“The answer is no, Jett,” I reiterated to the owner of Stonewood Enterprises just a few days later. My blood pressure had definitely risen this week and I couldn’t deal with sugarcoating my answer anymore.
Izzy had done this to me. She’d left my office with the smell of her arousal still in the air, her words about seeing other men still echoing in my ears, and the taste of her still in my mouth.
The next day, we didn’t even make eye contact, but I still heard her husky voice as I walked past everyone to get to my office. I physically had to restrain myself from checking what she was wearing the past two days.
So, I admittedly didn’t have the patience for Jett at the moment. He’d done his best to convince me to do three weeks of teamwork right before the election with a cybersecurity team I hadn’t met.
“Fine. Two weeks.” He negotiated. “My event coordinators will handle everything, and you can have Izzy do the bulk of the teaching. She built most of JUNIPER anyway, right? She’ll be able to handle it—but you have to be there. If for no other reason than to confirm we aren’t having breaches from a remote location.”
“I can confirm that from a remote location, Jett. This is bullshit.”
“I know that. I’m not an idiot,” Jett mumbled. “But it’s the team building I need you to do. You’re their boss. You’re the fucking celebrity of the data world or whatever you want to call it. They want to see you. They want to be a part of it.”
His wife yelled in the background, “It’s for morale. It’ll be fun.”
That girl was the sun shining into a black hole, I swear. “Tell Vick she’s lost her mind since becoming a mother if she thinks this will be fun.”
“I’ve actually found my mind, Cade.” She chirped into the phone. “You’re an uncle now, aren’t you? You gain insight from children even while they drive you crazy. You’d lay down your life for them, right?”
She knew my brother had a kid with his wife. I’d practically staged the two of them getting together.
I pursed my lips and sighed because I couldn’t deny I loved that baby. Family was family. “There’s something wrong with our makeup.” My niece was a monster, but we adored the little tyrant. “I don’t know how we can love them when they try to kill us and themselves every chance they get, but, damn, I do.”
“It’s the best experience in the world.” I heard Vick’s laugh fading away, but Jett didn’t say anything.
“You there, or have you melted into a lovesick puppy from staring at your wife?”
“Fuck you. My wife is perfect,” Jett grumbled.
I chuckled because he’d been totally whipped by a pussy, and he admitted it with pride. “You, my cousins, and my brother are all crazy.”
“Even so, you’re gonna be going crazy in a remote location, swinging around on some obstacle course during team building in a week. So I’ll take my life over yours.” He laughed at his joke while I groaned.
“You owe me, man,” I conceded, knowing I had to do it.
“This is being a boss sometimes, Cade. You can’t handle it all on your own. You got to trust someone to manage, and you trust Izzy enough, right? She’ll be fine. Let’s trickle down some of the control to the team.”
“I’m going for two weeks. That’s it. And I’m taking my jet.”
“Great. Have your team on it. It’ll be perfect for bonding and morale.” Jett was trying to torture me.
“You’re kidding me, right?”
“I’m not.”
Fuck me. “I’m not participating in anything when I get there,” I warned. “Doing year-end reviews of my colleagues is enough to put me over the edge.”
“If I had HR that understood any of the technical shit you guys work on, I’d have them do it. It’s just year-end stuff. Once a year, Cade. Once a year, and the election only happens every four years. We need to make sure there will be no hiccups with the voting polls and software. After the next two months, you can disappear off the face of the planet like you’re used to.”
“Bet your ass I will,” I grunted and hung up the phone. Then, I straightened my dumbass tie and stomped out of my office, ready to yell at anyone and everyone because my attitude was abominable after that call.
Seeing the girl who irked the shit out of me wearing a black pencil skirt that hugged every delicious curve of her ass didn’t help. Plus, she was flirting with that Lucas guy who wasn’t even supposed to be on our floor. That almost did me in.
As I came to stand in front of the desks, he patted her shoulder and said something about getting a drink after work.
“Izzy, Lucas?” Everyone’s gazes snapped my way. “How’s your work coming for the day?” Wow. Even to myself I sounded like a jackass.
The little siren’s eyes narrowed as she whipped her long brown hair over her shoulder and lifted her chin in a move I now knew was defiance. “Just dandy. We’re ahead of schedule,” she said, popping a candy cane into her mouth.
Where they got candy canes at the beginning of autumn when only Halloween décor was available was beyond me, but I wasn’t about to ask. “Change in schedule, so you’ll all be behind. We’ll be traveling Monday,” I announced loudly. “We’re all going to meet the election cybersecurity team. Two weeks of team building, and we’ll run tests on JUNIPER in a remote location. It’s highly confidential, and the location is classified. Pack for a flight and cabin accommodations. Your itineraries will be emailed with instructions on how to handle workloads starting Monday. Any questions?”
“Should we pack bikinis?” The new girl snickered.
“Clothes suitable for an office environment would be best.” I glanced around in irritation. “Or I guess what you’re wearing now. Not that any of it is professional attire.”
No one seemed at all deterred by my snipe at being casual. Cassie, instead, chirped up, “Everyone getting their own cabin, or should we pick bunkmates?”
I know my jaw flexed because this was all ridiculous. “The Stonewoods’ event coordination team will have arrangements figured out. I recommend handling any outstanding tasks you have now as it will be all hands on deck for most of the next two weeks. There will be team building activities like obstacle courses and accessibility to a lake.”
Surprisingly, the buzz throughout the office was one of excitement; nobody grumbled like I had. One girl even squealed about how much fun it was going to be.
Juda did offer himself up though. “I’m happy to handle the IT in the office if need be.”
How chivalrous of him. Or convenient, considering I knew he didn’t know a damn thing about JUNIPER. “Sounds great. Everyone else, we will be flying privately. Make sure to email the coordinators anything that you’d like on hand when you get there.”
Everyone except one little glaring Harley Quinn had a smile on their face.
“Any issues with the plan?” I waited a beat. “Ms. Hardy?”
She rubbed her fingers over that red bottom lip, and instantly my dick responded. Her lipstick matched her blouse today and was enough reason for me to send her home to change, but I couldn’t do that. I needed to stop looking at her like I could still screw her or bend her over my knee. Especially when she had the audacity to roll her eyes.
“No issues at all. Although IT calls are never-ending, I’ll be sure to catch up on the voice mails I have now.” Her tone was clipped.
I couldn’t stop myself from asking, “And how are those calls going?”
She flipped her ponytail over her shoulder and sighed. “Well, Mr. Rogers was very happy that Stonewood Enterprises could help him turn on his computer this morning.”
Her friend choked on his candy cane and then shoved away the box to try to cover up his laughter.
“And what’s so bad about that? It’s an easy task to walk someone through.” Coming from her, it was surprising. She’d stared me down the first time I’d met her, like she could handle anything. And I’d questioned it because a girl from the suburbs going undercover with a mob team wasn’t exactly a smart decision.
“You’re bringing a novice onto your undercover team?” I asked my cousin, Dante, as we sat in his small office at the state’s headquarters. “She’s green as hell, Dante. She can’t go out in the field and make people believe she’s a part of their drug operation.”
“Why not? She’s young and looks the part.”
“She’s right out of fucking juvie. Of course she’s young. And she was thrown in there for larceny and drug possession, wasn’t she?”
He glanced away. “Attempted larceny, and she was with the wrong crowd. Izzy didn’t have any weapons on her. She was high and didn’t know what was going on. I’ve known her family a long time. They’re my family too. I grew up with them. She needs this. Everyone’s treating her like a baby who can’t handle herself when she’s always been the little engine that could. She just needs someone to believe in her.”
“So we’re putting Albanian drug trafficking in her hands?”
My cousin shoved away from his metal desk and got up to pace. “It’s that or we don’t get shit. They know how we operate on our soil. We need someone green. I swear she’s good. She’s on her way over. You’ll see she’s got enough experience.”
“Yeah, being a drug addict. What if she relapses?” I threw my hands up, concerned that he’d lose someone he considered family by putting her in this position. She could be killed with one wrong step. “Her brain isn’t even fully developed, and we’re going to throw her into the lion’s den where she’s got no tools or experience other than taking a hit when she’s down.”
Dante’s door swung open, and that was the first time I saw her. A small little thing with eyes that popped with gold and green flecks, burning bright with emotion and swimming with anger. Dark waves of hair fell wildly around her face, and she didn’t brush them aside to stare me down. She didn’t fidget in her black boots and baggy ripped jeans, nor did she try to straighten the wrinkles in her brightly tie-dyed, oversized T-shirt with N’SYNC across it as she popped some gum and followed it up with, “I’m good at taking hits, Mr. Armanelli, but I won’t relapse.” She shrugged and brushed past me to give my cousin a hug. Then she turned my way, determination in her stance. “Addicts are what the Albanians are looking for. I’m already in their crowd. I’m already vetted. I don’t need you to believe in me. I only need you to do your job—which is protecting our data security. Right, Dante?”
“Right.” He sighed and grabbed his coat off his chair. “Say what you need to each other now. I’m going out to make a call. By the time I get back, let’s all be on the same page.”
My cousin didn’t give me any time to argue. He beelined it out of there and left me with the girl I knew wasn’t ready for the job. “You’re making a mistake being here,” I told her. “This environment needs stability and people with drive.”
“Oh, good. Because I have both.” She popped her hip out and placed her hand on it. It drew my attention to her body, so small but filled with curves she’d hidden under the oversized clothes. She even looked a mess.
“Look—Ms. Hardy, right?” She nodded as I confirmed her last name. “I can get you a good job outside of undercover work at a great company—”
“I want this one. Dante says it’s for me.”
“It’s not for an addict.”
Something changed in her demeanor. As if I’d hit her across the face by calling her that. She stepped back in what looked like literal pain. Maybe she’d thought I wouldn’t say it. Maybe nobody around her did.
I wasn’t going to sugarcoat it, though. She had to listen and understand so that she would quit.
“You’ll be surrounded by drugs, you realize that, right? You’ll be tempted all the time. People will be OD’ing around you, getting themselves killed around you, and you’ll have to take it in stride without falling into that world. It’s a pressure cooker that you don’t want to be in.”
She took a deep breath, and her plump lips parted as she did. Jesus, the men would accept her into that lion’s den with open arms, I realized, just from the way she looked.
All the more reason for her to get out now.
Yet she squared her shoulders and lowered her eyebrows in determination. “I will be tempted all the time. And I’ll prove over and over again that I’m not going back. What better person to be on the team than one who’s already seen an OD, who’s already witnessed death, and is still standing here alive. I’m an addict, but I have a lot of reasons to never become one again.”
Determination looked beautiful on that girl. And as Dante walked back into the room, I saw her hate for me in her eyes.
I wouldn’t deny that hate looked good on her too.
Izzy was a force.
And she was one I didn’t want to reckon with.
