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His glacier-blue eyes filled her head and, even though she should shut the inappropriate thoughts down, she let herself imagine what he looked like beneath the well-fitted suits he wore every day. He had a slim build, but she knew lean, well-defined muscles lurked beneath the surface. She’d seen the evidence when he’d removed his jacket a couple times, rolling up his sleeves and giving her a very clear, very tantalizing display of arm porn. His shirt had stretched taut around his biceps and he’d loosened his tie, unbuttoning the top couple of buttons, providing her a tiny glimpse of a firm, tanned chest.
It wasn’t fair. No man should look so good.
You aren’t here to ogle Sheridan,she reminded herself. Clearly, it was time for a self lecture. The whole point of getting hired there was to do some recon and spy on Chadwick Carlisle, the billionaire who owned the building and worked on the top floor when he was in residence in San Francisco.
Carlisle burst onto their radar when River Larsen, now River Hawkins since she married Zane a couple of weeks earlier, found a photograph of him smiling brightly beside Benedict and Elizabeth Salinger, along with a young woman they hadn’t yet identified. Benedict was one of the names River had decrypted from the list Zane had uncovered. The infamous list boasted the names of the ten very dangerous people who sat on The Agency throne. To date, they’d only managed to figure out five. Hopefully, that would change soon.
Not long ago, Inda’s team, Ex Nihilo, had worked for The Agency. They were the best of the best, put together from various military backgrounds to neutralize threats to the United States.Or, so they were told. They’d been brought together under code names with strict instructions to only use their aliases and avoid any interaction outside of work. That directive had seemed strange, and she should’ve listened to her intuition.
The disturbing truth came to light after an op went south and one of their own, Tanner “Mayhem” Stiles, was killed. The tables had flipped and Ex Nihilo, once the hunters, became the hunted. The Agency wasn’t who they’d claimed to be. They had no ties to the U.S. government and they weren’t the good guys. In fact, they were the exact opposite—a self-serving group of elitists spreading chaos across the globe. And they needed to be stopped.
Inda and her team were slowly unraveling The Agency, but it had more tentacles than they’d ever expected. Their reach went further, their influence deeper, and Ex Nihilo had their work cut out for them.
So, yeah, time was of the essence. They needed to bring down The Agency before it could do any more damage. Inda thought they were doing pretty well, though. They recently took out Julien and Camille Mercier—the French assassins sent after them—so that was one, technically two, fewer threats to worry about. There was, however, a very large threat that still loomed in the shadows, one that could strike at any time. One that made them all extremely nervous and had to be eliminated as soon as possible.
Cipher.
He, or she, was an expert hacker who’d managed to creep in through a back door of Zane’s computer and start downloading intel. No one was sure what the hacker had gotten during the cyber attack, but it had panicked Zane enough to reach outto River, his former partner in Black Squadron and a hacker extraordinaire. The two had evidently harbored unresolved feelings for each other, and while working together, they fell in love. As happy as Inda was for her friend, it was just another reminder that she had no one.
Ah, well.Some people were meant to find their other half. Others, like her, were destined to remain alone. Plus, after seeing firsthand how manipulative and terrible men could be, she’d vowed to remain single, independent and, most importantly, safe. Her mother’s tragic fate was an ever-present reminder for Inda of why she couldn’t allow herself to become emotionally involved with a man.
Not even a man as attractive as Lucas Sheridan. She could look, but there was no way she’d ever do more. Sheridan was a lethal combination of sex appeal and charm. One she planned to avoid at all costs.
“Leoa?” His deep voice jolted her back to the present. “Can you come in here?”
Inda’s desk sat right outside Lucas’ corner office, separated by a large glass window covered in blinds. Her desk used to be lined up perfectly with his door, so she could see him inside, but the distraction had become too much. Last week, she’d discreetly moved the desk over so she wouldn’t be subjected to Dreamboat Dimples. In her defense, she hadn’t come up with the silly nickname—Harper, Ryland’s wife had—but it had stuck.
Standing up, Inda smoothed her skirt down, prayed for the strength to resist the incoming display of dimples, and walked into Lucas’ office. “Yes?” she asked.
“Are you good with computers?” He ran a frustrated hand through his brown hair, mussing it up, then sent her a helpless smile. A helplessdimpledsmile that made her want to crawl across his desk, grab his face and lick those little indentations. “I’m not very tech savvy.”
“I can usually get by, but my skills aren’t the best,” she admitted, preparing herself to be hit by the sexy scent of his cologne as she walked around his desk. Leaning over his shoulder, looking at his computer screen, she let herself breathe in the ridiculously delicious smell of pine, musk and spice. Holy hell, whatever it was, it made her nether regions clench.Focus, Inda. On the job, not the man.
“Oh, I’d be willing to bet your skills are amazing.”
His deep voice came out slightly husky and she cleared her throat, ignoring his comment. Forcing herself to focus on his screen, she squinted at the display. “What’s the problem?”Besides my uncontrollable and completely overwhelming urge to get in your perfectly-pleated suit pants?
“I can’t find a file,” he grumbled. “I saved it in my documents, but now it’s not there.”
“Let me take a look. What’s the name of the file?” Leaning in closer, she reached for the mouse and noticed he didn’t move out of her way. Not even a little. They were far too close, practically brushing against each other, and the clenching happening down below became a low, steady throb.
“Doc 1,” he answered, mouth edging up, pulling her attention to his lips. Not too full, but not overly thin, either. But, damn, they looked utterly kissable. “Not very original, I know.”
Inda chuckled, gaze moving over to his angular jaw. The damn thing looked carved from granite. Swallowing hard, she forced her attention back to his screen and started searching. In less than two minutes, she found the document. But, good God, one hundred and twenty straight seconds of being so close to Lucas Sheridan was the exact kind of distraction she didn’t want or need.
Then, to her complete surprise, he lifted his hand and touched a finger to the cursive “L” pinned to her suit jacket. “That’s a pretty pin. Same first initial as mine.”
For a frozen moment, Inda couldn’t move. Their gazes locked, freaking fused together, and her heart began to pound so hard she was scared he could hear its rapid, out of control beating. This close, she realized his spectacular eyes were several shades of blue. Lighter around his pupil, almost a silvery blue, and then growing into a brighter, glacial color which was ringed in a deep sapphire.
Sucking in a breath, Inda stepped back, wobbled slightly in her heels, and cursed herself for falling under whatever spell he was weaving. She placed her hands on her hips, desperate for some fresh air, needing to rid her nostrils of his delicious scent. Damn, he smelled like Christmas morning. “There you go,” she managed to say. “All set.”
He stared at her a moment too long before responding. “Thank you. You’re a lifesaver, Leoa.”
“No problem.” She glanced down at the slim watch on her wrist, willing her heart to slow down. “I’m going to run out and grab some lunch. Can I get you anything?”
“Actually, yeah, thanks.”
Ugh, why did she ask? Waiting patiently, she watched him fish his leather wallet out of the top drawer, remove a couple of twenties and hand them over. “Are you going next door?”
