Page 7 of To Catch a Sub

Landon grabbed a chair and yanked it out from the table. “Sit.”

“Or what? Will you throw me against a wall again?”

Landon’s jaw muscle worked. Alarm tingled through her.

Colette needed to back off. But…

Knowing that’s what she needed to do, and doing it, were very different things. The urge to needle him until, yes, he put his hands on her, was stronger than the urge to be smart about the situation.

“So aggressive.” She cocked her head to the side. “You weren’t like this before…at least not in public. Have you changed since I last saw you, or do I inspire you?”

“You didn’t know me then, and you don’t know me now.”

“I knew you,” Colette said, and this time she was serious.

Unfortunately, he took it as another taunt. “I’m sure you’d done your research so you knew exactly how to manipulate me.” He crossed his arms. “Whatever you’ve planned, whatever game you’re playing now, it won’t work.”

“If I were playing a game, would you really want to bet against me?”

Landon grabbed her shoulder, turned her to face the table, then shoved the chair into the backs of her knees. She sat with a rather undignified gasp.

Again with the rough handling. It should have made her angry. Or afraid. A normal person probably would have felt fear. But fear was weakness and vulnerability. She’d trained herself to suppress those emotions a long time ago. Pushing them so deep she didn’t even have to acknowledge them.

Instead, she wanted to feel his aggression and anger pressed against her.

She thought she’d accounted for every possibility, even still being attracted to him the way she had been before. But this desire laced with just a thread of fear was unexpected, and throwing her off balance.

Refusing to let him see her rattled, Colette leaned back in the chair, swiveling to face him before crossing her legs.

Sometime in the past few seconds his attitude had changed, because now Landon was smirking down at her.

She tipped her head to the side. “What’s amusing you?”

“I just realized…you want something.”

Colette froze.

He studied her, and once again she felt the full weight of his attention pinning her. “That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”

He loomed over her, bracing his hands on the arms of her chair. She pressed against the back of the chair, breathing shallow. He had her trapped.

“All right, Colette. What do you want?”

Colette started up at him, and for an insane moment she considered telling him the truth.

* * *

The door opened, the sounds of a busy office spilling in and breaking the spell. Landon suppressed a snarl of frustration as Colette’s expression went from stark and vulnerable, to a bewildered and slightly worried mask.

“I’ve got an evidence bag,” Barry said as he rolled in.

Landon straightened and turned to the other man.

Colette turned to face the table and sat forward, hunching forward a little, arms straight out and resting on the tabletop. The cuff that still hung from one wrist clinked against the glossy wood.

Everything from her body language to her expression radiated worry and confusion, making her a completely different person than she’d been only seconds ago.

Fuck, she was good.