“I’ll report back. It better be a thing. Dental work is damn expensive.”
“You need some cash?” Aggie also struggles with committing to a full-time job. She bounces between casual retail jobs and often runs short on money. I help out whenever she allows, however, she’s a stubbornly independent woman and usually refuses my help.
“Nope, I’m good.” She pauses. “Happy birthday, Colton.” The new gentle tone in her voice lets me know that she’s not just wishing me a happy birthday; she’s saying a whole lot more here.
I grip my phone harder as the emotions I’ve been doing my fucking best to avoid today slam into my chest.
“I’ve gotta go,” I say abruptly, running my gaze over the ass of the woman at Zane’s door. Anything to distract me from these feelings. But hell, her ass is fine so it’s not a fucking hardship to trace her curves.
“Don’t do that, darling,” Aggie says. “Ten years is a long time and a lot of birthdays to celebrate without your parents. And also without Whitney. I wish I could be there with you today.”
Motherfucking fuck.
She went there.
Just like she always does on my birthday since my sister died five years ago.
However, Aggie and I are the only family we each have left, and before my parents died they taught me good old-fashioned manners, so I’ll never stop her from saying whatever’s on her mind. “When are you coming to town next?”
“I’ll allow that change of subject but only because I know you’re not good at expressing your feelings. I’ll be in Brisbane in four weeks. I expect at least one night out with you, and a bed to sleep in.”
“You know that’s a given.”
I wait for her to bring up the significance of her visit in four weeks—that it’s right before the five-year anniversary of Whitney’s death—but she doesn’t. Instead, she says, “Good. Okay, my two minutes are up. I’ll let you go. Hopefully, you’re getting busy with your next soul mate.”
The line goes dead, and I pocket my phone before making my way to the dark-haired woman with the ass of a goddess and what I suspect are hacking skills that Zane’s gonna be interested in.
“You need a hand getting inside?” I ask when I reach her.
Barely registering my presence or my question, she flicks her gaze over me, a bored expression on her face, and shakes her head. “No. You can go away.”
“The guy who owns this place is gonna love you.” In a totally non-love kind of way. Zane Stone isn’t known for going easy on people who fuck with his business.
“The guy who owns this place already loves me. Now, can you please let me do my job?”
I arch a brow. “Your job?”
Her bored expression gives way to irritation. “Yes, my job. Are you deaf?”
She’s fiery and I’m amused by her.
I’m also into her beauty.
Not many women could wear black track pants, a black hoodie, sneakers, and a black beanie, and look as fucking hot as she does. Granted, she’s wearing enough make-up for three women and her long sleek hair looks like she just stepped out of a hair salon, but my guess is under all that, she’s naturally beautiful.
I cross my arms and plant my feet wide, settling in for a conversation until Zane’s men arrive. I’m confused as to why they’re not here already, but I’m also good with that because it gives me time with her. “Nope, not deaf and not blind. I can hear you perfectly and see that you’re up to some questionable shit here. And I’m interested as fuck to know what that is.”
“And you are?”
“I think the more important question here is who you are.”
“I’m the woman you’re stopping from doing her job. And quite fucking honestly, I don’t have time for this intrusion.”
As my lips quirk with amusement, her phone rings. She rolls her eyes as she notes who the caller is.
“Jesus, it’s like the damn universe has it in for me today,” she grumbles into the phone. “I’m trying to get shit done and you’re ringing me while some caveman is grilling me over what I’m doing out here. You wanna call him off?”
She listens to whoever’s on the other end of the call before holding the phone out to me. When I don’t immediately take it, she says, “He wants to speak to you.”
I take the phone and place it to my ear. “Yeah?”
Zane’s voice rumbles down the line. “My advice is to stop checking out Liam’s sister’s ass. You’re in luck so far because he stepped out of the surveillance room to take a call while you’ve had your eyes all over her. He’ll be back any minute, though, and we both know he’s got less tolerance than me for shit.”
That’s the honest fucking truth. Liam Kade, one of Zane’s team members, is the most no-fucking-nonsense person to walk the earth. I respect the hell out of him, but he’s not the kind of guy I’d hang out with. I’m not certain he knows how to let loose. What I would be certain of, without even one scrap of proof, is that Zane’s not speaking a word of a lie when he says Liam wouldn’t like my eyes on his sister.
“Thanks for the heads up,” I say. “You gonna let me in?”
“Yeah.”
The door buzzes open and I hand the phone back to Liam’s sister. When she doesn’t make a move to enter, I nod at the door and say, “After you.”
She shoves her phone back into her pocket and narrows her eyes at me while cocking her head. “It’s not often I come across a man with manners these days.”
Stepping inside so I can stop the door from closing, I hold it open for her. “We’re not all cavemen.”
The corners of her mouth lift. “Point taken.”
“Are you gonna come in or stand out here all night?”
“I’m gonna stand out here until I’ve finished what I started before you came along. And to do that, I’m gonna need the door shut.”
The frustration that tinged her voice when I first arrived has disappeared. In its place is something that feels like interest. Attraction. Curiosity maybe. Whatever it is, I feel the pull too. I like a woman who doesn’t give an inch but who’s willing to when I give one.
Letting the door close, I turn and step into the lift that’ll take me up to Zane’s level, hoping like hell that the dark-haired beauty comes upstairs when she’s finished whatever she’s doing outside.
2
Echo
“Three minutes, give or take,” I say to Zane as I enter the surveillance room on the fourth level of his headquarters. “And check your computer for a serious kick in the balls. Your entire network is down and potentially fucked if we don’t get to work tonight.”
“Fuck,” Zane mutters, raking his fingers through his dark hair in the way he does when he’s stressed. He should be stressed. I’ve shut his network down to show him how at risk he is of an enemy doing the same thing.
After he called two days ago and asked me to consult for him to get to the bottom of some team issues he’s having, I targeted his network by sending his staff emails with a fake software update link. I wanted to see how easily an outside threat could hack his system. A couple of them downloaded it, allowing me access to his entire system. If I was actually attempting to hack him, I could have stolen anything and everything I wanted.