Deadly Chemistry (Entangled Ignite) by Teri Anne Stanley Page A

shirtfront, her breasts pressed against his chest. Hmmm, she must be cold. But he wasn’t. He was burning up.
    She kept laughing, the giggles turning into something different, almost—she sagged a bit, pulling him off-balance with her. They slid to the floor, and then she was on his lap, and he was holding her while she sobbed. Oh hell . Nothing to make a guy feel helpless like a crying female. If it was any other woman, he probably would have gently patted her on the shoulder and made his excuses before hightailing it back to his man cave.
    But he couldn’t seem to help himself from wanting to take care of Lauren. Oh, for Chrissakes. Get a loincloth and a vine to swing from, already . He held her tighter and rocked a little bit and—God help him—kissed her hair.
    After a few moments, she stopped crying, took a shuddering breath, and Mike loosened his arms a fraction, but not all the way. He wasn’t quite ready to let her go. She turned her head away and wiped at her eyes with her shirtsleeves. “I’m so sorry.” A sniffle. “I don’t know what came over me.”
    Mike chuckled. “No? It’s been such a quiet, serene couple of days.”
    She giggled.
    “I think you get a free meltdown pass for this one.” He knew he shouldn’t, but he stroked her hair back from her forehead, turned her face toward him, then realized what he was doing. He dropped his hand so she could move off of his lap. If she wanted to. “You okay?”
    She tilted her head at him and didn’t move away. Damn . She was too close. Her lips were right there, soft and inviting, and her sweet body was pressed right up against the family mascot, who was standing at attention.
    He felt her hands shift against his chest. It was an accident, he was sure it was, but her thumb brushed over his nipple and he jerked. He knew she realized where she’d touched him, because her eyes heated. She looked down at his mouth, then back into his eyes.
    He was afraid to breathe. Then she licked her lips, and it was all over.
    …
    Mike’s tongue was in her mouth, and his hands were on her butt, pressing her against him, and Lauren could feel…yes, that seemed to be an erection against her hip.
    Oh God . Everything in her went full throb. His kiss trailed away from her mouth and over her jaw, down her neck. She had her hands in his hair and was about to shift so she could straddle him and get that hardness pressed where she needed it when she happened to look up and saw Chief Crawford standing a few feet away, leaning against the wall, smiling wide.
    Mike must have felt her freeze, because he released the breast he had just cupped and cursed. Her boob was a little disappointed, too.
    Crawford held up a hand. “Don’t let me interrupt. I can wait.”
    “Crap.” Lauren scrambled off of Mike’s lap, hearing his oof as she rammed her hip somewhere he didn’t need to be rammed, but she was too horrified to stop and apologize. She pushed her wet hair out of her face. Then she looked down and quickly crossed her arms over her chest. She was in a wet T-shirt and an unpadded bra. And it was cold in that hallway.
    Mike got to his feet next to her and stood half a body width in front of Lauren, as though he would shield her from the cop, if need be. It would have been sweet if she wasn’t so embarrassed.
    “What do you need?” Mike asked, his voice low.
    The cop pushed off the wall and approached, pulling his little notebook from his breast pocket. “I’ve got some more questions for the good doctor here.” He stopped and gave Lauren a once over, then raised an eyebrow. “But maybe you want to get into something a little more comfortable?”
    “Yeah, I can do that,” Lauren said. She had a gym bag that she kept in the lab. It was probably the only thing that hadn’t been touched by the vandals. She turned on her heel and went to grab the bag, then scurried down the hall to the ladies’ room. Mike and Crawford spoke in low voices.
    When the door shut behind her,