Free Protecting His Assets by J.K. Coi

not.
    She gritted her teeth. The air between them thickened as they stared one another down. “The reality is that in cases like this, nine times out of ten the perpetrator is someone who—”
    “No.”
    The finality in his voice dared her to contradict him again, but she wasn’t about to start that kind of argument in an elevator. If he wanted to wear blinders when it came to this investigation, then she wouldn’t push it for now. There were plenty of other rabbit holes to explore. She hoped for his sake that he was right, but if the time came when all the other leads turned up empty, and the only ones left were the ones Nolan didn’t want to acknowledge, then they’d have to do things her way.
    Suddenly, his fingers touched her cheek. She gasped and leaned back, but there was nowhere for her to go unless she bolted to the other side of the elevator, and showing fear to a predator was always a bad idea.
    His head dipped. “You might have a bruise there tomorrow,” he murmured with a frown. He’d caught her in the chin during their sparring session.
    She cleared her throat, flustered by his about-face. “I’ll be fine. You barely touched me.” She put her hand over his, but he only shifted his touch to the slope of her neck, leaving goose bumps in his wake. She shivered all the way down to her belly and bit her lip to stifle a groan. Her stomach and thighs clenched and her fingers curled into the sleeve of his jacket. She hadn’t even realized she’d dropped her hand to his forearm but she couldn’t pull away, even though she knew she should.
    His eyes darkened, all that intensity narrowing on her until she couldn’t breathe. Dangerous. This is stupid and dangerous, and you’re only going to regret—
    And then he was kissing her, and it was nothing like what she’d imagined, not that she would ever admit she’d been imagining it at all; at least not more than once a minute since he’d stripped down to his gym shorts and boxing gloves, dripping sweat and oozing testosterone. Blood, laced with adrenaline and lust, pumped through her veins as hard as if she’d spent hours in the ring.
    He didn’t fall on her like she was a prize he would claim, and he didn’t swoop in, trying to catch her off guard. His kiss was testing and calculating, just like him. Telling her exactly what he wanted and daring her to be bold enough to admit she wanted it, too.
    She couldn’t admit something like that. Not even with her heart hammering like a speed bag at full tilt.
    A groan escaped her lips, and he took that as permission, deepening the kiss. It should have bothered her, made her uncomfortable and nervous, but for once she was consumed by something stronger than self-preservation, the fear of losing her job, or the worry that had plagued her the last several months.
    The elevator dinged, and she felt the drag as it pulled to a stop and the door started to open. She heard something, a distinct click out in the hallway, and jerked her gaze up over his shoulder, worried that they had company, but there was no one there.
    He leaned back in like they had all the time in the world. His hand cupped the back of her neck, the other planted flat against the wall beside her shoulder, but the only other part of him touching her was his mouth. God, his mouth . His mouth consumed her, devoured her, took control of her until she almost whimpered with defeat.
    Stop. This has to stop. She twisted away with a gasp, even though she couldn’t quite make her fingers unclench from his arm.
    Thankfully, he immediately backed off.
    Crap. She was such a freaking hypocrite. Hadn’t she just been thinking how irresponsible it would be to get carried away in an elevator? Hadn’t she spent the evening telling herself to stay focused and professional?
    “You fucking jerk,” she snapped, angry. So angry. But with him…or herself for being such a stupid, weak glutton for punishment? “You were kissing another woman less than an hour ago