Midnight Action by Elle Kennedy

then Morgan wouldn’t be there to protect Noelle from getting caught in the cross fire.
    Just thinking about her being hurt unleashed a flurry of panic, causing his fingers to tighten around his coffee cup.
    “You’re right. I don’t,” she said. “But that’s because it hurts to talk about him. God, I miss him so much. I try not to think about him when he’s gone. Otherwise I miss him even more.”
    He spoke in a careful tone. “Does he ever come to visit you?”
    “Usually a few times a year, but I haven’t seen him in a while. He’s been away on business.”
    Morgan’s body tensed. “What does he do?”
    Noelle wagged a finger at him. “Nope, you’re not getting any more details from me. Not until you answer
my
questions. Tell me about your parents.”
    A thread of discomfort wrapped around him. “There’s not much to tell. My folks weren’t around much.”
    “Why not?”
    “My father was busy running his business, and my mother was busy running their charity foundation. Which means I saw them every morning for about five minutes, and then again at dinner, if I was lucky. Usually they didn’t leave their respective offices before nine or ten at night.”
    “What about the weekends?”
    “I spent those with my nanny. And when I got older, I hung out with friends.”
    “Weren’t you upset that your parents didn’t have time for you?”
    He shrugged. “I had a lot of freedom growing up. Can’t complain about that.”
    “You don’t have to do that with me.”
    “Do what?”
    Noelle’s voice softened. “Pretend that nothing hurts you.”
    She reached out and took his hand, lightly stroking his knuckles.
    Morgan stared at her fingers, his gaze zeroing in on the two she’d broken the day they’d met. They were no longer splinted, but still looked stiff, with a hint of bruising on her creamy skin. He knew they bothered her—he saw her wince whenever she moved them—but she never commented on the lingering pain. She continued to floor him with her strength.
    “It’s okay to admit that your parents not being there was hard on you,” she said quietly.
    He wanted to dismiss the claim, but as usual, Noelle summoned an emotional response from him.
    “I guess it was,” he said hoarsely. “Just a little bit.”
    Still gripping his hand, she leaned close and brushed her lips over his. The addictive scent of her filled his nostrils, made it difficult to think clearly.
    Her lips left his far too soon, and he was tempted to yank her back for another kiss. Not a peck this time, but a deep, passionate one. They’d been sharing a lot of those since that first explosive kiss at the hotel. He couldn’t help himself, couldn’t seem to break the spell he’d fallen under.
    His CO had accused him of dragging his feet and losing focus on the objective, but even though Morgan had denied the accusation, he was beginning to suspect his commander might be right. Every second he spent with Noelle was...God, he couldn’t even describe it. All he knew was that the girl had gotten under his skin. Big-time.
    “What about you?” he asked her. “How do you feel about your father not being there for you?”
    “He
is
there for me.”
    Her reply was so swift and so ferocious that it caught him off guard.
    “My father loves me.” Her expression grew even more determined, almost like she was trying to convince herself. “I know he feels bad about not being here, but it was my mother’s decision to move back to Paris. He didn’t have a say in the matter. She got custody in the divorce.”
    Morgan quickly jotted down a mental note—
never
say a negative word about Douglas Phillips to his daughter. Clearly she was protective of the man, if even the slightest indictment against him could set her off.
    He decided to change course. “So your dad stayed in the States after you and your mother came to Paris?”
    Noelle’s expression lost some of its ferocity. “Yeah, but he travels a lot, so he’s not home very