Home > Submission Impossible(7)

Submission Impossible(7)
Author: Lexi Blake

A brow rose over Kyle’s eyes. “Seriously?”

At least he now had the man’s attention. “Come on, man. You have to know Charlotte likes to play matchmaker.”

“She does that at the club,” Kyle replied. “She wouldn’t do it in her professional world.”

“Who do you think set up Michael and Tessa?”

Tessa was on the bodyguard team, so Kyle should know her pretty well. “Seriously? She thought Michael and Tess would suit each other? They’re too alike. She needs someone…I don’t know, lighter than Malone. I was actually thinking of introducing her to my brother.”

He would never in a million years have thought that Kyle freaking Hawthorne was the kind of dude who would set up his own brother. “My point is this whole case is a setup. For one of us. I’m not sure which.”

“She’s pretty and smart. I can think of worse things,” Kyle said. “Although I’m not in a good place for a relationship.”

“You and me both.” There was light at the end of the tunnel. Four more people and he could hop on that elevator and get his coffee, get to his meeting, and hopefully shut Charlotte’s plans down. “I do not need to be set up with a small-town princess who probably caused this whole problem by leaving her laptop where she shouldn’t. I do not need some paranoid sheriff begging me to date his daughter.”

“My dad doesn’t beg, I assure you,” a feminine voice said. “And I keep my laptop close. He wasn’t always a small-town sheriff. He was a detective in New Orleans. I spent most of my childhood there. But Dallas is a scary place for a hick like me.”

Hutch felt his whole body flush.

And he also saw the first genuine smile he’d ever seen on Kyle Hawthorne’s face. “Hutch, meet Noelle. She got here right as I did, so naturally I let her go ahead of me. I’m a gentleman. She brought lemon poppyseed muffins because she heard the big guy likes lemons.”

“You’re a massive asshole,” Hutch said under his breath.

“Oh, I’m not the one who looks like an ass,” Kyle shot back before focusing on Noelle, who was way prettier than her picture.

Her picture didn’t show the way her eyes sparkled or the generosity of those lips of hers. In the picture the sun wasn’t shining on her hair, bringing out the red and gold that threaded through the lush brown.

“Noelle likes to bake,” Kyle added. “What do you say?”

“Baking is just chemistry but with a sweeter product at the end,” Noelle replied. “And I did not realize everyone thought this was some kind of joke. I assure you I can handle it on my own.”

Oh, he was going to get his ass kicked. Hard. By multiple people. “I’m sorry. It was pointed out to me that my boss might be trying to set us up. Or Kyle here.”

She turned and moved forward. That was when he noticed the cane. She moved with it as she carried her tote bag that was full of what could have been his breakfast if only he’d kept his damn mouth shut. “Oh, yes, well that was part of the process. I got a big book to look through and pick my possible husband. I’ll let Charlotte know she should send psych evals with the beefcake pics.”

She smiled at the security guard and handed him her bag.

“Is she joking?” Hutch asked. “She’s joking, right?” Because he was pretty sure he hadn’t posed for pictures, but there were definitely nights that it could have happened.

Damn, but she was hot. And now angry with him. Like everyone was going to be.

“I think it’s safe to say she’s joking,” Kyle replied. “And it’s also safe to say you’re about to be off the case. I’m sure MaeBe can handle it. She can go in the field with me.”

May Beatrice Vaughn was another member of McKay-Taggart’s cybersecurity team. In the beginning it had just been Adam Miles, and then Hutch had backed him up for a couple of years. He’d moved into Adam’s old job when Adam had left, and over the years they’d hired a couple of specialists, including the perkiest of them, MaeBe Vaughn.

He and MaeBe were strictly friends. She was like a kid sister. But he also recognized that MaeBe was adorable and had a banging bod. “Did you do all of this to get MaeBe on the team instead of me?”

“Did I set up a scenario where the client showed up and you made an ass of yourself? No.” Kyle pulled his briefcase off in anticipation of the search he was about to go through. “Did I see an opportunity and take it?” He gave Hutch a predatory grin. “Oh, yes. I’ll take Ms. LaVigne upstairs. Don’t worry about her.”

But he kind of wanted to now. He glanced over and she was handing the security guard her cane. She seemed to brace herself and then walked through the scanner to the other side, where she stopped because the guard was examining her cane.

She didn’t want to walk without it. In that moment he didn’t see a potential threat to his own freaking loneliness. He saw a pretty woman who was vulnerable, who was trying hard not to show it, probably because he’d been such an asshole. A woman who’d gone through so much, who still carried the burdens of her past but could smile the way she did.

“Hey, Howard, it’s just a cane.” He knew the security guys. “She’s a client of Mr. Taggart. I don’t think she’s got a cannon in there or anything.”

Kyle was moving through the scanner. Hutch handed over his laptop bag.

“Never can tell these days.” Howard gave Noelle back her cane. “And I don’t know if we should let anyone take a bunch of baked goods up. There’s a senator coming to meet with Mr. Dean. We were told to be extra careful. Miss, I’ll keep these down here for you. If you’ll fill out a form…”

“Do you want to explain to Big Tag why he didn’t get the lemon muffins he ordered?” Hutch was not letting her bag of treats go. She’d made them and carried them all the way here. She got to keep them.

He knew he was doing an awfully fast 180, but he couldn’t help himself. He’d said things she should never have heard, and he felt like crap about it.

“He didn’t actually…” Noelle accepted her cane and seemed to figure out what he was doing. “They’re a surprise. Mrs. Taggart ordered them for her husband. Should I call her?”

Howard immediately handed over the bag. “Nope. If Mrs. Taggart wants them upstairs, then upstairs they go.” He frowned Kyle’s way. “Do you need all these guns?”

Kyle shrugged. “They’re my favorite accessory.” He grimaced when the scanner turned red. “Sorry. I forgot about the knives. Give me a second.”

He moved to the side, and Hutch hoped the man didn’t have to undress to get through security. It gave him a shot at going first since he wasn’t carrying. He stood still and let the scanner do its work. The second guard waved him on, and he grabbed his laptop and joined Noelle, who seemed to be waiting on Kyle.

“Could I carry that for you?” Maybe being a gentleman would smooth things over. “I can walk you up to the office. I’m Hutch. Sorry about the joke I was playing on my buddy over there.”

“Sure. You were joking,” she said, not moving an inch. “Mr. Hutch…”

She had the sweetest accent. It was very Southern and polite. “Just Hutch. My name is Greg Hutchins, but I was named after my dad who was an abusive asshole, so I prefer Hutch.”

Hot Books
» House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City #1)
» A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire
» From Blood and Ash (Blood And Ash #1)
» A Million Kisses in Your Lifetime
» Deviant King (Royal Elite #1)
» Den of Vipers
» House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City #2)
» The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air #
» Sweet Temptation
» The Sweetest Oblivion (Made #1)
» Chasing Cassandra (The Ravenels #6)
» Wreck & Ruin
» Steel Princess (Royal Elite #2)
» Twisted Hate (Twisted #3)
» The Play (Briar U Book 3)