His eyes lit up. “With guns?”
I blanched. “Gawd no, you goober. Maybe they’ll have paintball or something. Look, I know you’re not exactly enthused at the moment but you just reached the age where they’ll take you. I think if you give it a chance, you’ll have fun. You know, they have a second session in August but I haven’t looked at it yet. I didn’t want to pressure you.”
“Okay, okay. I get it. I’ll try it, but only because you need to find a date.”
I gave him a surprised look. “I need to what?”
He shrugged. “You know. Like find a date when I’m gone. Someone that will be nice to you. Maybe we can all go fishing together or something if you find a boyfriend.”
Ahh. He wanted a buddy. Maybe an older brother type of person. Hmm.
I stood up and gave him a quick sideways hug. “Yeah, we’ll see. Meanwhile, I have to work. If you want that Ford Mustang by the time you’re a graduate then I’m going to have to save some money.”
He was recently obsessed with cars. I had my preferences and he had his. Our tastes were very different but it gave us a chance to connect when we talked about them.
He smiled up at me. “You might need to get two jobs but I’ll take it.”
“Who says you aren’t going to pitch in, kiddo?” I asked, as I gathered up our pool bag and wrapped my towel around my waist. My pink swimsuit top was showing but no guests were in the building yet that would care.
“I’m a kid, are we talking slave labor?”
“Oh, now you’re a kid. I see. Hard work never hurt anyone, Drew. We earn our way in the world.”
He gave me another glance as we walked out of the pool room.
“You should change your hair again. I don’t like the dark brown. Go back to the red.”
I titled my head at him and kept walking. “Since when have you turned into my hairdresser?”
“I’m just saying. And get a haircut, maybe you can meet someone with a lot of money that can just buy me a Mustang when I turn sixteen and I won’t have to work.”
“Okay, stop with the boyfriend thing. Earn your car, because that is not going to happen. I’ll call one of the guys at the clinic and see if they want to go fishing when you get back. Deal?”
He scrunched his nose up at me as we walked down the hallway toward the elevators. I smirked back at him and pressed the button when we got there.
Giving him my full attention, I said, “I’ll do something with my hair. Deal?”
The doors to the elevator opened beside us with a soft swoosh.
He nodded at me. “Deal. Get a boyfriend.”
“Stop with the boyfriend lecture. I need one of those like I need a hole in the head.”
“Boyfriend?” a male voice beside us asked.
Fuck. I knew that voice.
I turned around and nearly ran into solid chest. Six-foot solid chest attached to muscled arms and murky green eyes.
Brock. I would know those eyes anywhere.
When I looked up at him, I saw his eyes briefly slide down to my bikini top then snap back to my face. At least he had the decency not to stare while my brother was present.
I gave him a scowl and he smirked.
He was wearing a white polo shirt with some jeans. The color showed off the sun-kissed tan on his muscled arms. The edge of a tattoo was peeking out from under the hem.
His midnight black hair was styled in the usual way, looking messy and ruffled on top. Like the going trend in hairstyles that was meant to look like he just rolled out of his bed but he had cut the sides short since the last time I had seen him. The effect made him look like a GQ model. The nerdy, bad boy model variety. Paired with black rimmed designer glasses and a black stud earring, he looked hot.
Not that I was looking. Nope, not one bit.
Drew piped up with a smile, “Yeah she needs a boyfriend. Interested?”
“No,” I said.
At the same time Brock said, “Yes.”
Keeping my eyes on Brock, I back-pedaled toward the opening elevator doors, dragging Drew with me.
“Go on a date with me,” he said and smiled.
“No,” I said firmly.
“Why not? It’ll be fun.”
“I think it would be a bad idea. I’m really busy.”
Drew piped up, “No you’re not.”
Brock smiled at Drew. “See, no reason we couldn’t have a date. I can create some time for you if you’d like.”
I frowned at him and backed into the elevator. “I have no idea what you mean by that and don’t want to know.”
Brock crossed his muscled arms across his chiseled, wide chest and watched us with a grin. His playful eyes danced over my body again in a subtle sexy way.
Those eyes could melt any woman and he knew it.
“See you around, Andi,” he chuckled darkly.
I punched the security code buttons for the apartment floor as quickly as I could and let the doors close without replying.
The last thing I needed was Brock, the super sleuth, security tech in my life. He worked for Aiden and he was rumored to be able to track everyone he came in contact with.
Drew turned to me. “He’s perfect for the job.”
I groaned.
Chapter Two
Drew’s registration for the camp had gone easily compared to packing his suitcase. He insisted on taking several different outfits. I thought it was overkill since he would likely just be running around in the woods for four weeks and wouldn’t need dress pants. But he was his own person, so I didn’t put up too much of a fuss.
If he brought any of his nice clothes home with holes in them, I would choke him then.
We both showered and changed. He fiddled around with his phone while I put on my makeup. He was wearing shorts and a t-shirt for the ride to camp. I was wearing my sneakers, jeans and a blue v-neck shirt.
I knew he would have a good time if he gave the camp a chance, it was just a matter of getting him there. We had spent a lot of time together over the last few years and we were extremely close. He needed some friends his own age though and this had been my not so subtle way of pushing him to find some.
By the time we got down to the front desk we were running a little late.
As it turned out, the boy he had been throwing the ball around with in the pool was also going to the camp. When they loaded up on the van that was shuttling them, I saw that they were sitting together and were already in deep conversation.
That eased some of my nervousness that he wouldn’t find someone to hang out with. Who knew if the budding friendship would last the month but at least he had a pal to start with.
It was the first time in four years that I wouldn’t see him for a while. A gentle but persistent clench in my gut betrayed my anxiety about it. I wanted him to have something normal like this experience but I was also going to miss him.
When the van pulled out, he waved. I returned it with a lump in my throat. Feeling like the world’s biggest baby, I went back in the hotel.
Who needed kids? Not me. I already had Drew.
If sending my own children off to camp felt any worse than this, then I was thankful it wasn’t on my agenda in life.
Still chiding myself for nearly crying at the hotel curb, I walked toward the hotel offices. My sneakers made soft squeaking sounds on the marble floor as I passed through the giant lobby.
I needed to find out where I had been assigned to in the hotel for the following day. The job was to clean rooms and rotate to cleaning the ground floor common areas but I wasn’t sure what they had put on my plate. Like anywhere else, the rotations were likely to change.
They had a huge chandelier hanging down from the height of what I assumed was the second floor. The light streaming in through the long two-story windows above the entrance, made the hundreds of hanging crystals sparkle and shimmer. It threw light around the cream-colored, Italian marbled floors, danced across the heavy Italian sofas and made the entire room look li
ke an expensive resort.
And it was expensive. All of it.
The buzz around the hotel was that the very rich would be in a pampered paradise. They had exclusive access to a variety of different things that weren’t at normal hotels. The upper level floors had their very own butlers and reception areas. There were exclusive spas with massage therapists, garden terraces and some elite rooms even had their own small hot tubs and small pools attached to their patios.
Anyone else that could afford to stay would enjoy plenty of non-exclusive amenities as well but the luxury would only truly be appreciated by select clientele.
I wasn’t sure what the motivation was behind building such an extravagant hotel, but knowing Aiden Latimer, there was some sort of end goal that would make him money in the long run.
The management office door was located down the hall from the front desk. I entered my security code on the panel outside and entered the offices.
It was a huge room that took up most of the wing. There were multiple desks in high-walled cubicles that I passed by. I walked by a glass partitioned conference room on my left with a huge wooden table in the middle.
As I passed by some cubicles I noticed there weren’t many people at the desks today. They were probably all on assignments already around the hotel or still down at the pool.
This room was also where they had central security and it took up the entire back section of one wall. I could see the banks of computer monitors and camera feeds through one of the glass enclosed rooms as I rounded the corner to my right. Their department was strictly controlled by security passes and by invitation only.
It was surreal and every time I saw it I thought back to every book I had read about spies and espionage. My imagination equated it to CIA central command.
I ducked quickly into an empty cubicle when I saw Brock come out of the security room doors. If I was going to keep running into him like this, I might rethink my summer plans to work at the hotel. He was on the phone and seemed to stop right outside the cubicle I was hiding in.
I flattened myself against the wall and held my breath.
“Aiden, I’m taking a vacation after this, I promise. I’m not technically in the office as it is. Just because I’m making some tweaks to the hotel system doesn’t mean I’m working particularly hard. Besides, nearly all of my upper management will be here for the retreat and I’ll be busy.”
He paused and I could hear a male voice mumbling on the other end of the line.
“I’ve left our tech firm in capable and trusting hands. Amelia and Oliver are the only people I trust on staff right now. They’re very vigilant. I have no idea where the security breach happened but I’m going find out. Last year was one thing but this seems to be very intentional and I’m wondering if that information being leaked was from the same source. I’m close to finding out regardless.”
He paused again for a few minutes.
“It’s important whether you think it was a small thing or not. If we have someone on staff that can steal that information then they’re talented enough to steal other information. They were good. Real clean. I would like to think I would have caught it sooner rather than later but to be honest, had I not been on that particular server I wouldn’t have seen the transmission.”
I could smell his cologne drifting around the corner of the thin wall. It was subtle but extremely musky. It made me want to sniff his neck just to inhale more.
My eyes crossed and I shook my head. I really needed to avoid him, not sniff his neck.
I originally met him at a bar with my friends Liv, Julia and Kate. One look at his ass was enough to make me drool. But when he grabbed me and used a cheesy pickup line on me I got pissed and slapped him.
It just happened by instinct and self-preservation. I didn’t like players, especially ass-grabbing players that used idiotic lines they thought would get them laid. I wasn’t that type of girl despite my bravado.
The second time I ran into him, I was at a different bar with Kate. We had ended up in a small argument regarding drinking while in rough neighborhoods. It was annoying. He wasn’t my boss and he certainly wasn’t my babysitter. It was only a few drinks anyway.
The last time I had seen him was at a funeral for one of his friends several months back near Christmas. It was a closed casket ceremony that I could see had affected everyone that attended. In my experience, not seeing a loved one once more to say goodbye was equally as hard as losing them. I wasn’t sure why it was necessary to deny any of them but it had visibly taken its toll.
He was distracted and clearly not in the mood to pull his regular antics. That included a lot of flirting and teasing of any female within range. He had been surly and closed off when I had seen him that time. Which was understandable since his friend had been a part of a close-knit group of five men that had served in a special mixed military unit together.
That time, I had wanted to wish him well, give him my condolences, and maybe a hug. He might be the biggest flirt in the city but I had still felt sympathy for him. We hadn’t run into each other since and by the sounds of the phone conversation he was having, he had been a little busy with a big problem.
That cologne was driving my hormones wild.
Maybe Drew was right and I did need to start dating.
“Yeah, I’ll find the fucker. I can’t promise anything after I do though. There are plenty of places where people fall off cliffs accidentally.”
He paused again, listening.
“Of course, I’m joking. Sort of. I’ll do some swimming, mingle, whatever. We have a party planned tonight, exclusive to our group. Beer, wine, drinks. I have one other little project I’ll be working on that’s private and believe me, that’ll be distracting enough.”
He paused again. “Let’s just say I’ll be investing some time into something with a huge payoff. I have a game plan set up and you know I like to win. I’ll talk to you later.”
I closed my eyes. Please, please move down the hall so I can check my schedule.
Hearing him move in the direction of the security doors I let out a pent-up breath. It sounded like he was on a mission to chase down a criminal.
“Having fun?” I heard Brock ask beside me.
My eyes flew open and I turned toward the open cubicle door.
His body was blocking my only means of escape that didn’t involve crawling over the wall. He had a smug smile on his face.
My cheeks burned at being caught like this. I hadn’t meant to eavesdrop but he likely knew that I had heard him.
Fuck it. I was about to get fired.
I hoisted my knee up to the desk with every intention of going over the cubicle wall and into the next one. If there was a person on the other side, they were about to get the surprise of their life. I managed to get up on the desk before two hands landed on my hips and spun me around.
“Wha—”
Off-balance, my ass landed on the desk and my back came in contact with the flat wood surface of the counter.
Brock’s hands were still gripping my hips as he slid me toward him. He stepped between my open legs and leaned over me with a clenched jaw. I could feel his crotch against mine.
“Enjoy spying, Andi?” he winked.
Thrown off guard, I didn’t know what to say. “I—I wasn’t.”
“Hmm,” he said, then his eyes drifted down to skim over my mouth and chest. “It’s not nice to eavesdrop. In fact, some people think it’s rude. Although, I’ve always found that eavesdropping can sometimes be beneficial if the information gained, is used for positive purposes. Would you agree?”
My nose flared and I took an inhale of his stupid cologne. Why it affected me like it did was a question I would explore later. Right now, I needed him to let me up before we got caught and I truly did get myself fired.
“Brock, let me get up,” I hissed.
“Oh, no. I’m perfectly happy right where I am. Answer the question.”
He was smiling but the smile was
slightly mischievous. It was the glint in his eyes and the way he was arching an eyebrow at me. I shifted slightly which was a bad idea because I immediately felt him get hard.
“Careful,” he said, giving me a dark look.
“Let me up and I won’t have to be careful.”
He smirked at me like he knew something I didn’t. He leaned further over me and my hands went to his shoulders, trying to push him away. He didn’t budge.
“Andi, you’ll always have to be careful,” he said, and bit me playfully on the side of my neck.
I whimpered as a lightning bolt shot up my spine. My back arched so violently that I was surprised I didn’t throw both of us off the desk.
My hands started pushing at him again but he was like a solid brick wall of pure muscle. He wasn’t going to let me go until he wanted to and his lips were busy sliding along my neck.
“I’ll scream, Brock.”
His breath tickled my neck. “Not in here you won’t. Stop making me chase you. Come up to my hotel room and I’ll make you scream there.”
I shivered then I scowled. “Chase? Since when have you been chasing me? I haven’t seen you in months.”
“Well,” he paused briefly to nip at my earlobe, “I’ve been a little busy lately but you’re always on at least one monitor at work.”
I shoved at him and growled in a low whisper. “You’re insane, Brock and you can’t just spy on people. What are you doing?”
He squeezed my hip with one of his large hands. “Well, I’m trying to get you to answer a question. I’m also really enjoying this position. When I imagined this, it was over my office desk at work to be honest. I had to lock the door and take care of myself. Twice. Want me to tell you about what I imagined in bed?”
I gasped. “What the fuck?”
His tongue skated across the edge of my neck. I squirmed against him, trying to fight my body’s response. His arousal was like a molten rock between my legs.
He placed a small kiss under my ear. “Answer the question.”
“What was it?” I asked, feeling myself drift.
He chuckled. “Having trouble concentrating? If the information gained in eavesdropping is used for positive purposes is it okay to eavesdrop?”
Chase (Lakefield Book 4) Page 2