Kissed Blind (Hot Pursuit #2)(49)

. . .



Vance and I entered the darkened second floor of B&B’s headquarters. Everyone had already checked out for the day. As we walked down the line of desks, the air was filled with the heavy scent of rubber and plastic from the industrial carpeting.

We arrived at my desk, and I checked the time on my phone. I was late calling Gabe. I switched the base of my lamp on, and Vance pulled out my chair. He grabbed another from a neighboring desk.

“Hey, I need to make a call. Be right back.”

“Do what you have to do, but hurry up.” Vance took a seat and punched the power button on my computer.

I walked into the ladies room and waited for the door to shut completely before making my call.

“Hey,” Gabe said through a pleasant laugh. “I was just thinking about you. Where are you? I was starting to worry. I expected to hear from you an hour ago.” His office chair squeaked as it did when he leaned back, and his voice was deep like he’d been hanging on the edge of sleep.

“I’m still working.”

“Well that makes two of us. What’s kept you?”

“Something came up.”

“What?” His voice perked up, and the chair squeaked again.

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing serious, but I can’t make it tonight.” A knot tightened in my belly.

“Why?”

“Vance and I have something we have to take care of with Oliver.” I crossed my arms and squeezed my elbows, bracing myself for his reaction—it was coming, like the achiness of an old wound on a rainy day. He was going to be angry and probably jealous.

“Is everything all right? Your voice seems different.”

“Yeah, everything’s fine. I’m just sad I’m not going to see you.”

“Well, if what you’re doing is so important there will be plenty of time for us later. How long do you think you’ll be?”

The tightness in my abdomen loosened a bit. “I might have to work through the night.”

“Through the night?” His voice raised an octave or two higher. “Since when do you do that?”

Claws clamped down and twisted my guts again. “Since something unexpected happened.”

“What?”

“I… I can’t tell you, I’m sorry.”

He grunted. “You don’t trust me?”

“No, it’s not that. Of course I do. I signed a confidentiality thing, so really, I can’t tell you or else I’d…” I smiled a little. “I’d have to kill you.”

“Oh, I see, bodyguard humor,” he said with a slight laugh and was silent for a few seconds. “Contracts can be a pain, but they are my saving grace some days. I understand.”

“Really? You’re not mad?”

“How could I be? I’ve been pulled away more times than I would have liked lately, the most recent occurrence probably the most regrettable. It wouldn’t be fair to be upset with how understanding you’ve been. But promise me something?”

I smiled. He never ceased to surprise me lately. “Anything.”

“Call me when you get in. I need to hear your voice again tonight.”

“But what if you’re sleeping.”

“Then you’ll wake me and I’ll fall asleep again and dream about you.”

My smile spread from ear to ear. “That sounds nice.”

“So, later then?”

“Yes, I promise I’ll call.”

“Good. Whatever it is you have to do, be careful.”

“I always am.”

I returned to Vance feeling much lighter. I sat next to him as he hovered over my keyboard, staring into the screen, hardly noticing me. I watched while he navigated a foreign computer system.

“What’s this? Have you done this before?” I leaned in.

He studied the screen. “No, but I watched them go through the simulation at the meeting you missed. I’m sure I can figure it out. It’s been a little while, but it’ll come back to me.” He pulled the keyboard closer to the edge of the desk, and with the stroke of a few keys, he’d gotten us into the system we needed to access.

I wrinkled my forehead. “We’re not going to get in trouble for doing this, are we?”

Vance shrugged. “It’s part of our job. Relax, Sandra Dee.”

He continued to navigate through various screens before locating the chipping program. He stopped when he got to a blinking cursor. He leaned back in his seat and scratched his beard, creating a sound like fingernails raking over Velcro.

“What? Why’d you stop?” I pivoted in my seat and faced him.

“You wouldn’t happen to know the number of the card we gave him, would you?”

“You mean you gave it to him and never jotted down the number?”

He exhaled through his nose and his lips thinned. “I know you’re not thinking of giving me shit for this right now.”

“I hate to overstate the obvious, but yeah, it sure looks like it.”

“I forgot, okay? Cut me some slack. The stuff with Pop has me thrown off a little.”

I nodded. “All right, all right, slack given.” I thought for a second. “The number should be in his client file, right?” I glanced at a stack of papers that had accumulated over on his desk. “It should be in there.”