my favorite aunt.”
“I figured.” Dorothy pinned Ben with a serious look. “She wanted me to remind you to have her niece back to the residence in time for tea.”
“Got it.” He linked his fingers through Quinn’s and tugged her toward the security station. “We won’t forget.”
Quinn planted her feet. Before they left the lighthouse, she’d tucked her handgun into her bag just in case they ran into any trouble along the way. There was no way she could go through security without setting off alarm bells.
He gave her a quizzical look.
“I didn’t think things through.” She motioned to her camera bag.
Rolling his eyes, he looked over at Dorothy for assistance. The receptionist, who was clearly more than that, jumped right to the rescue.
“I can hold that heavy camera bag here at the desk.”
Dorothy reached for the bag, but Quinn held tight. Relinquishing it likely meant losing the last of her firearms.
“Do you want the list or not?” he murmured softly.
“That’s playing dirty.”
He arched an eyebrow at her.
With a resigned sigh, she handed the bag to Dorothy. “The secretary will be peeved if anything is disturbed in there.”
Dorothy smiled admiringly as she took the bag. Quinn wasn’t sure but she thought the woman mumbled “well played” beneath her breath. Once they’d made it through security, he latched onto her arm and propelled her toward the lift.
“Thanks for not trusting me to protect you,” he said once the doors had closed them in.
She rolled her eyes. “It’s not like you’re going to beat the bad guys over the head with a hard drive. One of us should be armed.”
“You’re perfectly safe in this building.”
“Can I trust Mrs. Moneypenny not to take my last gun?”
Her James Bond reference had his face relaxing. “If Secretary Lyle wants you to have it, you will.”
“I’m really beginning to dislike your beloved secretary.”
The doors opened to the sun-filled center atrium. Catwalks linked the rows of offices behind glass walls giving the workspace a vibe of relentless energy. The building’s airy, open interior could not have been more different from its bland exterior. Quinn was busy admiring the architecture when two men rounded the corner. Before she knew it, Ben had her pressed up against his body and his lips locked with hers. Not that she put up much resistance, eagerly returning the kiss with a sigh.
“What was that for?” she asked when he pulled away too quickly.
“I thought you didn’t want to be seen.”
“And I thought you said I was perfectly safe here?”
Grinning foolishly, he led her down the hall lined with candid photos of agents protecting various presidents. “You caught me. You are safe here. I just wanted to kiss you.”
She had the sense she wasn’t the only one punchy over what they would find on the micro card. He stopped in front of a set of sliding glass doors. A sign beside them read, Cyber Security Lab. Dr. Bennett Segar, Director.
“Doctor? You have your PhD?”
“Mmm,” he mumbled as he punched a code into a keypad.
“No retina scans?” she quipped. “I have to say I’m disappointed.”
The doors slid open admitting them into a low-lit corridor with a series of cubicles housing everything from laboratory equipment to sophisticated printers. At the end of the hall, he punched a code into another keypad and the glass door in front of them unlocked. He gestured for her to precede him into his office. And suddenly she understood why Ben’s bedrooms looked so pristine. He confined the mess to his office. Multicolored Post-it Notes were scattered about the desk, the multiple computer monitors, and just about every available surface. Two white boards were decorated with lines, symbols, and numbers that made absolutely no sense to Quinn. Although, upon further examination, the chaos surrounding her looked to be organized. Evidence of a brilliant mind at work. A stab of pride shot through her. How could she have ever thought him just some boring computer analyst? How had she not seen he was clearly at the top of his field?
“So, this is where the magic happens.”
“Sort of.” He moved a pile of periodicals off the sofa so she could sit down.
“I can see why you like the lighthouse. This place can be confining compared to the vastness of the views the torch room provides you. You always did think better near the water.”
He brushed a kiss over her lips. “Nobody else gets that. Nobody but you.”
“You’ll be able to find it in this mess?” she teased.
“Very funny.”
Pulling open the top drawer of