Page 34 of Never Again

“It’s good to be back,” Bailey said with a satisfied sigh as she stepped through the front doors of Haven Technologies and couldn’t help but notice that Quinn was still glaring at her.

She should be concerned about that, mostly because he’d been doing it for two days straight, but in her defense, he really hadn’t left her with much of a choice. She needed to work and as much as she appreciated the fact that he’d finally let her get her greedy little hands on some technology a few days ago, it just wasn’t the same. She needed access to her files and since he’d absolutely refused to let her so much as check her email, she hadn’t been left with any other choice but to break him.

Granted, it had taken longer than she’d expected, but that was fine because they were here now. God, she couldn’t wait to get her hands back on her computer. Her fingers twitched with the need to start working, she-

Found herself wondering when Pam had turned into an insanely large man packed with muscle. Swallowing hard, Bailey looked up into cold gray eyes and found herself swallowing hard as she mumbled, “Please don’t bury me alive.”

“This is Jakob. He’s in charge of Haven Technologies’ security,” Quinn said as the large man in question handed him a folder.

“I thought that was your job,” Bailey mumbled softly, forcing a warm smile as she did her best not to startle the rather angry-looking man glaring down at her.

“My job is to protect you,” Quinn said as he frowned down at whatever it was that he was reading. Normally, she’d be curious about that, but she decided that it would be for the best if she focused on one problem at a time, like not making any sudden movements.

“I come in peace,” she said, nodding solemnly, only to stop doing that when Jakob narrowed his eyes on her.

Oh, God, she was going to die…

“I’d like to point out that you’re not doing a very good job,” Bailey pointed out, only to frown when Jakob bit out, “Why did you make it difficult to get past the castle on level ten?”

“That was his idea,” Bailey said, nodding solemnly as the man who’d betrayed her stepped out of the elevator only to immediately swallow hard and throw her a panicked look when Jakob swung that glare on him.

“I told him not to do it, but he wouldn’t listen to me,” Bailey said with a shuddering sigh that had her brother muttering, “Oh, this isn’t going to end well,” when Jakob continued to glare.

Assured that she was safe for the moment, Bailey shifted her attention back to Quinn and asked, “Where’s Pam?”

“Fired,” he mumbled absently as she stood there, sure that she’d misheard him.

“I didn’t approve that,” Bailey pointed out.

“I didn’t need your approval,” Quinn said right around the time that she decided that it was time that they got a few things straight.

* * *

“What the hell are you doing?”Quinn found himself asking as he looked down at the small tan hand clamped down around his wrist in what she probably thought was a death grip, to the woman in question as she continued pressing random numbers into the elevator keypad that he had installed while they were gone.

“Being considerate by taking you somewhere private so that you don’t have to worry about crying in front of your friend,” Bailey grumbled, only to glare accusingly down at the keypad.

“That’s very considerate of you,” Quinn said, feeling his lips twitch as he reached over and gently brushed her hand away so that he could type in his security code.

That was met with another grumble, a glare, and something muttered about “stupid keypads” before the elevator doors unlocked and she was able to shove them open. That was followed by her sending him a warning glare as he was dragged, well, more like awkwardly jostled and glared at until he took pity on the woman determined to drive him crazy and joined her in the elevator. Once she had him where she wanted him, Bailey released her hold on him, sent him one last glare, and then focused all of her attention on the security keypad stopping her from going to the third floor.

After Bailey accepted the fact that she wouldn’t be able to access the third floor without a code, and she seemed really fucking determined not to ask him for that code, she settled on pressing the button for the second floor only to remember that she needed to shut the gate first. With an angry grumble, Bailey shoved the gate closed, hit the button for the second floor, and-

“Start talking,” Bailey demanded as she turned around to level the cutest fucking glare on him as she folded her arms over her chest in a move that she probably thought would intimidate him.

“I suppose now is a good time to go over the rules,” Quinn said, folding his arms over his chest and just for the hell of it, flexed his biceps. He noted the way that her eyes narrowed on the move, the insanely adorable grumble that followed, and just barely managed to bite back a smile that he knew that she wouldn’t appreciate at the moment.

“There was no mention of rules,” Bailey bit out between clenched teeth as she narrowed her eyes on him.

“Which is why I’m mentioning them now,” Quinn drawled as he reached over and pushed the gate open. He’d planned on waiting until she had a chance to settle in for the night, hoping that being home would be enough to help the woman who’d spent the last three weeks driving him crazy to settle down, only to decide that it would probably be better for everyone involved if they got this over with now.

“And what are these rules that you believe I’ll follow?” Bailey demanded as he headed towards her office, knowing the stubborn woman would follow.

“There’s not that many. First rule-” Quinn began, only to curse and quickly turn around when he heard the magical words that would most likely haunt him for the rest of his life.

“Ooooh, coffee!”

Shit!

---