Everly’s eyes narrowed. “And how would you know that?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me.”
“My security figured it out in the routine background check.”
“I’m the employee. My mother’s status hardly falls into the realm of due diligence.” She took a step toward him. “And there’s nothing routine about you having me followed on my day off. So what’s this really about?”
He matched her step, getting too close. Way too close. “It’s about lying. It’s about what those lies could lead to. It’s about Bella’s safety.”
“Bullshit,” she said, walking away from him. “This is about you. You and all your fears.”
He grabbed her arm and spun her back to face him. The second he touched her, he knew he’d gone too far. “I told you I have a zero-tolerance policy. I told you to read the contract before you signed it, which demanded truth in your statements. Why did you lie about your mother?”
She jerked her arm from his grasp, but instead of moving away, she stepped into him, toe to toe, and met his gaze in a way that threw him back to his military days. To arguments he’d had with other soldiers—just like the one he was having with Everly now.
“Because, like I told you, we don’t get along. She’s been putting me through hell since I was barely older than Bella. After our mission in Kenya, I’d had enough. She was poisonous for me, so I made the purposeful decision to take my life in a different direction. It was easier to just say she’d passed away than tell the whole story.”
“You have a fucking answer for everything,” he bit out.
“I have an answer because it’s true.” Those blue eyes of hers sparked with the same frustration brewing inside him. “If you really can’t trust me, I shouldn’t be here. If you can’t see from the last week alone how Bella is benefiting from having me here or how much work you’re getting done because I’m taking care of things, then you should fire me.”
Fuck. She’d called his bluff.
He moved before he thought. He gripped her arms and pushed her back against the wall. She sucked in a breath and tensed, but instead of fear, the unmistakable spark of challenge brightened her eyes.
“How’d you spot Decker?” he demanded. “He was special forces for two decades, trained in surveillance.”
“He’s also over six feet tall and black. He’s not exactly invisible. And I was a female aid worker in the world’s most violent shit holes. I know how to protect myself, which means staying aware of my surroundings.” Her voice hovered a notch below yelling. “Ever consider Decker’s getting rusty?” Then her body relaxed, and a genuine spark of humor danced in her eyes. “You should have seen his face when I cornered him. Priceless, I tell—”
His good sense evaporated in the heat between them, and Austin lowered his head, kissing her hard. He knew the instant their lips touched, it was a mistake. Knew he was out of control.
She tensed, and a sound of surprise ebbed from her throat. A moment lingered between them. A moment filled with what-the-fuck shock. He kept hoping she’d freak out and push him off. Then, if she didn’t quit, he could fire her, and this would all be an ugly memory.
Only, she didn’t freak out. And she didn’t push him off. She tilted her head, closed her eyes, and kissed him back with the same force. Her hand curled into his T-shirt, her lips parted, and she kissed him again.
Everything inside Austin coiled and heated. Lust gushed through his bloodstream and drowned the little voice screaming warnings in the back of his mind. He met her force but kept his hands on her arms. Half his brain was telling him to sink in; the other half was telling him to push away. Austin was caught in the middle with her lush mouth searching for more.
It was a brutal kind of attraction. A passionate snap between two people who’d been holding their desires back. With his mouth on hers, he couldn’t think. He couldn’t remember how they’d jumped from an argument to a kiss quickly sizzling out of control. But as soon as her tongue brushed his lip, all Austin’s arguments evaporated.
He leaned into her and sank into the kiss, stroking his tongue into her mouth. She moaned, and her body bowed, pressing every perfect curve against him. His hands slid down her sides, fingers clenching and releasing her waist. She felt even better than she looked. And the way she kissed shot his mind straight to the bedroom. Aggressive yet teasing. Urgent but languid. Her mouth was hot and wet and willing.
He wrapped one arm low on her back, pulling her up against him hard as he stroked his tongue against hers. She moaned and rocked her hips like it was the most natural thing to do. The pressure against his erection shot a streak of white light across his closed lids.
This was so damned electric. So insanely hot. He could already imagine sex between them. Off-the-fucking-charts sex.
“Daddy, I ready.”
Bella’s voice tossed ice water over Austin. He pulled out of the kiss and froze, fighting to get his bearings.
“Daddy?” A little knock sounded on the bottom half of the door. The knob rattled. “You there?”
He finally focused on Everly again. She had the fingers of one hand pressed to her swollen lips, her big blue eyes dazed.
“Yes, baby.” His voice came out rough, and he cleared his throat. “Wait in the kitchen with Lucia. I’ll be right there.”
Everly remained still as Bella counted her way—in Spanish—down the stairs to the kitchen. Reminding him how far she’d come in the short week Everly had been there.