Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

Time is Running Out

Neva waited for them just inside the door. The woman was visibly nervous, but once they were both in the room, she relaxed a little. "I'm so glad you got here." She closed the office door and turned on the vacuum cleaner. "Jacob won't hear us or wonder what I'm doing." Then led them over to the desk.

The dark-haired woman pulled out the chair and motioned underneath. Over the roar of the vacuum, she said, "I already checked the closet. It is pretty small. And that man keeps a lot of clothes in his office, so there is no room for anyone. The bathroom is big enough for both of you. But if anyone were to come in and open that door, they'd see you."

Grace tried to reassure her. "That's okay. The desk will work."

Grinning, Neva agreed. "It has to. There are some pretty thick curtains, but they don't go all the way to the floor so someone would see your feet. And I checked—the window is clear—so, if someone looks up here, they'd see you."

"I think you are right. Our best bet is this desk. It is huge and there is enough room underneath for several people." Grace was bending down, looking at the cavernous space.

"If someone sat there, they might see you. But Jacob told me when I first started this job that no one was allowed to sit at this desk except for Garret. He was very particular about what I'm allowed to do and how I was to clean in here. It was the only time my training was this specific. I can't even open a drawer or touch anything on this desk. I can use a feather duster and that is all. So, whatever you do, be careful about moving anything," Neva warned, then winked.

Grace turned around. " Interesting. That is very interesting that Garret doesn't want anyone touching this desk. I think while I'm under it, I'll search for a hidden drawer or something." She giggled.

Neva nodded. "Yeah, that was my thought, too. Jacob told me several times that ‘ The boss man has certain issues. His desk is one of them. He doesn't like anyone touching it.' That was pretty much a word-for-word quote. I figure there has to be a reason."

Grace agreed. She took her backpack off and looked at Neva. "When you finish with the building, do you dump the garbage somewhere?"

The woman shook her head. "No. It's never full. Not unless they've had a company party or decorated for someone's birthday or a holiday. We just wheel it back into the maintenance closet on the first floor. We leave it there and someone in security takes it out to the big dumpster in the morning. Why? What do you need?"

Frowning, Grace held up her backpack. "Do you think you could hide this in the garbage can so your boss doesn't notice it? It's waterproof, so I'm not worried about getting it dirty or wet. I just don't want it with me in case I get caught. I'd like all this data to be safe somewhere."

Raptor nodded. "That is a solid plan. You won't need to worry about it until we've finished in here. If needed, we can get our backup to retrieve it."

She forgot about having backup. Now she really wanted Neva to take her pack.

Neva grinned and readily agreed. "I can put it at the bottom. There were several newspapers in the reception area, so they'll go over the top, easily. I'm always the one moving the can about. So, Jacob has his hands empty in case we are attacked, or he has to unlock a door." She rolled her eyes and switched off the vacuum.

Together, they put the backpack at the bottom. Raptor could reach down without tipping it over, so he could cover the bag with paper that was already in the can. Then, after Grace went through the wastebasket by the desk looking for clues, Neva dumped it over everything, and the brown pack disappeared.

"Perfect," Grace said and hugged Neva. "Thank you for this. If everything goes okay, you'll know we were successful. If you don't hear anything..."

"Don't worry about me. I don't need a blueprint to know it's a good time to move closer to my sister. She lives a few states away. You be careful, Dr. Grace. Good luck. Now go hide. "

Raptor

Grace crawled under the desk, and Raptor followed. "It's like a cave," she whispered. "We are so far back—I don't think Garret would see us if he were sitting in the chair. It's ridiculous."

Raptor nodded and placed his body between Grace and that chair to protect her, just in case.

Once he settled, he remembered that hiding together wasn't the best idea. This might be a lot of space for a desk, but it also put them in close contact with each other. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath. He could smell her incredible, spicy-sweet scent. When he raised his lashes, her eyes were right there, in front of his face. He fell into the sparkling green and got lost.

When he realized what he was doing, he tore his gaze away and looked down. His arm rested against hers. Flesh on flesh. It was distracting. She'd worn tight black pants. Leggings, he thought she called them. Her shirt had long sleeves. It was also black. She pushed the sleeves up to her elbows, exposing her soft-looking, light-colored flesh. She had lots of little freckles on that arm.

Raptor looked back at her face. And lots of little freckles across her nose. He could barely breathe.

She frowned at him. "What's wrong?" she whispered. The soft breath teased his face.

He was in so much trouble. Raptor wasn't sure he could last much longer before claiming his Keeper. They needed to get this done and leave. He shook his head and whispered back, "Nothing. Just listening to Neva."

Grace frowned and tilted her head. Evidently she heard the woman because her eyes widened, and she covered her mouth with her hand to keep from laughing aloud.

Neva kept up a little singsong talk with herself. "I'm dusting everything. Trying not to hurry, I don't want Jacob to feel he needs to look at my work if I get done early. Now, I'm going to finish with the vacuum. Okay, I'm just going into the bathroom."

Raptor figured the woman was singing the words to calm herself, and to let Grace know what was going on. But it was extremely ridiculous. He had to press his lips together to keep from laughing. At least sharing this moment with Grace dissipated the sexual tension he felt. He appreciated Neva for that.

It wasn't long before they heard, "Almost done. I'll be locking the door in a few minutes. I'm walking out the door now."

Grace let out a chuckle. "What a hoot," she said. "Let's give it a second and then get out of here."

Once the door closed, they stayed where they were until they heard Jacob try the doorknob, just as Neva told them he would.

They waited for several long minutes, giving Jacob and Neva enough time to get to the elevator and go to the next floor. Finally, they could start the search.

Raptor crawled out and started on the outside of the desk.

Grace searched from the inside out and then joined him in the office.

It didn't take long for them to get frustrated.

"Nothing," Grace said with disgust. She flopped down in Garret's chair and scooted up to the desk.

Raptor skimmed his hands over the outside of the piece, checking for any hidden compartments. While he did that, he looked around the room. He hadn't had time to pay attention before. "The man doesn't have any taste," he muttered.

She snickered. "What? You don't like the clashing colors and narcissistic display of his photograph on every surface?"

Grunting, he nodded at a picture of a man with short, blonde hair. It was one of many. "Obviously, the man likes himself a lot."

Grace paused and looked around the room. "I should have noticed when I first met him that all these pictures weren't a good sign." She waved at the cluster of photographs on the wall and covering the shelves. "Garret didn't lock any of the drawers," she murmured. And they looked at each other in surprise. A few moments later, after Grace searched everything, she muttered in disgust, "Nothing but supplies. Pens, file folders, paper. Nothing personal or used."

He watched as she put her hands down, reaching under the desk. They'd already searched that area and found nothing. Despite the lack of success, it was what made sense. Why would Garret be so crazy about having people sit at his desk or clean it if there wasn't something there?

She looked up and frowned at Raptor. "He's closer to your size. Come sit in this chair and dangle your hands underneath so I can see where you reach." Then she got down and crawled back under the desk. "Put your hands down here."

He didn't question Grace, but did as he was told. Raptor looked down and saw the top of Grace's head, right in front of his groin.

Grace

She blushed when she realized where she was positioned. On her knees, with her head between Raptor's legs. What was it about this man that made her a lunatic?

Grace felt hormonal. Hot. She hated to say it—but horny. God, she despised that word. And it was ridiculous that she was thirty-four years old, and she'd never felt this way around anyone. Now was not the time for this.

She'd like to blame her reaction on his new form. Raptor had kept the muscular, long-haired, romantic novel worthy body at her request. She got a little thrill every time she looked at him.

But if Grace was being honest... she started feeling this way before. When Raptor was rounder. Weaker.

No. That wasn't right. He was never weak. When he looked weaker. Because she remembered him picking her up and carrying her in his arms to the spaceship—without a hitch in his breathing. No. He'd never been weak. And the silver version of this man... the alien version... also intrigued her.

Intrigued. Now there was a word for her heated thoughts. A word that was much more dignified and safer than horny.

Silently, she sighed and shook her head. Then backed away from temptation. Grace needed to focus. They had arrived at her lab at about two in the morning, and she'd been downstairs for over an hour. She figured they'd been in this room for another hour. The time right now had to be somewhere between four and five in the morning. When she climbed out from under the desk, she'd check her cell phone.

There was a libido killer. She was running out of time. Grace knew some employees routinely got to work around six-thirty. It would become more dangerous if they were still in the building when that happened. She figured this was her last chance to find something in Garret's office. Then they had to go. Time was definitely running out.

She turned her thoughts toward Garret. Focusing on what she knew about her boss. He was a narcissist. That wouldn't help her now. Frowning, she thought about the last time she'd talked to him. He'd been alternating between clicking his pen and signing papers. Making her crazy with his fidgety movements. He was always fiddling with something. The man had a definite case of ADHD.

He had been holding his pen in his left hand. Garret was left-handed. Quickly she turned to Raptor's left side and focused on the wood around his hand. She put her hand up beside his as a placeholder and urged, "Okay, scoot back so there is some light." And she used her fingers to trace every inch surrounding her hand. Every... " Holy shit! " she squealed when she pressed over a dark knot in the wood and a panel popped open.

Raptor grinned down and promptly sat beside her on the floor. He patted her on the back and exclaimed, "You did it, Grace!" Then demanded, "What's in there?"

Grace examined the hole. The opening wasn't big. But it was large enough that she could fit her hand in. She felt around and realized the space inside was larger. The first thing she pulled out was an enormous stack of money made up of one-hundred-dollar bills.

She snorted. "That doesn't surprise me. I felt several stacks. Let me see if there is something else." Going to her knees, she put her hand in again and moved the money around. Feeling for something... there . She pulled her hand out again, this time holding a small black box. She looked up at Raptor and said, "This was the only thing in there besides money."

He smiled at her and suggested, "Open it."

Taking a deep breath, she flipped the lid off and hissed out air. "Yes! It's a data drive. This has to be what we need! But I can't access it here. We need to go." Grace removed the drive and put the empty box back in the hidey-hole. Closing the cabinet, she got to her feet and stood next to Raptor.

Grace had given her backpack to Neva. She had on leggings and a long-sleeved shirt that didn't have any pockets. Raptor not only had pockets, but he also had a small pack slung around his waist. She handed the data drive to him. "Will you take this? I don't want to drop it."

He nodded and slipped it into his pack.

"We need to go," Grace said and walked to the door.

Before she could turn the knob, Raptor reached out and put a hand on her arm. "Someone's out there!" he hissed.

Grace froze and listened. They were unlocking the door!