Chapter 27

CHAPTER27

“This isn’t exactly what I had in mind when I said that I didn’t want to be alone tonight,” came the grumbled complaint that had Quinn dropping his head in his hands as he sat there, trying to figure out how he’d fucked this up so quickly.

“Go to sleep, Bailey,” Quinn said as he dropped his hands away and leaned back against the chair he’d placed outside her door so that he could keep an eye on her as he tried to figure out his next move.

One thing was certain, he couldn’t protect her. Not like this. This was a really bad fucking idea. If she’d been any other client, this never would have happened. He never would have sat at that table, never would have let his guard down, and he never would have let her leave that fucking table. He sure as hell wouldn’t have lost his fucking mind when he saw her covered in blood.

God, it had been so fucking close there for a moment. He’d barely had a chance to move when that fucking knife sailed through the air and-

Quinn was forced to think about something else or risk losing his fucking mind. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t keep her safe, not like this. He needed to get her out of here if he was going to have any chance of doing his fucking job.

“Bailey, we need to talk,” Quinn said, which was a fucking understatement.

“I’m listening,” came the absently murmured reply from the woman that had no fucking idea what she was doing to him.

“I can’t keep you safe here,” he said, already knowing that the cabin wasn’t an option. He didn’t think that anyone would be able to trace him to it, but he wasn’t taking any fucking chances after what happened tonight.

“I can’t leave,” Bailey said, making him slowly exhale as he struggled to keep it together.

“Bailey, you can’t stay here. It’s not safe,” Quinn bit out slowly, emphasizing every fucking syllable, praying that she understood how close he was to losing his fucking mind.

“I can’t leave, Quinn. There’s too much riding on this,” Bailey said as he dropped his head back against the wall.

“Bailey-”

“Look, I know that I’m in danger. I get that now. I do, but I can’t leave, not when we’re this close to losing everything. We needed that program. Without it, we’re going to struggle just to make the deadline,” she murmured absently while he sat there, slowly exhaling as he shook his head, wondering why he wasn’t letting Tristian know that he’d been compromised so that he could pull him off this job and assign someone else.

Because he didn’t trust anyone else to keep her safe, which was pretty fucked up considering just how badly he’d screwed up tonight. There were so many things that he shouldn’t have done tonight, but he knew without a doubt that his biggest fuck up was getting into that shower with her. He’d needed to make sure that she was safe and he-

Couldn’t even fucking lie to himself, Quinn thought as he glanced around the large loft apartment he thought about just how much he liked touching her, how good it felt to run his hands over her, the way that she’d arched her back when he ran his hands over her shoulders, and-

He wanted her.

God, did he fucking want her, Quinn thought as he struggled to stay where he was when all he wanted to do was walk into that bedroom and pull her back into his arms. He-

“Look,” Bailey said, taking him by surprise as she placed her hands on his shoulders and climbed onto his lap so that she was facing him, “I’m not an idiot, Quinn. I know this is bad, and I honestly have no idea why anyone is trying to hurt me, but I also know that if we don’t finish this game in time that more than half my team will lose everything and I can’t do that to them. I just can’t.”

“Bailey-” he began, but she wasn’t done.

“How about this?” Bailey suggested, shifting to get comfortable on his lap as he found himself placing his hands on her hips. “What if you give me thirty days to pull this off?”

“No,” Quinn said firmly. “You can work on this online. You don’t need to be here.”

“I can’t. We keep everything in-house to make sure that no one is able to break into our system and steal our work.”

“Bailey, this isn’t a good idea.”

“Just hear me out. Just give me thirty days, and then, if the police haven’t figured out who’s behind this, I’ll happily go wherever you want and I won’t complain. I just need time to fix this, Quinn.”

When he opened his mouth to argue, she said the one word that he never thought would break him.

“Please.”

* * *

“You don’t haveto be here,” Bailey said loud enough for the man standing guard outside her office door to hear.

“Yes, I do,” came the reply that had her biting back a sigh as she forced herself to focus, but it was kind of difficult to do with the man that she couldn’t stop thinking about standing outside her office door, especially since he went from holding her like she was the most precious thing in the world to him to this.

He’d barely said a word to her since he’d reluctantly agreed to her plan, telling her that she had one month to handle this as he looked anywhere but at her as he used his hold on her hips to pick her up and set her down on the floor. That had been followed by Quinn standing guard outside the bathroom at two in the morning as she got ready for work.

Once she was done, Quinn followed her downstairs to her office and waited for her to get settled before he walked out of her office without a word and took up his position in front of her office. That was followed by running perimeter checks every half-hour before returning to his spot and-

It was driving her crazy.

She considered telling him that this wasn’t going to work for her, but that wasn’t an option. While she was here, everyone that worked for her was in danger and she would do whatever it took to keep them safe, which is why she’d texted her brother earlier and requested more security around the building. It was also the reason why she was working when all she wanted to do was go upstairs and crawl back into bed.

God, she was exhausted, Bailey thought as she watched Quinn step away from his spot by her door and begin another perimeter check while she sat there waiting for him to step into the stairwell before she pushed her chair back and headed for the kitchen. If she was going to pull this off, and she really didn’t have a choice, she was going to need caffeine.

Knowing that she only had five minutes before he came back, she made her way to the cabinet marked “Diet,” where all the healthy snacks were kept. Biting back a sigh, Bailey shoved aside boxes labeled organic, healthy, and fat-free until she found what she was looking for.

Once she had the can of Coke that they didn’t think that she knew about, Bailey quickly grabbed a cup, filled it with ice, and-

“We talked about this,” came the softly murmured words as the Coke that she really needed to help get her through this was plucked out of her hand.

Swallowing hard, Bailey watched as Quinn took a sip of her precious caffeine fix while she was forced to stand there and watch it happen.

“I really needed that,” Bailey mumbled sadly as she felt her shoulders slump in defeat.

Maybe she could order delivery and have them disguise the coffee as hot chocolate? Bailey found herself wondering as she watched Quinn finish off the Coke that should have rightfully been hers before tossing the cup in the sink. As long as no one checked, she should be able to pull this off, Bailey decided as she turned around and headed back to her office so that she could test this theory out when Quinn took her hand in his, stopping her.

“Tell me that you’re really okay, Bailey,” he said quietly as he used his hold to gently turn her around and face him.

“I’m fine, Quinn,” Bailey promised him, forcing a smile that had him sighing heavily as he dropped her hand so that he could reach up and gently cup her face.

“No, you’re not,” Quinn murmured softly as his gaze dropped to her lips and-

She had to admit that she was anything but fine at the moment.