Chapter 45

CHAPTER45

Haven Technologies Building

“Good morning, Pam,” came the absently murmured greeting as Casey walked through the front door.

“Good morning,” Casey said with a nervous smile, easily slipping back into the role that she’d been playing for the better part of a year and helped herself to a donut from one of the many boxes lining the receptionist desk as she glanced back at the large security guard manning the front door that had given her a dismissive nod a moment ago to find him once again looking bored.

Deciding that it was now or never, Casey shifted her bag over her shoulder and made her way to the elevator, where she found a spot in the back, her gaze never leaving the front desk as she waited for the gate to close, praying that no one tried to stop her. When the gate finally closed a moment later, Casey took a bite of her donut and couldn’t help but wonder how long she had before Nathan sent security after her.

Then again, she was surprised that she’d been allowed to step foot in the building. She’d expected security to be waiting for her, but for whatever reason, Nathan hadn’t warned them, which she appreciated at the moment. It also meant that she really had to move her ass before he realized that she was here and-

God, what the hell was wrong with her? Casey found herself wondering as she took another bite of her delicious donut. She couldn’t believe that she’d cried. She never cried. But last night, once she’d started, she couldn’t seem to stop. She wasn’t sure how long she’d cried in Nathan’s arms, but she remembered when she woke up to find his arms wrapped tightly around her.

She just…

Casey didn’t know what she was thinking, but somehow, she’d found herself turned around in his arms, watching him sleep, unable to help but notice just how incredibly handsome he was. When that wasn’t enough, she found herself running her fingertips along his jaw, enjoying the feel of light stubble teasing her fingertips before she forced herself to drop her hand away and climbed off the bed.

Ten minutes later, she was dressed and forcing herself not to look back as she walked out of that room and kept going. She stopped by the motel room that she’d been renting, packed the rest of her stuff, grabbed her laptop and debated breaking into Haven Technologies network remotely, only to decide against it.

The only way that she was going to be able to pull this off was by being here so that she could hide her activity and since she was currently supposed to be working as Bailey’s incompetent assistant, she was going to be creative with how she spent the next few hours. As she debated between hiding in the supply closet or taking her chances and breaking into Bailey’s apartment, the elevator stopped on the first floor and the man that she’d been hoping to avoid stepped inside.

Damn it!

Taking another bite of her donut, Casey dropped her gaze to the floor as she discreetly stepped to her left behind two men from accounting and then slowly started to make her way around them towards the elevator doors, deciding that she was going to have to go with Plan B when she felt a large hand wrap around her arm, stopping her.

Biting back a heavy sigh, she allowed Nathan to pull her back as she went to finish off her donut, only to have the jerk pluck the donut out of her hand and finish it off in one bite. He didn’t say anything as the gate closed, and she didn’t expect him to. When the elevator reached their floor, Casey moved to follow the small crowd off the elevator only to have Nathan give her arm a warning squeeze that had her staying where she was.

As soon as everyone was gone, Nathan reached over and quickly typed in his code for Bailey’s apartment, making sure to keep his hold on her. Wondering how this was going to end, with the police or shouted threats, Casey slowly exhaled as she ran every possibility through her head until she realized that she had two choices, the stairs by the elevator or the backstairs that was now heavily secured.

Since she didn’t have time to screw around with the security system right now, Casey settled for the stairs by the elevator. Decision made, she stood there waiting until they reached their floor, making sure to stay relaxed as Nathan opened the gate and-

“We don’t have much time, so whatever it is you’re going to do, do it quickly,” Nathan said, taking her by surprise when he released her arm and quickly made his way around the apartment, checking the rooms while she stood there, watching him.

“You’re fine with me breaking into Haven Technologies?” Casey asked, needing to make sure that they were on the same page.

“If it means keeping my sister safe,” Nathan said, checking the bathroom door before he glanced back at her, “then do it.”

“Consider it done,” Casey said, not needing to be told twice, she pulled her laptop out of her bag and quickly made her way to the couch, praying like hell that this worked.

* * *

This had to fucking work,Nathan told himself as he rammed his fingers through his hair and-

“If you could stop pacing, that would be great, thanks,” the woman who’d nearly fucking destroyed him drawled.

“It’s keeping me sane,” Nathan said even as he forced himself to stop pacing and dropped down in the chair across from Casey, who hadn’t looked up once since she’d started doing whatever the hell she was doing.

Other than confuse him, that is.

Last night, he’d nearly lost his fucking mind when the first tear rolled down her face. The sob that followed fucking destroyed him, but the feel of her in his arms…

God, he’d never felt anything like it.

He didn’t know how to describe it, but he knew one thing, he’d never wanted to let her go. He’d kept his arms wrapped around her long after she’d stopped crying, needing to know that she was safe and surprisingly, it had nothing to do with Bailey. He just…

Fuck.

He’d never wanted to let her go and that feeling only grew stronger this morning when he woke up with Casey in his arms, running her fingertips along his jaw. With every caress, he’d felt all the tension in his body fade away, leaving him struggling not to groan while her fingertips traced a path along his jaw.

When he felt her move away, it took everything in him to let her go and-

“You left this morning,” Nathan said accusingly as he narrowed his eyes on the small woman that had felt so fucking good in his arms.

“Didn’t have a choice,” Casey said, not bothering to look up from her computer as she continued working.

“You could have stayed,” Nathan said, wondering why he was reacting to her this way.

“I could have,” Casey murmured in agreement with a nod before adding, “but if I did, whoever was trying to copy everything from Haven Technologies server would have everything they needed before they crashed it.”

“What?” he asked, trying to make sense of what she was saying.

“Someone’s trying to copy all your files, but I put a stop to it along with the virus they’ve tried to unleash on your system,” Casey said, shrugging it off like it was no big deal, but it was a big fucking deal.

“Tell me that you’re fucking joking,” Nathan said, moving to get up and tear the computer out of her hands so that he could see for himself, but the small woman simply grumbled something to herself as she got up, crossed the short distance to his chair and-

“Look,” Casey said, crawling onto his lap as she turned the computer around so that he could see what she was talking about.

“What the hell am I looking at?” Nathan asked, trying to focus on the computer screen instead of the small woman driving him fucking crazy.

“Right now, they’re downloading the dummy files that I created,” Casey said, shifting to get more comfortable as she pointed to the progress bar in one corner. “This is the virus that they tried to upload to the system, which I’m guessing is meant to distract everyone from what they’re really doing as well as destroy everything once they got what they wanted, but I managed to block it,” she explained as she pointed to the other corner.

“The progress bar is moving,” Nathan pointed out, doing his best not to panic, but it was a quickly losing battle knowing what was at risk here.

Everything.

“That’s what they’re seeing too, but the program has been stopped. I managed to delete what they sent and turned it back around on them, hiding it in the dummy folders so that they get a surprise along with this,” Casey said, pointing at the bottom of her screen where another progress bar was almost complete.

“What’s that?” Nathan asked, watching as the progress bar reached 98, 99, and then finally, 100.

“That,” Casey said with flourish as she turned the computer around between them, only to smile when she glanced down at the screen, “is the end to this game.”