Chapter 30

CHAPTER30

“Here’s a list of the bugs that we were able to fix this morning,” Jess said as Bailey sat there, swallowing hard as she kept her gaze locked on her desk because she absolutely refused to look up.

Once she finished working on this program, she was going to have to quit. She really didn’t have a choice. It didn’t matter that she owned the company or that the majority of her programs couldn’t be run without her, she was going to have to quit and embrace her life as a recluse somewhere far, far away where she wouldn’t have to worry about being forced to make eye contact with any of the people who’d caught her having sex in the elevator with the man currently watching her every move. She-

Was going to need a lot of caffeine to get through this, Bailey decided, swallowing hard as she watched a file land on her desk along with another pack of condoms, this one ribbed for her pleasure. She really hated her friends, Bailey thought, biting back a sigh as she grabbed the box of condoms, turned in her seat, opened her bottom desk drawer, and dropped the box of condoms to join the others that had found their way onto her desk this morning.

Once she was done, Bailey turned back around and-

Found herself staring at a small bottle of strawberry-flavored personal lube. Sighing, she looked from the bottle of lube up to the woman watching her with an unholy gleam in her eye. “I really hate you,” Bailey found herself admitting with a solemn nod as she grabbed the small bottle of lube and tossed it in the bottom drawer.

“I sense that,” Jess murmured, matching her nod as she cleared her throat and glanced over her shoulder, giving Bailey no other choice but to follow her gaze, only to feel her shoulders drop when she spotted the line of employees standing outside her door, holding files that she didn’t need along with an assortment of condoms and each and every one of them looking happier than she’d ever seen them before.

For a moment, Bailey debated grabbing her laptop and locking herself in the supply closet for the rest of the day, but that wasn’t really an option at the moment. So, instead, she settled for pushing away from her desk and sighing heavily as she made her way around the desk, grabbing hold of the woman who was taking immense pleasure in her downfall and-

“Wrap it before you tap it!”

-shoved the traitor out of her office, slammed her door shut, and when that wasn’t enough, Bailey closed her blinds, only to feel her shoulders slump in defeat when the action was met with loud cheers.

“I really hate them,” Bailey mumbled sadly as she turned around and found herself facing the man who’d felt incredible inside her about ten seconds before everything got really awkward.

“I can see why,” Quinn murmured, pushing away from the wall and made his way over to the desk and leaned back against it as he took her hand in his and said the five words that she’d been waiting for all day. “We need to talk, Bailey.”

“I know,” she muttered, biting back a disappointed sigh as he gave her hand a gentle pull that had her reluctantly coming closer, knowing that they couldn’t put this off any longer.

As she forced herself to take those last few steps, Bailey did her best to mentally prepare herself for the “We made a mistake” talk that she knew was coming. She was just a job and-

She didn’t want to be just a job.

She liked him so much and wasn’t ready for this to end. She definitely wasn’t ready for him to walk away and something told her that was about to happen. She didn’t want him to leave, wasn’t ready to watch him walk away, and couldn’t help but wonder why this hurt so much.

She just…

She had no idea what she wanted, Bailey thought, but she knew that she didn’t want to see him hurt and if leaving kept him safe, then she needed to let him go. Whatever was going on, she knew one thing, it wasn’t safe right now to be around her. She needed to finish her program, make sure that Haven Technologies had what it needed to run without her and get out of here before someone got hurt so that they could figure out who was after her before it was too late. She just needed-

Quinn to keep kissing her, Bailey thought as he leaned down and took her lips in a kiss that had her moaning as he released her hand so that she could wrap her arms around him. Admittedly confused, Bailey ran her fingers through his hair as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer. He took her mouth in a slow, tender kiss that had her forgetting everything else, the stress, all of the things that needed her attention, and the fact that her life was slowly spiraling out of control and focused on the only thing that was making everything okay.

Quinn.

* * *

He was done playingthis game.

He was done caring that he shouldn’t be doing this.

He was done pretending that his life was exactly the way that he wanted it.

And he was done pretending that he could fight this.

He wanted her. Christ, did he want her, and that was the problem because he couldn’t have her. Not like this. Which meant that it was time to do something that he never thought he would have to do.

“I can’t protect you anymore, Bailey,” Quinn murmured against her lips even as he tightened his hold around her.

“What are you trying to say, Quinn?” Bailey asked, only to mumble, “More kissing,” when he moved to stop, making his lips twitch.

So fucking demanding, he thought, brushing his lips against hers one last time before he pulled away so that he could press a kiss against her forehead. Sighing heavily, Quinn pressed his forehead against hers and said, “I quit, Bailey.”

“In that case, it’s a good thing that I’m here,” came the heavily sighed announcement that had Quinn breaking off the kiss and-

“You son of a bitch!”

-sighing as he grabbed hold of Bailey mid-launch as she tried to throw herself at the man that his team had spent half the night looking for.

Jonathan Parkins.