sometimes it does. In fact, when Lily’s hard drive crashed—” He glanced at Dom. “Sorry, sorry. Okay, I’m unhooking all my peripherals and we’ll see if this puppy fires up.” Cordell disconnected all the other devices attached to the various data ports on his computer. “Here’s where we pray to God, promise to be good from now on and sacrifice our firstborn.”
Dom held his breath as the device continued to blink red. He was a fool not to have gotten the phone from her earlier. The thing paused for a moment, beeped once, then started to blink green. A bunch of encrypted shit popped up on the screen.
“Is that it? Is that the data?”
“Yep. You got it.”
“Nice work.” Hopefully, they’d be able to determine what those Darkblood idiots had been up to before they shot him. Now maybe Santiago would back off, let Dom do his job.
“That’s my girl.” Cordell patted the top of the huge curved monitor and skimmed over a few more keys.
“Your computer is a she?”
“Hell, yeah. If I’m running my hands over something all day long expecting it to put out, it better be female. It may take me a while to decode this stuff. You going to be around? I’ll call you when I get it up. Well, when I get the data up, that is.”
“Yes, I’ll be home before going out on second shift. Call me when you have something.”
BACK AT THE loft, Dom rummaged through the refrigerator, looking for something to snack on. Nothing. He grabbed a handful of almonds and a beer, plodded down the hallway and flipped on the light to his office. His in-box was probably jammed as he’d not checked email the entire time he’d been in Portland.
He slumped in his desk chair, knowing he should be thrilled the phone data had been recovered, but all he could focus on was a vague sense of emptiness inside.
Amidst the lottery notifications and the penile enlargement offers, an email from the Baja Region caught his eye. He read it quickly—a job offer—and glanced at his wall calendar. Yes, it had been just about five years since he’d been sent up here in forced exile after that mess in Florida. Officially, he wasn’t eligible for a transfer for another couple of months, but evidently others had been waiting for his punishment, or cooling-off period or whatever else they wanted to call it, to end, as well. Maybe they could push it through early, because it was definitely time to move on. He rubbed his chest and told himself the dull ache was simply a beer bubble that hadn’t made it to the surface yet. Maybe Perdido Bay wouldn’t want him back, but it looked like Baja did. He fired off an inquiry about the job description then took another long draught.
His thoughts drifted back to the auction again. He recalled the way Mackenzie stared at him through her impossibly long lashes then bristled when she got caught, how she squared her lovely shoulders against him as if she knew how much he was dying to run the tips of his fingers over her flesh. As he remembered her sweet scent, her fiery green eyes and her silky softness upon his hand, his cock swelled.
The desk chair creaked when he reached into his pants to adjust himself. This was the same hand he’d used to touch her just a short time ago. He hardened further and stroked himself in a slow rhythm, up and down his length, thinking about her sassy spirit, the taste of her mouth and how her body responded to his touch like a beautiful instrument in his hands. He gripped himself tighter. Ah, yes. Naked underneath that flirty skirt with purple panties in her purse. Oh God, and out there in the taxi line. He closed his eyes and imagined pushing himself into her warmth, feeling her tighten around him. As he strained his head back, a powerful surge of pleasure pulsed out over his belly. He held himself a few moments longer as his cock softened in his hand.
Maybe he could— For chrissake, who was he fooling? There was no way any sort of a relationship would work. Just being around her would put her life in danger. He couldn’t possibly take that risk.
He shoved the chair away from the desk, marched down the hallway and took a quick shower to wash away the idiotic fantasy. He had retrieved his cell phone from her and had fun doing