man had a sweet tooth. “I think we can make that happen. Are you sure you’re okay babysitting me? You can eat and then head home and pick me up.”
He stared at her.
“Or you can be bored right here.” He was right. The last time she’d been totally alone she’d gotten choked out. The truth of the matter was it could get creepy here at night.
“Thank you,” he replied. “And I won’t be bored. I’ve got my laptop. I can catch up on work, too. I’ve got some code I need to write for the website. And Big Tag wants me to hack the new Japanese toilets Adam bought for his company. They’re super high tech, complete with wash cycles and a blow-dryer for your junk.”
“You’re going to hack a toilet?” He could also be a prankster. She would have to remember that.
“Yep. I’m going to turn the water pressure way up and the temp way down and see if we can hear Adam howl from our floor.” He was sitting at her desk, a big smile on his face. “It’s also an excellent way to figure out who actually uses them. They all say they don’t. Jesse Murdoch said it was a waste of money, but I bet he ends up using the soothing wash cycle. Well, at least once.”
Damn, she was in love with him. She couldn’t even fool herself anymore. She was in love with Hutch. “You are a moron.”
That smile didn’t dim a watt. “But I’m your moron. Come here.”
She moved into his arms. Dinner might have to wait.
He started kissing her when the door came open again and Kyle walked through, pulling at his tie.
“She is not a nice boss. And that is all I am saying,” Kyle grumbled and then proceeded to contradict himself by saying more. “She replaced me with Austin. Austin is a putz.”
“What did you do?” Hutch’s face had completely lost its humor. And his horniness.
They started to argue.
It looked like dinner was back on, and she was definitely going to have to share.
* * * *
“Are you sure it’s okay he’s in there with her?” Kyle stood in front of the window that connected the lab’s main room to one of what she’d called the experiment rooms. There was a big MRI machine along with a bunch of technical equipment. Noelle was running a test to see how much of the helium she could catch and recycle off the machine.
Something had gone wrong and she’d called Pete, who’d happened to still be in the building. The engineer was in there with her.
“He works with her every day,” Hutch pointed out. “I don’t see why it’s a problem.”
Hutch stared down at the screen in front of him and wished like hell he didn’t have to do what he was going to do. What he wanted to do was scoop Noelle up and get her the hell out of here because every instinct in his body was telling him something was wrong.
Why had Kyle suddenly gotten himself taken off the security detail he’d been talking about all week? It was pretty coincidental that he would get bumped on the very night Hutch had to get his job done.
Was Kyle here to make sure he didn’t do his job?
Kyle moved in behind him, his voice going low. “Are you going in tonight? I thought you wanted to wait until tomorrow night when I could watch your back.”
That was what they’d discussed, which was precisely why it was so odd that Kyle was suddenly free tonight. “I’m doing some recon. I haven’t spent much time in the building. I need to get a feel for what I’m going to have to do to get in.”
“Did Ian get intel on Cara? Have you talked to Noelle about it?”
He turned to glare Kyle’s way. “Dude, someone could be listening.”
Kyle shrugged that worry off. “Nah, I check for bugs every day, and I’ve got a disruptor on me right now. It’ll blast static if anyone’s listening.”
That was interesting. A disruptor was brand-new tech. It was so new most people didn’t know about it. It wasn’t on the market to the public yet, and Hutch hadn’t been able to get his hands on one. The small device emitted a high-frequency tone that would render most listening devices useless. “That’s impressive tech. You didn’t get it from the office.”
Not that Big Tag hadn’t tried to find a way to buy a couple.