When he heard that she’d followed his command, he turned to her and glared at her furiously, every ounce of friendliness drained from his voice. “What the fuck were you thinking?”

She swallowed visibly, clearly aware of the reason for his current state of fury. “It was necessary in order to—”

He marched toward her with long strides. “It was necessary to freeze my bank accounts and credit cards? If you think I’ll just take that lying down, then you’re wrong.”

“It’s standard procedure during investigations where there’s a suspicion that—”

He snatched her wrist. “Suspicion? For a week now you and your colleagues have been investigating me. And what have you found? Nothing. Because there’s nothing to find. And now you’re freezing my accounts? What are you trying to achieve by doing that?”

Rochelle’s chest heaved. She tried to free herself from his grip, but he didn’t allow it.

“Damn it, Rochelle. You know as well as I do that I’m innocent. And you also know that freezing accounts is not standard procedure. So don’t fucking lie to me. This is a witch hunt. Are you still so angry with me that you want to get back at me? Is that what’s going on here?”

“The SEC has its rules. I’m only executing my orders.”

Zach huffed angrily. “Not even you believe that. This has nothing to do with your orders. I wasn’t born yesterday. What’s next? Demand I hand over my passport?”

Her lips trembled when she answered, “You’re overreacting. We only wanted to make sure that—”

“I know exactly what you were trying to do,” he cut her off. “By freezing my accounts you’re trying to get me to reveal any other bank accounts I might have. Secret accounts. Because you think that I used a secret bank account to make those trades. Well, here’s some news for the SEC: I don’t have any secret accounts. The only bank accounts I have are the ones you just froze.”

“Zach, please.” She gestured to his hand, which was still clamped around her wrist. “I had no choice.”

Annoyed he shook his head. “You always have a choice. But you decided to bring in the big guns. Do I really deserve that?”

Something flickered in her eyes. Regret? No, he had to be wrong.

“I can’t treat you any differently than any other suspect.”

“Is that all I am to you? A suspect? Did the night we spent together mean nothing at all to you?”

She pressed her lips together and avoided his gaze.

“Fuck, Rochelle! Don’t you feel anything at all? Are you really that cold?”

“I’m not cold!” she cried out all of a sudden. Her eyes glaring at him, she ripped her arm from his hold.

Before she could turn away from him, he grabbed her. “Then prove it to me.” He pulled her to him. “Show me that you’re not cold.”

Without waiting for a reply, he captured her lips. All the sexual need he’d held back over the last few days now burst from him, and he kissed her with a passion and a demand that he couldn’t hold back any longer. He was so dazed by Rochelle’s closeness that he didn’t even notice at first that she didn’t resist him.

On the contrary: she put her arms around him and pressed her body to his, grinding against him with such obvious lust and need that he turned hard within seconds. He slipped his hand to her ass and hauled her against his erection, while tilting his head to the side so he could take her mouth even more ferociously. He couldn’t get enough of her taste. With each stroke of his tongue against hers, his pulse kicked up and his breaths turned into shallow pants.

Rochelle’s reaction to him wasn’t any less passionate than in the night in the hotel. Her hands roamed his body, caressed him, explored him, while she rubbed her sex against him rhythmically.

Christ, how he’d missed this. How he’d missed her. For a week he’d been longing for her. Every night he’d been in his bed, imagining that she was with him. And every night he’d fallen asleep, unsatisfied and alone. No wonder his cock was demanding satisfaction now, thrusting against her in an unmistakable rhythm.

Without letting go of Rochelle’s lips, he dragged her toward the desk. With his hand, he pushed the papers off it, tossing them to the floor. Then he lifted Rochelle onto it, placing her on the edge of the desk.

A surprised huff came from her and she separated her lips from his. “Zach.”

He looked into her eyes. “I need you, baby. Now.”

He lowered his lips back to hers. His hands weren’t idle either. Deftly, he pushed her jacket over her shoulders, freeing her of it. Then he started opening the buttons of her blouse. Only when he felt the naked skin of her torso, did he breathe a sigh of relief. He squeezed her breasts and felt how her nipples hardened under the fabric of her bra.