Read Protecting His Assets for Free Online

was just a game…one that was rigged.
    Yes, she knew better.
    He was still holding the door, watching her. She slipped out of the elevator without even touching him, but her skin still tingled and her breathing hitched. Too bad knowing didn’t seem to be making any difference. He’d apparently decided he wanted to get under her skin…and it was certainly working. She would have to shore-up her defenses if she was going to make it through this job.
    “Will you come with me in my car in order to adhere to the letter of your assignment, or will you be a rebel and just meet me at the gym?”
    “The gym?” She frowned. “I thought you were heading home. I would prefer it if you returned home at this time. I can protect you much easier in the safety of a private space, and I still need to get the other anonymous notes from you as well.”
    “I need to work out,” he answered with a careless shrug, making it clear that making her job easier was not one of his priorities.
    “Didn’t you already spend a ridiculous amount of time on that treadmill this afternoon?”
    “That was just to keep me from clawing at the walls. I don’t react well to prolonged periods of inactivity.” His voice lowered an octave, making it clear just what kind of activity he preferred most.
    “You could meet me at my apartment later if you’d prefer, and I would be more than happy to hand over the notes then.”
    “You know I can’t do that. Until you’re tucked safely in bed for the night, I stick to you like glue.”
    “That should be fun.” He waggled his eyebrows. It was such a goofy thing to do, she struggled not to laugh. This wasn’t a date. This was a job.
    She might be fairly new to the bodyguard business, but she’d been trained to expect victims of this type of personal invasion to be frustrated and scared, which usually translated into misdirected anger or paranoid hermit behavior. Either Steve Nolan was exceedingly adaptable, or he was no stranger to unwanted attention, and none of this even fazed him. Probably a combination of both.
    “How long do you plan to be at the gym?” she asked.
    “It depends how I feel.”
    Did the man even know what a schedule was?
    “Don’t worry.” He raised his right hand, palm out. “I promise to go straight to the gym without passing Go, and I won’t even cross the street unless you’re there to hold my hand.”
    His posture shifted, and there was a subtle tension in it. Beyond all the jokes and the wantonly unprofessional sexual advances, he wasn’t as indifferent about all this as he pretended. He was pissed about having to answer to her, just better at hiding it than most, so she tried not to bristle beneath his teasing condescension.
    “I’m just trying to do my job,” she reminded him gently. “And I’m not your mother.”
    His jaw clenched, and she held her breath as his gaze narrowed and slid over her body. Slowly, casually, purposefully. A visceral perusal that left her buzzing from head to toe. He could have used his hands and it wouldn’t have felt any more intimate.
    “No, you’re definitely not,” he finally said with a cocky, lazy smile. “I wouldn’t make that kind of mistake.”
    He was purposely trying to make her uncomfortable, to test her limits. It was all just a game to him, one that he was used to winning, but she’d played that game before and lost, and it wouldn’t happen again.
    The arrogant curve of his lips made her whole body tremble.
    Okay, so she might consider playing…but she knew the rules now, and nobody would be taking her heart as the prize.
    She squared her shoulders and stepped away from the door. “Where is your gym? Wait for me outside the garage, and I’ll follow you there.”
    “Park Place, between Church and Broadway.”
    She swore under her breath. “The boxing club?”
    “You know it?” He sounded surprised, but she wasn’t in the mood to indulge his curiosity. She simply nodded and turned back to the