Free Protecting His Assets by J.K. Coi Page A

.”
    She shoved him, both hands slamming him hard in the chest. He leaned back, but his feet didn’t move. And then he smiled. The bastard actually smiled . “She was kissing me, actually,” he said, as if it made a difference.
    “What? And you thought that since you couldn’t go home with her, I would just stand in like it was a part of my job description?”
    He stood in front of her, not touching but not retreating, either. “Let’s make one thing clear.” The elevator door was closing on them again, but Nolan didn’t move. “When I kiss you, it has nothing to do with your job.”
    She snorted and shoved her hand into the crack of an opening before the door closed all the way. “You assume it’s going to happen again.”
    “I don’t make assumptions,” he corrected her. “I calculate inevitabilities.”

Chapter Four
    A s they finally exited the elevator, Steve noticed the door to the stairwell swinging closed. Had someone wanted to take the elevator and been scared off by the horny couple making out inside it?
    He probably shouldn’t have kissed her. That could bite him in the ass in a thousand and one different ways. But he couldn’t regret it, especially not after getting such a hard-fought reaction out of her. Both reactions. First, her delicious submission, and then the beautiful outrage. The truth was, he’d do it again. In a heartbeat. In fact, he’d been looking for a reason to kiss her all day, and the impulse had little to do with tension or stress. It had everything to do with her. And him. The two of them being impulsive and sweaty together.
    That sounded like him, all right. Too bad it didn’t sound much like the very proper Ms. Porter.
    During dinner with Jennifer—who was the perfect combination of shallow and self-involved so that he never felt guilty for holding his real self back—“Ms. Porter” had been all he could think of. She had vaguely disquieted him with her unshakable reserve and unnatural stiffness, but she’d also intrigued him. She was interesting, competent, and mysterious. And then she’d become an Amazon at the gym. She’d punched his imagination into high gear, sending crazy, sweaty fantasies streaming through his brain.
    Both sides of April Porter that he’d already seen fascinated him so much that he’d been less interested in taking his warm and willing date home, and unreasonably eager to spend just another five minutes with his new bodyguard. He was more than a little curious about the other sides she might have.
    Even so, by the time the elevator door slid all the way open, Steve knew he’d miscalculated. The kiss had been too much, too soon. Walking beside him now, she was even stiffer than ever.
    She was certainly a mystery, one he wasn’t sure he should try to crack. But he’d never be able to resist trying.
    As they reached his apartment door, he pulled his keys out of his pocket with a frown as April stepped in front of him and held out a steady hand. She cleared her throat.
    “You’re taking this protection thing just a little far, don’t you think?” he said.
    He was immediately contrite. He shouldn’t have snapped at her. His irritation had nothing to do with the way she was doing her job.
    But she didn’t even flinch. “Let me have the key,” she said.
    “I’ve got it,” he insisted, pushing past her to reach for the lock on his own. “I think I’ll be safe enough in my own home.”
    He threw open the door and flipped the light switch.
    The place was trashed.

    H e’d found no notes this time. Then again, the intentions of the bastard who’d broken in and destroyed his place didn’t exactly need to be spelled out any clearer.
    April claimed that without a note, there was no way to be certain that the “incident”—as she called it—was related to the threats he’d already received. He begged to differ. She and the police officers could theorize to their hearts’ content, but Steve was certain. And he was sure of another