Chapter Fourteen
A new day and a new start. Yesterday, Darya had let herself nurse the mother of all sex hangovers as long as she’d wanted, but today was fresh. All business.
Or at least that was the goal.
With one last slow exhale, she closed her eyes and pictured herself detached. Professional and calm. She’d used the same visualization to get her through all kinds of tense conversations at Yefim’s side. Negotiations that covered ridiculous sums of money and thinly veiled references to murder. Surely the tactic would work on a man who made her sex weep with a single dirty look.
She popped the handle on her Challenger and stepped into the late-July heat. Even at ten ’til ten in the morning, the air was thick with the promise of a scorching afternoon.
The security latch clicked open on the tinted double doors before she’d even lifted her arm to open it, and a second later the super-chilled air from inside wafted against her skin.
“The new victim arrives!” Katy stood behind her desk and held out her hand. “I mean trainee, of course, but you’ll appreciate the term victim by the time Knox deems you ready for prime time.”
Darya shook her hand, grateful for the levity as well as the warm welcome. “I don’t mind hard work. And he speaks very highly of you.”
“Only because I’m as stubborn as he is and stuck at it until I proved he’d be better off with me than without me.” She sat back down, held up one finger and snatched the phone from its cradle. After she’d pushed a few buttons, she anchored the earpiece in place with her shoulder and said to Darya, “Knox gave me the rundown this morning. Said you already had your assignments for the next few days, but asked me to teach you the ropes on app support.”
Before Darya could respond, she snapped to attention as if someone had answered the other line. “Hey, Beck. Darya’s here.” She smiled at whatever he said then volleyed back with, “Yeah, got it.” She slid the phone back in place. “Beckett’s on his way up.”
“Beckett?”
“Yeah, he’s gonna handle your scans and get you set up in the office. Just head back this way when you’re done and I’ll walk you through our ticketing system and how we triage everything.”
Beckett.
Not Knox.
Not even so much as a hello.
It shouldn’t have hurt as much as it did, but the realization packed an immense punch. An unprotected blow square to the center of her belly. But could she blame him? He’d told her no strings and no expectations, and she’d agreed. Had even implied her feelings ran the same way. Now it was time to do her part, even if it was all a load of crap.
Katy motioned to Darya’s outfit. “You know, the dress code’s casual here. Jeans, sweats—heck one time, Misty showed up in flannel pajamas. Though, in fairness, that time she was just popping in before she had to run an errand for Knox.”
Darya scanned her linen sheath dress. The cut was simple and the buff color soft against her skin, but dressing for the office had helped her distance herself mentally. Still, cutting back on the dry-cleaning bill would be good. “Who’s Misty?”
“Knox’s assistant. She’s not exactly technically savvy, but she’s wicked good at keeping everyone’s rabid squirrels in a row.”
The heavy steel door to her right chunked open and Beckett ambled out. Of all the brothers, he’d always seemed the scariest in pictures—tall enough nearly everyone looked up to him with impressive muscle to balance his height. His dark chocolate hair was cropped close on the sides, only marginally longer on top, lending more severity to his strong, square jaw, but it was the quiet lethalness that emanated from behind his blue eyes that put people on edge. A deadly panther always poised and ready to pounce.
Yet today a huge smile split his chiseled face. “Hey, JJ.”
Nine months she’d carried her friend’s name and accepted it as her own, but hearing it now felt clunky. Wrong. As though she’d slipped her shoes on the wrong feet and gone for a stroll regardless.
He motioned to Katy. “Katy’s already got most of your information entered in the system. We’ll just need you to confirm your social and all the other details.”
Oh. Right. Just because she’d shared her real name with Knox and his brothers didn’t mean she could do the same with the rest of the world. Mistakes like that would crush what little normalcy Jeannie’s gift had created for her. “Thank you. Of course.”
He crowded close, the nearness more what she’d have expected from Knox after the night they’d shared than a man she barely knew. His voice dropped to a low rumble. “You ready to get set up so you can get to work?”
The words were right, but a suggested undercurrent wiggled beneath them. She inched backward. “Yes, absolutely.”
Beckett grinned as though he’d not only registered her discomfort, but that she’d somehow done exactly as he wanted. He motioned her toward the door he’d appeared from. “Well, then, let’s get busy.”
Weird. Something was off. Not quite big-bad-wolfish, but definitely something that told her to tread carefully. She nodded to Katy and cautiously started out in front of Beckett. “I’ll see you soon.”
If Katy had caught on to whatever was going on with Beckett, she didn’t show it, simply ducked her head back to the screen while her fingers flew across the keyboard. “Yep. I’ll be here when you’re done.”
At the door, Darya tried to open it, but remembered the hand scanner to one side when it wouldn’t budge.
Beckett moved in tight behind her and splayed his huge hand on the black pad. “Just relax,” he muttered low near her ear. “Trust me.”
Trust him? To do what?
The lock clicked open and he pulled the door wide.
She opened her mouth to ask her thoughts aloud, but he shook his head, a movement she’d have missed entirely if her gaze hadn’t been rooted on his face.
Definitely weird. Still she proceeded forward, her heels clicking delicately on the industrial tile.
“We’re headed to the last door on your right. Once we get your prints uploaded we’ll get you a computer and access set up.”
“Where’s Knox?” She hadn’t meant to ask it. Had promised herself she wouldn’t, but between Beckett’s odd behavior and her general first-day nervousness it leaped right out.
Beckett chuckled, a satisfied rumble that stopped just short of a caveman beating on his chest. “Don’t worry about him. I’ll take good care of you.” He splayed his hand low on her back, reached around her and opened the door so she could proceed him inside. “I promise.”
And so it went. Touch, tease and wink-wink all through the orientation process. Not once did he cross an inappropriate line, but by the time they’d scanned her prints and retrieved a computer from a tech lover’s utopian supply room, a soft breeze could have sent her leaping from her skin.
They’d just fired up her new equipment, Beckett leaning close over her shoulder while he pointed to her screen, when a low buzz sounded from somewhere.
Beckett grinned and murmured so low she could barely hear it. “Took him long enough.” He straightened and dug his phone out of his back pocket. “Yeah, what’s up?” He focused on the floor, his expression completely blank. “Not sure what you’re talkin’ about, brother. Just gettin’ our girl set up like you asked.” His lips twitched and he turned his back. “Now, why the hell would I do that? And even if I did, what difference would it make?” His shoulders shook, but when he spoke there was no trace of the laughter she’d expected alongside it. “Yeah, yeah. Got it. Message received.” He twisted enough to catch Darya’s stare and winked. “Later.”
He ended the call.
“Who was that?”
Ignoring her for the first time all morning, he stuffed his phone back in his pocket, typed a string of commands on the DOS screen, then pushed her computer back enough he could lean one hip on the edge of her desk. Gone was the man who’d flirted, cajoled and outright teased her all morning, replaced with the casual man she’d gotten to know Saturday night. “Okay, so you good on how the VPN works?”
“Umm.” She stared at her computer and gave her mind a few precious seconds to reboot. “Triple authentication. Use the fingerprint scanner, the key fob for the single-use password, then the pass phrase.”
“Perfect.” He stood and motioned to her desk. “You can work remote if you want, but my advice, you want to get on Knox’s good side, hit the office.”
Really? That surprised her. He seemed more of a work anywhere and all the time guy. Plus, if he wanted them to keep distance between them, coming into the office would make for more of a challenge.
Still, she agreed with the suit up and show up routine. The act of preparing and physically going to work, no matter how casual the environment, always sharpened her focus. At least it did when Beckett wasn’t crowding her space. She nodded. “I’ll be here. Every day.”
“Good call.” Beckett jerked his head toward the main lobby. “Katy worked late every night the first year she was here. Refused to leave until after Knox did. Totally paid off with her. He trusts her almost as much as he trusts me and that’s saying something.”
Interesting. Far more information than was appropriate for someone new and untried. Her instincts prickled.
Beckett stared back at her, steady and unwavering.
“Put in the hours,” she whispered.
“Definitely,” Beckett said back, though it sounded like he was asking more than telling. “You do, I gotta hunch it’ll be worth it.”
He stood and started typing a new DOS command. “A word to the wise, this unit’s got cameras and mics on all the time.” He hit the enter button, closed the command window he’d been typing in and straightened, the tone of his voice shifting to something more appropriate for discussing the weather. “You need me, you know where I am. Knox’s office is right next door.”
He ambled toward the door.
So that’s what he’d done with the DOS prompts. Killed the mic and camera long enough to share his advice. And he’d put her office right next door to Knox. Close to his brother.
“Beckett?” she said before he disappeared into the hallway.
Pausing with one hand on the jamb, he looked back at her and lifted both eyebrows. So innocent looking on the surface, but his eyes practically danced with mirth.
He was trying to help her. And not just on a professional level either. How she knew it she wasn’t sure, but the thought was there, drifting through her soft as windswept cotton. “Thank you.”
The stare he returned was intense, a demand and a plea all rolled up into one. He stepped back into the hallway’s shadows and dropped his voice low enough the camera mounted in the far corner would struggle to pick up his response. “Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it. Don’t give up.”
And then he was gone.