Locked In (Locked in Love) (Volume One): An Alpha Billionaire Romance Read Online Free PDF Page B

of me, under the bluster and the irritation? It’s excited.
     
    Elise is sexy. She’s fun.
     
    And she’s fucking smart.
     
    I might not need her kind of smart in my life, it was dangerous. But I longed for a challenge and holy hell, she was the biggest one yet.
     
    “Yes. As I explained to your Captain--”
     
    “Ex. Ex-Captain.”
     
    I sigh. I’m not used to being interrupted. Men like me, with money and the balls to wield it, don’t get interrupted. “Elise, I’ll tell you about the damned job if you’d keep your mouth shut.”
     
    She smirks and I ball my fist. “As I was saying,” I grind out. “I’d love to have you come work my auction. I’ve spread my own employees out too thin, and at this kind of event--”
     
    “You’re so full of shit.” She hops off the desk and saunters to her small kitchenette, naked ass swaying in a way that makes me want to bite it as much as I want to spank it.
     
    “Excuse me?”
     
    “You don’t need me and you don’t need a bunch of cops. If you did, then your security systems aren’t worth jack. No… either you just enjoy manipulating people, or you want a big presence to impress God-knows-who. But hiring us plebs for ‘protection?’ Please .” She looks purposefully over her shoulder to ensure I catch her eye roll.
     
    She is one hundred percent right.
     
    But money worked for the Chief, so--
     
    “I’ll pay you twenty grand for your time.”
     
    She pauses. Because she’s naked, I see her spine stiffen. Glancing around the apartment, I know twenty grand will go far for her.
     
    I start reaching in my pocket to text my driver.
     
    “No.” She says, voice shaking.
     
    It’s my turn to pause. “No? You’re going to turn down twenty thousand dollars for what is, in your opinion, a bullshit job?”
     
    She whirls and stares at me. “Yes,” she hisses. “I’m not stupid and I do not like to be used in anyone’s plots and schemes. My gut is telling me that’s what’s going on, so no . I won’t take the job.”
     
    I can tell her pulse is racing by the heave of her chest. Her pale skin is blotched in crimson. Whatever I’ve done, I’ve struck a nerve. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why it’s left me with a pit in my stomach! So she said no. I don’t hear it often, but it is probably for the best.
     
    “I think you should leave,” she sighs. “Thanks for the sex.”
     
    I’m being dismissed, too?
     
    Pulling my card case out, I hand her my card. “In case you change your mind.”
     
    “I won’t.”
     
    This time I look pointedly around her place, making sure my gaze lingers on the leaking sink, the cracks in the plaster where the foundation is going, the dusty windowpanes-- all of it. I take my time. “Sure, you won’t” I sneer before waltzing out.
     
    It was a dick move. But goddamn her-- I’m not used to being turned away or turned down and I don’t like how it feels.
     
    My driver is waiting for me. Now I’ll wait for Elise’s call. In the meantime, I have preparations to make.
     
    The event, after all, has to be as flawless as the gems that will be sold.

 
     
    Elise
     
    My skin is crawling and my mind is reeling as Locke leaves.
     
    He’s unbelievable. What an asshole!
     
    A tear comes to my eye and I dash it away quickly. Who the hell was he to make me feel like shit about my place? I paid my bills. I basically own my own company-- Martin Investigations -- and I’m damned good at what I do, too.
     
    Too good, really, which was part of why I left the force. My mind starts to wander to thoughts of home before, to my parents and brother.
     
    Shaking my head, I head for the shower. To clean him and the memories from the past off. Both were gone and over now.
     
    The water is slow to heat, the building’s water heater ancient and crap. When it finally does and I push for shower, it spurts out and-- is that brown? Oh, gross. Definitely brown. The smell of sewage wafts in and thank God I