by Lexi Blake
“I think that’s going to have to wait.” Kyle crossed his arms over his chest. “We need to talk about what happened. I have a couple of thoughts.”
Hutch was about to argue, to beg Kyle to wait for the morning to debrief because he was horny and he’d spent days sleeping on a way too short for him couch.
But he stopped because there was a red light on the bottom edge of her TV screen. A light that should have been off because he’d made sure that smart TV wasn’t so smart. It shone in the low light from the living room, proof that something had gone terribly wrong. That light was on because in the last thirty minutes someone had turned on the monitoring capabilities of the TV. He’d studied up on the model and that indicator light stayed on for thirty minutes after the monitoring function was engaged. He watched as it blinked off, but that didn’t mean they were safe. It merely meant that they’d been lucky enough to get that important clue. If they’d been a few minutes later, whoever was watching would have gotten away with it. He wouldn’t have checked again because he’d turned the sucker off. Someone had accessed Noelle’s system.
Someone was watching them.
His night had gone straight to hell.
* * * *
Noelle glanced around the three-bedroom ranch house and wondered why Hutch hadn’t bothered to decorate. He’d explained that he’d recently bought the home from a friend of his who’d moved to Colorado, but he didn’t have much in the way of furniture.
In the spacious living room there were a couple of lounger chairs and a big screen TV that apparently didn’t scare Hutch the way hers had.
“Yeah, we’re at my place,” Hutch was saying into his cell phone. “Kyle is paranoid as fuck and he’s doing a sweep. I think we’ll be okay here for the night.” He paused. “I thought about getting her out of there. I know. Ian, I know. No, I didn’t panic, but she’s not a damn spy. She wouldn’t be able to monitor what she was saying the way the rest of us would, and it’s not fair to ask her. Of course I gave myself some cover. I faked a call from my cousin who told me my mother was in an accident. We packed up quickly and stopped to let security know we were going to be gone for a while. It should buy us a couple of days.”
Kyle strode into the living room from the back of the house. There was no way to miss the big gun in his hand. Kyle had been tense since the moment Hutch had pointed to that red light on her television. She’d tried to tell him it was normal. She’d seen it before. He’d shushed her and then he’d faked his phone call and she’d realized he thought someone was listening to them. Or watching them. He’d been careful to put a wall between himself and the TV.
It sent a chill down her spine. She’d thought he was paranoid before when he’d explained he’d turned off all the monitoring functions of her home hub. She knew in the back of her mind that the virtual assistant “listened” and learned. It was how it knew her voice commands and anticipated certain needs. One of the reasons she’d selected her apartment building was how high tech it was, and it offered a wide range of innovations in smart home technology.
Now she wondered who’d been watching her before. How long had she had eyes on her? How long had the mysterious “they” listened in on her conversations?
“Yes, I’m sure,” Hutch continued. “I’m sure because I’m the one who went in and turned them all off. I turned off the monitoring functions on every smart appliance she had. They were connected like a smart house should be. It’s how her hub system can control everything from the lights to her streaming services to filling out a grocery order for her. No, yours is not the same. I hooked up yours myself and I built in a code that lets me know if anyone fucks with it. I swear, Ian, it’s fine. I’m not coming over to do something that I already did. Yes, if someone has hacked your hub, you can absolutely pull my lower bowels out and feed them to your dog. I’ll help you.”
Noelle gasped. “Who the hell is talking that way to him?”
Kyle seemed to relax, putting his gun down on the TV tray that sat between the two loungers. He sagged down onto one. “Ah, that would be my kindly uncle Ian. You met him, right?”
She had, but she’d spent most of that time thinking about Hutch during her meeting with Taggart. “I don’t like the way that sounds.”
Hutch had moved into the kitchen, and she couldn’t hear him anymore.
“Don’t worry about Ian,” Kyle assured her. “His bark is worse than his bite. He’s softened up with age and a whole bunch of children. Once he was a pretty ruthless bastard. He was a legend.”
“In the security business?”
“In the…military,” Kyle replied. “He was in the Army. I was in the Navy, but we still knew about him. Mostly because his brothers, Case and Theo, were in the Navy, too. But like I said, he’s not the same Ian Taggart. Hutch is calming him down. He can get upset when things don’t run smoothly. You understand what happened, right? Hutch used a whole lot of professional terminology. I didn’t get about half of it, but I do know the basics.”
She’d gotten the gist. “Someone turned on functions of my smart home that Hutch had turned off. They were the functions that allowed the system to monitor things. Someone could watch me through the TV.”
“Not just the TV. Pretty much anything with a screen,” Kyle corrected. “And that includes your fridge. They could watch and record.”
“Why would anyone want to watch me?” It was what she still hadn’t figured out. She was boring. Even her research was considered boring.
“Because you work for Jessica Layne, and I fear she’s involved in some dangerous things,” Kyle replied.
“Like what?”
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out.”
“What could she possibly be involved in?” Noelle sank down to the seat beside Kyle. She sagged back because it was pretty comfy. “I know she’s harsh and she’s quick to sue, but she’s had to be. It can be hard to be a woman in STEM, much less a woman at her level.”
“There are plenty of women in STEM who don’t screw over everyone that they come in contact with. You heard the rumors about her former partner, right?”
“Of course. And I don’t agree with how Jessica treated her, but I figure it’s a lot like Jobs and Wozniak. Jobs screwed over his chief engineer so he could take control of the company.” The fight for control of Apple was legendary in the world of high tech. “That’s what Jessica did. It’s not right, but it happens all the time in business.”
“I don’t think that’s what’s happening here,” Kyle admitted. “What do you know about Jessica’s plans to take Genedyne public?”
“I don’t think she wants to. She’s got investors, but it’s not the same as having a board to answer to. If she went public, she would have far less control.”
Kyle nodded and sat back. “Well, we know something’s happening there, and you’re involved in some way. You said she’s now interested in your research?”
“Yes.” She had a lot of work to do. She hoped Hutch didn’t think she was going to be staying home for a few days. “Jessica got a look at my initial results. They’re promising. She can raise money off it if I can reproduce the results.”
“Did she raise money off Madison’s research?” Kyle asked.
“Of course. Madison’s research was flashier than mine. She talked it up all the time.”
“And Jessica’s still got that research?”
“Some of it, certainly,” Noelle replied. “I’m not sure how much was lost in the fire, but she had backups for the initial research. She should have almost everything up to the night of the fire. But I do know the experiment Madison was working on was lost during the accident. So anything she tweaked that night would be lost.”
“How much do you think Jessica raised on the hope of that research?”
Noelle didn’t pay much attention to the business side of things. It was one of the reasons she wanted that sweet tenured position at a university someday. She loved science. Business was the awful part of her job. “No id
ea. Though I do know she had investor meetings about it. The rumor around the office had Madison on the cusp of a breakthrough.”
“One has to think losing the head of the research would upset the people who invested because of it,” Kyle mused. “I would really like to see the financials on Genedyne.”
“I don’t think she shares that with anyone except maybe her CFO. I’m not sure. I don’t spend a lot of time in the upper levels.” She liked her lab, and now she had to wonder if she would see it again soon. “Does this mean I have to call into work?”
“No,” Kyle said.
“Of course it does.” Hutch was standing at the edge of his kitchen, his phone in hand. He put it back to his ear. “Yeah, do it, Ian. I’ve got a problem. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Fine. Tomorrow night. Yes, I’ll come to the club.”
He slid the phone into his pocket.
“What’s Ian doing?” Kyle turned the chair around, showing it could swivel fully.
“Running some more reports on Cara,” Hutch explained. “And I think it’s best if Noelle takes time off work.”
“I can’t. My research is in a delicate phase. I actually need to work this weekend. My boss is expecting a full write-up on Monday.” A bit of panic started. “Hutch, I can’t miss work.”
“You can write up your research here.”
She shook her head. “No, I can’t. A lot of my data is on the internal server, and I can’t take that home with me. I also need to run the experiment again and then again and again to make sure it’s not a fluke. I can’t miss work.”
“Chris believes we’re heading back down to Papillon,” Hutch pointed out. “So does Cara, since we had Noelle text her.”
“I don’t care what they think.” She couldn’t lose her job. “I’ll get fired and I’ll lose control of everything I’ve worked for in the last few years.”
Hutch’s eyes narrowed. “You could also lose your life.”
“If they wanted to kill me, they could have done it in the locker room,” she pointed out. “Kyle will get fired, too. I don’t understand. Do you think Cara is watching me? Why would she do that? I don’t understand how she would know I didn’t go back home like I said?”
Hutch and Kyle shared a long look before Hutch finally answered. “She might not be who she says she is. We have to consider that she might be the person who’s monitoring you.”
She couldn’t see Cara being a bad guy, but then she wasn’t the spy. However, Hutch was ignoring a very important detail. “Then she already knows I didn’t go to Papillon and it doesn’t matter.”
“She’s got a point there.” Kyle stood again. “I didn’t see anyone tailing us, and if Cara’s half the reporter she says she is, she’ll probably find out we aren’t who we say we are. She might already know.”
He’d placed a slight emphasis on the word reporter. “You don’t think she’s really a reporter?”
“I’m worried she might be like Chris Taylor,” Hutch replied. “I’m worried they’re the ones who turned on your monitoring. She knew we weren’t going to be in tonight. She asked about it. Chris can get into your apartment. If they’re working together, then it’s best we hole up someplace else.”
Kyle put a hand on his shoulder. “I get it, man. You’re worried about her, but she can’t go on the run without even knowing what she’s running from. We need to figure this out, and that means we might have to reach out to Taylor.”
“We don’t know who he’s working for.” Hutch’s jaw clenched in unmistakable frustration. “It would be one thing if we were absolutely certain he’s undercover for DPD, but we’re not sure.”
“Well, we’ll find out real fucking fast if we do question him,” Kyle replied.
“Or we’ll end up in jail if he’s working with the feds, or maybe dead if he’s working for someone else,” Hutch shot back.
Kyle went tense. “Who do you think he’s working for, Hutch? I thought we agreed he’s DPD and potentially working with the feds. You seem to have changed your mind about that but you haven’t talked to me.”
“He could be working for Jessica,” Hutch replied. “You’ve read her file. It wouldn’t be the first time she’s hired someone to watch her employees.”
“Why? If she’s worried about my research all she has to do is pull it off the server.” None of this made sense to Noelle. Neither did the odd tension between Hutch and Kyle. They were looking at each other warily. “She has no need to search through my laptop.”
“Then we should still consider that Chris is working for DPD,” Kyle said. “And if he hasn’t approached us, he’s not worried. We go to work. We come back here. We keep the peace and get our jobs done. Noelle is right. If whoever is watching wanted her dead, the locker room was the perfect place to do it. We need more data. You know this, Hutch. The only way to get it is to be in that building, to let me poke around.”
The thought of Kyle getting caught made Noelle’s breath hitch, but she knew he would be careful. She forced herself to her feet. “If you get caught, I lose everything.”
“I’m not going to get caught,” Kyle promised. “Half of what I’m doing is listening carefully. I’m supposed to accompany Jessica to a party tomorrow night. I’ve figured out there are going to be investors there. We need those names, Hutch. And Noelle needs to work this weekend because Jessica is talking her up. You understand that if she gets fired, it’s not as simple as her losing her job.”
“I lose my research.” The thought brought tears to her eyes. “She might even bring legal action against me. I know I make good money, but I can’t fight her in court.”
Hutch seemed to think about that for a moment and finally he nodded. “All right. We should get to bed. Noelle, you can use my room for the night.”
“You’re not staying with me?” She blinked in an attempt to keep those damn tears from falling. The evening had been an emotional roller coaster, and the thought that she wouldn’t end it with him felt like the worst rejection of all.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea.” Hutch wouldn’t look at her.
“I’m finding a corner to curl into so I don’t have to watch the rest of this melodrama,” Kyle said on a groan before pointing Hutch’s way. “You are a dumbass, and this is absolutely a clusterfuck of an assignment. Decide, man. This wishy-washy shit’s going to fuck with her brain. Call me if someone needs shooting. Noelle, that includes Hutch.”
Kyle stalked off, and she was left alone with the man she was pretty sure she was falling wildly for.
“Noelle, I am not rejecting you,” he said quietly. “I’m in a position where I feel out of control, and I don’t handle that well. I’m angry, and that means I shouldn’t touch you.”
“You’re angry at me?”
“No, I am angry at the situation. I’m angry at a world that won’t seem to let me find some peace. I’m angry at fucking Jeff and angry at Chris and Cara, and I kind of want to punch Kyle now, too. I’m angry because I should have met you at a coffee shop and we should be going to see movies and having dinner dates instead of hiding out from whoever wants to hurt you.”
He was angry, but the root of anger was almost always fear. He was afraid of what could happen. “I’ll be as careful as I can be. I promise I want to come out of this alive, but my job is important to me. I’ve been working for this for all of my life, Hutch. I thought this dream was dead after the accident, and I spent a year having to figure out that I was the only thing holding me back. I worked hard to get here. I can’t give it up.”
“I know, and I’m going to spend tonight trying to figure this thing out so you never have to.”
“I would rather you spent it with me.”
His fists clenched at his sides. “Like I said, I need to calm down. Why don’t you go to bed and I’ll have a drink and chill and I’ll join you later.”
She reached for her right crutch and stood. He wouldn’t join her until he was sure she was asleep, and they would have lost something precious. She wasn’t
ending this evening sleeping without him. The question was how to make him see reason. “Hutch, please.”
“Noelle, I’ve given on the important thing.”
Yes, and he was punishing himself over it. Still, she had to consider the fact that her pushing back had made him change his mind about her. “Do you not want to sleep with me because I’m not doing what you want me to do?”
His eyes finally came up. “I’m not sleeping with you because I want to eat you up, Noelle. I want to fuck you so hard you won’t be able to walk tomorrow without feeling my dick inside you. I want to dominate you, need it to feel like I control one fucking thing in my life—the best thing in my life. I want to tie you up and do whatever the fuck I want to you, and you are not ready for that.”
Oh, she felt ready for that. “Okay.”
“No, you took your first training class tonight. I’m not going to throw you in the deep end.”
“But my Dom swims so well. I can understand not trying things if you weren’t already good at them, but you need something and I’m willing to give it to you. I’m eager to give it to you.”
He shook his head. “No. I’m not going to risk it.”
He wasn’t trusting himself, but she had faith in him. Now she just had to push him to make him understand that she could handle what he needed, that she trusted him implicitly. She couldn’t prove that if they were sleeping apart. They were at a crossroads. That idea struck Noelle forcibly. What happened tonight would set them up for a good long while. She could be his trainee—treated gently but held at a careful distance—or she could be his lover.
Being his lover might require some manipulation.
“Is it because I’m fragile? Because you got a good look at my legs tonight and you’ve changed your mind?” She knew it wasn’t true, but she was willing to give his anger somewhere else to go.
Because she trusted him with her body and her heart.
That got his eyes to flare, and he crossed the space between them. “What did you say?”
Yes, now she had his attention. “I stated aloud my worry that you no longer find me attractive. Also, that you think I’m too fragile to have sex with.”
