Chapter 2
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KNOX WATCHED HIS TEAMMATES exit Quinn’s office, some of the tension leaving his body.
It had shocked the shit out of him to come down to say hi to Quinn and find his buddies already here.
Not that they didn’t have good reason to be here, given the pending op, but damn.
He was hoping to steal a few minutes alone with her, and that definitely didn’t include having his knucklehead teammates around.
“How do you deal with those guys all day long?” Quinn joked, flashing him a knowing look.
“I don’t.”
A small huff of laughter escaped her as she focused on her computer monitor once more, but Knox saw the corner of her mouth lift in amusement.
Her smile did something funny to his chest. Simply being in her presence had his pulse speeding up, adrenaline spiking through his veins.
Knox had always been a physical kind of guy, enjoying a good workout to get his blood pumping, but damn.
Just being around Quinn had him feeling amped up in a way no gym ever could.
He ran a hand through his dark hair, watching her work.
Quinn wasn’t what he’d expected when they’d first met.
Weren’t IT whizzes usually the quiet type?
Maybe a touch awkward, better with computers than people?
She was anything but that. Quinn was funny.
Easygoing. Smart as hell, but she had no trouble holding her own amongst his rowdy teammates.
She had a slightly alternative vibe with an eyebrow ring and multiple piercings in her ears, not to mention the streak of purple in her glossy dark hair, but she was friendly. Confident. Gorgeous.
Everything about Quinn intrigued him. Her personality.
Her looks. She was so fucking pretty he hardly knew what to do about it.
Knox had never been into women who needed to be perfectly made up, not a hair out of place.
Quinn was gorgeous but real. He got the sense that she was spontaneous and fun.
Yeah, she had her own vibe, but she’d be down for anything, and he loved that about her.
Nothing seemed to faze her, and in his line of work, he was used to rolling with the punches.
Knox and his teammates planned their ops meticulously, but they also made adjustments on the fly as necessary.
He could tell she functioned that way, too, her mind always working, adapting to new situations and forging ahead.
“You do seem to enjoy being on your own,” Quinn said, clicking some buttons on her keyboard.
The camera feed adjusted, and she zoomed in slightly on another area.
He was impressed that she could do whatever the hell she wanted now that she’d hacked into the traffic cams and surveillance systems. Quinn was an asset they were lucky to have.
“Trust me, I get it,” she continued. “I work best alone, too. Not that I mind your company.” She flashed him a gorgeous smile, her hair swinging with the movement.
There was a twinkle of amusement in her eyes, and a pretty pink flush on her cheeks as she looked up at him.
Interesting.
“Whew,” he joked, pretending to wipe sweat from his brow. “You had me worried there.”
“Aw, come on,” she teased. “Like that would stress you out.”
“You’d be surprised,” he said with a low chuckle.
Quinn eyed him, and Knox felt his heartrate spike. She had to realize he was into her, but hell. He wasn’t about to ask her out right now and fuck things up. They’d both just started working here and had shit to get done. The timing was way off, but that didn’t stop the way he was drawn to her.
“How’d you end up working for Shadow Security?” he asked, noting the curiosity in her eyes.
As their gazes locked for a beat, he tried to ignore the sparks shooting between them.
They were several feet apart, but damn. The air felt charged.
Electric. If they’d been in another situation, he’d have moved closer.
Ducked down and stolen a kiss. Except he was in her office, supposedly under the guise of work. Right.
Knox felt like he couldn’t stay away from her if he tried.
“My dad was military,” Quinn said. “I’m a former military brat,” she joked.
“We moved all over the place when I was growing up. I’m an only child, and I think he would’ve loved if I joined the service, but that kind of life wasn’t for me.
I’m too rebellious to follow all those military rules and regulations,” she said with a laugh. “I like doing my own thing.”
“Yeah, I can see that,” he said, amusement winding through him.
“You don’t seem too strait-laced for a former military man,” Quinn pointed out.
He lifted a shoulder. “We follow orders and get shit done, but yeah, Special Forces guys are our own breed,” he joked.
Her gaze ran over him appraisingly, and Knox felt his blood heat. He liked her eyes on him. Quinn was absolutely checking him out, and he felt his chest fill with male pride. “Anyway, I was always good with computers,” she said, seeming to realize he’d caught her watching him.
He raised his eyebrows. “You don’t say,” he commented dryly.
“Guess you heard what I was telling your teammates earlier,” she said with a laugh.
“That, and I can see how easily you got into the city of Seattle’s cameras,” Knox reminded her.
She shrugged. “I’m skilled at other projects, too. Legal ones,” she said with a sly grin.
Knox crossed his arms, feeling amused. He didn’t miss the way Quinn’s gaze briefly caught on his biceps, and he tried to bite back his smile. “Go on,” he encouraged her.
“I was recruited by DOD right out of college. Just like military life never would’ve been for me, however, the government wasn’t either. I was good at what I did but not loving it. Somehow, Holt got wind of my skills and hired me. I took a chance, moved to Seattle, and the rest is history.”
“Yeah, like 2.5 seconds of history,” he teased.
Quinn flashed him an amused look. “Touche. The entire West Coast office is brand new, but I already feel like I fit in more here than I ever did at the Defense Department. We do things our own way—bend the rules if necessary.”
“In a manner of speaking,” he murmured.
“What about you?” Quinn asked. “Did you guys all work with Holt when you were in the service?”
“Negative. A buddy of Boone’s was on the same team as Jett back in their Army days. Boone helped them out on an op. When Jett expanded Shadow Security, he brought Boone and the rest of us on board.”
“It’s kind of scary how well-connected Holt and Jett are, don’t you think?” She raised an eyebrow, the silver eyebrow ring gleaming in the light. Damn if that wasn’t sexy. Quinn had a slight edge to her that he loved.
His gaze dropped to her dark eyes. To her full lips.
Shit.
It was all sorts of wrong to be feeling the way he did when he looked at her. They were supposed to be merely colleagues. Then again, the office would be a hell of a lot duller without Quinn around. She was the best kind of distraction.
She brushed back a stand of her hair, and he could smell the subtle scent of her perfume. Jasmine, maybe. It was sweeter than he would’ve guessed a woman like her would wear, but it drove him crazy nonetheless.
Knox had no doubt that Quinn was that damn sweet everywhere. Wouldn’t he love to take a taste.
“Knox?” she prodded when he didn’t say anything.
His mind snapped back to their conversation. “Scary? Nah. It pays to have their connections in our line of work.”
“True that,” she agreed.
Quinn rapidly typed something else then spun in her desk chair toward him, rising to her feet.
His gaze briefly dropped to her bouncing cleavage.
She wasn’t wearing anything too revealing, but the scoop neck top she had on showed off her assets.
She had perfect breasts, full, with creamy skin that he’d love to explore.
The wide-legged jeans she wore accentuated her narrow waist and curvy hips, and as she stood beside him, he noted once more how she only came up to his shoulder.
Knox loved that he was so much bigger than her.
It would take no effort at all to wrap his hands around her slender waist, lift her onto the desk, and kiss the hell out of her.
Or carry her to his bed one night, positioning her how he wanted after he’d stripped her bare.
Wouldn’t he love to make her come apart in his arms and cry out his name in sweet surrender.
Sparks shot through him as she reached for her phone, her arm inadvertently brushing against his. Her skin was soft as silk, and he wondered if she felt that satiny smooth all over.
He’d love to explore her with his hands. His mouth. His tongue.
She was already sliding her phone into her back pocket, he noticed her slender, delicate hands. His cock twitched, imaging her handling him.
Shit, he was such a goner. Knox cleared his throat, trying to get his mind back on track.
“What’d Cooper and Xaden want?” he couldn’t help but ask.
Knox had no reason to feel jealous. Quinn wasn’t his, but hell.
It still irked him to know his buddies were in here laughing and flirting with her.
Cooper had been flirting, at any rate. He never had any trouble charming the ladies, and while Knox normally didn’t give a shit, he felt protective towards Quinn.
Possessive, too, despite the fact that he had no damn right to be.
Quinn shot him a knowing look. “They were just checking in about the surveillance feed. I need to swing by Holt’s office to update him, but after that, want to grab some food? I’ll be too busy to eat later on, and it’s...” She looked back to her screen, which was already locked.
“Already two p.m.,” Knox finished. “I ate earlier, but I’ll come with you. Gotta keep Coop away.” Knox was joking. Mostly.
“Ha ha. He’s harmless,” Quinn assured him. “Flirtatious, maybe, but he knows I’m not interested,” she said breezily, heading toward the door.
Knox dutifully followed, unable to resist the question rising to the front of his mind. “How’s he know that?”
The heated look she shot over her shoulder felt like an arrow right to his chest. Dark eyes sliced into his, and Knox swore she saw right into his inner thoughts. “How’d he know? I told him I already had my eye on somebody else.”