Page 16 of Rogue Mission

On cue, as if things couldn't get any messier, my foot slips on the tile and I scream. “Noooo!”

He mutters a curse as I try to catch my balance, both arms flinging out like training wheels.

Ooof!

My pursuer grabs me before I splat on the floor, lifting me completely off the ground.

“Enough,” he rasps next to my ear. As if that's not terrifying enough, he covers my mouth with a gigantic, calloused palm.

My brain blanks, then crackles back online. I can only think one thing. I like how hot his skin is.

What. The. Hell?

My reaction makes me angry.

“Let go!” My yell is muffled by a hand so big it covers my whole face.

On reflex, my legs start pinwheeling, searching for something soft to connect with.

Gonads to be specific.

He grunts, avoiding a direct hit as his arm tightens into an unforgiving steel band.

We struggle—or really, I struggle as he holds on. All the twisting causes the fabric of my shirt to shove up until my sweat-slicked skin is firmly glued to his bare arm.

Uh…

That tickles.

Belatedly I realize it's the coarse arm-hair on his forearm. And it's really freaking sexy.

Ugh. I am not attracted to this man.

I'm just not.

It must be sleep deprivation. Or oxygen deprivation from running. Or brain deprivation from sheer terror.

“Put me down.” Sounds more like “pmuhdn” as I pant angrily against the warm bulk of his hand.

“Shhhh. Be still,” he murmurs in a tone so low and so hot that my skin prickles.

Where did all the air from my lungs go?

“No. Please let me go,” I beg into his hand, even as something inside of me whispers,yes,hold me tighter.

Every detail about him comes into hyper-focus.

His scent.

The heat surrounding his power-packed frame.

The raspy sound of his breath just above my ear.

Gulp.

Time has slowed and I can sense everything in the universe at once and he's the center of it. A giant magnetic force, and I'm now caught in his orbit.

Jeeez. What monkey business is this?