Why the hell her answer calmed him as much as it did he couldn’t say, but hearing those simple words unwound a good chunk of his tension. As for the blush, she might as well have dangled a red cape in front of a bull. One way or another, he was finding out what was behind it. “So, you want a mentor?”
She lifted her head, hope flashing brilliant behind her arctic blue eyes. “Yes. And maybe a chance to work for your company once I gain the sufficient skill.”
He fought back a smirk and rubbed his palm across his mouth to cover any tells that slipped by. He’d give her kudos for gumption. Katy hadn’t dared to utter the word employee until she’d lived and breathed all things programming for a year, and it’d still taken her another six months to make it on the payroll.
“I know it’s a time investment on your part,” JJ said. “So, I’m willing to trade my services in exchange. If you need anyone found, or need someone in your company to do entry level work, I can do that. I’m a fast learner. I’m not afraid of hard work.”
Damn it. Nothing reeled him in more than willingness and a killer attitude. If she had talent to boot, he’d be stupid not to give her a shot. He leaned his elbows on the table and nodded at her computer. “You bring samples of your work?”
The smile she gave him was bright enough to give the mid-afternoon sun a run for its money. Eagerly, she opened it up, tapped out her password and guided her fingertip along the trackpad. “I don’t have anything fancy. I’ve mostly taken simplistic existing applications and tried to replicate them on my own. I figured learning technique to start was more important than trying to create right away.”
Funny, because that was the same approach he’d taken early on—although when he’d been doing it, he’d been scamming to make a quick buck or two instead of wholesome learning.
She double-clicked the trackpad and spun her computer around. “I’ve got four I’ve been working on. They’re all in this folder.”
“All right.” He plucked her laptop off the table, wheeled in his chair to his desk and hooked the device up to his external monitors. “Pull your chair over here and let’s see what you’ve got.”
His focus was instant, the draw of the syntax in front of him lassoing his attention until the rest of the world fell away. Or at least it did until JJ slid her chair beside him and perched on the edge. No more than six inches away, her prim and proper skirt had ridden up to reveal a good span of creamy thigh. And her hair. Christ, it was long. Perfect for a man to wrap his hands around and pull her to him while he fucked her from behind.
Bad idea.
As in don’t even think it, dumbass.
He shifted in his seat, willed his cock to calm the hell down and scrolled farther down in her code. The structure was good. Rudimentary still, but a solid beginning. She’d even found some creative ways to streamline her code in places other people would have been thrown off course. He closed out the first app and opened the next.
Her scent gently curled around him, the same winter rose he’d appreciated in her apartment only more potent when combined with her presence. Even without looking, he felt her gaze on him. Studying him. Probably with that same doe-eyed wonder she’d nailed him with when he’d found her cooling her heels in the lobby. And damned if he didn’t want to turn his head, palm the back of her neck and give her something that would really rattle her world. He forced himself to focus and asked, “How long did this one take you?”
She kept staring. No answer.
“JJ?” He slanted a quick glance just to make sure she’d heard him.
Big mistake. That wasn’t doe-eyed wonder on her face. That was infatuation wrapped up in an insane amount of lust. Her lips were free of lipstick, but the lower one was shiny as though he’d just missed her tongue wetting it. And they were parted. Ready and begging for attention.
“How long did this one take you?” he asked again, though the repeat was a whole lot more grated than the first.
Her gaze lowered to his mouth, pure craving written on her face. “A few days for each.”
Fuck.
He wasn’t sure what turned him on more—the fact that she’d worked through how to make the apps work in a short amount of time, or that she hadn’t so much as flinched when he’d busted her openly eyeballing him. “Did you make any design changes, or copy the apps outright?”
She swallowed and some of her professional distance returned. As if she’d realized her dream was over and it was time to crawl out of bed. She faced toward the screen, evaluated what section of code he’d stopped on, then motioned for him to scroll down. “I took time to evaluate where the user interface could be streamlined. Places where the user could do more with less steps. This one had too many subpages to navigate in the settings menu, so I streamlined them into more intuitive groupings.”
A fantastic answer. Even some of the most gifted developers he’d worked with in the last ten years failed to maximize user interfaces. Whether she’d figured that out on her own, or picked the best practice up from one of the self-teaching modules, it demonstrated a whole lot of promise. Or at least the ability to actually listen and learn.
So, it wasn’t just willingness and a great attitude she brought to the table, but aptitude, too. The damned trifecta as far as he was concerned. And while his instincts had been way the hell off to start with, he was pretty sure he was spot-on in guessing she needed a leg up big time.
The downside? He’d catalogued at least ten different ways he’d like to screw her since the second he’d laid eyes on her. Even if she were some random woman he met socially, that kind of preoccupation reeked of complications, but mentoring her? That made her strictly off-limits. Besides, she wasn’t the no-strings type. He’d bet his state-of-the-art server room on it.
No, JJ was the type of woman a man stayed with for the long haul. That he’d protect. Spoil and pleasure. Definitely not the type of woman Knox wanted or needed in his life.
He spun enough to face her, crossed his arms over his chest and pulled in a deep breath. “You understand I run a check on every person who works with me?”
So what if he’d already done it. That wasn’t the purpose in the question. The response, however...that was the key.
Her gaze cut to the screen still displaying the code he’d scrolled through. For a minute, he thought she’d back down and tell him she’d go it alone. Instead, she nodded as though making some internal decision and lifted her chin a notch. She looked him straight in the eye. “I understand.”
“Will that be a problem?”
She shook her head but it was tight.
“Will I find anything?” he asked.
“I hope not,” she whispered.
And there it was. The truth without admitting a thing. But if they were going to work together, she needed to understand the level of scrutiny that came with the relationship. He held her jittery stare, leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “JJ, what I’m asking is am I going to find anything?”
Comprehension registered on her face and her creamy skin blanched to a sickly white. She swallowed huge. “You’ve already looked.”
He could lie. Hell, it might be the more compassionate approach. Then again, if she couldn’t handle this, she wouldn’t last a day with him in the office. “If Jason learned anything from me, it’s that I’m thorough. Surely, you assumed I’d do my research before we talked.”
“I knew it was a risk.”
A risk. Not a certainty or a necessary evil, but a risk. As in willing to expose her secrets in exchange for grasping a new future. “Gonna ask you a question and I want the truth.”
She nodded.
“I understand secrets,” he said. “We’ve all got them. But I’ve got a career and a family to protect, and I have to gauge what kind of exposure your involvement with me and my company creates. More than that, I need t
o know if I can trust you with my records. So, I’ll ask again. Are any pieces from your significantly lacking background gonna come back to bite me, or my family?”
She held his stare, so much emotion moving across her face he couldn’t grasp it all. Fear for sure, but there was something beneath it. Resignation maybe. Plus a mother lode of hope. “If my past comes back, it will come for me. No one else. All I want is a simple life. To build a career that will support me and create things I’m proud of.”
Oh, yeah. Definitely running. And as pretty as she was, odds were good the one chasing her had a dick and a nasty attitude to go with it. Whoever said asshole was, their chances of ever getting their hands on JJ dropped to nada the second she’d strolled into his office. No way in hell was he letting any man bully a woman.
“All right then,” he said. “Let me talk with my brothers. If they’re up for an addition to staff, I’ll take you on and teach you.” And if they said no, he’d find another way to help her stop running.
Chapter Six
Surrounded by his family, Knox kicked one boot-shod foot up on the ottoman and stretched out further on the entertainment room’s butter-soft leather sectional. It’d been two hours since they’d all staggered away from the dining room stuffed full of Trevor’s steak-and-potato dinner selection, and Knox’s stomach still felt like it was going to explode. Although, over-stuffed on KC Strips or not, he’d still kicked everyone’s ass in some old-school Mortal Kombat.
Gabrielle, or Gabe as the crew referred to her, yawned and snuggled deeper inside the crook of Zeke’s arm. “Who picks dinner next week?”
“Knox,” Ninette said with a smirk.
Everyone groaned in a well-synchronized chorus and Knox grinned huge. In the last three years, he’d pushed their tradition of one person picking dinner for family night by picking every kiddie favorite he could come up with. He’d thought Jace was going to put a hit on him the week he’d picked fish sticks and cherry Jell-O. “What? Someone’s gotta keep this group on their toes.”
“You’re not keepin’ us on our toes, brother, you’re keepin’ us fat,” Danny said.
Trevor’s wife, Natalie, smiled and smoothed her sleeping son’s overlong blond hair away from his eyes. The poor kid had passed out with his head resting on Trevor’s lap an hour ago and hadn’t so much as budged. “You guys might not appreciate Knox’s taste in food, but Levi’s a huge fan.”
“That’s because they’re both wee lads at heart.” Sylvie stood and started gathering up empty dessert plates. Where Knox kept everyone guessing with food, Sylvie’s personal mission was to find the perfect sweet to go with whatever meal was chosen. Tonight, it’d been a traditional cheesecake, made one hundred percent from scratch. Plates in one hand, she paused next to Knox, patted his cheek and winked. “Don’t let ’em get ta ye, love. Whatever ye pick is fine with us.”
Axel grumbled and thumbed through the screen’s television guide. “Christ, Ma. Don’t encourage him. We’ll end up eating frozen Kid Cuisines again.”
Vivienne snickered, stood and started helping Sylvie. “You guys are so dense. He only does it to get your goat. If you’d relax and go with the flow a bit, he’d find some other way to make you nuts.”
Yep. Jace’s woman was smart as hell. No wonder the Haven leader had given up his solitary ways to claim her.
As if spurred by some innate womanly cue, Ninette and Gabe joined in with cleanup detail, their quiet voices as they divvied up tasks and shared plans for the next day drifting through the room with a pleasant warmth.
Out of nowhere, the conversation he’d had with JJ popped in his head. He’d done that a lot the last few days, churning through the possible ways of how to bring her request up with his brothers along with his suspicions, but this time he couldn’t help but wonder how she’d fit in with the rest of the women. If she’d be as comfortable as Viv, Gabe and Nat were with his brothers.
Knox shoved the thought aside, closed his eyes and focused on the moment. Family night never got old. The other guys grumbled every now and then when Sylvie and Ninette demanded their presence each Wednesday, but not him. He’d waited his whole damned life for this. Watched the other foster kids he hung with finding permanent homes while he bounced from place to place, hoping each new placement would be different. But it never was. At seventeen he’d given up and accepted Beck would be the closest to family he’d ever get.
And then he’d met Axel.
One private security gig, a whole lot of hacking questions and a full year later, Axel, Jace, Trevor and Zeke had welcome him and Beckett into the fold. Only twenty-three years to get the family he’d wanted, but man, the wait had been worth it. So yeah, Ninette and Sylvie might have to browbeat the rest of his brothers, but it’d take an act of God and a probable loss of limbs before he’d miss this weekly sabbatical from the world.
Still chattering amongst themselves, the women ambled out of the room and toward the kitchen downstairs.
Jace scanned each of his brothers. “Who’s bunking down here for the night?”
That was the cool thing about Jace and Axel’s ranch on the outskirts of Allen, Texas. Every brother had their own suite away from Dallas’s chaos and no one but family was allowed. The massive estate was exactly what Jace had named it—Haven. A safe place where they could get away, say what they thought without censure and cover whatever business needed handling without fear of prying ears.
“I’m in,” Knox said.
“Me, too.”
“Yep,” Beck and Danny said in tandem.
Trevor cupped his son’s shoulder, the pride on his face as he did so rattling long dead hopes inside of Knox like a box of brittle bones. “Can’t tonight. Levi’s got a thing in town with his best friend in the morning.”
Man, but Trevor was lucky. Levi might not be flesh and blood, but as of a few months ago, he was Trevor’s boy as far as the courts were concerned. And he was a helluva kid. Rambunctious. Smart. Honest to a fault, too, which meant no one could never predict what jaw-dropping comment was gonna fly out of his mouth.
Zeke raked his fingers through this hair and yawned. “I’ve got a day shift tomorrow, so me and Gabe are gonna head home.”
What a difference a woman made. A little over a year ago, Zeke had been as hard to unwind as Knox, yet here he was at barely ten o’clock, yawning and ready to head home with his old lady.
Out of nowhere, the memory of JJ and the way that she’d looked at him during that one, unguarded moment during their meeting hit him hard. He’d had women look at him with lust before, but she’d focused on his lips like she’d die if she didn’t get a taste. He shook off the image and forced himself to focus. “Got something I need to run past you guys before anyone heads out.”
Axel folded up the footrest on his black leather recliner, stood with his empty crystal tumbler and tossed the remote next to Jace on his way to the wet bar. “Brother, you ate two baked potatoes, all of one strip and half of Gabe’s. Not sure you how can think after all that food.”
“No shit,” Danny said. “For a skinny guy, I don’t know where you put it.”
Jace chuckled and took up scanning through the television channels. “He works it off with the women in his little black book.”
Beck gave Knox a look that said he was about a nanosecond away from spilling how long Knox had gone without sleep before he’d caved and hooked up with Tiffany.
Knowing that would get him a whole lot of attention and a lecture he didn’t need from Zeke, he redirected the conversation before Beckett could speak. “You guys remember that skip tracer who helped us with Trevor’s deal?”
Axel glanced back from the wet bar. “JJ, right?”
“Jeannie Simpson on paper,” Knox said, “but me, Beck and Danny have been digging into her, and I’ve got a hunch that’s a bogus identity.”
Jace
paused with his scotch halfway to his mouth and asked, “Just a privacy thing or something else?”
“My gut says something else.”
Beckett crossed his arms as though he were settling in for a good debate. “For the record, his gut was paranoid a week ago. Then he met her and realized I was right.”
“Right about what?” Zeke said.
Danny snickered, but otherwise kept his silence. He’d barely been a brother for a year, but he’d settled into his place among them like he’d been there his whole life.
Knox scowled at Beckett. “Give it a rest, already. You gonna tell me you’d have thought any different if you’d found that picture?”
“Bloody hell.” Axel turned from the bar, leaned against it and crossed his feet at his ankles. “You three wanna quit the Larry, Curly and Moe routine? Found what picture?”
From Beckett’s place on the sectional, Axel was behind him, but Beck cranked his head Axel’s direction the best he could. “Knox got an email from JJ saying she wanted to talk about a business opportunity. But, Knox being Knox, he assumed she was out to blackmail the lot of us after helping us out with Natalie’s ex, so he dug deeper online for counter-dirt.”
“And?” Jace said.
Knox focused on Jace. “The JJ Simpson we worked with is squeaky clean. Only, if you go back in time about three years, she looked a hell of a lot different than she does now and lived in San Diego.”
Trevor frowned. “Not sure I follow.”
The same buzz Knox got anytime a decent puzzle or problem presented itself fired beneath his skin, nudging him past his lingering food coma. He pushed up on the couch and planted his elbows on his knees. “The online pictures I found of JJ Simpson three years ago and further back show a woman in her early thirties. Curvy body, gold-red hair, green eyes and 5ꞌ6″ according to legal records. Not a ton of online shots, but at least some candid ones on old social media accounts. Not exactly a country girl, but I’d bet she comes from a blue-collar background.” He shifted his attention to Axel, pacing closer. “Today all I can find are state and federal headshots and the woman in them has platinum blonde hair and light blue eyes.”
Tempted & Taken Page 5
