Burning Up by Nalini Singh, Meljean Brook, Virginia Kantra, Angela Knight

“Take that back.”
    “I’m not talking about that , you idiot. I’m talking about the self-defense stuff. It was just to pacify me. You don’t even trust me to scream.” That had been the first lesson he’d taught her—scream as loud as you can and run. “You know what, I think that makes the other stuff bullshit, too.”
    “Hold on a fucking minute.”

SIX
    I gnoring him, she walked through the automatic doors of the medium-sized office building that was the location of her next appointment and strode up to the counter. “Hi,” she said to the well-groomed woman on the other side, her skin a lush, flawless mahogany. “I have an appointment with Lucas Hunter.”
    The woman’s eyes flicked behind Ria’s shoulder, and something like surprise passed through them, but her voice, when she turned to Ria, was wholly professional. “Name?”
    “Ria Wembley.”
    A warm smile. “You’re fifteen minutes early, Ms. Wembley. If you’ll wait here, I’ll let you know when Lucas has finished with the current applicant.”
    “Thanks.” She was walking toward the seating area when she belatedly realized she didn’t know the name of this company. The ad had simply said that a small but growing construction firm was seeking administrative staff. Since that ad had been vetted by the college where she’d taken her course, she hadn’t worried too much about the lack. But her ignorance probably wouldn’t look too good . . . if this Hunter person even bothered to see her after learning about Emmett.
    Turning on her heel, she skirted around Emmett to speak to the receptionist again. “I’m sorry. I noticed that your doors don’t have the company name on them.”
    The woman’s gaze flicked to Emmett again. Ria fumed. But the beautiful brunette didn’t seem to be checking him out. “Actually,” she said after a small pause, “the name’s still in discussions . . . er, the partners haven’t decided on the order.”
    “Oh.” That was odd, but not odd enough to make her run. Beggars, as they said, couldn’t be choosers. Nodding, she walked to the comfortable arrangement of armchairs to the left of the reception counter, choosing a seat bathed in sunshine.
    Emmett sprawled beside her. “What we shared was not bullshit. And I didn’t know you even knew how to swear.”
    The joke just irritated her. “If you can lie about one thing, why not another?”
    “Now, hold on. I never lied to you.”
    “Oh yeah? What do you call teaching me self-defense, then treating me like a brainless ninny?”
    “Excuse me.”
    Ria jerked up at the sound of the receptionist’s voice.
    “Lucas is free now,” she was told. “The interviews are taking place one floor up.”
    As she got up and headed across the lobby to the elevators, someone called out a hello. Since she didn’t know the male heading out the front door, she assumed it had been aimed at Emmett. “Friend?” She stabbed the touchpad beside the elevator.
    He wouldn’t meet her eyes. “Yeah.”
    The elevator doors opened to reveal an empty cage and she could’ve sworn she heard Emmett sigh in relief. “Fear of crowded elevators?”
    “Something like that.”
    They were on the next floor what felt like an instant later. The meeting room was obvious by its open door. The man who came to that door was beyond handsome—bright green eyes, dark hair that brushed his shoulders and savage clawlike markings on the right side of his face. He was young . . . yet not. Experience flickered in that striking green gaze, and Ria knew he’d sized her up in a single fleeting instant.
    “Ria”—he held out a hand—“I’m Lucas. Come on in.”
    She shook and went to explain Emmett . . . except that her self-appointed bodyguard had already grabbed a seat in the plush armchair outside the meeting room. Her mouth hung open for a second before she snapped it shut. What in the . . . ? This Lucas, with his aura of contained power, was undoubtedly far more dangerous than anyone