Too Hot to Hold by Stephanie Tyler Read Free Book Online Page A

you.”
    “I’ll keep that in mind.”
    It was well after elevenP.M. by the time Kaylee put her current story to bed and headed home. She’d been in the office from five that morning with no sleep under her belt, having fought and talked with Carl all last night and into the early morning hours. He’d finally gotten dressed and out of her apartment, without saying good-bye. He’d slammed the door behind him in frustration and all of her strain had faded away.
    Free. She was free, until the thought of Aaron and his phone call weighed her down again.
    She’d spent those first early hours while the newspaper office was relatively quiet following up on the symbol on the patch Nick had handed her.
    The crudely stitched patch was still in her pocket now—its symbol, whose top half looked like a backward half moon, or a rhino’s horn if turned on its side, was the Akoben. After some quick research, she was able to determine its West African origins. It was also referred to as the war horn, a call to arms, a willingness to take action when necessary.
    It sounded like Aaron.
    She hadn’t told Nick that all the men Aaron had saved had been in Africa—the Congo, Zimbabwe. The Ivory Coast. West Africa. Maybe she should have—or maybe it held no significance whatsoever.
    And she didn’t owe Nick anything more than what she’d told him. Except the mere thought of his name made her heart race as if she was a sixteen-year-old with a massive crush, and she muttered to herself disgustedly as she headed down the hall toward her apartment.
    For the first time in a long time, she wished someone was waiting there for her.
    Sometimes that pain hit her like a physical blow. Somehow she always found herself surrounded by more people than someone could possibly ask for and yet she could never find the comfort she sought. Aaron had been her main source of both pain and pleasure, and when he’d broken her trust, he’d shattered her for what she figured to be the final time. Irreparable.
    She juggled takeout and her bags and worked the key in her lock. She lightly kicked the door open, cursing as some of the bags slipped, and she froze when she heard a low, rough laugh.
    Nick was waiting for her. Inside her apartment, which had been locked and alarmed.
    She really had to be careful about what she wished for, even as her belly twinged with a secret thrill at the sight of him there.
    The door had still been locked, the alarm was still armed. Her place was on the fifteenth floor, and she wondered if he’d climbed up the side of the building and gotten in through a window she’d forgotten to close.
    The alarm buzz continued as she stared at him.
    “Are you going to turn that off?” he asked.
    “How—”
    He pushed past her and punched in a code— her code—and the buzzing stopped. He also closed the door behind her and slid the lock into place. “You curse worse than a sailor.”
    “What the hell is going on here?” she finally demanded, giving up the fight and dropping her bags on the floor.
    “You wanted me.”
    “I wanted your help, not you breaking into my apartment.”
    He hadn’t moved, and was tall, so much taller than she was. “You’re going to have to be more specific about things next time.”
    “How did you know where I live?”
    “I ran your plates through the DMV.”
    “That can’t be legal,” she said. He didn’t answer, gave a small smile. “I don’t understand—are you here to help me, then, with Aaron?”
    “ This has nothing to do with Aaron,” he told her before he brought his mouth down on hers, swept her into his arms—and the surge of desire was enough to make her knees buckle.
    The man tasted like sin, something she shouldn’t need or crave or want. Something she couldn’t resist. Her hands fisted in his hair as he brought his mouth down on hers, and the fire between them lit the same way it had when she’d borrowed his car.
    He’d take her here, right against the door, and it was all too