Dangerous Games (Aegis Group, #3) (7 page)

You.

He swallowed the answer before it could rampage from his lips.

If that was his real reason, he needed to step the fuck back and get another guy in here by the morning. His silly Internet crush was not grounds for preying on her like the same damned soul who was out to hurt her.

What did he want?

Zain leaned against the elevator wall and rolled the question around in his head.

“Zain?”

“I’m thinking. Hold on.” He hooked his thumbs into his pockets and stared at the tile floor. She deserved a real answer, and after having so much of her privacy violated, he wanted to...be honest with her. Deeply honest.

“I joined the Navy because I was a poor kid with no options. My family had some hard times around them. Besides, everyone in our family goes into the Navy—no question. It wasn’t...I didn’t have the same drive to do it that my parents or my cousin had. When it came to SEAL training, everyone else had these answers, these ambitions for why they were there. I...had never been good at anything before. It was my Captain America moment. I made the SEALs and I had this purpose. Just because I got blown up and discharged, it doesn’t change who they made me to be.” He lifted his gaze to look at Andrea and meet the suspicion swirling in her gaze. “I protect people. And I think you’re in a tight spot. You need help. I am trained and equipped to help you, so why shouldn’t I?”

“Please tell me you were a captain in the SEALs.” One side of her mouth curled up.

“Almost. I got blown up too soon.”

“Damn. Captain Hook. Captain America. Captain, my captain.” She chuckled and dropped her hands to the railing. “I’m sorry you had to leave the party early because of me. I know the girls really liked you.”

“I think they like everyone.” They were a lively bunch, who’d lost no time extolling Andrea’s virtues the moment she wandered off. Since she’d bailed almost as soon as they’d arrived, she wasn’t there for the hard sell the other women had pitched on her behalf.

“Yeah, but not everyone is a super cute, cosplaying captain.” A little of the light was back in her eye and the smile took up more real estate. Her buzz was still going strong enough to dull her pain. “I think Piper really liked you.”

Wait—was she talking about him?

“I...don’t remember which one was Piper.” He was pretty sure he had the women’s names right, but he wasn’t about to admit to knowing any other female’s name—except Andrea’s.

“Which one?” Andrea squinted at him. “The blonde. The one who wanted you to take your shirt off.”

“Oh, that one.”

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open.

“I guess I’ll see you around?” Andrea tipped her chin up. She was pulling herself together damn well, but he could still see the tremble in the way she gripped the rail.

“We’re splitting a pizza, remember?” He stood in the doorway and tilted his head down the hall. If food didn’t lure her out, he’d try something else. He wasn’t ready for her to leave yet. He wouldn’t touch her, not the way he wanted, but he couldn’t let her out of his sight either.

“Oh. Right. I’m starving.”

“Come on.”

He held out his arm to keep the doors open, but Andrea wrapped her small fingers around his hand. The feel of her skin against his was a shock to his system. Unlike his scarred hand, hers were soft, almost dainty in comparison.

“Thank you,” she said so quietly he almost didn’t hear her.

“For what?”

“For being here. For being you. For helping me. Everything pretty much sucked until I met you.”

He knew what she really meant was in his official capacity. His unique set of skills and training made him the best candidate for the job of protecting her. And yet, the only sentence sticking in his head was,
Everything sucked until I met you.

Yeah, he needed to call in one of the other guys. He didn’t work in the field enough, he was the computer geek, and he was too close to this client. He was a fan boy. Between his pathetic Internet crush and her saying things like that, he couldn’t be objective about her. And that put her in more danger. Because this was fast becoming personal.

Travis would be good for this gig.

Except, the former SEAL and felon was too roughshod to deal with Andrea. Maybe Ethan? He needed something to help get him off the injured roster and out of the house. Zain’s cousin Mason would be good for the job, but technically, he was still benched from field work. Most of their best guys were already gone, out in the field on a dicey Department of Defense contract.

The only person he could trust with Andrea’s safety—was himself.

Zain didn’t want to leave Andrea unattended for a minute. He had a bad feeling about the day’s events and in her current state, she’d make an easy mark. Granted, his thoughts toward Andrea weren’t pure, either, but he knew where the line was. He wasn’t an animal. He could keep his wholly unwholesome thoughts to himself.

They paused outside of his hotel room while he dug his keycard out of his pocket and let them in. She wandered in ahead of him while he flipped the locks and jiggled the door, satisfied nothing had been tampered with.

“You’re room’s super clean.” Andrea sat on the edge of the first bed, hands gripping the comforter as if she thought the thing were about to buck her off.

“Old habit. How you feeling?” He kept his gaze above her shoulders. She’d lost the flannel button-down sometime during the evening, so there was nothing to disguise the escape artist act her breasts were trying to pull with the tank top.

“Super hungry and sick to my stomach, but I think that’s from being hungry.”

“Let’s order.” He was ten kinds of an asshole. He shouldn’t be attracted to her right now. What was wrong with him? “What do you like on your pizza?”

He crossed to the desk and hooked his phone up to the charging cable, surreptitiously checking his laptop for any new notifications.

Nothing.

“Anything with meat.” The bed squeaked behind him.

It took effort, but he kept his mind on pizza and not hot, sweaty bed activities.

Asshole.

“Meat lover good with you?” he asked.

Don’t think about your dick, dude.

“Does it come with extra meat?” She chuckled. “Come on, low hanging fruit joke.”

He glanced back at Andrea curled up on her side, one white, fluffy pillow under her head.

Imp.

She was a mischievous imp.

And someone wanted to hurt her. To scare her. To violate her privacy.

“I was restraining myself. I’ll throw in some breadsticks and stuff, too.”

“You’re no fun.”

“Order is in.” He straightened and turned to face her, bracing himself for the kick of lust.

Andrea studied him, one arm curled under her head, her expression thoughtful.

Ah, there it was. Attraction. At least on his side.

“What would it normally cost to hire you?” she asked.

“Nothing.” Zain crossed to the low dresser across from her and perched on the edge.

“Now you’re lying.”

“People don’t hire me. They hire the company.”

Her gaze narrowed as he spoke and she licked her lips. One side of her face scrunched up. She’d be a terrible poker player. Her face was too expressive, too open.

It was refreshing.

“But...Zain, you can’t help me for just a quarter. It’s not fair.”

“I don’t expect you to pay me.”

“Why?”

Because you’re...you...

“I was a SEAL to keep people safe. Sometimes that means doing a good deed for free.”

“Was that how you lost your arm? In the SEALs? I just said that out loud, didn’t I?” She covered her hand with her mouth.

“You did.”

“I’m sorry, that was a totally rude thing to ask.”

“Everyone asks, eventually.” He shrugged. It was a fact, a bullet point in his history, not a period. Not an end. He’d lived. “There was an IED. My arm got trapped under a chunk of a Hummer and they couldn’t save it.”

“They saved you, though.”

“Yeah. They did.”

“I’m glad.  And I’m sorry for asking like that. I just...blurt things out sometimes before I think about it, and I ramble and I know I do it and—”

“Andrea?”

“Yes?” She cringed.

“It’s okay.” He chuckled. She was so damn cute.

Zain crossed to the other queen bed and sat on the edge, facing her. He needed to keep his distance. She was too young and innocent for the likes of him. There had to be at least eight years difference between their ages. There were plenty of other guys out there, nice guys, for her to be with. Later. After he ensured her safety. For now, he could soak up what it was like to be near her. And that was it.

“Okay, one more question and then I promise to keep it all in my head.”

“Shoot.”

“I never got to hear how your arm works.” She pushed up into a sitting position, legs crossed under her. The damn tank top slipped, showing off the edge of her white bra. “I’m totally fascinated, I’m sorry.”

“Nah, it’s all good.”

A safe topic. Something he could talk about without the moral danger that was Andrea. He held out his left arm and worked the sleeve up over his shoulder with his right hand.

“The arm was made to fit me here. I just slip my arm in, fasten it, and it stays in place. I have more natural mobility because they amputated below the joint, otherwise I’d need a completely mechanical joint to compensate. There are wires that attach to sensors on my back. That’s how I control the hand. They’re pretty delicate, so I have to be careful someone doesn’t move them. They aren’t water or sweat proof, but the design is getting better and better with every model.” He wiggled his fingers at her and she grinned. “There’s a battery pack hooked on my belt that runs the whole thing.”

“And you said it’s a gaming arm? How does that work?”

“It’s not perfected yet, but basically there are sensors in the palm, here.” He pointed at little grips along the digits and palm. “The idea is you hold the controller and the sensors pick up the vibrations and relay them back by tiny electric impulses through the sensors on my back. There’s a delay they’re close to working out, but it’s the first time I’ve been able to use a controller or type two-handed since...well, since I had two hands.” Not to mention he could feel other things with the hand, too. Like her fingers, the way she’d held onto him without a conscious awareness that the hand wasn’t real.

“That is so neat. It looks really cool, too.” She ran her hands through her hair. “You know what? I don’t even think of it as being a...fake...arm. I sort of forgot all about it.”

“Most people do after a while.”

She bit her lip and her gaze slid away.

“Ask me.” He was actually enjoying her questions. There was a marked difference between her innocent curiosity and the bumbling questions of strangers.

“No, it’s not a good question.”

“Just ask me.”

“I don’t know how to put it into words.”

“Try.”

“Fine.” She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Just...are you angry about it? Like, do you...I don’t know.”

“It happened a long time ago. Yeah, there was a time when I was pretty bitter and pissed off about life, but not anymore. I got to a point and...either I was going to go down a dark hole and die, or things were going to change.”

“How’d you make that change?”

“I got a phone call from a guy I knew in the SEALs. He wanted to start this crazy little company called Aegis Group.” His connections hadn’t hurt either. All in all, the company had saved his life. Filled that hole with a purpose to keep going.

“Wow. Just—wow.” She shook her head.

“I know you probably don’t want to think about any of it, but I need to ask you some questions.”

Andrea groaned. She wasn’t nearly as tipsy as she thought she was. A good bit of the alcohol had probably burned off in anger and searching out stacks of fliers.

“You want to do this now or should we wait?” he asked.

“Go on. Ask.” She hugged the pillow to her chest, her expression sad.

“What kind of security are you running?”

“Out of the box stuff. Nothing fancy. I’ve never had to.” She shrugged.

“What about the Internet at your office and home?”

“The office is supposed to be ultra-secure. Are you sure it happened there?”

“It’s a hunch.”

“Okay. So. It would take way too much effort to breech the firewall at the office. Enough that someone would notice.” She stared at the comforter, eyes slowly widening.

She knew.

He hated this for her.

Not being able to trust your friends...your coworkers...he’d never had that, but his cousin had. The experience, the betrayal, had made Mason a wreck for a while.

“You think it’s someone I work with.” Andrea didn’t look at him.

“It’s a possibility.”

“No,” she snapped, her gaze on him now. “It couldn’t be someone outside, it would be too hard, and why just spy on me? Why not steal something worth money? Which means it’s someone who works for Dark Matter. They’d have access to my office, my laptop, my phone—everything. I’m horrible about leaving things unlocked and lying around. It’s someone I work with.”

Well, that cat was out of the bag.

“Can you think of someone—anyone—who’d have a beef with you? Maybe someone who didn’t like the new game? Or wanted your job?”

“That’s a very long list.” She slumped. “It would be easier to ask who liked the game and who didn’t want my job? Pretty much everyone at some point has had an issue with the project, but I thought...I thought wrong. Clearly.”

“It’s one person.”

“If it’s one, why can’t it be five?”

Zain wanted to comfort her, he was giving her the same lines he’d hand out to any other client—and she wasn’t taking them. Andrea was too smart to be duped into a false sense of security.

“All right. You want to know what I think?” If lying hadn’t worked—he’d give it to her straight.

“Please.”

“The camera angle is up high. Do you keep your laptop on a shelf?”

“What? No. It’s usually on the credenza.”

“Are there security cameras in the building?”

“Yeah, but...” Andrea’s shoulders slumped. “They installed it ages ago. I forget it’s there. It’s supposed to be closed-circuit, unrecorded. I put a sticky note over the camera a long time ago, but you know? I’d never even think to look at it. Anyone on the network with hacking skills could probably access the feed. Anyone.”