Read Online Hard Target by Tibby Armstrong - Free Book Online

all that delicious muscle under turtlenecks and thick cardigans with those soft elbow patches. While tweed jackets still occasionally made an appearance, now he mostly wore striped oxford shirts, henleys and polo-style pullovers.
    Today’s choice, a soft green tee, clung in all the right places. And to think, all it took to change his style were a few well-timed dressing room blowjobs. Alex grinned and wondered what it’d take to get him to buy a few new pairs of jeans. She increased her pace. “When’s the last time you went clothes shopping?”
    Simon stopped in the middle of the crosswalk and stared at her. A car honked and swerved around them. “Don’t you think that’s taking the handler title a little too far?”
    “I—” Crossing the street, she shot ahead of him so he wouldn’t see her lie. “You have a small hole in your back pocket. From your wallet.”
    He caught up at the door and let her duck under his arm. “That hole isn’t from my wallet. It is my wallet.”
    The statement sent a shot of guilt across the starboard bow of her conscience. “Breakfast is on me.”
    “Not going to expense it?” A black sign with white plastic lettering said Seat Yourself and he led her to a high-backed, red vinyl booth. “I’m sure the FBI can afford my appetite.”
    “Speaking of appetites…” The waiter approached and she trailed off. When the man left, Alex folded her hands on the table. “What was that back at my place?”
    “Which that are you referring to?” Simon used the edge of his shirt to polish his glasses. “I’m remembering several events in need of a searchlight and a depth charge.”
    He would not make a joke of this. She had a job to do and she was going to do it. The waiter approached again with their beverages. Alex fumed until he left.
    “Fun time is over, Simon.” She leaned forward to issue her threat in a harsh whisper. “Answer the question, or I swear I’ll cuff you to my wrist for the duration of the op.”
    One brow raised, he didn’t smile. “If I’d known you’d developed such exotic tastes I would’ve insisted on bringing my paddle collection. You could use a good spanking.”
    She shifted in her seat as she flashed on an erotic interlude involving all sorts of objects she’d never considered in conjunction with this man. Maybe she’d missed something in the time they’d been dating?
    His lips quirked. “My. Someone has a kinky side.”
    “Answer. The. Question.” She issued the command through clenched teeth.
    “No.” Eyes dipping to her breasts, lids lowered, he taunted her in a whisper. “I don’t have a paddle collection.”
    He thought he knew exactly how close to the edge he could push her before she broke. Well, newsflash, she’d reached her breaking point.
    “Simon…” She growled his name.
    He leisurely stirred cream and a mound of sugar into his tea before taking long minutes to study some text messages on his phone.
    “If I have to ask you again…”
    “You know…” Lifting his cup to his lips, Simon took a measured sip then closed his eyes as if savoring the blend. “It’d be awfully difficult for you to keep me under lock and key and have me finish researching how to break into the MoMA in a week.”
    Tendrils of icy dread wrapped around Alex’s throat and squeezed. “A week?”
    “It’s definitely about the painting, but we’re not stealing it. They’re giving us a hollow frame to replace the original.”
    Their waiter chose that moment to bustle forward with their breakfast. Alex used the time he spent refilling her coffee and getting them real maple syrup to comprehend why Downing might be replacing the painting’s frame with a hollow one. When they were alone again, Alex forked up some eggs and tried to tease out how much Simon knew. “Do you think he wants to smuggle something in the frame?”
    From experience, she knew though Simon focused on pouring golden-brown syrup over his stack of pancakes, he really considered