Page 163 of Exposé

"Don't get your hopes up." I backed up to the wall across from him and leaned against it. "You still have lots to answer for." The jagged words spilled into the space between us.

His eyes cut to the computer screen, a flicker of something cold and unyielding beneath the surface. His jaw tightened, hard enough to make the muscles pop. The weight of his focus pressed down like a loaded weapon. “I don’t have time for twenty questions.” He shifted back to me. “And you? You’re out of time.”

“Then what did you come here for?” I crossed my arms over my chest. "Because whatever it is, I’m not doing it."

"How do you think I found you?"

I shook my head. "I don't know,Nate. Howdidyou find me?" Narrowing my eyes, I leaned forward. "If that even is your real name."

Nate exhaled through his flared nostrils. "Here's what's going to happen—"

I rolled my eyes. "Here we go."

"Listen, because we don't have time for this bullshit." He stood and closed the laptop. "You are going to pack everything up, make sure you don't leave a trace behind for them to find, and then you're going to follow me out to my car."

"No."

"No?" He raised a brow.

"That's what I said." I raised the taser.

"Ava..."

"Nate."

"Don't make this more difficult than it already is." He stepped forward, dragging his finger along the desk. "Because you know what I'm capable of."

I snorted. "I watched that man get the upper hand. If he can, so can—"

"He's adead professionalassassin." Nate cocked his head to the side. "Do you really think you stand a chance?"

"Stay away from me." I waved the taser, my grip tightening, causing my knuckles to turn white. The hard plastic bit into my palm. My blood raced with adrenaline. "I'm warning you."

"It's for your safety." Nate glanced down at the tip of the desk where his finger rested, then back up at me with a dark haze. He darted forward in a flash, closing the space between us with the precision of a predator despite his wound.

Oh shit.

My thumb mashed down on the taser’s button, the device sparking to life as his toes met mine. His arms wrapped around me. The taser hissed and spat as arcs of electricity leapt from theprongs, sinking into his side with a sharp crack-crack that sliced through the air.

His body jolted, and a guttural cry tore from his throat.

My heart twisted into pieces as his limbs locked up around me, his jaw clenched tight, his eyes cast toward the ceiling. The blood vessels in his neck and temples bulged.

I released the trigger, and he let loose a breath of air, his hand whipping around and lashing around my wrist.

"What?" My mouth gaped. "How? You were supposed to pass out." My pulse roared in my ears, and my stomach twisted into knots.

This wasn’t supposed to happen.

He was supposed to hit the floor.

Nate straightened, his menacing gaze fixed on mine.

Sweat beaded on his forehead, sliding down the curve of his clenched jaw. Tension rippled through his body, shoulders squared like a predator stalking prey. "That only works in the movies." He held my hand to the side and yanked the device from my fingertips. "In real life, it just pisses me off."

With an ironclad grip, he twisted me around in one swift motion, my shoulder screaming from the stretch as he forced my arm behind my back.

He pressed my cheek against the paper wall and grabbed my other arm, yanking it behind my back. "Sweet Ava, "for your safety" is code for "I’m not letting you go."

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