Free Take It Down by Kira Sinclair Page B

Elle.”
    He pushed away, his neck bent over her and his lips dangerously close to hers. His brain was fighting with his libido when she did him a favor.
    Reaching out with the flat of her hand, she slapped it across his face.
    “Let’s see what your cameras say now,” she said over her shoulder as she stalked out.
    Zane cupped his cheek. It stung, but wasn’t nearly the worst pain he’d experienced at the hands of a woman.
     
     
    SHE FUMED. HER HAND THROBBED where she’d hit his rock-solid jaw. But she didn’t want to visit the onsite doctor. She’d have to explain, and that was something she refused to do. Mostly because she had no idea what had really happened.
    One minute they’d been practically tearing each other’s clothes off, the next Zane had been back to the demanding hard-ass with the glint in his eye and smooth-talking words that rocked her to the core.
    Because he’d been right.
    If her shoe hadn’t fallen off, who knew what they’d be doing right now? No, that wasn’t true. They’d have been having sex. In the middle of a public place. And she wouldn’t have given a damn.
    What was wrong with her?
    A shiver racked her body at the thought. Damn the man. He was demanding and egotistical and difficult and passionate. She knew to the depths of her soul that if he ever did touch her again—if she let him touch her again—she’d be consumed by him.
    He was an overachiever who put everything he was into whatever he did. The same intensity that drove her insane outside of the bedroom would no doubt be mind-blowing inside it. He’d be the kind of lover who would leave her a puddle of mindless goo. The way he looked at her, as if he knew every inch of her body and what to do with it… Heat began to pool in the center of her sex. She ignored it. Or tried to.
    Wasn’t going to happen. That slap should protect her from herself.
    She’d lived with men who exhibited that same intensity her entire life. The drive her father put into his job. The way he’d brought every case home with him, even if he hadn’t meant to. The way he’d gone to extremes to protect her from the sickening world he saw everyday. The way he’d expected perfection from her—and everyone else around him.
    She couldn’t live up to the expectations. She wasn’t perfect. No one was. Not him, not her brothers. Not Zane.
    And she had no doubt that he was cut from the same cloth, would require perfection from himself and beat himself up when he couldn’t deliver on such an impossible standard. She didn’t need that sort of upheaval in her life.
    Right now, things were practically perfect. She made a decent living doing what she loved. She had freedom. No one she had to share her space or herself with. It was easier that way. Less messy. Less demanding.
    Damn it. Why couldn’t she convince herself she wasn’t interested in him? Never, in her entire life, had she become so entangled with a man in such a short space of time. Had it only been yesterday morning when she’d been handcuffed to a chair inside that tiny room? It really had. And already Zane was occupying every spare second of her mind.
    She needed a distraction before she did something very stupid and very regrettable.
    Pulling out the folder that the front desk had given her upon checking in, Elle stared down at the turquoise paper and the list of activities that were scheduled for the week. She hadn’t bothered to look at it before, because she’d fully intended to be otherwise occupied. However, she really needed a distraction right now.
    Well, there was a bonfire on the beach in about an hour. It might be…interesting. Definitely a diversion, if nothing else. And maybe if she was lucky, Zane wouldn’t be there. Because if he was… Balmy night, sparkling stars, flickering fire, tropical setting—it would be too easy to give in to the chemistry between them.
    He wouldn’t be there. He’d been working all day. Had been forced to give her the tour of the