Page 50 of Reckless Devotion

Pepper clears her throat and swiftly turns her back on me. The subliminal message couldn’t be clearer: do not touch. “Well, you would be right. Look at this.”

She taps a few buttons and the images all flood the system in a grid formation, the system grabbing features from each into the center and grouping them together to show the overlap. The same noses, the same ears, the same eyes but a different color.

“What software are you using?” I ask, distracted by the ease in which her system picks out these similarities.

“My own,” she says simply, and my eyebrows rise slowly. This time, I indulge myself with a glance at the back of her head, silvery pink tendrils grazing the delicate arch of her neck. I knew she was a tech whiz, that much is apparent, but if she’s able to code and scale her own intelligent systems, why the heck is she wasting that skillset at a digital marketing job?

Focus, Walker. You can add information to your embarrassingly large mental shrine of this woman later—and take that fact to the grave. “We need to poke the system.” I start to pace, focusing my attention on the wiry brown carpet beneath my feet. “Flag a fake shipment, or alter a tracking code and see what happens.”

Pepper makes a small sound that indicates her agreement. “How quickly they act will be very telling.”

I run a hand through my hair and squeeze the follicles together. She can say that again. I hope with everything I have that it will be a sluggish reaction. Anything other than that means someone central to my organization is in on it. I come to a rest in front of the covered cork pin board again, something niggling at the back of my brain.

“I trust you can handle that from here.” Seeing as she has free reign of my systems, apparently, I might as well delegate.

“Already on it.” The words come out mumbled, along with the elevated dull thuds of finger pads tapping away at her screen. I roll my eyes, beyond allowing it to irritate me at this stage. Tilting my head at the manual pull tie that would release the roller blind, I remove my hand from my pocket to give it a swift tug. It snaps up with a vibrating whir, and my eyes quickly find the cluster of images I’m after.

“Hey! That’s private!” Pepper snaps from behind me.

Ironic from her.

“You’re investigating my friends?” I turn around to face her, a deep protective weight twisting in my chest. Because behind me, pinned to this board, are pictures of those I hold dearest. Zeke, Chloe, Mia, Mason, even Jackson made the cut.

“I’m just having a look!” Defensiveness rears up in her stubborn features, her shoulders back and square. “If they aren’t up to anything untoward, they have nothing to worry about.”

“Theyaren’tup to anything untoward, I can guarantee you that.” I take a step toward her, glowering. Clearly, she isn’t willing to take my word for it. “God dammit, woman!” I let a slice of that anger I carry around show, unable to keep it back. “You make it near impossible to get along with you!”

It’s like she has some last line of defense stubbornly etched into her personality that needs to vet anyone who comes into her space. She can frame it as sensibility all she likes, but I see it for what it truly is. A misguided defense mechanism that keeps her segregated from people who could truly care for her.

Am I putting myself in that category?

She tilts her chin, taking the last two strides to close out the distance between us. “Well I’m sorry that I don’t devote my time and effort to being palatable to other people. Least of all, people like you!”

She lands a pointed finger in my chest, and something in me snaps. The endless taunts, the prissy attitude, and the constant awareness that despite all rhyme and reason, Pepper is my exact brand of poison. I'm done being the nice guy. I’m done pretending this invisible line of tension that connects us doesn’t exist, and I’m done resisting it.

Chapter 19

Jack:Earth to Pepper.

Pepper:Pepper reporting, over.

Jack:Have you been kidnapped??

Pepper:Essentially, yes.

Jack:Are we talking morally grey 6’5 kidnapper, or the scary kind who actually wants to traffic you?

Pepper:Closer to the former, dare I say.

Jack:I’ll try to contain my sympathy for you.

PEPPER

His eyes slide down the color scale to twinkling onyx, powerful energy radiating from every thick, tight muscle in his broad frame.

My heart hammers inside my chest, a tingling awareness rising south of my belly button at the devious intent emblazoned across his chiseled features. I get a split-second warning on what is about to happen when he grabs my face, angling it furtherup so that he is just inches away, the ghost of his warm, mint-scented breath hitting my skin.

“On any given day, I don’t know if I should worship at your feet or spank you until you’re red raw.” The molten gravel creates a shiver that branches through my entire body, echoing in a sudden clench between my thighs. My last thought before he crashes his mouth down onto mine, isjust how much fucking trouble I am in with this man.