Page 16 of Cruel Ice

She freed her lower lip. “So this is to be an…undercover mission?”

If that was what she wanted to call it. “Do you have a boyfriend who will object?” Boyfriend, lover, person who Declan needed to make vanish.

“No, I’m not involved with anyone right now.”

“You are.” Again, he pinned her with his stare. “You’re involved with me. Going forward, this will be our story.” He paused for a beat. “We were out together. We became separated. You saw the bozos shoving me in the van. Like any concerned fiancée, you followed me and called for help.”

“A concerned PI would do the same. I don’t see why we need the cover story.”

He needed it because it would be another layer of protection for her. When he publicly claimed her as his…You do not touch what is mine.Some messages would need to be deeply, deeply understood.

“Declan?”

His chest tightened. His dick hardened. He liked it when she said his name. Too much. “I want you.”

“What?”

The limo slowed to a stop.

Declan made no move to leave the vehicle. “I want you. Figured I should just tell you how I felt. If you aren’t interested, you say the word right now. I’ll make sure things stay completely professional between us.”

“A professional PI relationship?” Her voice had gone a little breathless.

“Um.”

Her lashes swept down to conceal her eyes. “And if I say that…if I say that I get an electric rush each time we touch, that my heart rate speeds up and I get these images of us together, doing all kinds of…of things in my head…what would you do?”

No one in his world had been this honest with him. Certainly, no romantic partner.

“Oh, God. That’s what the three grand is for, isn’t it?” Absolute horror coated her face as her lashes swept up. “You’re paying me for sex.” Red blasted into her cheeks. “I’m a PI, not a prostitute.” She lunged toward him, and her index finger stabbed Declan in the chest. “And you can just?—”

He kissed her. He’d kissed her in that hell of a basement, but it had been a fast, fleeting brush of their lips. A taste that had tormented him.

Now, he wanted her mouth more than he wanted anything else, so he took it. Declan expected heat. Sensual energy. Desire.

What he didn’t expect was the full-on, lust-filled explosion that happened when their mouths touched.

And she tastes even fucking better than she smells.

Her mouth opened wider beneath his, and he let his control slip away.

Chapter Four

Declan Flynn was kissing her.

She was kissing him.

Her mouth had opened wide beneath his plundering lips, and she was greedily kissing him back with wild abandon. Her hands had moved to grab his shoulders and hold on tightly. A moan built in her throat. Need and hot desire spiraled through her. She had never, ever reacted this way to a simple kiss before. Not gone from anger to—to…

Some seriously intense, raging desire. The kind of desire that made her want to jump on his lap, straddle him, and hold on for what promised to be one incredible ride. Quite possibly, the best ride of her life.

What is wrong with you, woman? Get your senses back!One did not lose all control and propriety just from a kiss. Or at least, one didn’t normally.

Yet she was.

Her nails sank into his shoulders. Her tongue licked against his.

He—

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