Switched Read Online Free PDF

all six feet of his lean body to the edge of the hallway where it dumped into the larger open space. Bending down, he grabbed something on the floor of the other room and stood back up. When he faced her again, he had a broom in his hands.
    Her mind was stuck on repeat. “You’ve never said anything like that before.”
    His face went blank. “What are you talking about?”
    “Undressing. Sex. Anything intimate.”
    She thought she saw a smile cross his lips as he brushed past her. A clanking thud echoed down the hall as he jammed the broom in the door handle. Shoving the small phone table outside the bathroom against the door produced a squeak that broke the remaining silence.
    The scene took two seconds and amounted to less than a few sounds and a rattle of drawers in the table, and she spent the entire time standing there, staring at his hands and wondering not for the first time what he could do with them. When she blinked, he was in front of her again.
    “Did you really think I never had that on my mind? That I never wrestled with the best way to get you out of your clothes?”
    “I thought you were a tax attorney.”
    This time he didn’t hide the smile. “I’m pretty sure they appreciate pretty women just as much as other men do.”
    Okay, not her brightest comment. She’d admit that. Or she would if she could. Something about this conversation made her mind turn to mush. “Well, yeah, I…”
    “I’d bet attorneys like sex, too.”
    She had no idea what to say to that. Luckily, she was spared coming up with something smooth or even coherent, when he held out his hand. She took it without thinking.
    “We’re going to stand over here, away from this door, and check in with downstairs,” he said.
    She hated just about every part of the plan. “I thought we were leaving.”
    “We need to make sure it’s clear first. That we aren’t in some sort of lockdown.” His eyes swept over the sterile surroundings and kept moving as he talked. He checked all around them, as if attackers could come from any angle.
    “This is ridiculous. I was just trying to book a party.” She rubbed her forehead as she muttered.
    When his fingers brushed over hers and he brought her hand to his mouth, her breath caught in her chest. Just rumbled up and stuck there.
    “It’s going to be okay.” He leaned in and touched his warm lips against her forehead.
    She would have said something if she could have forced even a syllable out. Instead, the words lodged in her throat, right next to her last breath. Much more of this tug of emotions, this wobbling between fear and attraction, and she’d pass out.
    With his gaze locked on hers, he let go of her hand and tapped his ear and began speaking. “Royal.”
    “Is that code for something?” she whispered.
    “It’s a name.” Aaron tried two more times, then frowned.
    She didn’t need a law degree or a gun license to know the lack of a response was a very bad thing. “What’s wrong?”
    “Nothing.” His forced smile said the opposite.
    With a hand on her stomach he pressed her back against the wall and lifted his gun as he approached the emergency door. The stance was sure, as if refined from years of law enforcement or security experience.
    A flash of a memory hit her. The first time he held her hand, his strength surprised her. She now wondered if he’d ever spent a workday behind a desk.
    As he reached for the doorknob, she felt a whoosh of air behind her. An elbow clamped around her throat, and the hard end of a gun pressed against her temple before she could cry out for help.
    But she didn’t need to. Aaron had turned and now had his weapon trained on whoever held her.
    The look of burning fury in his eyes turned them from green-blue to the deep, cold hue of the ocean. He didn’t look her in the eye. All his focus centered on the face hovering just out of her line of sight.
    Her heart slammed hard enough inside her to hit the base of her throat. She would have fallen