I could’ve taken his question as an insult, considering how intense he sounded, but the anger I saw on his face didn’t support that particular theory. He was pissed that I was hurt. Not that that made much sense. He barely knew me.

“It’s nothing,” I said, turning back to the cabinet I was rummaging through. “Give me a moment.”

“Sit down.”

I turned to tell him I was okay and nearly collided with a broad, muscled chest. Damn. For a moment, I actually forgot what had happened and how much I hurt.

“I’m fine.”

He reached out, his hand hovering over my injured cheek. The muscles in his jaw worked, those exquisite eyes of his flashing with a depth of emotion that surprised me.

“I’m assuming you have a good reason for not going to a hospital.”

I started to nod, then winced at the pain in my head. “They’ll want to know what happened, and then they’ll want to know why it happened. Considering how they’ve approached this case, I don’t want to talk to them about it. It could put Meka in danger.”

His expression darkened even more, and a little thrill went through me. “This was because of me?”

“It was a warning,” I admitted. A stab of pain went through me, and I winced. As much as I loved being this close to him, I really wanted to get some painkillers and clean up a bit. “Can we have this discussion after I find the first aid kit?”

“Shit. I’m sorry.”

I wasn’t sure which was hotter, angry Jalen, or sheepish Jalen. I did know that I liked both of them a little too much.

“Sit,” he said again, but his voice was gentler this time. “Where is it?”

I sank into Adare’s seat. “I think it’s in the bottom of the file cabinet over there. I haven’t looked there yet.”

I watched him as he walked across the room, and despite the pain I was in, I had to appreciate that tight ass of his. It was too bad he was completely off limits.

Completely.

“Found it.” He came back in with a small metal box and then went into the bathroom for some wet paper towels.

Instead of handing them over so I could take care of myself, he stepped closer. His fingers held my chin in place as he dabbed at the cut over my eyebrow.

“How bad is it?”

“Not too bad,” he said. “The bleedings already stopped, and I know how to make a butterfly bandage if there’s not one in that kit already. Head wounds bleed a lot, even if they’re shallow.”

“Dealt with a lot of head injuries before?” I asked.

He gave me a wry smile. “I may have gotten into fights a time or two growing up.” He gave a small chuckle before adding, “And fallen out of a tree more than once.”

I laughed, then grimaced. “Bastard hit me in a jaw. Can you hand me one of those Vicodin? Adare left a couple in there from a few weeks back when she had a kidney stone.”

Jalen’s eyes narrowed, his anger back again. He grabbed the bottle and handed it to me. “Tell me what happened.”

It wasn’t a request this time, and a part of me wanted to refuse just to see what he’d do, but he was patching me up, so after I dry swallowed two of the pills, I gave him a quick but complete rundown of my last few hours.

“Fuck,” he growled when I was finished. “I never would’ve…dammit!”

Tension radiated off him, but he still managed to put little butterfly bandages across the cut on my forehead. His fingers lightly traced over my cheek, the touch sending a sizzle of heat through me.

“Anything wrong with any of your teeth?” he asked, his expression serious. “Loose? Hurting? Cracked?”

“No, I think he didn’t hit me as hard as he tried. I was turning my head when it happened.”

He shook his head as he cupped my chin. His thumb slid across my bottom lip, careful not to press on the throbbing cut near the corner.

“Ribs?” he asked softly.

“Sore, but I don’t think they’re broken.”

“That’s good.” He frowned. “I’m a little worried about your head though. You could have a concussion.”

“I don’t think so,” I said, grinning at him. “I’ve gotten in more than one or two fights in my life. I know what to look out for.”

He took a step back, dropping his hand. “Are you seriously smiling right now? You got beat up today.”

“I didn’t say it was fun.” I stood, pressing my hand to my side as it protested. “But it comes with the job.”

“You’re a private investigator, not a cop,” he pointed out with a little more vehemence than necessary.

“I appreciate the sentiment,” I said, “and the doctoring, but stuff like this happens.”

He shook his head. “Not anymore. Give me what you have, and I’ll take it to the cops. You’re done.”

If he’d asked me if I wanted the police to take over, I might’ve considered it, but him telling me like that? Hell no.

“I’m not done.” I squared my shoulders and glared up at him. “I promised Theo that I’d find his daughter, and I’m still going to do that.”

“Like hell you are.” He took a step toward me. “I’m the one who hired you, so I can fire you.”

“Go ahead,” I snapped back. “Fire me. Won’t make a difference. I’m going to find her.”

“Let the cops do their fucking job, Rona!” He was close enough now that I could again smell the soap he’d used to wash his hands. “You’re through!”

“Do their job?!” The drugs were starting to work, and the anger under the pain was coming out now. “They don’t give a damn about her! That’s why you hired me in the first place!”

“I’ll make them care,” he said, his nostrils flaring in a way that shouldn’t have been attractive but was. “I’m not going to let you get hurt like this again. It stops. Now.”

I curbed my impulse to just kick him out of the office. “If you want to take what I’ve found to the cops, that’s your call, but I’m not done. I’ll keep looking for her whether you’re paying me or not.”

He glared down at me. “You’re infuriating! I’m just looking out for you.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t ask you to.”

He opened his mouth. Closed it. Then cursed.

And then he kissed me.

I was shocked enough that it took me a full three seconds to even realize that I was being kissed. Not because it was a bad kiss. It was the opposite, actually, something fierce and deep. Like he was trying to prove his point with sheer physical domination.

I grabbed the front of his shirt and pushed myself up on my toes, trying to take control of the kiss. For a moment, he let my tongue invade his mouth, let me think that I was in charge, and then his hands were on my hips, pulling me so tight against him that I could feel the hot, hard length of him pushing against my stomach.

His teeth sank into my bottom lip, and a flash of pain went through the sensitive flesh. I whimpered, and the sound seemed to break him from whatever had taken him over. He pulled his head back, air rasping in and out of his lungs, his eyes dark.

“Don’t you dare stop,” I said, shoving my hand between us. He groaned as I grabbed him through his pants. “You’ve got me all worked up here.”

“You’re hurt,” he protested.

“I’m going to hurt you if you make me take care of things myself.”

I wasn’t sure if it was the threat, the image of me getting myself off, or the fact that I was rubbing him harder than necessary, but something I did cut through any objections.

He grasped my hips and picked me up, turning us around so that he could set me on the desk. His mouth moved down my neck, and I let my head drop back. The Vicodin had left my mind floating, but not so much that I didn’t know what I was doing or that I wanted to do it. With him. All the tension that had been between us just moments ago had shifted into a different sort of heat, and I knew that it might consume us both.

He grabbed the hem of my shirt, and I put my hands on his, pushing them down to the waistband of my pants before I reached for his zipper. I turned my head to take his mouth as I worked his pants open, but he immediately took control, his tongue tangling with mine.

I lifted my hips as he yanked down my pants, then I helped by kicking them off one leg. His teeth worried at my bottom lip as he pulled my panties to one side and pushed a finger inside me. I hissed, biting his lips, nails digging into his narrow hips, but I didn’t even consider asking him to stop. If a single finger felt this good, I couldn’t wait to feel what it was like to have him filling me.

I tugged on his pants, reaching around behind him to grab his ass with both hands. Fuck. It was just as tight as it looked. I pushed the pants lower until I could finally see that thick, hard shaft. Damn. He was big all over.

I cursed as he pulled his hand away from me, but then I realized that he was reaching into his back pocket. He tossed his wallet onto the top of the desk and retrieved a condom. I leaned forward and bit his chest through his shirt, earning a curse. His hands didn’t even pause as he opened the packet and rolled the condom on, and I knew he wasn’t going to take it easy on me unless I asked him to.

No way in hell was that going to happen.

He wrapped his fingers around the back of my neck, his thumb under the side of my jaw that wasn’t throbbing. His eyes locked with mine, and I wrapped my legs around his waist. He held there for a moment, and when I didn’t say anything, he eased the first inch inside me.

I breathed out a curse that turned into a muffled yell when he drove forward, filling me completely.

Concern etched his features. “Did I–?”

“No,” I said quickly, breathless. “I’m good. Please, don’t stop.”

And that was the end of our conversation. I clung to him as he slammed into me, each stroke jarring my bruised ribs. Air burst from my lungs in pained breaths, but the ripples of pleasure that came from the friction of his body against mine helped even more than the Vicodin.

I squeezed my eyes closed, focusing on absorbing the conflicting sensations as I moved my body to meet his. There was no rhythm, no finesse, just friction and throbbing as all the right parts rubbed all the right ways, fit in all the right ways. I dropped one hand between us, fingers easily finding my throbbing clit.

We were both wound too tight to draw things out, and something like that would’ve made things far too intimate, so we both chased the end with little regard to anything else. As my orgasm hit me hard and fast, I gave myself over to it, grateful for the escape, however brief.

Jalen’s mouth crashed into mine again, his kiss almost harsh as his body jerked, driving deep enough to make me gasp. A second orgasm followed the first. Or maybe it was the first getting stronger again. Either way, it sent pain and pleasure rocketing through my body, my pussy clamping down on his cock as he came with a grunt.

We stayed like that for several seconds, giving our bodies the opportunity to come down before we moved apart. Or, more accurately, he took a few steps back, then turned away. I stayed where I was, needing a few more moments for my battered body to recuperate. Neither one of us said anything, but it wasn’t until he fixed his clothes and then headed for the door that I realized he didn’t intend to say anything at all.