Chapter 28

CHAPTER28

“I’d be better if you stopped coming between me and caffeine,” Bailey pointed out with a long-suffering sigh that had his lips twitching despite the fact that he was losing his fucking mind.

“Not happening,” Quinn said, wondering what the hell was wrong with him as he found himself once again staring at her lips and-

“I need to get back to work,” Bailey said, blinking up at him.

“Yes, you do,” Quinn murmured as he forced himself to focus back on the reason that he was here.

“Which means that I don’t have a lot of time to waste, so if you’re going to kiss me, now would probably be the best time to do that,” Bailey said, nodding solemnly as she gestured for him to get on with it.

“That’s not really an option,” he said, but God, did he want it to be.

“Who says?” Bailey asked, watching him curiously.

“You’ve only got thirty days to pull this off, Bailey,” Quinn said, giving them both the reminder that they needed that they had a job to do.

“And I’m wasting time,” Bailey said, sighing heavily as she turned around and headed back towards her office.

After one last glance around the quiet office, Quinn followed her as he thought about just how fucking much he wanted to kiss her. God, what the fuck was he doing, he wondered as he watched Bailey walk into her office and sat down, only to get right back up again when she looked down at her phone. At his questioning look, she said, “I’m needed downstairs,” as she walked past him and headed for the elevator.

Nodding, Quinn followed her to the elevator only to glare when she said, “You don’t have to come with me,” as he reached past her and pushed the gate open.

“You’re not going anywhere without me,” Quinn reminded her as he waited for her to step into the elevator.

With a shrug, Bailey said, “Okay, but you should probably be prepared to be bored out of your mind,” as she stepped inside and found a spot against the back wall and focused on her cellphone.

“What’s going on?” Quinn asked, closing the gate behind him as he joined her.

“There’s a glitch in the code and it’s locking out members from one of the levels,” Bailey said absently as she frowned down at her phone. “This doesn’t make any sense.”

“What doesn’t?” Quinn asked as he watched her push away from the wall, her attention never leaving her phone as she reached past him and pushed the button for her loft along with the new code that he gave her.

“I need to get my laptop,” Bailey mumbled as she read through her texts again.

“You want to tell me what’s going on?” Quinn asked, watching her frown deepen as she quickly sent a text and-

“I think something bad is about to happen,” Bailey said as she looked up from her phone and met his gaze just as the elevator came to an abrupt halt and the lights began flickering.

“Why would you say that?” Quinn asked, pulling out his gun and pushed her back against the wall as he stepped in front of her and shifted his attention between the escape hatch above them and the gate separating them from her apartment.

“A couple of reasons,” Bailey said, shifting behind him.

“Mind telling me what those reasons are?” Quinn said, keeping his eyes on that gate as he pulled his phone out and-

Shit!

“For one, my cellphone signal just completely disappeared, but that’s not what tipped me off,” Bailey mumbled softly.

“Then, what did?”

“Well, besides the fact that level one-ninety hasn’t been released yet, I have no idea who sent this to me,” Bailey said as Quinn shoved his phone back in his pocket and reached back.

Without a word, Bailey slipped her cellphone in his hand. After running his gaze over her dimly lit apartment as the lights continued to flicker, Quinn shifted his attention down to her cellphone and felt his stomach drop when he saw the message waiting for her just as the lights finally went out.

Game Over.

* * *

“Well, this is fun,”Bailey said, shifting to get comfortable on the hard, unforgiving elevator floor as she tried for a hopeful smile only to bite it back, clear her throat, and nod. “I’ll just sit here quietly,” when she felt Quinn’s glare lock on her through the pitch-black that enveloped them.

When several more minutes went by and he didn’t say anything, Bailey tried to get comfortable again. That led to her realizing that wasn’t going to happen and moved to stand up only to have the man kneeling down protectively in front of her reach back and gently grab her arm and push her back down.

Knowing that she really didn’t have much of a choice in the matter, Bailey bit back a sigh, shifted, tried to focus her attention on something other than the fact that her bottom was really starting to hurt. When she couldn’t do that, she bit her lip, shifted again, and nearly sighed in relief when Quinn released a heavy sigh as she felt him move seconds before he was picking her up and shifting her around a bit before she found herself sitting on his lap.

“Better?” Quinn asked as she shifted on his lap with a satisfied sigh.

“Yes,” Bailey said, leaning back against him as he wrapped an arm around her.

“What do you think is going on?” Bailey whispered as she stared through the elevator gate at her dark apartment.

“I’m not sure,” Quinn murmured quietly in her ear as they sat there, doing their best not to make any noise.

“Can we use the flashlight apps on our phones yet?” Bailey asked, shifting again when she realized that this new position had only given her temporary relief.

“No,” came the softly whispered word in her ear that had her biting back a grumble as she gently pushed his arm away, sat up, shifted, released that grumble, and then, with a satisfied sigh, turned around so that she was straddling his lap.

There was a slight pause, and then, “What the hell are you doing?”

“Getting more comfortable to help pass the time,” Bailey said with a solemn nod that he had no chance of seeing.

“We won’t be in here for much longer,” Quinn said, placing his hand on her thigh as she felt him shift, most likely so that he could keep an eye on the gate behind her.

“You said that two hours ago,” she pointed out.

“You really are a pain in the ass,” came the mumbled response that had her lips twitching despite the fact that she was scared out of her mind that something bad happened and-

“Everyone’s fine,” Quinn said softly as he reached up and gently cupped her face in his hand.

“You don’t know that,” Bailey mumbled, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth as she found herself reaching over and toying with a button on his shirt, needing to do something before the panic that she’d been fighting since this started could take over.

Something was wrong and it was her fault. They never should have come back here, Bailey thought, feeling sick to her stomach. She-

“What’s going on?”

-felt herself relax when Quinn’s phone rang. She sat there for a moment, listening as Quinn spoke. He kept his questions short as he dropped his hand and placed it back on her thigh. Bailey covered his hand with hers while she waited for answers. Thankfully, he didn’t make her wait long.

As soon as he hung up the phone, Quinn was putting it down so that he could reach back up and cup her face in his hands. “Everyone’s fine. There was an attempt to break into the building, but my team locked everything down and did a sweep of the building.”

“But no one came up here,” Bailey said, unable to help but frown in confusion.

“Yes, they did. A few minutes after the lights went out and then again ten minutes ago,” Quinn said, gently caressing her cheek.

“I didn’t hear anything,” she said, wondering how she’d missed it.

“My men are good, Bailey,” he promised her as she felt his lips press against her forehead.

“Then, why are we still in here?” Bailey couldn’t help but wonder.

“Because they directed the power from the generator to the second floor so that your team could protect your system. They’ve been dealing with a barrage of cyber-attacks since the main power went out. They managed to protect the files, but it took time,” Quinn explained.

“And everyone’s safe?” Bailey asked, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth.

“Everyone’s safe,” Quinn promised her as she felt his forehead press against hers and-

Felt his lips slowly brush against hers.