Stealing His Thunder (Masters of Adrenaline 1)

She turned to face him. “You brought me here. You should have the decency to pay for a cab.”

“Like you have the decency to take other people’s cars?”

“Oh, shut up. I can tell you’re not the morality police so quit acting like it.”

His lips pressed together as though he was holding back a smile. Then he sighed and reached behind her to open the door. With his body so close to hers, she caught his scent. Soap and leather, like the room, only stronger, sexier.

“Come on,” he said, ushering her through the door. “I’ll drive you home.”

She stopped in the threshold. “Just like that?”

“Just like that.”

“Why?”

“What do you mean ‘why’?”

She threw her hands up in the air, frustrated. “You went through the trouble of bringing me all the way here. You only asked me a few questions. I didn’t even tell you my real name. I’m obviously unscrupulous. Why are you letting me go?”

He chuckled. “‘Unscrupulous’? I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone use that word out loud.”

“It’s a perfectly good word.”

“I doubt someone who was re

ally unscrupulous would use it.”

“That’s narrow-minded. Criminals can be intelligent.”

“You’re no criminal.”

She scoffed, offended for some reason. “I just broke into a car. What would you call me then?” It struck her just how silly this conversation was. She was defending her right to be called a criminal. As if she cared what he thought. As if she wanted to be considered a criminal!

He leaned close, smirking. His eyes lit up with amusement and a small fire started in her belly. Voice gravelly, he nearly whispered, “You’re playing a dangerous game, little girl.”

Damn him. Making her angry and turned on at the same time wasn’t playing fair. The internal conflict didn’t leave her with any witty retorts. She swallowed hard, trying to clear her foggy head. How could such a cocky jackass be so sexy? But she couldn’t help it, he had “her type” written all over him—other than the kidnapping part. Tall, tattooed, and dangerous. And apparently kinky. And if he was offering her a ride home instead of taking advantage of her he obviously wasn’t the creepy kind of dangerous.

Shit. Her libido whirled out of control. She flipped between wanting to smack him and wanting to kiss him. When she tried to give her head a shake, it throbbed with pain. Suppressing a groan, she pushed past him toward the stairs. She couldn’t trust her vocal cords to work, so she pretended to stomp away. Only her stomp was more like a wobbly walk.

A soft chuckle came from behind her and warmth pooled in her belly. Even his condescension was sexy.

At the top of the stairs, a large foyer opened up in front of her. The man came around her and stopped as she peered around the space. She didn’t know much about architecture but the floor looked like marble—white and shiny with swirls of gray. Two tall columns stood at the double doors. A chandelier cast sparkles on the flawless surfaces.

“Wow,” was all she could manage to say. She glanced at him then remembered again that she didn’t even know who he was. “You never told me your name.”

“You’re right.”

“Oh, come on.” She rolled her eyes. “You know mine. It’s not like I’m gonna report you or anything. I mean, that’d be pretty dumb considering what you caught me doing.”

He stared silently.

“At least give me a first name.”

Shifting uncomfortably, he answered, “Fox.”

She scrunched her nose. “Like the animal?”

Without a word, he gestured for her to follow and walked her across the room. Their footsteps echoed around the vast space.