Chapter 18

CHAPTER18

Haven Technologies’ Building

Florida

Two Days Later

“It’s good to be back,” Bailey said with a satisfied sigh as she stepped through the front doors of Haven Technologies and couldn’t help but notice that Quinn was still glaring at her.

She should be concerned about that, mostly because he’d been doing it for two days straight, but in her defense, he really hadn’t left her with much of a choice. She needed to work and as much as she appreciated the fact that he’d finally let her get her greedy little hands on some technology a few days ago, it just wasn’t the same. She needed access to her files and since he’d absolutely refused to let her so much as check her email, she hadn’t been left with any other choice but to break him.

Granted, it had taken longer than she’d expected, but that was fine because they were here now. God, she couldn’t wait to get her hands back on her computer. Her fingers twitched with the need to start working, she-

Found herself wondering when Pam had turned into an insanely large man packed with muscle. Swallowing hard, Bailey looked up into cold gray eyes and found herself swallowing hard as she mumbled, “Please don’t bury me alive.”

“This is Jakob. He’s in charge of Haven Technologies’ security,” Quinn said as the large man in question handed him a folder.

“I thought that was your job,” Bailey mumbled softly, forcing a warm smile as she did her best not to startle the rather angry-looking man glaring down at her.

“My job is to protect you,” Quinn said as he frowned down at whatever it was that he was reading. Normally, she’d be curious about that, but she decided that it would be for the best if she focused on one problem at a time, like not making any sudden movements.

“I come in peace,” she said, nodding solemnly, only to stop doing that when Jakob narrowed his eyes on her.

Oh, God, she was going to die…

“I’d like to point out that you’re not doing a very good job,” Bailey pointed out, only to frown when Jakob bit out, “Why did you make it difficult to get past the castle on level ten?”

“That was his idea,” Bailey said, nodding solemnly as the man who’d betrayed her stepped out of the elevator only to immediately swallow hard and throw her a panicked look when Jakob swung that glare on him.

“I told him not to do it, but he wouldn’t listen to me,” Bailey said with a shuddering sigh that had her brother muttering, “Oh, this isn’t going to end well,” when Jakob continued to glare.

Assured that she was safe for the moment, Bailey shifted her attention back to Quinn and asked, “Where’s Pam?”

“Fired,” he mumbled absently as she stood there, sure that she’d misheard him.

“I didn’t approve that,” Bailey pointed out.

“I didn’t need your approval,” Quinn said right around the time that she decided that it was time that they got a few things straight.

* * *

“What the hell are you doing?”Quinn found himself asking as he looked down at the small tan hand clamped down around his wrist in what she probably thought was a death grip, to the woman in question as she continued pressing random numbers into the elevator keypad that he had installed while they were gone.

“Being considerate by taking you somewhere private so that you don’t have to worry about crying in front of your friend,” Bailey grumbled, only to glare accusingly down at the keypad.

“That’s very considerate of you,” Quinn said, feeling his lips twitch as he reached over and gently brushed her hand away so that he could type in his security code.

That was met with another grumble, a glare, and something muttered about “stupid keypads” before the elevator doors unlocked and she was able to shove them open. That was followed by her sending him a warning glare as he was dragged, well, more like awkwardly jostled and glared at until he took pity on the woman determined to drive him crazy and joined her in the elevator. Once she had him where she wanted him, Bailey released her hold on him, sent him one last glare, and then focused all of her attention on the security keypad stopping her from going to the third floor.

After Bailey accepted the fact that she wouldn’t be able to access the third floor without a code, and she seemed really fucking determined not to ask him for that code, she settled on pressing the button for the second floor only to remember that she needed to shut the gate first. With an angry grumble, Bailey shoved the gate closed, hit the button for the second floor, and-

“Start talking,” Bailey demanded as she turned around to level the cutest fucking glare on him as she folded her arms over her chest in a move that she probably thought would intimidate him.

“I suppose now is a good time to go over the rules,” Quinn said, folding his arms over his chest and just for the hell of it, flexed his biceps. He noted the way that her eyes narrowed on the move, the insanely adorable grumble that followed, and just barely managed to bite back a smile that he knew that she wouldn’t appreciate at the moment.

“There was no mention of rules,” Bailey bit out between clenched teeth as she narrowed her eyes on him.

“Which is why I’m mentioning them now,” Quinn drawled as he reached over and pushed the gate open. He’d planned on waiting until she had a chance to settle in for the night, hoping that being home would be enough to help the woman who’d spent the last three weeks driving him crazy to settle down, only to decide that it would probably be better for everyone involved if they got this over with now.

“And what are these rules that you believe I’ll follow?” Bailey demanded as he headed towards her office, knowing the stubborn woman would follow.

“There’s not that many. First rule-” Quinn began, only to curse and quickly turn around when he heard the magical words that would most likely haunt him for the rest of his life.

“Ooooh, coffee!”

Shit!

“Oh, come on!” came the grumble a minute later after he finally managed to wrestle the cup of coffee that someone left on the kitchen counter from her hands and threw her over his shoulder.

“First rule,” Quinn picked up right where he left off as he continued heading towards her office, “you don’t go anywhere without me.”

“And if I don’t agree to that rule?” Bailey demanded as he carried her into her office and closed the door behind them.

“It’s not up for discussion,” Quinn said as he set her down on her desk and shifted his attention to the report that his men left for him.

“We’ll come back to that later,” Bailey said, shifting to get more comfortable on the desk. “What else?”

“No one enters the building without approval,” he murmured absently as he ran through the report, noting everything that had been completed while they’d been gone and what still needed attention.

“And whose approval would that be?” Bailey asked, sounding more curious than anything.

“Mine,” Quinn said, not bothering to look up as he made several notes of his own and added another work order for a second camera in the stairwell outside her door.

“I see…” came the softly murmured response. “Anything else?”

“That should be enough,” he said, making one last note before shifting his focus to the small woman watching him with a determined look in her eye that had him biting back a sigh, knowing what was about to come.

“Then, I guess it’s time that we went over my rules,” Bailey said with a firm nod as she climbed off the desk and made her way around it, where she dropped down in her chair with a satisfied sigh.

“And what would those be?” Quinn asked as he sat down on the leather couch that took up most of the small office.

“First off, I don’t need a bodyguard, so I see no reason why I can’t come and go as I please. Secondly, I have the final say in who gets access to my building,” Bailey began, punctuating every rule with a firm nod.

“I’m assuming that there’s a third rule,” he drawled, waiting for her to finish so that they could finally come to an understanding. It was his job to protect her and he wasn’t going to allow anyone to get in the way of doing his job.

Not even her.

“Yes, yes, there is,” Bailey said, clearing her throat with a firm nod as she folded her hands on the desk and did her best to stare him down.

“And that is…”

“Pam isn’t fired,” she said, following that up with another firm nod.

“She has no business working in security,” Quinn said, watching as she reached up to rub the bridge of her nose as she did her best to hide her wince.

“I had no complaints,” Bailey managed to get out with a straight face.

“And your head?” he asked with a pointed look at the small cut on her forehead that was probably going to leave a scar.

“Will teach me to duck faster?”

“True,” Quinn murmured, getting up and headed for the door, deciding to make sure that his team didn’t miss anything as he added, “Which is why I hired her back as your personal assistant.”