Fathom (Mermaids of Montana #3) - Elsa Jade Page 0,106

as he settled into parade rest.

But even set in neutral, he had the sort of face and stature that might set a vulnerable pulse racing: preternaturally symmetrical features honed to austere planes and sleek edges, enough bulk around his shoulders and thighs and, er, elsewhere to signal strength and virility, a graceful balance to his stance that promised a ready response to any call to action.

She straightened her glasses. Good thing she wasn’t vulnerable to such primal responses. After all, she’d tripped before she’d seen him.

Mentally, she revised her dataset. If she had been inclined to formulate a matchmaking algorithm, this guy would be an outlier, a unit of observation too far beyond the decision boundary to provide practical real-world metrics.

Except Evens hadn’t said matchmaking, had he? He’d said…matchmating.

Well, that might demand a different criterion.

The bubbles in the spring water seemed to fizz out through her blood…and obviously shortcircuited her brain. She cleared her throat.

"It's not doubt," she corrected. "It's disinterest. The world has enough hookup apps." When Evens opened his mouth, she added quickly, "Fine, the universe has enough hookup apps."

The man in black, Cross, inclined his head. "She's right. She shouldn't be involved in this project."

And right then, her contrariness—which she had to admit would definitely be coded as a potential relationship problem—kicked in. "That's not really your call though."

"It’s my call,” Evens reminded them. “I hired you, Cross, to be the brawn, and you, Tyler, to be the brain, while I am the unifying heart." Evens linked his hands together in front of his chest with a beatific smile. “And I have a feeling this is going to be perfect.”

Tyler rolled her eyes and inadvertently caught Cross doing the same thing.

He really did have the most beautiful eyes, a unusual mutable brown, shifting from dark gold to hammered bronze and other metals forged in hidden fires.

Wait, she only cared about data points, not poetry.

Cross gave Evens a look as hard and unyielding as the antique chair cushion. "I’m here for defenses and fortifications, not feelings. So if you’re sincere about the security of this project and this place, you should listen to me."

Tyler glowered at him over the top of her glasses. Was he questioning her ability or her integrity? While she understood the need for security around proprietary developments, Sunset Falls didn't exactly seem like a hotbed of industrial espionage. Maybe that was part of Evens' reasons for choosing the location; not having a digital connection to the outside world definitely cut down on the likelihood for those sorts of problems.

And maybe having muscle like Cross (whyyyyy had she thought about hotbeds?!?) was extra protection.

The memory of being perp-walked out of her own office, cut out of the success that she'd made possible, erased from the history of her own making, made her bristle. She wasn't just being contrary now. She'd grasped at the chance to recover some of what she lost over the last seven years: not just her job and work history, but her belief in herself. She wasn't going to give that up again or let anyone else tell her what she could do with her life.

"I love feelings,” she lied through her very definitely gritted teeth. The throbbing in her jaw was going to need extra massaging tonight. As for throbbing and massaging elsewhere… Yikes, control-alt-delete, hard reboot that right out the door. “When do I start?”

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elsa Jade, author of sexy shapeshifting romances, also writes paranormal romance, urban fantasy romance, and science fiction romance as Jessa Slade and sexy contemporary romance as Jenna Dales. In all her incarnations, she believes in the transformational power of love and is thrilled to share her stories with like-minded readers.

Fathom (Mermaids of Montana #3) - Elsa Jade Page 0,106

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