FOUR
Espen
Five days.
Five days of freaking paperwork.
She was about ready to pull her hair out of her head.
Granted, the office was leaps and bounds better than her old one. Most of this was thanks to the fact that, while they did use pet names with her still - Xander included - they did it in a knee-jerk way, not a condescending oh your little lady brain kind of way.
Later in her first day, after inputting all seven files that Xander had tossed at her throughout the day, the other team members finally filed in.
First, there was Kane, the guy whose files she had been working on. With a name like his, she had maybe been expecting a big, tall, intimidating character.
But Kane ended up being young, tall, and skinny. Not thin, skinny. He was all sharp edges, like his bones were just barely contained by his flesh. But he was attractive with very defined cheekbones, a strong jaw, dark blue eyes, somewhat unkempt dark blond hair, and a personality that made you forget he maybe wasn't typical leading man material.
He had the habit of calling her Espy, and she tried really hard not to be weirded out by that level of familiarity so soon.
That was just his way - carefree, open.
He did not seem like the typical private investigator. At least, not from her experience with that type of person.
Maybe that was the beauty of him, though. Maybe he fit in better. Maybe people suspected him less.
The final member of the team, Ra - and, yes, that was his real name - was a tall, South Korean guy with his silky black hair left long enough to brush his shoulders in seemingly perpetual mussiness, dark eyes, and a wildly impressive six-pack. She knew this because when he walked back into the office late her first night, he had what looked like blood on his shirt and, as such, pulled the offending material up and off as he moved past her.
He didn't say a word.
Hell, he barely even looked at her.
"Ra has the social skills of a feral cat," Kane explained, shooting her a smile as he got up to head outside for a smoke, "with rabies," he added, making her laugh a little.
She learned Kane wasn't all that far off about Ra. He had disappeared into the bathroom, taking a shower, then coming back out freshly changed, dropping down at his desk, and completely ignoring everyone else in the office as he worked.
But she was okay with that.
People who kept to themselves made life easier.
Besides, it seemed like Enzo was the one doing Ra's grunt work, while she worked on Kane's.
It worked out.
Espy aside, he was a good kid. He kept the morale of the whole office from being too serious, too oppressive, too doom-and-gloomy.
"I mean, I might not have the abs like Ra does," he said as they all ate lunch that had been ordered in by Ellie who, while she didn't officially work for her husband, seemed to be around a lot, checking on things, somewhat frantically cleaning things occasionally.
She had stayed for lunch, Xander having been gone all day.
"But at least I can talk to a woman, right?" Kane asked her and Ellie. "I mean, can you imagine that creepy freak trying to sweet-talk a woman?"
The creepy freak in question was literally sitting five feet away from Kane, and while he showed no signs of it, had no doubt overheard the comments.
Espen couldn't quite figure out if there was actual animosity there, or if they had some sort of unspoken camaraderie that she wasn't aware of, being so new.
"You're both very attractive," Ellie said, refusing to take sides, seeming way too sweet to do anything that might hurt anyone's feelings.
She seemed too soft to be with a man as hardened as Xander Rhodes. But then again, there was word on the street that she had hired the local mob to put a hit on her abusive ex. So maybe she wasn't all sugar underneath it all.
"Come on, Ellie. You can say it. Next to Mr. McStudmuffins over here," he said, meaning Enzo, "I would totally be the one to get the chicks at the bar. Over Ra."
"Kid, who do you think you're fooling," Ra said then, speaking for the first time, his voice a low rumble she hadn't expected. "Closest thing you've come to a pussy is your own fucking right hand."
There was a quiet, deep, rolling chuckle from her side that Espen was trying her best to ignore. Mostly because the sound came from Enzo, and it was doing all kinds of wicked things to her belly.
Try as she might, she had not been able to shut that shit down. The attraction thing? Yeah, it was problematic. He had touched her fingertips the night before as he handed her the portable shredder, and that damn electric sparking thing happened again, making an acute zing of desire stab her core.
"Closest thing you've come to pussy in the past six months is that goddamn cat that ripped you up on the Miller case," Kane shot back, unfazed, making Espen figure that the men did have, at the very least, a work friendship.
The dynamic was so different, so refreshing from her old job. She didn't constantly feel on-edge, didn't worry that if she walked past one of the guys, they might lightly graze her ass with their fingers like they had any right to her body.
It was amazing what a difference a better-managed office made. Instead of having someone else do his dirt for him, Xander handled all aspects of his job. Espen had the feeling it might have had something to do with the fact that for the majority of his career, Xander was a one-man-operation. He did everything from stakeouts to accounts payable.
It never even occurred to him to hire an office manager when he expanded. Maybe this was because he was new; he chose a team of employees who would mind their Ps and Qs, could be counted on to act like the damn adults they were.
He also had Ellie around occasionally to make sure everything was moving smoothly.
Suddenly, she almost felt guilty about not telling her father the shit that was going on right under his nose. He was not the kind of man who would shrug it off, say it was just how men could be, let it slide.
His business meant everything to him. He had needed to claw his way up in the world. She remembered weeks when she barely saw him for five minutes a day when he was trying to secure bigger clients, get his name out there.
He didn't bust his ass his whole life to let his office be run like a frat house.
But he didn't know.
That was the problem with delegating power. You had no idea exactly how much you were giving away, often until it was too late.
She made a mental note to, when they patched things up, let him know about how Kenny was handling things around there.
He would be pissed, especially if he put two and two together and realized that the reason she left was because of the things he was overlooking.
"What do you say, Espy?" Kane asked, making her snap out of her musings.
"About what?"
He made a show of dramatically rolling his eyes as he reached up to push his longish hair back out of his face. "How hot me and Ra are. Specifically, me," he added with a wicked smirk.
Espen smiled, rolling up her sandwich wrapper, and tossing it in her bin. "I wouldn't throw either of you out of bed," she said with a saucy smile.
She was trying.
Not to be so prickly.
Not to jump to conclusions.
Not to assume all male coworkers would be like her old ones.
"What about Enzo?" Kane asked, making her stiffen.
Shit.
Dangerous, dangerous ground.
"What about him?" she asked, shrugging, taking her black with bold white writing Rhodes Investigations mug she simply knew Ellie had ordered, because Xander was not the kind of man to pay mind to tiny details like that. But she was almost ridiculously proud to hold that cup, to know she was there by her own merit, that she was being given the chance to prove she would make a good addition to the team.
A stupid mug meant the world to her.
"Would you kick him out of bed?" Kane pressed when she hoped he would just drop it. Luckily, she had already been walking away, so if her face gave anything away, they would never know.
She took a breath to make sure her tone would be even before she answered. "He wouldn't be there in the first place," she said, shrugging.
"Burn," Kane said with a chuckle as he jumped off the desk he had been perched on. "Alright, hate to eat and run, but I have to prove some dude isn't taking Fluffy to her weekly dog spa treatments so Fluffy's mama can terminate his visitation."
They were getting paid two-thousand dollars for that ridiculous case. People were freaks about their pets.
Kane moved past her, giving her ponytail a tug as he exited. A second later, Ra moved out as well, saying nothing, as he so often did.
But as she dropped the old grinds into the garbage, and moved to place a new filter in since Xander was not kidding about his coffee, she was almost intolerably aware that Ellie had moved toward the bathroom where she spent a fair amount of her day throwing up. She tried to cover it up, blasting the water when she went in there, but there was no way to hide that.
Pregnant.
That was the rumor anyway.
No confirmation.
But yeah, with Ellie in the bathroom, it was just her and Enzo in the main area of the office.
As if she summoned him, she felt his massive frame move in behind her, not touching her, but close enough that if she so much as swayed backward, she would be touching his chest with her back.
How the hell did someone so big move so silently?
Wasn't that, like, against the laws of physics or something?
"It's five," he said, further scrambling her brain when she was already completely overcome with weird things - like his smell, the scars on his knuckles as he reached out to scoop more coffee into the filter, and the fact that she could literally feel his body heat even through both of their clothes. In fact, it was so warm, it made an odd little shiver move through her insides.
Only, it wasn't just her insides.
She knew that a second later because there was Enzo's all-too-appealing deep chuckle again.
"Put on a show all you want, honey, but we both know you'd welcome me to your bed with open fucking arms." He let a short pause rest, then, "And open other things as well."
Oh, good God.
That shouldn't have turned her on.
It was cocky.
It made assumptions about her that she had given no reason for someone to make.
But, yeah, there was no denying the little quivering feeling that started between her thighs, seeming to agree with him. She'd welcome him with open arms, open legs, open...
"Tell me you guys aren't so in-fucking-competent that it takes two of you to remember how to make the coffee right," Xander said, coming in the door and beside them, making Espen start and Enzo move slightly to the side.
"Of course not," Espen covered, pretending there wasn't the slightest husky tone to her voice. "Toxic sludge, heavy on the ulcer. Don't worry. I've got it down. Someone just must like looking over other people's shoulders."
"So you two are getting along," he said, moving toward his desk, jotting something on a sheet of lined paper. Xander was known for his long, very detailed, almost obsessive note-taking. Espen knew this because she had needed to type up those notes, and file them. Whereas Kane wrote a couple lines, and she got the gist immediately, Xander took five pages, and she would swear she knew the case every bit as well as he must have.
"Sure. Like Tom and Jerry."
"Tom and Jerry hated each other," Xander said distractedly.
"Fine. Then Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd."
"They wanted to kill each other."
"So, you're sensing the pattern here," Espen said, smiling. And when Xander rose his head, so was he.
He liked her.
Platonically, of course.
He was madly, almost revoltingly in love with Ellie.
But as a person, he dug her. He got a kick out of her sass. He had an appreciation for her no-holds-barred personality.
That worked in her favor.
Even if she had come in the morning before to find Enzo already there, the two of them kicked back, and talking about some guys named Tig, Paine, and K. She had tried to squash her suspicions, quiet her overactive imagination about whether they had maybe discussed her, and made a mental note to look into those names.
She hated being out of the loop.
And she was resentful of anything that resembled a boys club.
Even if she was getting to know Xander well enough to know that he wasn't one of those guys.
"Listen, when daddy is out, he needs to know the kids will play nice," he said, lips twitching. "And not get into a rough and tumble." He paused again, standing, then giving them both a pointed look. "Of any kind."
Well, that was pretty damn clear.
Even though she had clearly just stated that she had no interest in Enzo at all - you know, aside from the hidden interest, but that was a secret her panties could keep.
"There's no..." she started, only to be cut off by Xander.
"Now, if we're done with the talking shit, I have a case for you."
"For... who?" Espen asked, shooting Enzo a look.
"Both of you. I know, I know," he said, even though neither of them moved to say anything. "I promised you guys your own cases, but there is only one, and I figure you guys must be sick as shit of paperwork. So take this, split it up, and work it together." He waved a folder, then dropped it down on his own desk, seeming to pick up on how both of them would read into it if he put it on one of their desks. "Now, I need to go drag Ellie home where she can puke in peace."
With that, he moved toward the bathroom, tapping on it with his knuckles, but opening before Ellie could have possibly answered.
"This should be interesting," Enzo said as they both moved toward Xander's desk.
Espen got there first, flipping open the folder, and looking down at the first page.
"What is it?" Enzo asked as she stared down the sheet with drawn-together brows.
"Um, it looks like destruction of private property at a construction site," she said, not bothering to hide the disappointment in her voice.
"And they need PIs why?" he asked, moving to lean against the desk with her.
She tried really, valiantly hard to not notice the way his body was touching hers from knee to shoulder.
Tried.
Failed, obviously.
The man simply commanded acknowledgment.
"Apparently, the cameras they put up to try to catch whoever is doing it kept getting disabled and destroyed."
"Shit isn't cheap," he said, reaching for the first sheet as she finished it to start the next one. "I shelled out three grand easy on a decent security system. Got busted within the first month. Didn't seem worth it to replace them. They're probably figuring it is cheaper to hire us."
Espen slanted a look at him from under her lashes, not wanting him to know he had piqued her interest. He had, thus far, not given her a single bit of personal information except those names she had overheard him dropping with Xander. She didn't know where he was from, though it was clearly not the city because when Kane brought up Hell's Kitchen, he had no idea where it was. She didn't know his reasons for moving to the city. She had no clue if he had any experience whatsoever in the field.
"Is that what you did?" she asked, hedging.
"Is what what I did?" he asked, looking up.
Damn him.
Those eyes of his, they did things to a woman. Well, maybe just to her, but she would put good money on a good percentage of the female population being affected by those light green eyes with the thick black lashes. Especially when they were giving you their full attention, like they were right then.
She actually - of all the asinine things - felt her mouth go dry, having to swallow hard, and lick her lips before answering.
"Hire private investigators to... deal with whatever you were surveilling."
She could have sworn for a long second that she saw a battle. Like maybe he was deciding if he would give her some background.
In the end, though, he obviously chose against it.
"No," he said, moving to stand, and walking back to his desk.
Well then.
"What are you doing?" she asked, flipping through the remaining pages, just seeing pictures of the damage that had been done. It wasn't major. All of it seemed like it could have very well been the work of bored teenagers.
"Just looking into Falco Construction," he said, shrugging.
He totally just stole her idea.
"Alright, I am going to go to the site and check things out, see if I find anything laying around."
With that, she took off, uncomfortable having to be alone with him in the office for any length of time.
She worked better on her own anyway.
"Well, I'm glad the boots finally came in handy," a voice said as soon as she stepped outside, making her jerk back hard, heart flying up even as her hands curled to take down any possible threat.
Then the words registered just a second before the figure moved out from an alley between Xander's building and the one next door.
"Biyen, what are you doing here?" she hissed, big-eyeing her cousin as he came to stand in front of her.
Whereas her father had given up his hair for a cushy professional appearance, Biyen, she was sure, wouldn't even shear it off if it caught on fire. He, like her father - and unlike her - was tall, wide, strong, and somewhat intimidating. His dark hair fell halfway down his back, a black, shiny, silky sheet, framing his distinctly masculine face. She always thought, even as a kid, that he had wise eyes. This became even more apparent as the two aged.
When he didn't immediately answer, choosing instead to tuck his hands in his front pockets, and roll back on his heels, she felt her eyes narrowing at him.
"Did he send you to spy on me?" she accused, feeling her blood start to warm alarmingly.
"Espy," Biyen said, oddly reminding her of Kane, even though Biyen had been the one doing it since they were both kids.
"Don't Espy me, Biy," she snapped, shaking her head. "You agreed to this? Seriously? Whose side are you on?"
"Come on, it's not about sides. He wants to make sure you're being safe. I do too. This isn't exactly a great area."
"And I am a grown ass woman. Who has a higher black belt than either of you, I might add. I can take care of myself. So you can just go back to him and tell him," she said, stabbing a finger into his chest, "that he can..."
"Hey, honey," Enzo's voice cut into her tirade, making her stiffen, realizing that they had been standing right in front of the windows to the office.
Great.
Just wonderful.
She looked over, finding him fully outside, sizing up Biyen, then looking at her with a raised brow and concerned eyes.
Ugh.
Concerned eyes.
As if she needed more reasons to think he was hot.
"Everything alright here?" he asked, looking back when Biyen's gaze went to size him up right back.
She would swear their chests puffed out slightly.
Peacocks.
Both of them.
She sighed, knowing she wasn't going to get away with brushing it off. She had to give him a little context. "Yeah, fine. This is my cousin, Biyen," she explained. For some reason, this information seemed to make Enzo relax slightly.
Because a threat was clearly not evident?
Or, maybe, just maybe, because Biyen wasn't competition?
What?
Jesus.
That was ridiculous.
Enzo didn't think of her that way. And she certainly didn't want him to think of her like that. No way, no how.
"And you are?" Biyen asked when she forgot to introduce him.
"Enzo," he supplied, reaching out for her cousin's hand. "I work with your cousin."
"You poor fuck," Biyen said, just to rib her.
"She's not that bad," Enzo surprised her by saying, making her attention snap to him, finding him looking sympathetic, like he knew she got a world of shit from Biyen.
"That's just because you haven't known her that long yet," Biyen assured him.
"Okay, that's about enough of that," she said, trying for annoyed, but she was smiling. "Biyen was just leaving. To run home and tell my father to mind his own goddamn business. That if he wants to speak to me, he knows my number."
"Alright, alright," Biyen said, sighing, moving to walk past her. "We love you, that's all, Espy."
"I love you back," she said, grabbing his arm to stop him. "But don't do this again."
"You might want to wear a cup, man," Biyen said in farewell to Enzo.
"Didn't mean to interrupt family shit," Enzo said, his way of an apology. "That just didn't look great from inside."
"For the record," she said, maybe liking it too much that he was protective, which was weird, "I can take care of myself." When he stiffened, she went on. "But I appreciate you trying to deescalate an iffy situation."
He looked at her for a long moment, then nodded. "I have sisters. And while they can take care of themselves, I know they like feeling like they have backup."
"So, that's what you are. You're my backup."
There was a long, almost intolerable pause, the moment weighted, before he nodded. The action seemed forced to her, though.
"Yeah, honey. I'm your backup."