“You don’t trust me,” she said. The accusation came out quieter than intended. More vulnerable. Honest.
Zach’s expression shifted. For a moment the ice cracked, and something raw underneath showed through.
“I trust you more than I should,” he said, the words tight, like they cost him something. “But this isn’t about trust, Emma.It’s about capability. Training. Experience you can’t improvise under pressure.”
“Then give me the information I need,” she said, holding his gaze, refusing to back down, “and let me make my own decisions about risk.”
Her voice steadied.
“Stop protecting me from the truth and start trusting me to handle it. I can’t just blindly turn my life, my autonomy, over to you.”
His jaw flexed. Tension vibrated through him, a war waged behind his eyes. Duty versus something else. Something newer. More dangerous.
“You’re impossible,” he bit out.
“You’re infuriating.”
Neither of them moved. She couldn’t; Zach still had her pinned to the wall by his body weight, his hands manacling her wrists above her head.
The anger was still there, crackling between them, but it was morphing into something else. Something that made her skin too tight and her breath come too fast.
Emma became acutely aware of everything.
The heat of his body.
The pressure of his hands.
That he hadn’t released her.
That he didn’t seem to want to.
Decision sparked before logic caught up.
She surged forward, the only way she could.
She kissed him.
Chapter 22
Ignition Point
She kissed him.
Hard. Almost violently. Like a challenge. Like she was claiming something he’d tried to keep from her.
For half a second, Zach froze. Shocked, no doubt.
His restraint broke. His mouth opened under hers, and his fist bunched in her hair. The wall was solid behind her back as he pressed closer. The kiss turned desperate, buried tension igniting all at once. Emma grabbed his shirt, pulling him harder against her, and he made a sound low in his throat that sent heat rushing through veins.
No gentleness. No careful exploration. Just raw need and anger.
Zach’s hands slid to her hips, gripping hard enough to leave marks. A dark thrill shot through her at the thought.
She bit his lower lip, not gently.
He growled, and her feet left the floor. Zach lifted her like she weighed nothing, and Emma wrapped her legs around his waist on pure instinct. Her back hit the wall harder this time, the impact stealing her breath for a moment. The new position locked them together in ways that made coherent thoughtimpossible. She could feel every rigid line of him, exactly how much he hungered for her.
“Emma,” he groaned, half warning, half plea.
