Chapter 14

Devolin

The nerve of him! What a manipulative sexy-assed man he was!

I shook the latter out of my mind, concentrating on the manipulation aspect of his character.

Where the hell does he get off on strong-arming me?

He’d bullied me into speaking with him. Alone! Just the kind of situation I was trying to avoid.

After that whatever-barely-there-kiss we shared earlier in the week, I knew it was imperative that I keep my distance. But seeing as it was my place, it’s not like I could run off on him, now could I?

Not once did I imagine that helping Dalton and his team a year ago would result in meeting him in the flesh, say nothing of having him physically sitting in front of me on that too small loveseat—all hot––making me want things I shouldn’t want. It was the only place we could talk aside from sitting in the kitchen.

The kitchen!

That was a brilliant idea.

“Um… Can I get you something to drink? Or eat?” Rope to tie me down with, since I’m liable to run away from here any second? I thought as I headed toward the room in question, trying to find a way to get him out of my place as quickly and painlessly as possible. Let it be noted that if I were normal, I’d be so on board for that last extracurricular.

The man burst out laughing. His deep baritone stopped me in my tracks, my shoulders bunching toward my ears.

“Personally, I prefer cuffs.” Shocked at the casualness in his tone, I spun around on my heel, finding him right on up in my personal space. I lost my balance. “Whoa.” He grabbed my arms to stabilize me, but didn’t let go when my footing was regained. It seemed his reaction matched the shock I knew was showing on my face. Someone once told me I shouldn’t play poker because of my tells, and right then I knew why. Dalton still had a hold of me and wasn’t showing any sign of backing away. In fact, his eyes were fused to mine, darkened in unquestionable hunger. Damn the man was potent. “But I can see myself amending that statement,” he whispered.

My lips formed the letter without the word, “Oh,” escaping. As much as his words shocked me, they also piqued my curiosity to the point of thrilling me. “How so?” My God, what was the matter with me? Why was I pushing this somewhere I swore I wasn’t going?

Without blinking, he gave me his answer. “I’d simply prefer to be the one doing the holding instead of having an aid.” My traitorous body leaned toward him, as quick as the words were out. Dalton broke eye contact first, effectively ending this supercharged magnetic moment of ours, and stepped back a few paces, his face closing down, as if I’d imagined the effect I had on him. “You mind talking in the kitchen?”

Yes, the kitchen. Where it was safe. Well…safer. With a table that could provide a barrier between us.

I cleared my throat. “That’s probably a good thing if we need my computers.”

 

“I need you with me.” Dalton’s words were honest, almost desperate, after we’d finished discussing the information I’d gathered. He’d even shared what he and the team had obtained on their end, as well as their various hypothesises.

“Brycen’s got everything I have here to help you out. You guys seem to be doing just fine, so far. He can do as good of a job as I can,” I told him.

“You can’t tell me that you actually enjoy working for Gordon Hewitt, can you?”

My chin dropped to my chest as I made to grab a handful of hair at the back of my head, bunching it in my hands and growling, “Not this again.”

“He’s scum, Devolin.”

I looked at Dalton, knowing that there’d always been something shady about my boss. Other than the fact that I suspected the information I provided the man with was used—more often than not—to strong-arm certain investors, let alone clients, it was nothing significant enough. Yet.

“I know you have a file on him. I’m getting the sense that you’re not too crazy about some of the jobs he’s assigned you. I’m telling you that your instincts are right. You’re right in following your gut and looking into the man, Dev. The guy’s a criminal.”

“What?” I shrieked.

“I worked a case for a client a few years ago. A friend of mine, who’s a cop, was working that same case, but from his own angle. Please say you’ll at least think about coming to work for me.” Dalton’s hand made to grab mine but I pulled back, our fingers brushing. This made him withdraw, dry-scrubbing his face, and giving away the stress he was under as his chin dipped toward his chest in a show of defeat.

I felt for him.

I really did.

“Dalton…” I sighed. “Look—”

“I’ll double whatever he’s paying you. We’ve got a great benefits package. If you ever need to work from home—” I winced at that. “I don’t care what it takes. You were amazing when it came to finding Morgan. This case is worse. Trickier, and you know it, or you wouldn’t have tracked me down to make sure I wasn’t flying blind all the way to Mexico. You’d still be in the wind, and I’d still be running around in circles trying to make sense of why you didn’t want to be found.” His chuckle was low, sending shivers down my spine. “I can triple, if you’d like,” he persisted.

“You don’t have to do that.” I had the feeling that I needed to buck up. Maybe it was Skylar’s voice in the back of my mind, telling me that I was better than my job with Gordon. Maybe I needed to fish or cut bait—for a lack of better terms—when it came to my insane infatuation with the man sitting before me. The moment my hand touched his forearm, I knew what I was going to do. There was no denying what was going on here. “I’ll do it.”

His head snapped up so fast, I feared it would pop off his shoulders. “What?”

“For no other reason than you’ve been honest with me.” My gaze held his. “But if you need another, it’s because I’m personally vested in this.” What a fucking understatement! “I told you that Brycen is good enough to handle the logistics from here on out, and I have every confidence that he can, since I know he’s most definitely copied my software by now.” I gave him a prideful grin. “And even without that, I’ve been inside his system so many times over the last year, I know he’s equipped to get you through the Wentworth case.”

“I can’t help but sense there’s a but in there somewhere.”

He was right.

I nodded. “I can’t sit here and say that I’ll keep out of things. It’s not in my nature,” I explained. “I have to see this through to the end.”

“What’s in it for you, aside from the salary?”

“Isn’t that enough?” I knew he’d say no, so I elaborated. “I get to close a door for once in my life, instead of having someone close it for me.”

“What’s that mean?”

“It means that I knew it wasn’t the end when I hung up on you a year ago.” I bowed my head toward the tabletop. That was the hardest confession I’d ever had to disclose yet. “Maybe it would have been, had I not been obsessed with keeping tabs, but…” I picked at my nails.

“So you felt that…connection?”

I nodded. “You made me wish I was there. That I was part of the team. You made me want to run away and hide, too. I work alone for a reason.”

His brows furrowed. “But why?”

“Because it’s easier.”

“It’s lonely, and something tells me that you’ve had your fair share of lonely.”

I shrugged. “It’s not all that bad.”

“Bullshit.”

My head snapped up, eyes narrowing on him. “Excuse me?”

“I said—”

I bolted to my feet, fisting my hands on my hips. “I know what you said. Now explain why you said it.”

He pushed back from his chair and came to stand toe-to-toe with me. I had no choice but to look up and up…and up. Christ on a crutch he was tall. “I don’t know what happened to you to make you pull away from people, but I can see it in your eyes, Dev.” His voice softened, having the same effect on my anger. “You want to be a part of something, but you’re scared.”

I couldn’t look at him. So I tilted my head down and to the side. This man—one I’d only recently met—saw right through me. If I wasn’t careful, he would see it all: my flaws, my weaknesses, my scars.

And he’ll run like all the others.

With my face averted from him, I tried to tamp down the tears of frustration and sadness that threatened. “I don’t know you.”

Fingers at my chin tilted my face up. Seconds feeling more like hours, he studied me. “You know me.” He stated that with far too much confidence for my liking. “You know everything about me, down to my record of service, even though that was classified information.” His gaze narrowed on mine with his words, but I couldn’t help the shy smirk as I caught the corner of his lips twitching up. “You know everything about my team. Hell, you probably know everything about everyone you’ve ever met in your adult life, even though you don’t have their files on those super computers of yours.” It seems that Brycen had done a fine job gathering information from my systems.

“Some, yes. Most, never. And before you ask, I got to know Skylar the old-fashioned way. I can do that when I want.”

His hands cupped both sides of my face and he leaned in close. Close enough to feel his breath fanning over my face. My brain was getting foggy from his nearness. “The problem, as I see it, is that you’re trying to close doors when you should be opening one in particular; the one that’ll let us…that’ll let me know you.”

I tried to shake my head, deny the truth of his words, but his grasp prevented me from doing so. “You don’t want to get mixed up with the likes of me,” I said.

“Let me be the judge of that,” he whispered, pressing his forehead to mine, his eyes closing for a moment. “Let me in.”

“Easier said than done, Dalt—”

He hushed me with a gentle press of his lips. A press that ended far too quickly for my liking, but he never moved too far away, leaving his eyes closed, his forehead still touching mine. Then he sighed. “I’ve been waiting to say this for a long-assed time because of your skill and extreme stubbornness.”

“What is it?” Fuck, could I sound any more breathless?

“I know we haven’t brought up that night from a year ago in our conversations, so thank you.” He opened his eyes and I was ensnared with what I saw there. “Thank you for stumbling onto Morgan’s video. Thank you for stepping up to the plate and getting involved. Thank you for being our eyes and ears where we couldn’t have them. Just…thanks.” Then he pressed his mouth against mine once more, running his tongue over the seam of my lips. I opened for him on a moan of capitulation. My hands braced themselves on his shoulders, what with how weak-kneed he made me with the thoroughness of his kiss. It’s as if he was inhaling me. I liked it. Liked it a lot. Maybe a little too much.

“Do you think Brycen will be okay with me joining you guys on this case?” I blurted out as soon as we separated for much-needed air.

Dalton leaned back, humored disbelief strewn across his face. “I kiss you like that and you’re thinking of Matthews?”

“I’m sorry.” I pecked his playful pout without thinking. I couldn’t help myself. “It’s just, I know how it is between hackers. We’re a little territorial.”

“Well, he’ll just have to deal with it.” His matter-of-factness filled me with warmth. “You’re running point on this one.”

Say what? That’s when reality hit me. “Shit.”

“The guys will probably think I’ve officially lost my mind when I tell them tomorrow, but I’ll deal with it. If anyone gives you trouble, let me know.” His tone held authority so I played into it.

“Sir, yes, sir!” I saluted.