Page 24 of Locked In Ice

Now she pushed back on her heels.“I’m not the FBI.I’m also not an official Ice Breaker.I don’t work for any group that has a long list of rules and regulations about fraternization when it comes to partners.”

Lane blinked.“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying…I don’t have a rule about not fucking a partner at my PI agency.Mostly because I’ve never had a partner there, so this is the first time the issue has come up.And since I’m the boss and make my own rules…” She shrugged and let her hands fall back to her sides.“That’s not a line for me.We can cross it if we want.”

He stepped over the threshold.

Should I consider the line crossed?

“So we’re going to fuck and still work together?”Lane asked in the dark and dangerous tone that had her toes curling and so many parts of heryearning.

“You are so blunt,” she told him.

His eyes seemed to burn hotter.An emerald fire.

“I like that,” Ophelia added immediately.“Say what you mean.Don’t bullshit with me.It makes life a million times simpler.”

“Will you do the same?”His hand lifted toward her, but he caught himself before he actually touched her.

“Avoid BS?Absolutely.”Tension practically had her vibrating.

She’d worked with Lane before.A different case.A flash of violence and fury and danger that had brought their worlds colliding ever so briefly.And after that case, maybe she’d delved deeper into his life.Maybe she’d been curious about the man who seemed to keep himself wound so tightly.

You get too tightly wound and you just might explode.

“You didn’t answer me.”Rough.So dark.

Her fingertips skimmed over the tops of her thighs as she tried to wipe her suddenly sweaty palms on her jogging shorts.“I did.I told you I would absolutely—”

“Are we going to fuck and still work together?”

She wet her lips.

His gaze burned ever brighter at the movement of her tongue.His hand wasn’t in the air any longer.He wasn’t reaching out for her, but she could have sworn she felt the heat of his body rubbing against her skin.“They are two distinct things.Ah, fucking and working together,” Ophelia elaborated, aware that her voice had gone way breathless.

He stalked a bit closer.They were practically toe to toe.

She tilted back her head, the better to stay focused on his face and not let her gaze wander down to check out his abs again.“You’re paying me for training.That’s it.And when the training clock stops, whatever we do on our own time is our business.”

“Never thought you were a whore, Ophelia.”

A flash of fury tore through her.“Good to know.Never claimed to be one.”

And his hand did rise.It skimmed under her jaw, and that touch electrified her.“You think you’re the only one who has done research?”

Her heart slammed into her chest.

“I got curious about you.The woman who showed no fear.No matter what went down.Memphis respects the hell out of you and so does Oliver Foxx.But when I tried to ask questions about you, they shut me down.That made me curious.”

Nowshewas curious.And he was still touching her.Lightly caressing the line of her jaw with his callused fingertips.“What did you discover?”Not much.She’d carefully cultivated the information that others could access about her.Her true secrets were buried so deeply that no one would find them.

“You’re not involved with anyone.No boyfriend.No long-term ties.No bastard who will get pissed at me for all the things I want to do with you.”

“If there was a boyfriend, I would have slammed the door shut on you the minute you started talking about fucking.”She wasn’t a cheater.

“You don’t sleep around.”

“Do tell.”

---