Page 22 of Inevitable

Leaning back, he gave her a smirk. “Honey, I can wine you and dine you with the best of them. Just ‘cause we’ve been low-key doesn’t mean that I don’t know how to show you a good time.”

“I’ve been having a good time already.” She looked down at her jeans and shrugged. “I didn’t dress up for someplace nice.”

“I don’t think we need to dress up. I heard it was casual.”

“Maybe. Depends on how the rest of my afternoon goes.”

“I’ll check in at the end of the day and we can decide then.”

When she relaxed, he knew he’d done the absolute right thing. Claire had somehow associated dating with hard work. So, easy breezy was going to become his middle name.

If he kept what happened between them relaxed, then she was going to soon become attached without even knowing it. So, relaxed he was.

***

Claire opened her computer and let the scent of Brady wash over her. Which made her feel strangely calm and happy. It also was turning her on, which was not what she wanted to happen in the middle of a workday. “Scooch,” she said as she rolled her chair to the side.

“Why?” he asked as he moved his chair in her direction.

“You’re crowding me.”

“Really? I thought you liked me close. When we were in the pool last night, you liked me swimming right next to you. In fact, we were like two French angelfish. Swimming side by side, always touching.” When she raised an eyebrow, he shrugged. “So what? I like nature shows.”

“We are not angelfish. We are coworkers who must maintain some semblance of professionalism in the office.”

“Did you know that angelfish mate for life? They live, travel, and hunt in pairs. In fact, they act as a team to vigorously defend their territory against neighboring pairs. That could be us,” he said with conviction.

“We are not striped fish living in the western Atlantic. We are people living in Lafayette.”

“Fine,” he responded and moved his chair half an inch. “You want space? There you go.”

When she saw that was all the give he had in him, she pulled up the program she’d been working on and decided to leave it be. The more she retreated, the more he was going to chase. And while the concept was flattering, it wasn’t anything she needed to encourage. “Should we call Quinn and have him join us? He’s going to have to approve of the scheme—I mean, plan—that I’ve come up with.”

“Speaking of schemes, you ever going to tell me what you, Lilly, and Erin were cooking up the other day?”

“I told you we’re working on some ideas for a screenplay that Lilly is writing for Erin.” Running her eyes up and down him, she shook her head. “You have a very suspicious mind.”

He pushed his chair back and stood. “I know, but I’m not that far off the mark when it comes to Lilly. The only reason she avoided juvenile hall was that my brother thwarted her more creative ideas. The thought of the three of you hatching something has me nervous.”

“We’re hatching a blockbuster movie.”

“If you say so,” he replied as he walked over to the wall and pressed the intercom to let his boss know that he could join them.

When Quinn walked into the conference room, Claire gave him a wide smile. Her cousin had given her a place to land after she discovered that working for the CIA wasn’t what it was cracked up to be, and she was deeply appreciative. She’d been recruited right out of college and had lasted four years before she discovered it wasn’t the place for her. When Quinn told her to come home and join his company, she had been more than ready. “I think I’ve got something that’s going to work,” she said to the assembled group.

“Just waiting on Damian,” Quinn said as he checked his phone. He’s taking advantage of our gym and should be done any minute.”

“I need to give him some time off,” Erin said to no one in particular. “I hadn’t expected to stay in town as long as I have and it’s not fair to keep him here away from his family. He’s got some guys he can send in to relieve him and I’m going to tell him to do that.”

Hunter sat forward and shook his head. “I’ll take over your protection.”

“We can run a rotation so not all of the burden falls on you,” Quinn commented.

“No burden,” Hunter said decisively.

Damian entered the room and Claire decided to start laying out her plan. Once they had it, they could decide how they wanted to proceed. “Let me give you all an overview of what we’re up against.” Pulling up a page of notes, she cleared her throat. “Alvin Wilson is our man of interest and if I had to guess, I’d say he’s about ready to escalate his attempts at contacting Erin. He’s hacked her phone, which is easier than completing The New York Times crossword puzzle, and he’s tracking her movements through her GPS locator. He’s viewed and saved all the data on her cloud and has enjoyed listening to her voicemails and reading her texts.”

“Which means he’s making a plan,” Brady commented.

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