“It’s the strangest thing,” says Kiely. I’m back in my office and had hoped to bring Hunter a laptop tonight so he could start looking for a match. “I can’t find anything wrong with the code, but Hunter’s profile won’t let the search work.”

“Maybe it has something to do with the fact we set this up for only five hundred aliens.”

“No, that’s not it.” A pen taps on the table as Kiely bounces it. “I’m completely stumped.”

I reach over and grab her pen so she’ll stop the annoying noise. “Should I reload him? I could have done something wrong setting him up.”

“I doubt it, but sure, go ahead and delete his profile, and start again.”

Kiely yawns, and I say, “Get out of here. I’m sorry I kept you late for this, but I appreciate your help.”

“No problem.” Her laptop clicks shut and she tucks it under her arm. “I’ll take another crack at it in the morning.”

I know better. Kiely is like a dog with a bone when a coding problem presents itself, and I bet she’ll stay up all night trying to sort out the issue. “No you won’t.” I reach over and yank the computer out of her grasp. “This stays here.”

“Hey!”

“If I let you take this home, you’ll be working all night until you solve the problem.”

She puts her hands on her hips. “No I won’t.”

“Right. Then you won’t care that this stays here.”

Kiely squints at me as she drops her hands. “I don’t like you when you’re pushy, Boss Lady.”

“Boss Lady?” Hunter steps into the room and flashes Kiely a smile that could land him a starring role in a toothpaste commercial.

Kiely lets out a low whistle as she scans the alien with her gaze. “Day-um. We don’t need to fix this guy’s profile. I’ll just take him home and call him mine instead.”

Hunter glares at her. “I’m matched to Lexi.”

I stop myself from snapping back and sigh. “What do you need, Hunter?”

“Can I talk to you when you have a minute?”

Kiely says, “I was just leaving.” She slides a hand down Hunter’s arm as she moves past him. My heart stops a second, and the urge to punch Kiely overwhelms me. She has no right to touch him! “If you two don’t work out, the name’s Kiely.”

Hunter doesn’t take his gaze off of me as he barks out an order to her, “Shut the door on your way out.” Once Kiely is gone, he steps closer to me with a predatory look in his eyes. “I heard you have a coding problem.”

I step behind my desk to put it between us, and the laptop Kiely was using thumps when I set it down. I’m not sure how Hunter knows, or why it would concern him. “We do, but I’m sure it’ll get sorted out.”

When Hunter reaches toward me, I step back. But he was lunging for the laptop and lifts it up with one large hand. “Let me take a look.”

“What? No.” I reach for the computer, but he lifts it above my head as if I’m a child.

“Why not?”

“Because for one, you don’t work for me. And two, if Kiely couldn’t figure it out, then it’s too--” I realize I’m about to insult his intelligence, and since he’s holding the laptop I switch gears. “I’m sure it’s time consuming, and I couldn’t let you spend your night doing something I’m not authorized to pay you to do.”

Hunter’s sexy grin disappears. “You don’t think I can do it.”

“It’s not that. I swear.”

“No?” He plops down in the chair Kiely just vacated, and it groans under his massive body. “Then you won’t mind if I take a look.”

I bristle at the tactic I just used with Kiely. “Hunter. I don’t know.”

He ignores me as his fingers move smoothly over the keys, and I’m reminded of his graceful table manners. I never would have guessed he was a programmer too. This man might be more than a hot body. And I decide since he’s working on his own profile, I might as well let him take a shot at fixing it.

As Hunter scowls over what he’s seeing, I walk around my desk to peer over his shoulder. I see the usual lines of code. He says, “If you’re going to breath down my neck, I’m going to lose my focus.”

“Oh.” I step back. “Sorry.” I wander back to my desk and know I should find something to do, but I can’t seem to stop staring at him.

He barks out a sharp laugh.

“What’s so funny?”

“You listed my profession as a personal trainer.”

I recall the conversation I had with Nate about what to put down. I thought manual labor, but Nate convinced me that a body like Hunter’s doesn’t just happen from a physical job, and insisted it must be gym-created. “And that’s funny because?”

“Because I’m the biggest nerd you’ll ever meet.”

Now I chuckle, because brilliant men do not look like Hunter. “You can’t be serious.”

“Found it.” He types something and then turns to me with the computer held out so I can see the screen. “Want to try me now?”

His tone is suggestive, and I scowl at him before I click on the ‘search matches’ button. The screen begins to populate with a list of potential females for Hunter based on the made-up profile Nate and I created. I stare at him in shock. “How did you find it so quickly?”

“Basic hacker move.”

“Someone’s hacked into our system? That’s not possible.”

“Not only is it possible. It happened.” The chair squeaks as Hunter leans back. “You’ve got a security problem.”

“No.” My stomach knots up, and my shoes click on the floor as I begin to pace. Who would want to break into the dating program? “We’re the United States government! We have the best computer programmers in the world.” I turn on my heel to face him. “How could this happen?”

“You don’t have the best programmers in the universe.” He grins at me. “But you could.”

Mandy’s alien husband Caiden is a computer genius, and he’s supposed to be working for us starting next week. It occurs to me that if he and Hunter are good friends, they probably worked together. “Are you saying you’re the best?”

“I’m saying I can fix this.”

The edge of my desk is hard on my bottom as I lean against it. I imagine what my ruthless boss would do if she knew about this. I could easily lose my job, and more importantly, my entire dating program could be scrapped. I think about the countless hours I’ve poured into the Intergalactic Dating Agency, and my stomach knots up. If Kiely couldn’t find a solution, I’m not sure my IT department can fix this. But Hunter doesn’t work for me, and he doesn’t have clearance, and.... Now I think I’m going to vomit. “Having you do this goes against all protocol.”

Hunter raises his eyebrows. “This isn’t going to go away. The door to your system has been opened, Lexi.”

“I can’t pay you.”

“I’m not asking you to. I’m doing this to help you. You’re my mate, and I’m on your side.” His gaze intensifies when he adds, “Always.”

I take a deep breath because as much as I want to ponder the fact Hunter might be my type after all, I’m trying to come to terms with letting him help. But if I don’t do something, more than my program could be at risk. The hackers have opened a door into the government computers. “Do it.” I catch myself and add, “Please.”

Hunter nods at me, and he gets up from his chair to grab the laptop. “I’ll have you set by morning.” I watch him walk toward the door, and while I enjoy the view, it hits me that he has a brain that is just as sexy. He glances over his shoulder at me and says, “I’d like to try jelly donuts. I hear they’re--” He pauses for a moment to flash me a playful smile, and to suck on one of my fingers in his mind. “--sticky.”

Once he’s gone I stare down at my hand, and the heat of his mouth is still on one of my fingers as he works his way through them all. A shiver of desire runs through me as I let myself contemplate the fact Hunter said he was the biggest nerd I’d ever meet. Could he really be the incredible kind of man that makes my body sing and who also has a mind that will challenge and satisfy my intellect?