Protecting His Assets Read Online Free PDF

he asked his assistant a question. She couldn’t hear it, but she understood once Kathy answered him, since she didn’t modulate her response as he had done.
    “What do you think she wanted? She asked what your calendar was like for the next two weeks.” Karen grinned and Nolan scowled. “If she’s setting you up again, at least warn me so I’m prepared for the angry phone calls from strange women when you forget your date and stand them up.”
    Did he do that often? Forget his dates? What else might he have forgotten? Who might he have snubbed badly enough to want revenge? She filed the possibility away for further contemplation later.
    Nolan didn’t defend himself, but he wasn’t happy. Because his mother was setting him up? Or because his assistant had spoken out of turn? Why would he care? It wasn’t as if she wasn’t already aware that he was one of the biggest players in the city.
    She had to haul ass to keep up with him as he strolled out of the office to the elevators.
    “What was that about?” she asked. He jabbed the button hard and they waited.
    “What was what about?”
    “You know. Back there with your assistant. You were upset when she told you about the phone call from your mother.” She didn’t think that Steve Nolan’s own mother was stalking him, but she couldn’t know for sure what information might or might not be relevant to the investigation, so she had to ask questions about everything.
    Two guys in suits came down the hall toward them, slowing as they also got to the elevator. “It’s none of your business.”
    She frowned. “Do you and your mother have—”
    He quickly leaned in close, eyes flashing. “Stop right there,” he interrupted in a clipped voice. “Kathy knows better than to talk about my personal life. And if you want to keep this job for more than five minutes, you will also learn that lesson right here, right now.”
    Her mouth dropped open. She wouldn’t have thought that the guy whose grinning photo ended up in headlines on a weekly basis would get so prickly about his privacy. Then again, if her picture was being snapped every time she went out in public, she’d probably put on a brave face about it and then let loose with the frustration behind closed doors, too.
    “I apologize. I shouldn’t have intruded.” Her voice dropped to a whisper as the two men stopped behind them to wait for the elevator. “But that was still harsh.”
    The moment lengthened beyond his annoyance, beyond her contract, beyond their differences. His gaze remained intent and direct, focused on her. A stab of awareness hit April’s core, and his eyes flared as if he knew it…right before he put his devil-may-care playboy face back on.
    He straightened away from her and grinned at the associates who’d joined them, asking after their day. She took a deep breath and looked up. Her throat tightened as the floors marking the position of the elevator ticked higher and higher. This morning, she’d ridden in it, but then it had been empty.
    The door slid open on a glass enclosure full of people ready to head home for the day.
    It wasn’t empty now.
    She tensed. It wasn’t the height or the idea of putting her life into the hands of a mechanical coffin that bothered her—although she tried not to think about that too closely, either. It was having to stand next to upward of fifteen other people, all of whom were breathing their germs into the confined space, that threatened to make her throat close.
    But they were on the second-to-top floor of a fifty-story building, and there wasn’t any other reasonable way of getting to the bottom, so with a deep breath, she forced her leaden feet forward and crossed the threshold first. She held the door for Nolan with her elbow and then stepped back beside him. She kept her hands off the railing and talked herself out of holding her breath. It was too long a ride for that.
    She looked over and found him watching her, a smidgeon of curiosity in