Page 4 of To Catch a Sub

“What are you doing?” she whispered, accent thick and breaths coming fast.

“Making sure you don’t run away this time.” Landon started to drag her hands up the column, intending to pin her wrists above her head.

Colette’s breath hitched, her eyes going wide.

That’s right, you should be worried.

Right now he wasn’t thinking about arrest paperwork and judicial due process. He was imagining treating her like a disobedient sub. Paddling her ass until it hurt to sit would improve her behavior.

Whoa. Inappropriate, no matter what had happed between him and Colette in the past.

“Is this normally how Interpol arrests people? It’s very…intimate.” Her words were almost a challenge, though she didn’t meet his gaze.

Since she wasn’t looking at him, he was free to look his fill, studying each feature. “If I could, I’d do more than arrest you.”

It was unprofessional, but he was tired, her sass was tweaking every Dom nerve he had, and he wanted to push her off balance. Colette was too fucking smart and dangerous. He needed any and every advantage.

But he needed to get himself under control. Landon swallowed, taking a minute to force down the urge to treat her like a submissive.

“Agent Malik.”

His boss’s voice was calm but loud. Shocking in the silence he hadn’t registered.

Landon froze, his hands pinning Colette’s wrists to the column by her ears.

Colette took an unsteady breath, but by the time she exhaled the small smile was back on her face. The shock—and maybe even a little fear—of a moment ago hidden away.

Landon released one wrist and turned to his boss, who was standing a few feet away, calm brown eyes assessing the situation. Anu Kumar was a petite woman of Indian descent with a posh public school accent that always made him feel like a country bumpkin though Coventry was hardly rural. Then again, he did grow up on a farm.

Today she was wearing an impeccably tailored suit with lemon yellow top and held a small radio in her hand. The other hand was in her jacket pocket, probably holding a can of incapacitating spray or a stun gun.

Landon looked around. The bullpen had gone completely silent. Most of his Interpol colleges—pulled from law enforcement units all over the UK—were standing at their desks, their postures tense and ready. Barry Hutton, one of Landon’s favorite people in at the Interpol NCB, had a phone to his ear.

“There’s been a building security breach,” he said, as if that explained everything. His boss’s expression indicated it did not.

“Breach? I walked in,” Colette said in a worried tone. She now had a perfect English accent. “Was I…not supposed to?”

Anu’s eyes widened for a moment. She glanced at Barry, who continued speaking quietly into the phone, his other hand on one wheel of his wheelchair, rolling himself forward and back several centimeters. He did it whenever he was concentrating, and said it was his version of jiggling his foot. Somehow that sign that Barry was anxious drove home for Landon how much he’d just fucked up.

TWO

He’d assumed Barry was talking to building security about Colette, but he might very well be calling security to come and get him. From the outside this might look like he’d just attacked a visitor. He really hoped that Barry and Anu both trusted him enough to know that he wouldn’t have reacted like this without cause.

Anu was studying Colette, her expression unreadable.

“Um, hello,” Colette said, raising the arm Landon wasn’t gripping, and waved nervously. The cuff dangled from her wrist. She looked confused, harmless, and innocent. Landon tightened his hold on her other wrist.

“Ma’am, do you have a visitor’s pass?” Anu asked.

“No. Was I supposed to get one?” Worry laced Colette’s voice, and all around the room, his fellow agents’ postures started to soften. A few even sat down at their desks.

Landon tightened his hold on her wrist.

“Ma’am, you should have a visitor’s pass, and even with a pass, shouldn’t be on this floor.” Anu was speaking to Colette, but her gaze was on Landon.

“I’m so sorry. No one said anything. I thought this was the right place…” Her voice trembled as if she was on the edge of tears. “I didn’t know what to do. I’m scared, and I trust Detective…I meant Agent Malik.”

A phone rang, breaking the silence that followed her tearful statements.