Page 20 of Lock ’N’ Load

Time was ticking down on her thirty minutes. But before she vacated the building, she fully intended to give Sgt. Connors a piece of her mind.

When she held her ID to the reader, the light blinked green and the door clicked. She pushed the door open and was assailed by the smell of the black rubber mats and blaring music.

The gym was empty, save for one person: Matt. At the far end, he lay with his back on a weight bench, pressing a barbell loaded with huge circular weights at each end. With quick, angry strides, she charged forward.

The barbell clattered as he set it on the rack, then he stood and grabbed a bottle of water from another bench. As he lifted the bottle and drank, she froze, her gaze traveling down then up his body.

Black sweats covered his long legs. A sleeveless, sweat-soaked gray T-shirt with the words Alexandria PD on the front clung to his chest, outlining finely honed, incredibly cut pecs and abs. Sweat glistened on bulging biceps as he held the bottle to his mouth.

She watched, fascinated at the way his throat worked as he swallowed half the bottle. When he lowered it and caught sight of her standing there, the corners of his mouth lifted into a slow, easy grin.

Pressing her lips together, Trista gripped the manila envelope even tighter in her hand and stormed over to the radio, cranking the volume off. When she turned back to Matt, he was no longer smiling. As she stalked toward him, he set the bottle back on the bench, canting his head, eyeing her suspiciously.

Her chest rose and fell rapidly. Her pulse beat wildly in her ears. She threw the envelope at his chest. “How could you?” She gritted her teeth. “How could you put down Unknown? Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

He stepped closer, towering over her. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Pointing her finger at him, she poked at his chest, somehow noting through the depths of her rage how hard it was. “Because of your report, my clearance was revoked. I’m banned from work. Banned from the whole frigging building because of you.”

Narrowing his eyes, he scowled at her. “Because of me? I doubt that. I wasn’t the asshole that attacked you.”

Her voice rose, and it took everything she had not to pick up a weight and throw it at him. “You took everything from me. If I can’t work, I have nothing. Nothing! Do you hear me?” Again, she jabbed at his chest.

His jaw went hard, anger flashing in his eyes. When he spoke, his voice was low and even. “I had a duty to report the incident as I saw it. Maybe,” he added, leaning in until she could feel the heat from his body, “if you’d returned one of the messages I left for you, you would have seen this coming.”

“Seen this coming?” Widening her eyes, she took a step back, so angry now she was quivering. “Why did you have to file a report at all? I would have filed one.” Eventually. Maybe. Probably.

“Doesn’t matter. I have a duty to file my own report. You didn’t know that, did you?” He took another step toward her, forcing her to crane her neck to look up at him. “You had no intention of reporting what happened last night, and you damned well know it.”

Lowering her gaze, she focused on his chest. His broad, heavily muscled chest. He was right, but that wasn’t the point.

“Look, Tris.” His tone softened. “You were attacked. You could have been killed, and we don’t know for certain if it was a random attack, or something else. I’m sure as hell not gonna lie on a report just because it pisses you off. I checked Unknown because that’s what I believe to be true.”

She parked her fists on her hips, refusing to back down. “You had to know it could impact my clearance. It’s happened before, to another analyst.”

“I don’t give a shit if it happened to a hundred analysts before you. If I think there’s even a remote chance of a threat to the agency, or to you, it’s my duty to report it. I won’t lie just because you don’t like the truth.”

She shut her eyes, squeezing them tightly, willing the flood of fury shooting through her to calm. Somehow, she knew he was right, but he’d just sent her entire world tilting on its axis, and she couldn’t handle it.

Letting out a soft breath, she covered her mouth with her hand. The rage and fury seething within her fled like air from a popped balloon. Then, to her horror, tears pricked her eyes. Before she could stop it, she was gulping down air, but it didn’t help.

“Are you—” Matt halted in midsentence. “Oh, no.” He began shaking his head. “Hell no. Don’t you dare cry on me.”

She couldn’t help it. The tears began to fall, and she couldn’t stop them. The next thing she knew, Matt uttered a groan and his arms were around her, pulling her against his chest.

Intending to shove him away from her, she clenched her fists, but then his hands were on her back, making gentle, soothing motions, and it felt too good to move. She clutched at his damp shirt, digging her fingers into his flesh through the soft fabric.

“Shh,” he whispered, his lips grazing the top of her head, then her temples. “Everything will work out okay. I’m sure of it.”

Still holding fast to his shirt, she took a series of short breaths, trying to rein in her meltdown. She hoped he was right, but at the moment, it didn’t matter. Until further notice, the one thing that meant more in the world to her than anything else had been cruelly taken from her.

“I’m sorry, Tris. I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

He pulled away enough that she could look up at his face. It was only then that she noticed the tiny gold flecks floating in the midst of his deep brown eyes.

When her mouth opened, his gaze dipped, and he bent his head. His lips brushed hers, softly at first, then with more pressure. Without realizing she was doing it at first, she kissed him back.

With a groan, he sifted his fingers through her hair, covering her mouth with his. His lips were warm and soft, his touch gentle. Using light pressure, he urged her lips open with his tongue.