Page 47 of Dublin Charmer
“Afraid? No,” I lie. I pause, not entirely sure what I’m afraid of. I don’t get any stranger danger vibes off Finn. If anything, Ithink he’s more likely to bat his gorgeously long ink-black lashes at me and have me creaming my panties.
He doesn’t wait to decipher my resistance, just chuckles again and continues up the stairs. Who would have thought that last night I’d be swept onto the dance floor by a mysterious man in a mask and less than twenty-four hours later I’d be following Finn Quinn up the staircase of his family compound to go to his bedroom.
“Why don’t you have an office?”
He chuckles. “More often than not, shit hits in the middle of the night. Tag or one of the others are always busting into my room needing something urgent. Having my computer set up twenty-five feet from my bed saves time and energy.”
We stop at a door at the end of the hall. When Finn pushes it open, I get another wave of hesitation. Yep, this is definitely his bedroom.
My gaze is immediately drawn to the king-sized bed with dark gray bedding dominating the side wall. Across from it, in a raised seating area sits a sleek desk with three monitors.
Normally, I’d be all over the system setup, but my mind is stuck on a loop, lingering on the bed. The sheets look impossibly soft. I wonder if they smell like him. I know from dancing with him that Finn wears a subtle but expensive-smelling cologne that doesn’t overpower his natural masculine musk.
I swallow, remembering how that scent drew me in and made me wet.
Finn clears his throat and arches a brow, his gaze much too aware. “I brought ye here for the computer access. If there are other needs that need to be met, I’m game for a change of plans.”
Heat crawls up my neck. “Ah, no, sorry. You’re right. I need your computer.”
He gestures to the desk chair. “Make yourself comfortable.”
I sit down, hyperaware of his presence behind me as he leans over to unlock the computer. His cologne—subtle, woodsy, and a hint of amber—surrounds me. His forearm brushes against my shoulder as he types, and the casual contact sends electricity through my skin.
I notice the ends of a Celtic design peeking below the edge of his rolled sleeve and wonder what is inked on his arm. Does he have any other tattoos?
“Here, yer all set.” His voice is slightly rougher than before. “Ye should have full access. And here’s yer phone, as well. Gravely hasn’t called. Either he didn’t miss yer company last night, he’s hungover this morning, or he’s too busy hunting McGuires to care.”
He hands me my phone, and our fingers touch. We both freeze for a second, neither pulling away.
“Thank you,” I murmur.
He nods, breaking the connection. “I’ll give ye some space but know that I’ve got a key logger activated, so I’ll know if ye try anything beyond what ye say yer doing. Please don’t betray us, Nyx. When Tag warned ye that this is yer one and only chance, he was serious.”
“I understand.” The fact that he doesn’t trust me completely actually makes me feel better about things. If he just gave me free rein, I’d be worried about what I’m missing.
And even though he’s saying he doesn’t trust me, when his eyes meet mine, there’s a warmth there that makes my chest ache.
I turn to the computer and access my cloud storage, typing rapidly to connect to the relay that feeds me the surveillance of Gio’s cell. The connection fails, so I try again. Nothing.
“No, no, no...” My hands start to shake.
“What’s wrong?”
Panic claws at my throat as I try once more. “I can’t connect. The relay isn’t responding. What if Gravely found out I hacked in? What if he knows you took me last night and moved Gio? Or worse?—”
Finn’s hands settle on my shoulders, and he leans down to speak softly next to my ear. The warmth of his breath washes over the flesh of my neck and jaw and sends a shiver up my spine. “Breathe. There could be a dozen explanations. DNS outage. System maintenance. Server reset.”
His thumbs trace small circles at the base of my neck, and despite everything, I lean into his touch.
“You’re right.” I force myself to think logically. “But I need to know for sure. I need my own equipment. I’ve breached Gravely’s network, broken through his firewalls. With my computers, I won’t be blind.”
Finn moves to face me. He props his glorious ass on the edge of the desk and crosses his feet at the ankles. “And I assume yer home base is on the south side?”
“Si, it is. We can get there, grab what I need, and be back here within an hour.”
“But if it’s not a DNS outage and Gravely discovered that ye’ve accessed his system, ye can’t go back there. Ye could be walking straight into a trap.”
“He doesn’t know where I live. I’m very careful about that.”
