He walked towards the mahogany desk and seated himself on the corner. Extending his long muscular legs, he crossed his arms in what could only be interpreted as an aggressive posture. He stared at her through dark eyes that brooked no argument or excuses. For the first time since meeting him, Lena understood his reputation as a dangerous man. At that moment, he looked as forbidding as the magazine and Internet articles had painted him.

"I thought you would want to know," Lena said in what she hoped was a confident tone. Her nerves were on edge, and she clutched at her control with every bit of fortitude she possessed.

He appeared to hesitate but then pushed away from the desk. He crossed the room in two strides and clasped her by the shoulders. "You thought I’d want to know," he said sharply. The heat and strength of his hands sent an exciting chill down her arms to her toes. "If I had known last night about the call, I would have personally dragged you away."

Lena was startled by his outburst. An emotion she hadn’t felt in some time made her head spin.

"Gage," she stammered. She was suddenly riding a roller coaster of swirling emotions which threatened to leave her drained and oddly euphoric.

"Do you know how I felt when I heard that some bastard was threatening you." His fingers tightened about her arms as though he feared she would try to escape him. "I sent one of our security people to your house this morning, but you had already left."

"I had some important research I needed to do."

"Nothing is more important than your safety," he ground out. He gave her shoulders a gentle shake. "You should have called me last night."

"Gage, please," she said breathlessly. "You’re making more of this than you should. I have to admit I was scared at first, but then I locked all the windows and doors."

She decided to leave out the part where she slept with her closet light on.

"That’s not the point," he argued. "You should have…"

Lena placed a hand against his chest in an attempt to soothe his rising distress. The movement stopped Gage’s outburst like water to a fire. Their eyes locked, and she felt herself yearning to step across that invisible line.

"I went to the library this morning to dig through some archived papers," she said softly. It was getting hard to breathe.

"What were you looking for?" Gage asked. He loosened his grip and began to smooth his palms over her arms.

"I…I went through some newspaper articles that referenced Kesselman, Synosis Technologies and the Treminis Project." She breathed to clear her head, but only succeeded in inhaling the sexy scent of Gage’s aftershave. "I think there’s a correlation with Kesselman and Synosis Technologies.

He leaned in closer, the heat and strength of him luring her into forbidden ground.

"Lena," he whispered. His voice deepening to a husky timbre. "I want to hear all about what you found at the library this morning," he continued as he began to draw her closer. "However…at the moment another problem is demanding my attention."

Lena felt her stomach flip. He was so close she could feel his breath against her cheek. "What problem?"

His hands slid around her waist and eased her closer. "The problem," he said smoothly, "is that you are becoming a distraction I can’t afford."

Foreign Affair - 22 >>>