Page 14 of Hazard

“Shut the fuck up, Skull,” Hazard said from between gritted teeth, realizing that Nick had just hijacked his charge, and what she needed most wasn’t another meeting. It was sleep.

Hazard looked at his dive watch from the door frame of the conference room at the compound. It had been two hours since lunch and Leigh and Nick, some expert in complexity analysis here to help them take down the cartel, were still going at it hot and heavy. Couldn’t the bastard see that she was dead on her feet?

The unsettling thought of watching another guy getting up close and personal with her, even if it was mission-related, caused a burning, churning sensation deep in his gut.

Skull slipped past the door dressed in running clothes with Bones jogging beside him. He smirked at Hazard knowingly but didn’t say a thing.

Hazard bristled all over again, especially with the thoughts running through his mind, giving Skull the finger. He remained as calm as he could to get everything into perspective. She wasn’t his…anything. He was only protecting Leigh, her detail, a job for him. Other issues made any kind of affair between them, during a mission, impossible. He was a professional and wasn’t going to add to his unprofessional thoughts by laying one hand on her and succumbing to his own lust and undeniable need to lose himself in her soft, lush body. No matter how much he might wish otherwise.

Nick laughed softly, then reached out and briefly placed his hand on Leigh’s wrist. “Yes, of course, I can send you a full report of all my thoughts.”

Leigh smiled at him with that professional smile, making Hazard look at why it made him feel better. She leaned back and ran her hands through her hair, her eyes droopy with exhaustion.

“How about we go over the rest of my notes over coffee?”

That was it. It was the last straw. She didn’t need coffee to boost her into a wired mess, leaving her no good for either one of them or for the team’s mission here.

He strode forward. “Nope, this impromptu two-hour meeting that could have waited until tomorrow is over.”

He hid a grin at Hazard’s strong-man tactics, and it was clear he was a genius because he caught Hazard’s determination and seriousness in one. “Yeah, the jet lag is getting to me. I could use some rest.”

Leigh’s brows rose incredulously, completely ignoring Nick’s smart capitulation. “What?”

“O-v-e-r,” he spelled slowly.

“But we’re not done,” Leigh said, even as she sighed heavily.

“Oh, you’re done, lady.”

“No, I’m not. You’re not the boss of me, except in matters where I’m threatened.”

“I deem you’re threatened,” he said.

“By whom?” she snapped.

“By you, lady, and you’re going.”

She lifted her chin, those weary eyes flashing to life. “Make me.” Her challenge was delivered with a succinct tone that said he wouldn’t dare. She was dealing with the wrong damn man. He was a SEAL. He knew all about making people do what he told them to do.

He turned the chair, grabbed her wrist and pulled her up, ducked his shoulder like a linebacker and pulled her over it.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she sputtered, immediately squirming. He clamped his arm around her legs, and she beat on his back with her tiny fists.

“Making you.” He turned away from Nick’s surprised face and open mouth, marching out of the room. When he got to the elevator, Iceman was walking down the hall, looking at a sheaf of papers in his hands.

“Put me down, you…you…neanderthal. Right now!”

Her strident voice had Iceman stopping and focusing on them. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“I made a bodyguard decision that she needs rest because she’s almost dead on her feet, and she ignored all my dirty looks in the conference room, so I took direct action.”

“Okay,” Iceman said, not batting an eyelash as the elevator dinged. “Carry on.”

Leigh screeched and Hazard went inside. He was going to catch hell for this, but too damn bad.

5

Who was this guy to tell her what to do? The question rattled around in her brain as she hung upside down over his shoulder, spitting mad that he had pulled her away from that meeting. Her plan was coming together with Nick, who was a genius in network and complexity analysis. No matter how many times she told Hazard to put her down, he ignored her, and pounding on his hard, muscular back only made her think about how broad-shouldered he was, damn him, all those muscles flexing in time to his progress from the elevator to her new room.

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