Explosive (The Black Opals) by Tori St. Claire Read Free Book Online

she cast behind her compelling eyes.
    He forced himself to break eye contact and stalk into McTavish’s office, where he hunkered down by the window and examined the wires there. Behind him, Alyssa’s door shut heavily .

 
     
     
    F i v e
     
     
     
    A lyssa gritted her teeth and eyed Jayce from beneath her eyelashes as he fiddled with a connection wire over her doorway. The first of a stack of file folders lay open before her, a mere four forms logged into her accounting system. She couldn’t think with Jayce hovering around, and the way the step-ladder he used placed his tight, jeans-clad buttocks in her direct line of sight made her want to squirm in her chair. He’d always possessed the ability to make denim sinful.
    “Are you going to be much longer?” she asked, biting back annoyance. The way he flat out managed to pretend she didn’t exist, when her body hummed with awareness of him, ticked her off.
    “I’m just trying to figure out…” He trailed away thoughtfully, dismounted the ladder, and crossed to the opposite corner of the room, his attention locked on the thin fiber.
    “Figure out?”
    “Where this comes from.” His fingers fumbled at the top of the windowsill, where the cord disappeared behind the trim.
    Alyssa pointed to the bottom corner near the floor. “Look down.”
    Jayce followed her directive then crouched near the carpeting. “There’s no sensor on your window.” He glanced over his shoulder. “McTavish, where’s the sensor for the window in here?”
    Giving up all hope of accomplishing anything, Alyssa pushed her chair back and set her feet on the desk as Brice wandered to the door. His appreciative gaze raked down the length of her legs, then locked with hers. Ever so slightly, he inclined his head toward Jayce, suggestion unmistakable. The subtle heat behind his blue eyes made the already present discomfort between her legs more aggravating. He wasn’t who her body hungered for, yet the unspoken question in his gaze boomed through her head: Well?
    Before she could lower her feet, Jayce turned to address Brice. But Jayce’s keen perception caught Brice’s distraction, and when Jayce’s eyes followed the same path, Alyssa shivered. Unlike the comfortable heat behind Brice’s stare, Jayce’s burned with a predatory hunger. A dangerous possessive gleam that made her stomach flip wildly. She dropped her feet to the floor.
    “It should be there, Jayce. On the inside corner of the joint,” Brice answered.
    His statement thankfully jerked Jayce’s attention off her and back to his inspection. Alyssa exhaled a measured breath. Maybe she could fabricate a lunch appointment and escape. Leaning forward, she flipped open her calendar.
    “It’s not here. But the wire’s visible. And it hasn’t been cut.”
    Jayce’s low baritone voice pulled her attention back to him. Brice leaned around Jayce’s powerful torso to inspect the place Jayce indicated. But the chirrup of Brice’s cell phone interrupted. He pulled the device from his pocket. The time he took to tap in a message left her vulnerable once more to the hungry way Jayce’s gaze canvassed her breasts.
    Damn him. He wouldn’t bring himself to talk to her, but he had no problem touching her in far more intimate ways. She should leave. Immediately. Before she became seriously tempted to entertain Brice’s suggestion.
    Brice shoved his phone back into his pocket. A strange urgency turned his words into a rush. “I have to run for a bit.”
    “What?” Alyssa shot him a pleading look. He couldn’t possibly leave her alone with Jayce. Not when he knew how desperately she didn’t want to be near him.
    “Gotta drop something off at the courthouse.” He strode out of her office, into his, and then returned to the small waiting area between, briefcase in hand. “You’ll help out Jayce if he needs anything, right?” A hint of amusement reflected in his expression.
    He was so going to pay for this later. She narrowed