her hips.
    Noah crossed one ankle over the other as his shoulder pressed into the doorframe. ‘There’s broken glass and whisky all over the floor and it’s not in my job description to clean up because you lost your temper. Or are you too precious to use a dustpan and broom?’
    ‘Bite me.’
    Noah smiled. ‘Can’t. I promised your brother I wouldn’t lay a hand—or lip—on you.’
    Morgan felt the bubbles in her blood start to pop.
    ‘You don’t have to sound so pleased about it!’ Morgan stormed to the doorway and brushed past him, the red mist of temper clouding her vision. What was it about this man that made her long for more? They didn’t know each other really, but the fact that he could brush their heat off so easily made her want to throw more than a glass.
    Maybe him. Off the twenty-first-floor balcony!
    Noah reached out, snagged the waistband of her pants and pulled her to a stop. ‘Cool your jets, Morgan, and take a breath.’
    ‘Let. Me. Go,’ Morgan muttered through clenched teeth.
    ‘No,’ Noah’s said.
    His fingers were warm against the bare skin of her lower back. She cursed the tremors of attraction that radiated up her spine.
    Noah kept his fingers bunched in her pants and moved round so that he was standing, far too close, in front of her. ‘Talk.’
    More orders? ‘Bite me,’ she said again
    ‘Stop being a duchess and talk to me. Why are you so annoyed that I am guarding you?’
    Morgan folded her arms across her chest to form a barrier between their bodies and glared up at him. ‘You didn’t want to listen to me when I spoke earlier—why should I bother talking to you now?’
    Noah winced. ‘Okay, maybe we were a bit heavy-handed.’
    ‘Maybe?’
    ‘Don’t push it,’ Noah snapped back. ‘I wanted to be the one to guard you and I was damned if you were going to talk James out of it.’
    Morgan glared at him. ‘Because I’m a way to get in with James for you to get more MI business.’
    Noah’s eyes darkened with fury. ‘Stuff the MI business. I did it because no one will protect you as well as I will. Being kidnapped is not a walk down Madison Avenue, Duchess!’
    ‘Uh...’
    Noah shoved his hand into his hair and tugged. ‘God, you live in this protected little world, kidnapping threats or