He fucking wanted her.
DS shifted his weight, and Henry realized the old man’s attention was on him.
He yanked his gaze away from Ruby’s face and stared blankly at his computer screen. “At least I won’t have to listen to any complaints about the mission.”
“Just make sure you stay on mission.” DS’s voice had gained an even sharper edge than usual. “It’s easy to get sidetracked when you’re dealing with this many”—he glanced briefly at Ruby—“variables.”
The old man didn’t miss much.
“Huh?” she asked.
“Staying focused isn’t going to be a problem.” Henry made sure to keep his tone calm and confident.
DS stared at him for a few seconds more then nodded. “Rodrigues wants to see you two in her office right after lunch. Use this time to reassign your current workloads.”
Ruby sighed dramatically. “Dare I ask Raymond to take on the measles monitoring?”
“That’s a possibility.” Henry looked around but didn’t see the man anywhere. “Where is he?”
“Rodrigues is giving him her this is your last chance speech. I’ll make sure he gets here when she’s done with him.” With another hard look at Henry, DS nodded at the two of them and left.
Ruby grinned and all but bounced in her chair, the excited grin on her face turning her from pretty to fucking gorgeous. “This is going to be so cool.”
This was going to be an exercise in restraint.
“We’re not going on vacation.” Jesus, his voice sounded rough, like he was two seconds away from losing his shit. His cock was hard enough to shatter rock.
“No, but we’re going into the most secure labs in the world, where the most dangerous pathogens are kept…” She beamed another eye-blinding smile at him. “So cool.”
“You said that already.” Now he sounded about as friendly as a hungry grizzly.
Her face fell. “Would you prefer a different partner…assistant…whatever I am?”
“What? No.” He caught himself and continued calmly, “No, you’re…” so fucking hot I can’t wait to get your clothes off so I can touch every last fucking inch of you “…the best person to go with me. We need more staff familiar with all our facilities. And you’re an infectious disease specialist.”
“I know that, but…”
“Rodrigues assigned me as your mentor to see if we could work well together. Most of her people are teamed up with another investigator, but I haven’t met anyone I felt I could work with.”
Her eyes widened and were so fucking blue, looking into them made him feel like he was flying, weightless, free.
He hadn’t felt like that in…years. Not since before the IED.
He crashed back to Earth and cleared his throat. “Until now.”
Ruby smiled, and this time all that fucking sunshine was aimed right at him. “Thank you. I…” She blushed again, and he loved seeing the pink infuse her cheeks. It made him want to stroke her skin and feel the heat for himself.
She turned her gaze shyly away. “I’m glad you’re happy with my work.”
“Damn straight.” The words rumbled out, harsher than he wanted, but she didn’t seem to mind. She darted a glance at him. Now even her ears were red.
Holy shit, she was flirting with him.
A large part of him wanted to grab hold of her interest and devour her. Taste that glowing skin, discover if she was as hot for him as he was for her.
His cock throbbed, hard enough to make sitting painful. If he stood up, he’d better be sure his lab coat covered up the fucking tentpole pitched in his pants.
He glanced around the lab. Most people appeared to be focused on their work, but a few were glancing over at Ruby and him with curious expressions.
“Start writing a report on the measles outbreak so someone can come in and take over. As soon as I talk to Rodrigues, we’ll discuss our next steps.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll get started right away.”
Henry winced. “Don’t call me ‘sir,’ I’m not an off…a sir kind of guy. Just stick with Henry.”
“Sorry,” she said. She got up and stepped over to him and bit her lip. “But when you issue orders, you sound like army.” She headed toward the staff washrooms and disappeared into the ladies’ room.
He sounded like army?
Did that mean the same thing as dangerously desperate?
He’d nearly kissed her when she’d put that succulent bottom lip of hers between her teeth.
What did he think he was doing, taking her with him to every biosafety lab over a level two? There was no way in hell he’d be able to keep his fucking hands to himself.
A smart man would take someone else. A smart man would take a useless fuck like Raymond instead. A smart man would run away from temptation as fast as he could. But he wouldn’t do any of those things. After seeing the naked want and pleasure on her face, he couldn’t disappoint her now.
He was an idiot.
Get back to work, stupid. Sound advice. Too bad he wasn’t of sound mind and body and hadn’t been for a long time. After the incident that took his leg and killed some of his brothers in arms, his battle, it had taken him a long time to figure out his shit. To forgive himself. He shouldn’t even be alive. He’d sacrificed himself to save his battle and had expected to die. But he hadn’t; he’d survived only to be forced out of the military and stripped away from the only people who understood why he’d broken cover, given away their position too early, and triggered a land mine.
He’d done it to stop the armored vehicle from running over it first. A vehicle with ten men in it. The only thing that went wrong with his great self-sacrificing plan was surviving it.
He focused on his breathing, a form of meditation he’d picked up early while in the Special Forces. When his emotions got out of control, it was his go-to coping strategy. It allowed him to control himself, his breathing, his heart rate, his stress response. He got all his wounded bits and pieces, and the parts of his soul permanently damaged by the hell he’d gone through in Afghanistan, tucked back inside the cocoon of calm. Then, with unforgiving focus, he began creating a task list for the work he’d have to set aside in order to take on the mission.
No, not mission. It was work. Lives didn’t hang in the balance…but they did. Potentially millions of lives.
Mission it was.
Ruby came back from the bathroom and quietly went back to her own work. He liked that about her. He found it soothing. Reassuring. Safe.