Page 2 of Taken With Trouble

“I’m fine,” I mutter, brushing past him. But he snatches my wrist from my face and spins me around, easing me against the door in one swift movement.

My heart jumps into my throat as my gaze lands on his bright blue eyes. How many times have I dreamed of Supervisory Agent in Control (S-A-C for short), Gavin Ford doing something like this to me? Hiding with me in the armory, kissing me next to a practice dummy… I know, my fantasies are weird, but they’re mine.

Why is it I only attract the attention of terrible men?

“You’ve got a rather large goose egg,” Liam says in his annoyingly suave British accent. His thumb slides over my forehead, and warning bells scream in my mind as he blazes a trail over my skin, marking me like I’m little Simba about to be sacrificed. No wait, that was to announce his birth.

“I’m great. Thank you for checking on me, though.” I add a false flirtation to my voice. I have to leave.

His gaze roams over my face, unnerving me. “I can see that. A woman like you has everything under control, don’t you?” He says it like it’s a bad thing.

It’s totally not. At all.

I scoff. “Of course not.”

His brows flick up. “You often do impulsive things?”

Well… no. Never. “Y-yes.”

His fingers trail down my face, brushing the edge of my eyebrow, my temple, over my cheekbone, and to my lip–

I gasp. What is he doing to me? And why am I powerless to stop it? I blame my seven-year dating hiatus for the way my heart accelerates and my eyes fight to stay open. Have I ever been touched like this?Caressedlike this?

His thumb skims my bottom lip, and my mouth goes dry. “Are you feeling reckless, beautiful?”

I murmur something. Something that was supposed to sound likeget away from mebut came out more like consent. The next thing I know, his lips are on mine. The barest of touches.

His lips.

Mine.

Heat pooling in my stomach.

Heart rateseverelyhigh.

I can’t catalog and dissect all the information flooding my system. It’s wrong—sowrong. But it feels… it feels like pure energy, euphoria, so much I fear I’m going to implode. He wraps his hands around the base of my head, angling his lips over mine, and my lips part of their own volition, inviting him for more. And oh does he take it, pressing in closer until our bodies are connected. Warmth floods my stomach, swooping and swirling like I’ve never been kissed before.

Well, I haven’t been kissed… not in seven years. I’m fisting his button-down shirt, my fingers tangled in the expensive fabric, and I’m not sure how they got there. His hands slide down my sides and lock onto my waist, where he tightens his hold on me. He nips at my bottom lip, hard enough to make me gasp.

He drags his lips away from mine, only to return and press a featherlight kiss to my bottom lip again, as if kissing it better.

His hands fall from my sides and he pulls back, taking a large step away. His eyes are darker than they were moments ago, and he shoots me a satisfied smirk. “Thanks for being reckless with me. Maybe we can do it again sometime.”

He turns and disappears from the balcony, leaving me stunned in a cloud of his spicy cologne.

I can’t breathe, and my lips burn like he branded them. My skin tingles where he held me.

What just happened? I blink rapidly, trying to yank all the pieces of my brain together, but it’s a muddled mess up there.

Why did Liam kiss me?

He knew I was following him. He was trying to throw me off my game.

And it freaking worked.

How dare he!

Irritation settles in my veins as I race to the balcony overlooking the bar below, searching for his gray suit and brown hair. Where did he go?