CHAPTER 51
Finn
Declan flicks my forehead hard enough to leave a bruise.
“Hey! What was that for?” I punch his upper arm, and I know it will leave a bruise. “Shit, Declan.”
I rub my forehead with one hand and keep my other hand clenched in a fist in case I need to punch my little brother again.
“Where are you today, Finn?”
“Right here.” I look around our sensitive compartmented information facility conference space in Cal’s house.
We’re surrounded by our data center servers, high-powered computers, and monitors.
Plus stacks of code printouts. We’ve been in here, just the two of us, working on a problem that’s been kicking our ass for weeks.
We can both smell it—this iteration of our technology could have far-reaching implications for national security. But only if we can break through what looks like an impossible brick wall.
Our goal is to develop a prototype and find a way to monetize it. Unfortunately, we’re not making much progress today.
It might be my fault. I might be the tiniest bit distracted.
“No, you’re absolutely not here in the SCIF,” Declan says. “You’re in Lala Land. We’re getting nowhere. What the fuck is your problem?”
“I’m not distracted.”
I’m the king of distracted. Because I’m the only man on the planet who knows that Emma is in my house down the lane, smelling like me, because I’ve just finished fucking her brains out. Again. And I plan on doing it again when I get back home. And again after that.
That woman is a wild thing. She can give as well as she takes, and she’s learning how to take all of me.
“This is going nowhere.” Declan stands. “Later. I’m flying to Hawaii.”
“You can’t go to Hawaii.”
“We’ve got work up to our asses, but what’s the point of staying here when we’re not getting anything done?” Declan digs his hand into my jellybean jar, comes out with a fistful, and throws them in his mouth.
“Hey, I don’t know where your hand’s been.” I drag the jar closer to me.
“Then why’s it here in the conference room? If you want to hoard your candy, then you keep your candy locked up. Anyway, I showered two days ago.”
“Liar.”
“Actually, I’m takin’ the heli to Reno. Dad asked me to fly Scarface up there. You know, that horror-movie-lookin’ dude who comes here once in a blue moon selling gaskets or wheel covers or feed or some shit.”
“Fascinating.”
“But I am going to Hawaii next spring. I’ve got a nerdy helicopter thing down there, and I’m going to stay a month.”
“Yeah, right.” Declan doesn’t leave the ranch for long.
He’s a diehard homebody. As a pilot, he loves to travel, but only if he knows he’s coming home soon.
The Navy was hardest on him because military housing isn’t exactly permanent, and he was the one who originally suggested we headquarter StellaR Tech on Yosemite Ranch.
“Sit down. Let’s finish this.”
Declan laughs. “We should have finished an hour ago, but we didn’t, and whose fault is that? I’ll give you a hint. Not mine. You’re staring out into space. It’s like you got your mind on a girl or something—oh, shit.”
His eyes grow round. His head bobs up and down and he points at me, wagging his index finger like he’s having a seizure. “You have your mind on a girl. You have your mind on a girl.”
I take a running tackle at him, slamming him into the wall. He fights me back, trying to yell that I have my mind on a girl, so I clamp down harder on his mouth and we slide onto the floor where I put him in a chokehold.
Or try to. Declan was a wrestler in high school.
“Shut the fuck up or I’m going to elbow slam your nose and break it in three places. I do not have my mind on a girl. There’s no girl.”
In one swift movement, Declan flips me onto my back and sits on my chest. I can barely breathe, let alone continue my denials.
“I’ve already had my nose broken in three places, so your threats mean nothing.
” Declan presses all his weight down on my upper chest. “Who can it possibly be? Not a lot of girls around Yosemite Ranch.” He taps his chin.
“Maybe someone who runs around in Daisy Dukes and makes fucking blueberry muffins from scratch?”
“Who the fuck told you about the muffins?” I gasp. “Can’t. Breathe.”
Declan scrunches his face and cocks his head to the side, as if he’s weighing all possibilities in his mind.
“You got girl gaga written all over you, brother. And there’s only one new girl in town.
The one who sleeps down the hallway. Or maybe she sleeps a little closer than that, like maybe she sleeps under you. ”
Clenching my fist, I haul off and punch him at half strength so I don’t break Declan’s jaw. It’s just hard enough to make him fall backwards off of me. I lean over him with my fist close to his face so he knows there’s another one coming if he doesn’t behave.
“Listen, chucklefuck. You don’t breathe a word about this to anyone. If anyone finds out, I’m going to piss in your Long Ranger gas tank. You got me?”
“Fine. I won’t say a word about you banging the help.”
I grab him by his collar and give him a shake. “Don’t you dare call her that.”
Declan jumps to a stand and rubs his jaw. “Whoa. You’re serious about her.”
“Not a word.”
“Holy shit,” he whispers. “I didn’t see this coming. I mean, ever. I never, ever saw this coming.”
“It’s new. So shut the fuck up.”
He ignores me. “I mean, never. Of all of us, I was sure you’d be the one needing carpal tunnel surgery from years of beating your dick like it owed you money.”
I sigh. Declan can be an irritating asshole.
“You either keep your mouth shut or I will sabotage every piece of machinery you love. You got me?”
“Fine,” he says finally. “But when we’re alone here in the conference room, I get to ride your ass about it as much as I want. Them’s the terms of this deal.”
“Deal, but not a single word outside the SCIF. Got it?”
Declan nods slowly.
“I don’t know where it’s going with Emma, and the whole boss-employee thing is not cool at all. Something’s got to give.”