Chapter 18
Quinn stared as they drove by a large white mansion that turned out to be where Zain and Gabe had grown up.
Kale explained that it was technically foreign soil since the royal family did so much diplomatic work there.
She’d also learned that Sienna Parker, Carter Ashton’s sister, had just gone into labor.
That was why all the cars were leaving out of town as they headed to the farm.
Apparently, babies were a very big deal in Keeneston.
“Here we go,” Kale told her as they pulled to a stop in front of what looked to be a barn, but only if the barn was protecting a nuclear-powered horse. There were thick cement walls, heavy steel doors, and lots of cameras.
Quinn opened her door and they were buzzed into the security center at Desert Sun Farm. Three men turned and she was greeted more warmly by them than by any of the men at work.
“Quinn, this is Nabi. He’s the head of security. This is Nash, his second-in-command. And lastly, this is Kori. He’s getting settled here in Keeneston as our newest member of the team.”
Quinn shook their hands and worried about how they felt about an outsider coming in and using their equipment.
Quinn knew she was very protective of her computer and would hate letting someone else use it.
“Thank you all so much for letting me come here today. I know I’m in your space, and I’ll do whatever you tell me to do. ”
Nabi, who looked as if he could be Kori’s father, smiled at her. “We’re used to working with a group. The military is all about that. So, start at the beginning and tell us what’s going on.”
An hour later Quinn bounced between her new team and answered any questions they had. She’d even been given her own computer and wow, she’d thought she had known programming until now. This group had things available to them that she was pretty sure were state secrets.
“Hello! I brought snacks,” a woman said, coming in with a tin of cookies.
Nabi got up and kissed the woman before snagging the cookies. “Grace, meet Quinn. Quinn, this is my beautiful wife, Grace.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Quinn told her, shaking her hand.
“I’m so glad they can help you. If they can’t find out what’s going on, no one can. Kori,” Grace said, turning to the new recruit, “you haven’t been over for weeks. You must come to dinner soon.”
“I’d like that. Thank you.” Kori was interesting. He was very nice, but there was an edge to him that didn’t make Quinn scared, rather it made her want to run to him if there was danger.
“It was lovely meeting you, Quinn. I’m off to pick up Ash.
We’re taking care of him tonight so Ryan and Sienna and their parents can spend time with baby Mazie.
It’ll be nice to have a baby in the house again.
Our daughter, Faith, is in Switzerland for her new job.
But now I get Ash to spoil for the night. ”
That seemed to just be how Keeneston was. They all took care of each other. It was refreshing.
Hours passed without Quinn even realizing it. She was proud of the program she’d helped write for Nico’s system and even her barcode patch, which was holding up to Delaney’s attempts at hacking it. She’d made a couple of suggestions to turn it from a patch to a fix, and Quinn had implemented them.
“Found it,” Kale said right as the door opened and Knox came in with Sebastian and a very pregnant woman who must be Greer.
“What did you find?” Sebastian asked.
“The hidden code in the program that caused the gambling changes. What’s interesting is that it’s written to only activate in certain situations. That’s why some days you have a couple of claims, no claims, or several.” Kale explained.
“What does that mean?” Knox asked, coming over to Quinn and placing his hand on her shoulder.
“It means someone is trying to frame Quinn,” Nabi told them. “I was able to find the original anonymous complaint to the gaming board—it came from New York City.”
“And then there’s this—the IP from the illegal coding came from Quinn’s work computer.” Kale dropped that bomb and Quinn felt as if her whole world had just blown up.
Quinn was so shocked she didn’t know what to say. “I didn’t—” she stuttered out, looking with desperation at the people around her, hoping they believed her.
“Don’t worry, we know it’s not you,” Kale told her.
“Dudes, her co-workers are assholes. I think it’s one of them.
They are so mad about her getting the job.
I pulled text messages. Your ex, Karson, thinks you were only picked because you were a woman.
Neil thinks you slept with Nico to get the job.
Archie agrees with both,” Alex said as the text messages popped up on the television.
Alex had been nice in his summary. The actual text messages were not nearly so nice.
“What the hell?” Knox would have shouted except his teeth were gritted together in anger. “Why aren’t you more upset, Q?”
Quinn shrugged her shoulders. “Oh, I’m upset but I’m also used to it.
I’m in a male-dominated field. If I fail at something, it’s because I’m a woman whose brain isn’t made for this.
If I get upset at them for their lack of progress, I’m a bitch on her period.
If I succeed, it’s only because I slept my way to the top. ”
Quinn saw both Delaney and Greer nodding. It was a bond amongst women who had to deal with toxic work environments.
“Wait,” Sebastian growled, seeing his wife nodding. “Why are you nodding? Did this happen to you too?”
Greer looked amused by her na?ve husband. “Babe, it happens to every woman at some point. But more often than not when you’re in a field like I am, or Delaney, or Quinn.”
Knox was shaking his head and Quinn could see his frustration. “So you just take it?”
All three women nod.
“What are we supposed to do?” Quinn asked rhetorically. “Punch them? Although we all probably want to.”
“Do we go to our boss crying that the boys are being mean to us?” Delaney asked with amusement, brushing away an imaginary tear.
“We do the only thing we can do,” Greer said. “We work ten times harder to make sure everything we do is ten times better and hope that our work will speak for itself.”
“Which, as you can read here,” Quinn said, pointing to the text messages, “never happens.”
“You could have come to me,” Sebastian said, clearly upset.
Greer rolled her eyes, which made Quinn feel better about the little snort of amusement she let out.
“I’d never even met you in person. You didn’t know my name.
I didn’t have your number. You are Sebastian Abel, the powerful billionaire too busy running the world to deal with three pathetic boys you employ.
When, in fact,” Quinn told him, “over seventy-two percent of your employees are just like them.”
“Which is on par with most tech companies,” Delaney added.
“And there’s usually a pay gap too, so even when women are working longer and harder, they’re still getting paid less.
And don’t get me started on the small percentage of women at the executive level in tech. Surely you know all about that, right?”
Quinn was surprised Greer didn’t come to his defense or that she wasn’t the only one dealing him a truth card.
“I’m sorry,” Sebastian said after a moment. “I thought my company was doing better. It was an initiative I had asked one of my VPs to implement three years ago. I assumed it had been done.”
Greer now smiled at her husband and ran a hand over his tense arm. “I’m guessing it’s being done now?”
“My VP is fired, I’m promoting the highest level woman to fill his spot and I’ll order HR to make sure when I audit the books at the end of the quarter that there isn’t a single pay gap to be found and all the women who had a pay gap will get a bonus at the end of the year to even out their salary to make them equal to the men’s.
Now, what else did you find out about Quinn’s team?
” Sebastian asked even as his fingers flew over his phone.
Quinn was impressed. Sebastian Abel was much more than he appeared.
“Karson thought he should have been promoted. Neil thought he should have been. Archie backed whoever was talking to him at that moment,” Alex told them.
Sebastian was flicking through something on his phone.
“Karson was never going to get the job. His work is too sloppy and his ego too big. His current job is in jeopardy because of too many mistakes. Archie isn’t a leader, as you can tell.
It came down to Neil and Quinn. Neil worked at SA Tech longer, but Quinn did better in the interview with Nico.
Notes show she was more professional, calm, could take criticism, and was easier to talk to. ”
Quinn felt herself blush. She’d never known why she got the job over the men, but it did feel good to hear the reasons.
“What we’re looking at,” Knox said, his brow furrowed in thought, “is that it’s probably either Karson or Neil who is behind this. Archie isn’t one to be leading it.”
Quinn had known it was a possibility, but they had been her co-workers. Karson had been her boyfriend. The betrayal hit hard and the anger hit harder.
Delaney leaned back in her chair and looked at the group. “Karson could probably have access to your computer at work. I’m sure as your boyfriend he had the ability to find out your password.”
Quinn nodded. It was true. He could have easily watched her input her password while they had been dating. Was her trust in the wrong man the reason for her arrest and the threat to Nico and his whole company?
Knox drove Quinn back to his house in silence. He could tell she needed time to process all the information they’d found out today. Her phone pinged with a text. She picked it up and read it as he turned into his driveway.
“What’s a girls’ night?” Quinn asked into the silence.
“The women get together and have dinner and drinks while we guys hang out. We usually play poker or enjoy some of Cady’s bourbon. Why?” Knox asked.
“Greer just texted me asking if I wanted to join her and Delaney for girls’ night.”
Knox smiled at that. Quinn wouldn’t know what to make of it, but she’d love it. “That’s great. I can drop you off on my way to guys’ night. Mila, Sloane, and Ari will all be there too.”
“Okay. That sounds fun. They’ve been so nice to me.”
Knox could tell that Quinn was a little hesitant. He knew she was more introverted and he knew this would be a lot, but he also knew his friends would make Quinn feel welcome and she’d be at ease in no time.
“If it gets overwhelming, text me and I’ll come get you, telling everyone that I can’t stand to be away from you.
” Quinn rolled her eyes at him, but smiled.
“It’s true though. Also, I know it’s a little chilly, but there was something I wanted to do with you tonight,” Knox told her as he opened her door and took her hand in his.
“Does it involve chocolate?” Quinn asked hopefully.
“It does.” Knox unlocked his door and grabbed two thick blankets as he led her to the back door. There, the deck lights glowed a warm yellow and the basket Maeve had helped him pack was set up on a table near the firepit. “Come on. Let’s get cozy.”
Knox led Quinn onto the patio and tucked her in with a blanket on one of the large Adirondack chairs placed around the firepit.
He lit a match and the fire pit roared to life.
He poured her a glass of wine then headed inside to grab dinner—chicken kabobs.
He fired up the grill and took a seat next to her as their dinner cooked.
“It smells delicious, but I thought you said there was chocolate,” Quinn teased. Knox pulled up the basket and opened the lid. Quinn’s eyebrows shot up and the tightness around her face relaxed as she let out a laugh. “Are we making S’mores?”
“We are. I took a gamble on the fact you might not have had them yet.”
“I can’t believe you remembered how I always wanted to try one.” Quinn reached out and squeezed his hand.
“I told you, Q, I remember everything.”
“I feel as if I’m not living in real life right now,” Quinn admitted. “I have an ex trying to destroy me and I have a famous boyfriend feeding me a delicious dinner and who remembers little things like the fact I’d always wanted to try S’mores.”
“I wish the first part wasn’t real, but my feelings for you are very real, Q.” Knox kissed her quickly before pulling out the ingredients for S’mores.
Karson was forgotten and instead it was just the two of them talking over dinner. They laughed as her marshmallow caught fire and Knox swore to her they were better that way.
“This has been wonderful, Knox.” Quinn smiled over at him in his chair. He had moved his chair so they were sitting side by side.
He reached out and took her hand in his as they watched the fire. “I can see us doing this forever.” Knox turned to see Quinn staring at him with a soft smile on her face.
“Me, too.”
Knox patted his thigh and Quinn moved to curl up in his lap. He wrapped them both in the blanket before wrapping his arms around her and holding her to his chest under the blanket. God, there was nothing better than this. Well, until she leaned her head back and tilted it so he could kiss her.
Quinn’s hand slid under his black Thoroughbreds sweatshirt, her fingers lightly tracing the ridges of his abs.
It was hard to breath as she tortured him with the featherlight touches before kissing her way down his neck.
His heart beat wildly as her fingers trailed down his chest and slipped under the waistband of his thick gray sweatpants.
Knox clenched his jaw as he fought the desire to pull her to him and take control. This was Quinn’s turn to take over. While it was a sweet torture, he was loving every second of it.
Knox’s hands tightened on the armchair as Quinn surprised him by standing up and slowly peeling her top off before shimmying out of her pants. “Keep me warm, Knox.”
Knox finally moved. His hands let go of the chair arms. He reached for her as she moved to straddle him. He picked up the blanket and slid it over her back, then pulled on the ends so Quinn was pulled flushed against him.
“I’ll keep you warm every night, Q.”
And he did.
Sweat broke out across his brow as Quinn set the pace.
The firelight made their skin glisten in the night.
Quinn dug her nails into his shoulders, tossed her head back, and screamed his name.
“You’re not done yet, sweetheart,” Knox whispered against her ear as he finally let go of his restraint.
Knox’s name had been chanted in stadiums, but it was nothing compared to the moaning chant Quinn gasped against his ear as they shattered together.