Eva stared out the window to the frozen landscape beyond it. “I could see why you would want a tropical vacation.”
Harlow shrugged as she screwed the lids onto the two cups. “You get used to it. At least most of the snow here stays white.” She handed the fresh cup to Eva before replacing the juice and grabbing her own. “In New York it was nasty within fifteen minutes.”
“Is that where you’re from? New York?” Eva walked beside Harlow as they went to her office.
“No. I’m from Idaho.” Harlow dropped into her black desk chair and pulled out the bottom drawer on the right side of her desk. “It’s boring as hell there.” She held out one hand, opening and closing her fingers as she eyed Eva’s juice.
“More boring than Alaska?” Eva handed over her cup.
“Have you found Alaska to be boring?” Harlow added a generous pour of rum to Eva’s cup before handing it back.
“Fair enough.” Eva sucked on the straw, downing a few gulps of the refreshing drink. “That’s good shit.”
“Hell yeah, it is.” Harlow poured some into her own cup then stashed the liquor back into its hiding spot. She pulled her laptop closer, straw in mouth, and started typing. “Let’s see what sort of bullshit is going on in Cincinnati.”
“What are you doing?” Eva moved in to watch as Harlow worked.
“I’m gonna find out who broke into your company’s system.” Her eyes didn’t move from the screen. “Then I’m going to lock your shit down so it doesn’t happen again.” She spun the keyboard toward Eva. “Log in.”
“How did you find that?” Eva stared at the employee screen of the database they used to store and organize the information they collected.
“A seventeen-year-old with a YouTube account could have found that.” Harlow waited while Eva typed in her user name and password and hit enter.
Invalid user ID
“That’s interesting.” Harlow leaned against the arm of her chair, barely spinning from side to side.
“I must have put it in wrong.” Eva tried again, this time being very careful to make sure she hit the correct keys.
“I doubt it.” Harlow drank down more of her cocktail as she waited for Eva to finish.
She punched enter again.
Invalid user ID
“What a dick.” Harlow took the computer back and started clicking through screens. “I’m gonna steal his Panera points when I’m done with this.”
“Is there a Panera here?”
“Nope. I’m just gonna do it to be a bitch.” Harlow’s eyes moved over the screen as her fingers worked. “What kind of grocery stores do you have in Cincinnati?”
“Kroger I guess?”
Harlow was nodding. “I’m gonna get those points too.”
“Then I’m gonna hack his medical records and put in that he has a family history of enlarged prostates so he gets a finger in his ass every year at his physical.”
“He might like that.” Eva dropped down to sit on the floor.
“Good point.” Harlow didn’t look her way. “Okay.” She straightened in her seat. “Didn’t he say he paid someone to make sure no one could get into your system again?”
“Yeah. We have a company we contract to deal with all that.” Eva sat taller to look at the screen of Harlow’s computer. “Why?”
“I hope you didn’t pay them very much.” Harlow was in the database, navigating through the tabs. “There was nothing significant keeping me out.” She slowly shook her head. “I mean, they have the basics. A decent firewall. All your data is being backed up.” She frowned at the screen. “But it doesn’t look like they did anything I would consider high-security.” She started tapping at the keyboard again. “I think Chandler-bing got taken.”
“Can you tell how much information they were able to get?” Guilt tugged at Eva’s gut. Her team was like her family, and thinking that she was responsible for someone obtaining their information made her sick to her stomach.
Harlow pursed her lips, pushing them out as her head tipped to one side. “Maybe?” She tapped the end of a pen against the tip of her nose as she stared at the screen. “It sounds backwards, but since there wasn’t a lot of work involved in getting into your system, whoever did it wouldn’t have had to leave much of a trail for me to follow.”
“Shit.” Eva let her head fall back against the wall. “This is a freaking mess.”
“I guess.” Harlow spun her chair until they were face to face. “But, I mean the ass nugget has a point.”
“That this is my fault?”
Harlow winced. “Ew. No.” She leaned back, propping her converse-clad feet onto the top of her desk. “Shawn hired me to help Dutch, but I don’t know a lot about finding shit online and court records.” Harlow pointed the end of her pen at the center of Eva’s face. “But you do.”
“So?”
“What in the hell do you think we do here?” Her eyes barely shifted to the open doorway before moving back to Eva. “I’m tired of being the only chick.”
“You are the only woman who works here?”
“Shawn hired another woman named Bess, but she’s out of town and has a kid and—” Harlow waved her hand around, “whatever. She’s busy and I get it.” Harlow threw her pen onto the desk. “I just can’t be the one to keep these guys in line all the time.”
Eva pressed her temples.
This was all making her head hurt.
The company she put everything she had into for the past decade was crumbling. Chandler was being a total prick about it, shoving poor Mona in the middle.
And now Harlow was suggesting something she didn’t even want to consider.
“I can’t stay here.” Eva curled her knees to her chest. “I have to go back with Chandler and Mona and try to fix this.”
“Pretty sure Brock’s not going to be a fan of that plan.”
“Why in the hell would you think that?”
They’d only spent a handful of days together, and the first couple had been rocky.
The last couple were—
Well.
And Harlow wasn’t answering her.
Eva looked up at her new friend.
But Harlow wasn’t looking back at her. Harlow’s gaze rested on the open doorway behind her.
Shit.
Eva slowly turned. “Hey.”
“Come on, Tatum.” Brock held out a hand to her. “We need to talk.”
CHAPTER 17
“WHERE ARE WE going?” Eva turned to look behind them as he led her into one of the glassed-in tunnels that led between the three main buildings that housed all of Alaskan Security.
“To our room.” He pushed open the steel door separating the walk-way and the bunk house.
It was a term they used loosely.
“So I guess we’re not going to get to go back to the cabin tonight.”
“Doesn’t look like it.”
While Eva met with Chandler and Mona he’d had time to chat with Dutch and Shawn.
About a few things.
Eva came to a stop, eyes wide as she stared around them.
He waited as she took in the space. It probably wasn’t what she was expecting.
“Who all lives here?” She craned her neck to look down the hall that led to the private rooms on the first floor.
“Probably half of us at any given time.” Brock gently tugged on her hand to get her feet moving again. “The other half are either out on jobs or taking personal time.”
“You guys get personal time?” She seemed surprised.
“Do you not take time away from your job?”
One shoulder lifted and dropped. “Not really.”
“Seriously?” He walked through the open area that made up the kitchen and living room floor one shared. “What about weekends?”
“Don’t look at me like that.” Eva scowled a little. “I was trying to build a business.” She pointed around them. “I bet Pierce doesn’t take days off either.” Her finger moved his way. “An
d what about Harlow? Does she just wander off and let everyone fend for themselves when she needs a break?”
They needed to get Harlow an assistant. Someone to lighten her load.
Eva smirked. “See? I’m not the only one.”
“You haven’t worked much since you’ve been here.” It took shipping her across the country, but at least Eva was finally taking some time off.
Her nostrils flared. “And now I’m fucked because of it.”
He hadn’t caught much of her conversation with Harlow, only the last bit where the team’s hacker accurately predicted Shawn’s next move.
The team had been missing something, and it was only getting more and more obvious what that was. Women looked at things differently, brought a level of analytical emotion to a situation that men frequently didn’t. They needed that viewpoint now more than ever.
Unfortunately, Alaska was not a popular choice of residence for the type of women they were looking for.
“I’m sorry about what’s happening with your business.”
Her gaze locked onto his. “Are you?”
One heartbeat was all it took for him to decide to give her the truth.
“No. I’m not.”
“I put everything into that company, Brock. I can’t just walk away from it.”
“I know that.” He used his hold on her hand to get Eva moving again, this time toward the stairwell leading to the second floor. “I wouldn’t ask you to.”
“Good. Because I can’t.” Her boots hit the metal steps hard as Eva stomped her way up. “They can’t just come here and tell me I’m out.” She was snarling as she spoke now. “Buy me out my ass.”
“Do you want me to call Charles? See if he can look into your legal options just in case?”
“Who is Charles?”
He didn’t want to help her with this. If this Chandler dick got Eva to sell her share of the company then there was nothing keeping her in Cincinnati.
And she would need a job. Preferably one that paid well.
But if Eva stayed here, it would have to be her choice.
“He’s our attorney.”
“You would do that?”
Brock stuck the key card Shawn gave him into the door of room twenty-two and the lock clicked open. He waited until they were inside to continue the conversation. “You have a life, Eva. What kind of guy would I be if I asked you to leave it all behind?”
He caught the conflict warring in her eyes. Knew this was a tough line he had to walk. All it would take was one wrong move and down he would go.
Possibly permanently.
“My life isn’t more important than yours.” He stepped in close, cradling her face in his palms. “I just want you to know you have options. Go back to Ohio and fight for your company if that’s what makes you happy.” The thought sat heavy in his gut. “That’s all you have to do. Whatever makes you happy.”
He almost meant it.
Eva nodded, her eyes finally dropping from his.
The realization that she would probably be leaving him was like ice in his veins. A chill he would never be able to chase away.
She moved closer, easing in until her body rested against his, cheek pressed to the center of his chest. Her arms came to wrap around his waist.
“I like you, Tatum.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I like having you with me.” Another kiss to the tip of her nose. “I like hearing you laugh.” She gave him one as he kissed her cheek. “I like watching you give people hell.” He brushed his lips over her ear. “I like watching you give me hell.”
“Sometimes you deserve it.”
He chuckled. “I probably always deserve it.”
“Most people don’t like when I give them hell.”
“Most people are stupid.”
She didn’t blink. “Most people think I’m crazy.”
“They might be right on that one.”
Eva frowned at him.
“In a good way, though.” He smiled. “It would take a woman who’s a little crazy to walk into a life like mine.” Brock skimmed his fingers along the neckline of her sweater. “And I like your particular brand of crazy.”
“I’m not sure it’s strong enough to have its own brand.”
“It is. It definitely is.” He started laughing. “You told Pierce your Gram-Gram was shot between the eyes.”
“She was.” Eva said it completely deadpan. No amusement at all.
He was going to love her. Hard and fast.
And God help him if she didn’t love him back.
“Maybe I can make up for it.” Brock pushed against her, moving Eva in the direction of the bedroom of the second-floor suite.
“Pierce will owe you one.” She held on, letting him walk her backwards, never looking away from his face, trusting him to get her where she needed to go.
“Just one? Your standards are already slipping.”
Her head dropped back and Eva laughed, a full-body, soul-deep laugh that only she could make the sexiest thing he’d ever seen.
Brock didn’t bother flipping on the switch in the bedroom. The light filtering in through the open door was enough to bathe her in a soft glow. He peeled her sweater off before grabbing her around the waist and dragging her onto the mattress.
She scoffed. Loud.
He stopped. “What?”
“You didn’t even look at my bra.” She grabbed him by the hair and lifted his head until her eyes were on his. “You made a big freaking deal about it yesterday and now nothing?”
Was it really just yesterday? Time stopped making sense the minute he picked Eva up at the airport. It felt like forever ago that she dropped fruit punch and sushi on his boots.
Like he had known her for years.
“I’m more interested in the panties.” He pushed up to his knees and unfastened her jeans, grabbing the waistband and pulling to reveal—
Eva was laughing again, her torso curling with the exertion.
“Thank God I do what I do, Tatum.” He pulled her pants the rest of the way off and threw them over one shoulder. “Because you would intimidate the hell out of any other man.” He dropped down, pulling her legs wide to reveal her uncovered pussy. “You can’t make a habit of this.” He kissed the center of her mound, working his way into position. “If I know you’re walking around with no panties I won’t be able to keep it together.”
Her back arched a little as he probed between her labia with his tongue, finding her clit already swollen. Knowing she wanted him the way he wanted her pulled a groan from his chest.
Eva’s hand locked onto the hair at the front of his head as he lapped at her, gripping her hips to keep her still so he didn’t lose his rhythm.
“Brock!” His name jumped from her lips as she came, her hold on his hair tightening to the point it almost hurt.
But in a good way.
He loved her passion. The way she owned it. Unabashedly.
It made him want to pull more out of her so he could keep it for himself. Carry it with him when he was away.
Because there would be times when he was away from her.
Possibly soon.
Brock fought his own shirt over his head as Eva grabbed at his pants, her fingers frenzied as they worked the fly open.
“I want you in me.” She shoved at the jeans, pushing them out of her way.
“Ow, ow, ow.” Brock caught her hand right as she dragged the teeth of the zipper over his dick. “Watch the zipper.”
“Well if you weren’t in such a rush earlier they would have already been off.” Eva pulled the zipper away with one hand and used the other to tug the pants down.
“Are you complaining that I was in a hurry to go down on you?”
Eva’s hands came up to shove at his chest, hard enough to knock him to one side. “Shut up and let me get you naked.” She stood up on the mattress in nothing but a plain, white bra and wrestled his pants the rest of the way off, straightening when they were free, holding them up and smi
ling like she’d won an Olympic medal. “Ah-ha.”
He stared up at her. This wild woman would never be easy. She would never be simple.
She would never be boring.
“Come here.”
Eva shook her head. “Nu-uh.” One hand went behind her back. A second later the cups of her bra fell loose. Eva caught it as it slid down her arms, then pulled it tight by the straps and shot it straight at him.
He caught it mid-air. “Now come here.”
Her head moved from side to side. “You’ve gotta come get me.”
Brock didn’t move. He laid perfectly still even though all he wanted was to grab her. Roll Eva’s body under his and fuck her until leaving him would never cross her mind again.
Until she recognized what they had.
Eva stood straight, eyes studying his face. “What’s wrong?”
“Not a thing.” He pushed up to one elbow. “Except that you’re up there and I’m down here.”
She stabbed a finger his direction. “You’re trying to make this,” her hands waved around, “emotional. Stop it.” Eva bounced a little. “I just want to have fun this time, Brock. Please. I can’t do that right now.” Her shoulders slumped a little. “I don’t have it in me.”
“I can be fun.”
“You keep freaking saying that and I’m seriously doubting that you even know what that word means.” She wiggled her brows at him. “Prove me wrong.”
“Damn it.” He jumped up, catching her just as she started to jump away and taking her down to the bed.
Eva laughed as his body bounced on hers. “You move fast for a big guy.”
Moving fast was his MO for years. The only way he did anything. Get in and get out. Professionally and personally.
The faster you moved, the lower the risk.
But he didn’t want to take anything fast with Eva. He wanted to enjoy every fucking second.
“You’re looking awful serious again, Broccoli.” She reached between them, her hand wrapping around his dick. “I need you to keep being fun right now.”
Counterfeit Relations (Alaskan Security: Team Rogue Book 2) Page 16
