The pink infusing her cheeks took her from pretty to cuter than fuck. A fact he should not be noticing.
The woman was a puzzle he’d yet to figure out. She’d started working at the CDC a couple of months ago. He’d been assigned as her mentor/supervisor and had taken one look at her and stuck her into a box labeled “timid and tame.”
She’d been busting out of that box daily ever since.
Ruby was quiet and reserved until she had something to say. Then, more often than not, she’d take a half dozen words and slap you between the eyes with them. The first time she’d done it to him, he’d had to stop talking to think about what she’d just said, because her tone had been so normal, casual, and helpful, even.
He’d yet to see her angry. Did she get angry?
She was so calm it was hard to know. Everyone had a boiling point, a moment when some fucker picked apart enough of your last nerve to set off some fireworks. He wanted to know what hers was, wanted to know where her boundaries were. Wanted to know if her skin was as soft as it looked.
Now she regarded him with sedate blue eyes and said just as serenely, “So, what are they going to do? Take over, tear down what we’ve already done, and start over?”
“That would be too dangerous, with all the attention we’ve been getting since the FAFO started their little bioterrorism war with the entire country…” His voice trailed off, and he started to grin. “I doubt Homeland Security would allow an unknown contractor, no matter how connected, that kind of access. Touring the current facilities, offering advice, and offering to supply the latest tech is probably what they want.”
“That’s all well and good. But what if you had someone like one of my cousins in your meeting? Someone who figures it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission?”
He met her gaze, saw the intelligent humor simmering under all that calm. “You’re sneakier than you look.”
“I have a brother who requires careful handling.”
“What does that mean?” He’d heard enough people talk about him that way after he’d lost his leg. As if it lowered his value to society.
“He’s a physics genius, but he’s got no sense. Sometimes I feel like I’m constantly trying to train a puppy.”
“Sort of an absentminded professor type of thing?”
“Yeah.”
“What does he do, besides a lot of math?”
“He works for Mars Mission Labs on the propulsion system that will get us to Mars.”
Henry couldn’t help himself. “Far out.”
Ruby slanted a look at him and shook her head. “Funny.”
“He older or younger?”
“He’s my twin. I’m older by four minutes.”
Henry hid a smile. “And you’ve been calling the shots ever since?”
“I suppose I have. Nate is interested in outer space, cars, craft beer, and role-playing games.”
When she didn’t add anything else, he asked, “That’s it?”
She shrugged. “Pretty much.”
“Okay. So, since you’re so good at handling flaky people, how, ah, will I know you’re mad?”
She gave him an incredulous look. “You’ll know.”
His own sister gave him that same look when he’d said something really stupid. “Okay,” he said, having to work really hard to keep the laughter out of his voice.
The lab door opened with a hiss, and DS walked in. Dr. Rodrigues had hired him away from the city of El Paso’s transit system. In his fifties, his gray hair buzz-cut short, he worked out regularly and taught judo four days a week.
Henry had met some tough sons of bitches in and out of the military; DS made most of them look like weekend warriors.
Now, the older man wore a smile with more than a touch of wicked humor. “Did you have fun at your meeting?” His voice dripped with more glee than a kid upending his treat bag of Halloween candy on the living room floor.
Conscious of Ruby sitting a few feet away, Henry threw out the first half dozen responses that came to him due to excessive bad language. He finally decided to keep it simple. “Fuck off.”
DS laughed, glanced at Ruby, giving her a nod.
She sighed. “Don’t pick on him. He’s had to deal with a lot of stupid people already today, and it’s put him in a bad mood.”
“No promises, missy.” DS moved his gaze from Ruby to Henry and looked right at him while saying, “Pulling people’s heads out of their asses is what I do best.”
“Give it to me straight, you cantankerous old bastard.” Henry didn’t have the time or patience to deal with DS rubbing his nose in whatever shit pile might have sprung up as a result of the meeting.
“I might have something nice to say.”
“You’re gloating.”
The smile on the old man’s face finally settled into thoughtfulness. “You upset a few folks,” he said to Henry. “I’m thinking about recommending a finishing school so you can learn some manners.”
“I laid out the facts and didn’t swear once.”
“You told them they weren’t qualified to have an opinion on the subject of lab security.”
“They aren’t.”
“Idiots are everywhere.” DS’s voice sharpened. “Telling them they’re an idiot when you want them to do something for you or agree with you makes you dumber than they are.”
“Then I guess I’m a goddamn idiot.”
DS crossed his arms over his chest and just stared.
“Will there be repercussions?” Ruby asked.
DS finally glanced at her. “Nothing official, but he’s ruffled some feathers.” A wry smile kicked up one corner of his mouth. “On the other hand, a couple of the other idiots really enjoyed his honest and unvarnished appraisal of the ideas expressed at the meeting.”
“You’re just fucking with me, aren’t you?” It wasn’t a question.
“I just came from Rodrigues’s office. Find someone to take your regular workload for the next couple of weeks. You and your sidekick here are going to be busy evaluating all our level three and up labs.”
“In the country?” Ruby asked.
“For a start, but I think it will end up being any lab or containment facility we have everywhere.”
“Sweet,” Ruby said in a breathy voice that made his cock come to attention. The look of pleasure on her face hit him square in the gut and sucked all the blood out of his brain. He couldn’t look away, never wanted to look away. Was that how she looked when a man was deep inside her? Fuck, he wanted to know.