Partners (Fire & Lies - One) Read Online Free Page A

with a mischief she hadn’t seen
before. “Well, men like me, of course.” Turning, he headed for her
door. “One more hour, Miss Donovan. Then it’s time for you to go
home.”
    With a smile
of her own pulling at her lips, Chloe watched after him as he left
then, as if the quiet of the room reminded her, her eyes drifted up
to the camera and its little blinking eye as it watched her every
move, her every action. Quickly, she dropped her gaze and once
again threw herself into her work, deciding that she needed to be
more careful.
    ***
    An hour later,
Aiden appeared once again at Chloe’s door, seeing that she was
still focused on her work and not at all prepared to leave. Without
knocking, he strode toward her desk, causing her to jolt in
surprise as he reached out and closed the file she was working
on.
    “ It’s time
to go. There’s nothing you can do now that will make any difference
before tomorrow.”
    She looked up,
her heart beating wildly in her chest. For a man of such great
size, Aiden certainly moved with a stealth afforded to very few
people in this world. He had just succeeded in surprising her by
his presence twice in one night.
    “ Miss
Donovan?” he asked, his tone soft but commanding as he leaned down
to speak to her, stopping only inches from her face. She caught her
breath as she realised that it was the closest they had ever been.
She knew it was wrong and knew that the cameras were recording
their every move. They couldn’t get involved, but she couldn’t stop
her eyes from dropping to his mouth. She couldn’t stop herself from
longing for the brush of his full lips against hers. If she just
leaned forward, she could graze her mouth over the stubbled hair
that had grown throughout the day along his square jaw.
    She dropped
her eyes, unable to maintain the contact, and unable to take the
risk of being seen. She wasn’t quite that brave yet. And he was so
close. She couldn’t breathe and needed air.
    “ Do I scare
you, Miss Donovan?” he asked in a low voice near her ear, as he
reached out and shut the lid on her laptop. He did it in one fluid
movement, and it made Chloe wonder if he was standing exactly where
he was because his body blocked her from view.
    Lifting her
eyes to meet his, a blush crept across Chloe’s cheeks. “Yes,” she
whispered.
    “ Good,” he
stated, as he stood up and moved around the desk, picking up her
bag, and holding it out to her. “I’ve called you a car. We need to
be downstairs in five minutes.”
    Reaching out,
Chloe took her bag from his hand, their fingers brushing lightly
during the exchange. Her eyes closed, that simple touch enough to
make all of her nerve endings burst to life. She nodded her thanks
and stepped away, increasing the distance between them.
    It was true.
Aiden did scare her. He scared her because of how he made her feel.
He scared her because he made her want something she couldn’t have.
And he scared her because she wanted it anyway. She wanted him.
    Riding the
lift down to the ground floor together in silence, Aiden kept his
expression flat and his gaze forward. Once again, they were both
acutely aware of the camera that recorded their every move and
every interaction. To Chloe, the lift felt too small to contain
whatever it was that happened when Aiden was in her proximity. She
felt hot. She felt nervous. She felt the urge to touch him…
    Eyeing the
camera in the corner of the lift, her heart began to beat loudly in
her ears as she reached out and brushed her fingers across the back
of Aiden’s hand.
    He inhaled
deeply. “That’s quite a risk you’re taking, Miss Donovan.”
    “ No worse
than what you did in my office,” she whispered, doing it
again.
    “ Don’t you
follow the rules?” he asked, turning his head toward her slightly
but keeping his stoic stance.
    Her fingers
moved and slid between his. “Not the stupid ones.”
    When the doors
pinged open, she released his hand and let out a breath, not
realising