Page 20 of Gentle Fox

We both laughed but Easton recovered first. "He's so damn twisted up about trying to run this place I doubt it even occurred to him. He's probably back in his office thanking the universe Annalee's here so that he doesn't have to do the paperwork side of things."

Easton was probably right. The one thing none of us were ever good at was paperwork. Give us a gun and a mission, and we excelled. Leave us in charge of something like spreadsheets and suddenly we looked like toddlers slapping keys on the computer. The Marines didn't prepare us for the business side of this venture.

"He should've thought about that before he jumped feetfirst into this. Wes warned him it was more than just taking on clients," I said.

Wes had made a similar mistake when he started but apparently the man now had a Nancy. Oh, and a Missy to handle the office part.

"Mav has a thick head. We knew that when he told us his plan but we followed him anyway."

I sighed. “That we did.”

"I better get out there and see if I can save our asses before Kati makes things worse. I love that damn woman but she just threw us all under the bus."

I sighed again. “That she did.”

I watched my friend head out through the door and greet the woman who changed everything for him. Not only did she give him love but she gave him a son who looked up to Easton.

I thought when I left the Marines, I would be happy to work and live out the rest of my life relaxing. Easton and Kati's love showed me that maybe I wanted something more. Then I heard a sweet voice on the other end of the line and I knew it was no longer a maybe. I did want more. Getting involved with a co-worker though was destined to mess things up. I had to keep reminding myself that, despite the way my body reacted to her.

And just now, when she briefly glanced my way despite not knowing my eyes were on her, I had a feeling I was going to lose the battle. The question was, would she be willing to take the chance as well?

Something told me the answer was no.

CHAPTER TEN

Annalee

It was safe to say everyone I met at my job was nice so far.

Maverick looked almost relieved when I walked through the door. It might have something to do with the fact that more than half of the programs he was using were wrong and the rest hadn't been set up correctly. It took me no time to get that straightened out, and relief practically poured off him.

Nolen stopped long enough to say hi and to tell me how happy he was to have someone other than himself to answer the phones. Apparently he and Owen were the only two who sounded nice and didn't scare people off with their gruff voices.

His words, exactly.

The one person I had yet to see again since starting was Owen. He dropped me off at my desk and hurried through the glass door so fast that I thought my head was going to spin. I couldn't figure the man out and I wasn't sure I wanted to.

The ringing bell on the front door pulled me out of my spiraling thoughts.

"Welcome to Willow Creek Security! How may I help you?"

A gorgeous woman with brown hair thrown up in a messy but tasteful bun walked straight up to me. She was wearing denim shorts that showcased her long legs and an oversized shirt that on anyone else would look lazy but somehow fit her perfectly.

"Hi, you must be Annalee. Easton told me you were starting today."

Easton was one of the guys I had yet to meet. There were a few actually. According to Maverick, he employed six guys. I had formally met two, and I’d slept in one of their beds last night.

"I am and you are . . ." I asked simply because I was better with faces than names. So if someone didn't give me one straight out of the gate, the chances of me remembering it later were slim to none.

Granted the odds weren't much better even when they did give it to me, but at least I could try.

"Shit, sorry. I'm Kati."

"It's nice to meet you, Kati. I haven't had the pleasure of being introduced to Easton yet and I'm not sure how he knows I'm here. I haven't had the chance to go check out the rest of the office yet. Maverick told me that once I was ready for a tour, just to call him and he would show me around. That was two hours ago, but other than stretching my muscles, all my time was spent fixing the software mistakes he left me with." I quickly realized how that sounded. “Not that I’m complaining.”

"No one told you the glass behind you is one way, did they?"

"Wait, what?" I whipped around and looked at the wall of glass that took up the entire space behind my desk. Even the door had glass on it. I thought at first it was creepy but it didn't take me long to forget it was there while I worked. At least until I turned around and was slapped with my own face looking back at me.

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