Page 29 of Claimed by Him

He shook his head as he cupped my chin. His thumb slid across my bottom lip, careful not to press on the throbbing cut near the corner.

“Ribs?” he asked softly.

“Sore, but I don’t think they’re broken.”

“That’s good.” He frowned. “I’m a little worried about your head though. You could have a concussion.”

“I don’t think so,” I said, grinning at him. “I’ve gotten in more than one or two fights in my life. I know what to look out for.”

He took a step back, dropping his hand. “Are you seriously smiling right now? You got beat up today.”

“I didn’t say it was fun.” I stood, pressing my hand to my side as it protested. “But it comes with the job.”

“You’re a private investigator, not a cop,” he pointed out with a little more vehemence than necessary.

“I appreciate the sentiment,” I said, “and the doctoring, but stuff like this happens.”

He shook his head. “Not anymore. Give me what you have, and I’ll take it to the cops. You’re done.”

If he’d asked me if I wanted the police to take over, I might’ve considered it, but him telling me like that? Hell no.

“I’m not done.” I squared my shoulders and glared up at him. “I promised Theo that I’d find his daughter, and I’m still going to do that.”

“Like hell you are.” He took a step toward me. “I’m the one who hired you, so I can fire you.”

“Go ahead,” I snapped back. “Fire me. Won’t make a difference. I’m going to find her.”

“Let the cops do their fucking job, Rona!” He was close enough now that I could again smell the soap he’d used to wash his hands. “You’re through!”

“Do their job?!” The drugs were starting to work, and the anger under the pain was coming out now. “They don’t give a damn about her! That’s why you hired me in the first place!”

“I’ll make them care,” he said, his nostrils flaring in a way that shouldn’t have been attractive but was. “I’m not going to let you get hurt like this again. It stops. Now.”

I curbed my impulse to just kick him out of the office. “If you want to take what I’ve found to the cops, that’s your call, but I’m not done. I’ll keep looking for her whether you’re paying me or not.”

He glared down at me. “You’re infuriating! I’m just looking out for you.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t ask you to.”

He opened his mouth. Closed it. Then cursed.

And then he kissed me.

I was shocked enough that it took me a full three seconds to even realize that I was being kissed. Not because it was a bad kiss. It was the opposite, actually, something fierce and deep. Like he was trying to prove his point with sheer physical domination.

I grabbed the front of his shirt and pushed myself up on my toes, trying to take control of the kiss. For a moment, he let my tongue invade his mouth, let me think that I was in charge, and then his hands were on my hips, pulling me so tight against him that I could feel the hot, hard length of him pushing against my stomach.

His teeth sank into my bottom lip, and a flash of pain went through the sensitive flesh. I whimpered, and the sound seemed to break him from whatever had taken him over. He pulled his head back, air rasping in and out of his lungs, his eyes dark.

“Don’t you dare stop,” I said, shoving my hand between us. He groaned as I grabbed him through his pants. “You’ve got me all worked up here.”

“You’re hurt,” he protested.

“I’m going to hurt you if you make me take care of things myself.”

I wasn’t sure if it was the threat, the image of me getting myself off, or the fact that I was rubbing him harder than necessary, but something I did cut through any objections.

He grasped my hips and picked me up, turning us around so that he could set me on the desk. His mouth moved down my neck, and I let my head drop back. The Vicodin had left my mind floating, but not so much that I didn’t know what I was doing or that I wanted to do it. With him. All the tension that had been between us just moments ago had shifted into a different sort of heat, and I knew that it might consume us both.

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