Devoted: A Masters and Mercenaries Novella (12 page)

But not until she’d informed Val that she wasn’t coming in. She touched the keys on the keyboard in front of her. It was attached to the mega tower that sat on the floor. She didn’t know a ton about computers themselves even though she worked for a company that supplied services directly targeting computer and information systems. Her degree was in management. She had lovely IT guys to handle the technical end of things, and her job was to give them the best work environment, benefits, and pay she possibly could.

But she did know that Flynn’s system was way more complex than her own. It looked like that sucker was attached to various hard drives. It was odd since most people would use thumb drives to back up, or the mysterious Cloud.

Flynn was old school. She liked it.

The screen came up but there was no screensaver. Just a flat black background and a request for a password. Even the font looked a little intimidating.

So she wouldn’t be using this computer to e-mail.

“Would you like to tell me what you’re doing?”

She damn near fell out of her seat. Amy gasped and then laughed a little as she saw Flynn standing in the hallway wearing nothing but his sweatpants. The man was way too yummy, but he’d scared her half to death. “Sorry. I wasn’t expecting that.”

“No, I suppose you weren’t.”

That was when she realized how narrow his eyes were, how his muscles seemed rigid.

She stood up. Apparently the man didn’t like anyone sitting at his desk. “I’m sorry. I was trying to e-mail work. I thought I would go in a little late. I don’t have my phone and I couldn’t find a landline to call from so I decided to e-mail.”

“I thought you couldn’t possibly miss work. That’s what you said last night.” His voice was arctic cold.

She nearly shivered at the way he was looking at her. There was no happy lover in his gaze this morning. “A few hours won’t hurt. I’m sorry. I should have asked you if I could use your system. I didn’t think it would be a big deal.”

He stared for a moment and she wished she was wearing more than his thin T-shirt. She felt exposed and she hated that.

“You should get dressed. I’ll take you to your place and then to work,” he said with finality.

“I thought we could have breakfast.”

“I don’t eat breakfast,” he replied. “But I’ll stop somewhere along the way if you need to. I have an early meeting. We should get going.”

She hated how vulnerable she felt, but he was important. A choice was laid out in front of her. She could do what he asked and protect herself or she could try to figure him out. “What did I do?”

His jaw tightened and then he took a deep breath, as though forcing himself to relax. “I have sensitive material on that system. I don’t let other people use it. You wouldn’t have been able to send an e-mail out. It’s not connected to the Internet.”

She wasn’t sure if she should try to hug him or go and get dressed. He seemed slightly softer than he had before, but he’d been so cold for a second. “I didn’t know that. I don’t know a lot about computers. I can type on one and use the software, but I’m crappy at fixing them. I assume everyone has Wi-Fi. Obviously I won’t bother it again. I’ll get a new phone today.”

She had a lot more time now that she wouldn’t be staying.

“Good. If there’s anything I can do to help, let me know,” he said, his voice turning excruciatingly polite. “There’s a nice bakery next door to this building. Maybe we can grab a Danish for you.”

She wasn’t sure why, but he seemed to want to get rid of her. Maybe he didn’t do the whole cuddly morning after thing. It hurt. It was a real, honest to god kick in the gut, but it wasn’t like she’d asked him for a ring or anything. She’d gone into this casually, looking for some friendship with other women like her and the occasional nice night with a man like him.

So why had he given her so much more?

She gave him her brightest smile, the one she plastered on her face when she dealt with her board or difficult clients. Women in business didn’t get to show their anger or their misery. It was always about the smile. “I’m fine. I’ll grab a protein bar at my place. I should head in to the office. And I’ll grab a cab. It’s not a big deal. I’m going to get dressed. Thanks for last night. It was wonderful.”

Amy started to move past him, willing herself to keep that fucking smile on her face.

He reached out and grabbed her arm. “I’m not used to people touching that system. In my business, someone is always out to steal the latest code.”

Message received. Don’t touch his shit. “Not a problem. Like I said, I’ll have my phone back in a few hours. I promise, I know where the line is now. It was an innocent mistake and I wish you would stop looking at me like I tried to commit some sort of crime. I was trying to send an e-mail, Flynn. That’s all.”

“I’ve been burned before,” he replied quietly. “Several times.”

She softened slightly. She did understand corporate spying. Her father had practically been the CIA. It was why she hadn’t gone after Glendale the way she should. She knew the sins her dad had committed against them. She didn’t understand them entirely or why her father had hated Glendale in particular, but she knew the Adlers had been burned more than once by her father’s deep belief in corporate espionage. “I’m sorry to hear that. I really wasn’t trying to hurt you. I don’t even know what you do. I don’t have a reason to take something from you.”

He stared down at her and for a moment she thought he was going to argue. Then he dragged her close and his mouth was on hers. He kissed her like a starving man, his tongue plunging deep.

He needed. She could feel it. She wasn’t sure what it was he was asking her for, but she felt his bone-deep need. It poured off him, and everything that was soft and warm inside her responded. That affectionate part of herself bent to his will. She’d shoved it down for so very long. Her love and affection weren’t needed in her father’s world. It had been something to hide away and toss out because it had been useless.

Flynn needed it and she was determined to give it to him.

“Don’t go,” he said against her lips. “Stay with me.”

It was all she’d wanted to do in the first place. “Yes.”

He picked her up, hauling her high against his chest, but when she thought he would move back to the bedroom, he strode toward his desk. He sat down with her in his lap and flipped open his laptop. The screen was suddenly on, but she was thinking far more about the thick erection pressed against her backside.

“Type. Be fast. I don’t want to wait,” he growled against her ear.

He’d pulled up his e-mail and moved the cursor to where she would put in a name. His hands moved under her shirt, reaching up to cup her breasts as he licked and nipped at her ear.

How was she supposed to type when her whole body was busy responding to him? “Flynn, I’m going to make a mess of this.”

“Type or I’ll explain to your boss that you’re far too busy pleasing your Master to come in to work today.” He rolled her nipples, tweaking them enough to let her know he meant business.

That would go over so well. She quickly managed to type the words she needed to because her focus wasn’t on that page. She clicked and it was sent.

“Good.” He stood again, showing absolutely no sign of strain. “The rest of the morning is mine.”

She held on and let her Master whisk her away.

Chapter Five

 “I want you to run every test you possibly can on that machine.” Flynn stared at the woman sitting at his desk, trying to let her know just how serious this was because she often didn’t take a damn thing seriously with the exception of her own work. “Don’t leave anything out. I want to know every single thing that was done to it.”

Chelsea Weston frowned his way. “Would an ultrasound help? Do you think it got pregnant by another system? You know they get a little crazy during puberty.”

She was brilliant but she could get sarcastic at times. Most of the time, really.

A chuckle came from the other side of the room. “Darling, you know Flynn has the equivalent of a chastity belt on that particular system. I scarcely think it’s been unfaithful.”

Of course her husband tended to indulge her.

Simon and Chelsea Weston owned the other half of the penthouse floor. They shared the outdoor space on the top of the building. He’d been surprised to find their half was kept in a lovely, peaceful garden where Chelsea did daily yoga. He’d heard rumors that Mrs. Weston had been seriously injured at one point, but he couldn’t tell. Yes, she had some scars, but she was healthy and graceful, a fact she attributed often to her husband. They were an odd couple. He was a very British man who was rarely seen in anything but an impeccable suit. He’d heard stories from his brother that Weston had once been MI6, which meant he’d kind of been James Bond before he’d joined the McKay-Taggart team. Chelsea was Charlotte Taggart’s sister and he was fairly certain she either worked for the CIA or some kind of government agency because some creepy dudes in black suits were always coming in and out of the building and they always visited her.

Still, they’d welcomed him and often asked him to join them for takeout at their place. He and Chelsea had bonded over their love of computers and their obsession with future tech. Their closest friends were Simon’s partner, Jesse Murdoch and his wife, Phoebe, who also knew a thing or two about computers. When they all got together, he would find himself sitting with the women talking about tech while the guys grabbed a beer and discussed the best techniques for shooting the bad guys.

There were weeks when they were the only people he would spend any real time with.

He’d kind of hoped the next time he was invited, he could bring Amy with him so he wouldn’t be the fifth wheel.

“If I thought an ultrasound would help me figure out what the hell happened this morning, I would call in a damn OB-GYN,” Flynn admitted.

Weston sobered a bit, sitting back in the chair he’d taken and regarding Flynn seriously. “Why don’t you tell me what happened?”

How to explain this without giving away too much? He trusted his friends, but he wasn’t sure how close they were to Amy’s side of the family. But this was one of the things Weston excelled at. He and Murdoch had worked plenty of corporate cases. “I told you how I’ve been dealing with some corporate espionage.”

“You mentioned it.”

Moment of truth. He was either going to find out how close he’d gotten to this couple or he would learn his place in the pecking order. It was a little sad that he was nervous about this. At one point in time he had plenty of friends. Now he was worried about losing the only ones he had. “My training partner is the CEO of the company that’s been bombarding mine for years.”

There was a feminine gasp from the office section of the room. “No way. Dude. That is the single most interesting thing I’ve heard in a very long time. Satan fucked up.”

Weston frowned his wife’s way. “Don’t even start.”

“Satan?” He had to ask.

Simon sighed. “Now she’ll start. That is my sweet love’s affectionate nickname for her brother-in-law. I do have to say I’m rather surprised that this didn’t come up in the vetting process. They’re usually quite thorough. Do you think it’s Rycroft? Is he cutting corners?”

The last thing he wanted to do was get Wade in trouble. He was new and Flynn liked the big cowboy. “I can’t imagine that he did.”

“Kai and Wade don’t run the background checks,” Chelsea said, looking more animated than he’d ever seen her before. “That’s a McKay-Taggart job. Ian makes the ultimate decision. He’s the one who’s cutting corners.”

Weston stared at his wife. “Don’t even think about it, love.”

Chelsea flushed slightly, as though the deep voice had done something to her, but she soldiered on. “Can’t you see that this is how we figure out what the hell he’s doing? He’s sending Li to parts of the world where we don’t have ongoing jobs. He’s been secretive and that crap he pulled letting the feds run a job in Sanctum a few months ago…that’s not like Ian. This is how we get him to tell us what’s happening.”

Weston shook his head. “In the first place,
we
don’t have ongoing jobs, love. You don’t work for McKay-Taggart. You made that decision a very long time ago. Secondly, we’re both going to stay out of it. When Ian needs us, he’ll let us know.”

“Even the Agency is blocking me,” Chelsea said, her frustration evident in the tight line of her mouth.

Weston’s eyes flared. “Excuse me? Are you forgetting we’re not alone?”

Chelsea rolled her eyes. “He’s a smart man, Si. He figured it out a long time ago.”

He had to admit that he was fascinated by the argument between the two of them. He didn’t understand all of it, but it was definitely intriguing. Big Tag seemed so very calm, collected even in the face of losing his brother the year before. What was really happening underneath that placid surface?

And he had figured out who Chelsea worked for. “If Langley doesn’t want people to know there’s an employee working here, they shouldn’t send out all the suits.”

Weston sighed. “That’s the business side of the Agency. They’re a pain in the arse and they never seem to leave her alone.”

“Yeah, well, my new handler is quite the pain in the ass, too. I thought Ten was bad,” Chelsea admitted.

“He’s going to find his job very short lived if he doesn’t stop flirting with you,” Weston admitted before turning to Flynn. “Mr. White doesn’t wear a suit and you’ll never see him coming. He’s the truly dangerous one.”

“And he’s shutting me out,” Chelsea complained. “I swear Satan made some kind of deal with him and I’m going to figure it out.”

“You will leave it alone and we’re going to have a talk about it later. Are you going to help our friend or should we begin that discussion now?” Weston’s tone had gone arctic.

The man had the Dom voice down. It sounded particularly good with a British accent.

Should he have turned that voice on Amy earlier today? Should he have sat her down and explained that he wouldn’t accept another second of her company’s interferences?

Chelsea seemed to calm down and got back to the job at hand. “Do you suspect she manipulated the system to get into your house?”