Night Hack: A forced proximity alpha hero hacker romantic suspense (Nightshade Book 4)

Chapter 10

Brycen

It was just a thank-you peck, nothing to write home about,I reminded myself for the umpteenth time today.

After that kiss, I’d had to make my way into the office, leaving Rex in charge of Jana and her mother when all I’d wanted to do was hold her longer, tilting her head up to mine, ravishing her mouth the way I’d been craving.

“Woohoo! Did you hear me?” Devolin’s waving hand in front of my face snapped me back to reality.

I shook my head, focusing on my boss’s wife. “Huh?”

“Oh shit, I think you’ve really got it bad, Baby?—”

“Shut up,” I said without much malice. “What was it you were saying?”

“The First Bank datacenter case is officially closed and paid out,” she announced. “I just thought I’d let you know since you thought you’d fucked up that op.” I nodded. “Dalton said they’re in the process of negotiating a new contract with us now.”

“Really?” I guess I hadn’t read Mayer all that well. Then again, I hadn’t spoken to the man with the exception of the time I’d called him at stupid o’clock. “That’s fantastic news.”

Devolin’s head bobbed up and down, and I could tell she was eager to learn things.

“Just ask, Huss.” I laughed lightly, using the moniker we’d all grown to know during an op-gone-bad, which felt like ages ago.

“What’s going on with that Elway case?” she blurted out. “You gonna go for it with Jana, or you going to just sit in this office and stew over your undeniable attraction toward the woman?”

“How about I let you in on everything when I know myself,” I told her.

Her brows furrowed. “Everything okay?”

“I dunno,” I said, shaking my head. “I feel like I’m missing something in all of this, but I don’t know Jana well enough to pinpoint what it is yet. If you’re asking me about instant attraction, yeah, it’s there in spades. She seems to be standoffish, and honestly, part of me appreciates the distance she puts between us, because I’m better able to work at keeping her safe.”

“But it’s confusing, right?” Devolin had hit the proverbial nail on the head.

“Yeah.”

“And Kip tells me that a few of the guys have warned you off her, at least until we know more about who this sicko is,” she added.

Had it truly come to this? Were my coworkers so bored outside of work affairs that they’d taken up gossiping like old schoolmarms in the lunchroom?

“You’d be right on that,” I said.

“So, naturally, you want what you shouldn’t have; am I right?” she surmised aloud. “It’s a typical human reaction, Bryce. We all go through it at some point or another.”

“But it has nothing to do with why I’m attracted to her,” I explained.

“Then, if you want my opinion, just go for it,” Dev plainly stated, then looked past my shoulder. “Right, Ember?”

Emberlyn walked into our tech hub at that moment, a large grin on her face. “If you two are talking about that 9-1-1 dispatcher the guys are yapping about in the conference room, then yeah, Bryce, go for it. By the way, they need you both for an update on that case. I’m going to head out. I have some errands to run before I pick up the car from the shop. Shane drove me in,” she explained.

Devolin hugged our friend before hightailing it to the conference room, and Emberlyn stopped my forward progress with a gentle touch to my arm.

Her eyes were gentle and caring. “Seriously, just do it. If anyone will understand that pull you feel, it’ll be Shane. Never mind what my husband told you.”

I nodded. “Thanks.”

“And when something finally happens between you two, I expect a dinner date.” With a wink, she made her way to the reception area of our office suite, and moments later, I heard the telltale click of the door’s latch snick closed.

Jana

Mom had spent the better part of the day in bed, sleeping, which had left me with loads of time to tackle a few house projects I hadn’t gotten around to finishing, especially the decluttering and organizing of the kitchen cabinets after both she and Jason had moved in.

Believe me, I was more than grateful all Brycen had needed was a deep CorningWare dish, a few knives, a spatula, and regular table utensils for his breakfast concoction, or else, there’d have been a disaster of epic proportions in the form of a dish tsunami tumbling out onto my face.

So, there I was, sitting in the middle of my kitchen floor, sifting through the oodles of food storage containers I’d amassed over the last few months when I heard footsteps.

“Jana?”

“Right here, Rex,” I called out, waving a white plastic top, hoping maybe he’d come to rescue me from what felt like an unsurmountable disaster. Okay, so I was being a little dramatic, but you should have seen it. If I’d had the disposable income, I’d have certainly thrown it all away and gone on a shopping spree to buy only the containers that were most useful. Instead, I’d invested in a multitude of storage containers, bins, and organizers to hopefully ensure the Tupperware cabinet would never get out of hand like that again.

Seriously, what’s with using containers to contain other containers?

“What in the hell?” he blurted out while leaning over the edge of the island countertop to find me swimming in storage solutions.

“Since I’m not going in to work tonight, I figured I’d tackle a small project,” I explained.

The man guffawed. “You call this small? Looks more like a mountain right now, hon. Just dropping the mail. Where did you want it?”

“The island is good,” I answered. Before I knew it, Rex had gone back to his post, leaving me to make some sense out of my kitchen chaos.

By dinnertime, Jason had arrived home only to shower and change.

“Got a date,” he muttered before I heard the beeping of security alarm buttons, and the front door opening, then closing, and locks…

The locks never engaged.

Instead, the door opened and shut again.

“Forget something?” I called out from the couch in the living room.

“Not unless you wanted Dr. Pepper instead of Pepsi.” Brycen had me jumping out of my skin as he appeared in the living room entrance with a large pizza, a six-pack of light beer—is that Bud Light?—and another of Pepsi.

“You scared the crap out of me,” I said breathlessly, a hand on my chest.

“Would you get the alarm, and lock the door? Your brother seemed in too much of a hurry when I got here, so I told him I’d handle it.”

I immediately got to my feet to do just that as Brycen headed for the kitchen, where I joined him as soon as I had done what he’d instructed.

“What’re you doing here, I thought shift change isn’t for another hour?” I asked at the same time Brycen said, “What the hell happened here?”

Pausing to look around, I blushed at the mess of leftover storage solutions that littered the far corner of the kitchen by the back patio door while Brycen set food and drink down on the island countertop.

I’d given up on my kitchen organization nightmare after three hours of pulling stuff out, washing the cupboards, then stuffing everything in a new tidy place. I’d only managed to get half done. Yeah, not a small undertaking in the least.

“I should have tackled things as those storage containers arrived,” was my explanation.

“Pardon?”

“When you made breakfast this morning, I spent most of the time hoping you wouldn’t need too much in the way of dishes.” My face heated. “Let’s just say that things are a bit cluttered since Mom and Jace moved in, and opening some cabinetry in here has become a bit like a game of whack-a-mole, wondering when something will topple out and which toe it’ll land on.”

Brycen’s expression was one of curiosity, bewilderment, and humor before he roared with laughter. Meanwhile, I found myself unable to do more than admire the sheer look of entertainment on his face, and delight in the man’s laughter. He was honest in his expressions, deliberate in his actions, and sincere with his words.

I could get used to that.

“Sweetheart, I have to say there’s never a dull moment with you,” he professed as he turned to grab plates from the cabinet I’d fetched them from this morning. “How about this…” He paused, studying me. “After we feed your mother, and ourselves, I’ll help you finish this”—his arms gestured toward the entire kitchen space—“organizing project of yours. Then, we can sit down, and I can give you a progress report on your case. After that, we’ll set a movie up, then it’ll be off to an early bedtime for you.”

I was speechless.

Moving slowly, Brycen left the dishes and our food to approach me. He slipped his index under my chin and lifted.

“To answer your question, I’m here because I want to be,” he explained, his voice soft. “Tate’s got shift tonight, starting in about an hour or so, so this is more like me being a friend, ensuring that you’re taken care of and helping out any way I can.”

Friend. Sure.

The thoughts that ran through my mind right then had everything to do with how we woke up, fast-forwarding to that kiss I’d spent the better part of the day wishing I’d deepened, and every damn daydream I’ve had on and off since I’d met him.

And they were definitely not friendly thoughts in the way he was alluding to.