Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 125700 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 629(@200wpm)___ 503(@250wpm)___ 419(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125700 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 629(@200wpm)___ 503(@250wpm)___ 419(@300wpm)
“It’s okay.” He stood up and stared down at her for a moment. Damn but she was still so pretty it hurt. She hadn’t been the cheerleader type or the glamourous girl, but she’d been the one who caught every part of his soul and had once held his heart in her little hand. “I’m glad you came to me.”
She gave him a half smile. “I didn’t know who else to go to. It won’t be too much trouble. I promise. You’ll see. I’ve got it all planned out and taken care of.”
Sure she did. He had zero doubt that she would know exactly how to deal with the computer system, but she had no idea how complex an op like this could get. He hadn’t even delved into the details of why she thought her boss was doing something that could threaten national security, and he was certain it would be a delicate op.
After all, they were dealing with one of the smartest men on the planet, and likely one of the most ruthless.
“Well, we can talk about that over pizza. A whole lot of pizza,” he said. He might be eating pizza for the rest of time. Or he could invite Boomer over tomorrow and it would be gone in one night.
“Good. I’m starving,” she said with another yawn. “I didn’t eat most of the day. I was too nervous.”
“There’s plenty.” He walked toward the hallway, reluctant to take his eyes off her in case she disappeared.
He opened the door, paid the guy, and headed back in with all freaking five pizzas, one of which was covered in something called srirancha, a combo of sriracha and Ranch dressing that MaeBe craved like Hutch did candy. It was also something Deke wasn’t going to touch because he didn’t like his gut going up in flames.
He wondered if Maddie had expanded her culinary horizons past the casseroles and meat and potatoes they used to eat in their hometown.
He stepped back in, ready to offer her anything she liked.
And that was when he realized she was asleep on his couch.
He sighed and put the pizzas down.
He had a guest room, and it looked like it would get some use tonight.
The girl he’d loved was now a woman in trouble.
He wasn’t going to let her down.
But she might not like how he did it.
Chapter Two
Maddie followed Deke out of the elevator. She was surprisingly awake, probably because she’d actually slept the night before. She’d made a nominal protest when Deke had picked her up and started carrying her to his guest room, but it was all for show.
He’d taken over, and while she knew the feminist in her should be railing at the constraints, she also figured the feminist inside her respected a subject expert, and Deke had been right about that. She didn’t really know what she was doing, and that could be dangerous.
“So you came here after you left the CIA?” She followed him down the hall, trying to make some small talk to cover the fact that she couldn’t take her eyes off him. It was weird. It wasn’t normal. She kept trying to act like she had some semblance of sense, but every time she tried to focus on something else, her eyes drifted right back to him. She’d watched him make eggs and toast and bacon like a teen girl at a boy band concert.
“I kind of fell in here and it stuck,” Deke allowed. “Two of the guys on my team are the big guy’s brothers. When things came apart, we all ended up here. I don’t think we were ever officially hired, but after a while Charlotte took pity on us and I’m still riding that wave of sympathy ten years later.”
“So it’s a security company?” She kind of wanted to keep him talking. It was weird when he fell silent because then she didn’t have an excuse to stare at him.
He stopped, turning her way, a brow cocking over his piercing eyes. “Seriously? So you read up on BDSM because you were curious about what I was doing, but you didn’t check into the company I work for before you came to find me and ask me to help you out?”
He was killing her. The old jock Deke would have smiled and accepted anything she said as fact. It wasn’t like he hadn’t been smart back then. He had. He just hadn’t used his smarts very often. He certainly wouldn’t have challenged her like this.
The new authoritative presence did something for her, and that was dangerous.
Unfortunately, he was right. “Fine. Of course I read up. I was making small talk.”
He grinned, an open, happy expression that also made her heart do a flip. “Tell me what you’ve found out.”
“McKay-Taggart is considered a boutique firm.”
He snorted. “Please tell my boss that.”