Quinn grabbed his coffee cup and threw back the last swallow. He paused, cringing as the cold, bittersweet dregs hit his tongue, before tossing the empty cup in the trash. God, he hated cold coffee, but he didn’t have time to grab a fresh one. The boss was already waiting.…And Rowe Ward wasn’t very good at waiting. He snagged the tablet he used to take notes off the edge of his desk and gave a quick wave to his office-mate, Gidget, before jogging the short distance down the hall.

This had to be about a new client. He’d just finished updating the security system for the Paxtons, and he’d submitted his estimates for the Carlisle job. Rowe had to know that he was at loose ends. Gidget was up to her eyeballs in setting up the new email servers in Geneva. She just growled at him anytime he offered to help. The woman was determined to handle it alone. If Rowe didn’t get him a new client to work on soon, Andrei was going to hear about his so-called free schedule and start talking about getting him in for new self-defense classes.

He respected the hell out of the COO and former MMA fighter, but Quinn would never call himself a sports or physical activity kind of guy. He kept in shape…mostly. He certainly wasn’t like the bodyguards wandering Ward Security with their mountains of muscles and tight abs. He was simply fit. He preferred video games over sparring mats. Old-school monster movies over lifting weights and running laps to build endurance.

Stopping just outside Rowe’s office door, Quinn ran a hand down the front of his dark blue button-down shirt, brushing aside a few stray crumbs from the PB&J he’d had for lunch. Most days he was a T-shirt and jeans guy, but all his favorite shirts were dirty, leaving him with the button-down. As much as he hated to admit it, the time had come to trek back to the apartment and do a load of laundry. But he’d worry about that later. He had a meeting with the boss.

After one quick knock on Rowe’s door, he stepped inside without waiting for him to call since he was already expected. But he stopped short when he saw the tall man standing next to Rowe’s desk, his hands on his slender hips as he grinned down at Rowe. Quinn couldn’t stop his gaze from quickly sweeping over his broad shoulders and chest that tapered into a narrow waist. His eyes snapped back up to find a pair of brown eyes that twinkled as they finished checking him out as well.

“Sorry,” Quinn mumbled, instantly taking a step backward. “I can come back.” Rowe rarely saw clients. He had customer representatives that handled talking to the them. Of course, with Rowe’s lack of a filter, it was better if he didn’t talk to the new clients directly.

“No, come in, Quinn,” Rowe said sharply. He stood behind his desk, drawing Quinn’s gaze to his shorter but broader frame. His dark red hair stood up slightly as if he’d been running his fingers through it. Quinn never took that as a particularly good sign.

With a quick jerk of his head, Quinn stepped in and shut the door behind him. The other man was smiling at him, that assessing look still in his eyes, and Quinn didn’t want to think about the fact that he was dying to take another longer look at him, but not with the freaking boss in the room.

“Quinn Lake, this is Shane Stephens. He’s a private investigator with The Merleau Detection Agency,” Rowe said.

Shane extended his hand to Quinn, and Quinn clenched his teeth, trying to hide his discomfort at taking Shane’s hand. His own palms were sweaty, making the momentary contact awkward. Why the fuck was he always so damn awkward around hot guys?

“Rowe tells me you’re the best,” Shane said, releasing his hand.

Quinn couldn’t help the skeptical look he shot at Rowe, who only shrugged as he sat down again. “Well, I said you and Gidget are the best.”

“Is this about a job?”

“Sit, Quinn.” Rowe absently waved toward the two chairs in front of his desk. He shuffled some papers around without seeming to actually look at them.

Shooting one last uncertain look at Shane, Quinn moved to the farthest chair and sat, his tablet clenched in both hands. His mind raced as he tried to figure out why he’d been called into this meeting. Clients didn’t meet with Rowe, and Quinn didn’t meet with clients unless they’d already been assigned a bodyguard. And while they’d worked with some private investigators in the past, Rowe wasn’t usually involved. He had a company to run.

“Shane recently acquired a client who is the victim of a hacker,” Rowe started.

Quinn looked up at Shane, who was still standing beside Rowe’s desk, his mind finally turning away from too many questions to a problem he could understand. “Identity theft? Bank accounts drained?”

“No, not yet.” Shane shook his head, some of his dark curly hair falling forward against his temple. “At least, not that we’ve uncovered.”

“Then how do you know this client was hacked?”

“There are other signs…but I can’t go into it.”

Quinn frowned for a second. That certainly wasn’t going to make his job easier. “Well, do you just need improved protection? Alerts on accounts? We’ve got a comprehensive list of things we can do to help shore up the client’s account protection and privacy.”

“Shane isn’t looking for protection from the hacker for the client.” Rowe paused until Quinn looked back at him. “His client has hired him to track down the identity of the hacker.”

“Whoa…” Quinn said on an exhale, sitting back in his chair. That…that was not an easy task. Most hackers were pretty damn good at not being found. You had to be if you wanted to survive as one. If you sucked, you were usually snagged by the FBI pretty damn fast. Quinn would know. He’d started hacking at a young age—not stealing other people’s money but just breaking through security systems because he could. It took the feds a solid five years to catch him. But his boss knew all this. Rowe knew everything about the people working for him.

“We’re not equipped to handle this level of…” Shane frowned at Rowe’s computer as if he blamed it for his problems. “Well, we’re not staffed yet to handle computer things like this. I can do some of the forensic research in accounting matters, but I need a computer genius like you.”

“That’s why I agreed to loan you to Shane and his business partner, Ethan, for one month,” Rowe announced.

Quinn was out of his seat in a shot, hovering over the edge of the desk as he looked down at his boss. Pain shot through his chest, and he was suddenly having trouble catching his breath. Panic clouded all of his thoughts. He loved working for Ward Security. He’d been there for just less than two years, and he’d never found another place where he’d felt like he fit so damn perfectly. This was home. These people he worked with, they were his friends. He didn’t have to hide or pretend or feel uncomfortable.

And Rowe…Rowe had always been amazing. Sure, he could be cranky and a little crazy. He was always loud and tended to speak before thinking. But Quinn always knew exactly where he stood with Rowe. He always felt like Rowe had his back.

But this…

“Are you getting rid of me?”

“What?” Rowe snapped. “Where the fuck did you get that idea?”

“You’re hiring another IT person. I saw the listing. And this? Putting me ‘on loan’?”

Rowe groaned and scrubbed a hand over his face. With a heavy sigh, he pointed back at the chair Quinn had just vacated. “Sit.” Grudgingly, Quinn followed his direction while Rowe looked over at Shane. “Can you give us a minute?”

“Sure.” Shane winked at Rowe. “I’ll go find your boyfriend. See if he’ll show me the toys you won’t show Hollis.”

Rowe flipped him off and Shane’s laughter was only cut off by the door he shut behind him as he left Rowe’s office.

“Fucker,” Rowe mumbled under his breath, but there was no anger behind the word. He sounded amused. He looked up at Quinn and sighed again. “I’m not getting rid of you.”

“You’ve never done the ‘loan’ thing before.”

“True. But Shane’s got a high-profile client. Someone big enough that even I can’t weasel the information out of him,” Rowe said, his lips twisting in a wry smile.

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Shane’s a good guy. He and a friend run a solid private investigation company. Nothing shady or underhanded. All aboveboard. They need help with this case, so he came to me at Hollis’s recommendation.”

And now the pieces were starting to fit together. Hollis Banner was engaged to Ian Pierce, who was a very close friend to Rowe. He’d heard that Hollis was no longer a Cincinnati cop but was working for a PI firm. He just hadn’t heard which. Apparently, Hollis was this Shane’s employee.

“But you are hiring another IT person,” Quinn pressed.

“Yes, for added help. Not to replace.”

“Gidget and I are a great team. We’ve got it covered.”

Rowe snorted. “You and Gidget work ridiculous hours. You both need time to have lives. She’s got a son, and you…I’m not even sure you actually sleep. We’re still expanding. We’re getting more and more cases that involve hackers and online privacy. That’s shit big men packing heat can’t protect against. I need more computer geeks like you and Gidget.”

Quinn rolled his eyes and Rowe chuckled. The last of the butterflies in his stomach flew away.

“You’re not going anywhere, Lake. You leave me for Shane and you know that I’ll hunt your ass down.”

Quinn wanted to laugh. There was no way he was ever going to leave Ward Security. He kept his mouth shut and just smiled at his boss.

Rowe glanced down at his desk for a moment, his eyes skimming over something he’d scratched out on a notepad he always kept handy. The man really did hate technology. Well, he loved surveillance and explosive tech, but he didn’t care much for computers.

“Because of the confidential nature of this case, you’re going to be working out of Shane’s office in Oakley.”

Slumping in his chair, Quinn fought down a wave of frustration. Not good news. He was hoping to stay at the Ward Security office and just communicate with Shane via email or phone. This sucked.

“I know you sleep here a lot, Quinn,” Rowe continued, his voice softening. Quinn looked up at his boss to find a half smile tugging up one corner of his mouth. “I wish your situation with your roommates was better, but you know you’re always welcome here. Even if you’re working out of another office.”

Quinn nodded. He wasn’t fond of his boss knowing that he slept in the office. He was less ecstatic about Rowe knowing that his living situation wasn’t great. Rowe paid well…really fucking well, but he needed that money for his mom.

He cut corners where he could, lived off ramen noodles and bought only used video games—his one luxury in life. He’d landed an opening in a small, run-down two-bedroom apartment with two other guys in Norwood. But shortly after moving in, he discovered that his roommates were a pair of hardcore bros who talked only about sports and girls. He had nothing in common with them, and he definitely didn’t feel comfortable telling them that he was gay. At best, he’d find himself homeless. At worst, they’d probably beat him up. It was easier to just crash at the office as often as possible.

“Do you think this job will take the entire month?”

“I honestly have no idea,” Rowe admitted and then sighed. “This job wasn’t meant to be a punishment. I thought you’d be excited to try your hand at something a little different. Get out of the office a little. If you’re that miserable at the thought of working with Shane, I’ll talk to Gidget. See if we can get her to crawl out of her server nonsense to take this.”

“No! It’s okay. I can do it.” Quinn snapped out of his sulk and slid to the edge of his chair. He didn’t want to disappoint Rowe, and he definitely didn’t want any kind of special treatment. Rowe had picked him for this job, and he wasn’t going to let his boss down. “I’m serious. I’m good. I just wasn’t expecting this.”

“Shane’s a good guy,” Rowe repeated. “I wouldn’t loan you out to just any schmuck off the street.”

“I know. I trust you.”

And he meant it. He knew that Rowe didn’t always like to stick to the straight and narrow, but he did it to protect the people that he cared about. He trusted Rowe to have his back because he saw Quinn as a part of the Ward Security family. And he would make Rowe proud by doing this job to the best of his abilities. He was going to prove to Shane that he was just as amazing as the other employees at Ward Security and prove that he’d earned his spot with the company.

Placing his hands against the top of the desk, Rowe pushed back to his feet and Quinn did the same. “Go get your techie shit packed up, and head over to Shane’s office so you can get all the dirt on this case. I’ll go pull him out of my weapons closet and away from my boyfriend.”

Quinn could only smirk as he preceded Rowe out of the office. The man might grumble, but there was no question that his boyfriend, Noah, had eyes only for Rowe. Shane might be sexy as hell, but Quinn was sure that Noah wouldn’t even look twice at the man.

Of course, Quinn planned to do a hell of a lot of looking. As he shuffled back to his shared office, he replayed the image of Shane in his head. Long legs encased in snug, dark jeans. A nice black, button-down shirt that stretched across incredibly broad shoulders. Curling dark hair and warm, brown eyes. And his mouth. Fuck. He had a perfect mouth. It had a wicked cast—like he spent a lot of time with his mind in the gutter. When he’d smiled, Quinn had felt the blood start to rush straight to his cock. Oh yeah, working in the same office with this guy was going to be just fantastic.