Intercepted Risk (Aegis Group Task Force #5) - Sidney Bristol Page 0,16
As far as I know, the office is business as usual tomorrow.”
Kelsey pushed her fingers through her hair, causing some of the shorter bits to stick out. When he’d met her, she’d sported a short, pixie style cut. It had suited her. He missed it.
“Talking this out. Let’s say you’re making friends with whatever security is watching the cameras. You see him coming, and what? How do we stop this guy from getting in to see Dixon? Depending on if Dixon is ready to see them, they could be left cooling their heels or shown into the office. I wish I had a role for him. Then I could pretend to have an urgent question.”
“Do you think they all know each other?”
“What?” She blinked at him.
“These people Obran set up with names and passports for this job. You think they know each other?”
“I...don’t know.”
“What if we approached Oliver, said we were there on orders to back him up?”
“That could either allow us to get him alone, or make him jumpy.”
He nodded. “We’ll have to improvise. I’ll make sure the other guys are standing by to pick him up.”
“Great. Improvising.” Kelsey took a long drink from the mug.
He stared at her, watching the way her throat flexed.
She set the mug down. The smile was gone, and she stared at the table. Her shoulders slumped a bit, and she just looked...tired.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“Hm? Oh, yeah. Long day. Dixon... He’s very charismatic, but I swear being around him is like having your energy sucked out of you. I’m more exhausted after today than... Well, I don’t know. I’m too tired to come up with something.”
Logan nodded. “I’ve met a few people like that.”
Kelsey was back to staring at his shirt.
“I was there as security. To make sure nothing got out of hand,” he said.
“Hm?” Kelsey straightened and her gaze leapt to his face.
“The New York thing?”
“Oh. Right. Whatever happened with that?”
“Nothing, really. Guy said he was sorry, didn’t mean to offend anyone.” He shrugged.
She rolled her eyes. “Isn’t that how it always goes?”
He sipped his coffee and said nothing.
Kelsey leaned back, openly studying him now. “You seem really...connected with your family and your heritage.”
“It’s how I was raised. Community mattered.”
“I envy that.” She braced her hands on the table. “Well, I need to get some sleep.”
Logan opened his mouth. He wanted to ask a question, and yet he didn’t want to spoil the one conflict free exchange they’d had.
So instead he said, “Have a good night. See you in the morning.”
“Yay, morning,” she said with that note of sarcasm he liked so much. She shrugged into her coat and glanced over her shoulder to throw a smile back at him. “See you.”
Logan didn’t realize until the door had shut that he hadn’t said anything else to her.
Of all the women in the world, he was fairly certain there wasn’t another like her.
It wasn’t even nine in the morning and Kelsey wanted to hit the do-over button on her day. It had started by spilling coffee on her pants, then she’d missed the train, dropped her bag on the stairs.
She was distracted, and it was Logan’s fault.
Who answered their door in a towel?
She hunched over her desk and wiggled her still frozen toes.
Logan could sure warm her up.
Nope. No. Stop that right now.
Kelsey shook her head.
She could admire him, but she couldn’t touch. There was no crossing the line with him. Logan had already proven that he was one of those guys that couldn’t stomach a woman in danger. Maybe he didn’t realize it, but those were the facts. If he could remove a woman from the equation, he would.
Her entire career was built on putting herself at risk. Undercover was dangerous work. Until her last gig before joining the Task Force, she’d had a near perfect record. She was good at blending into situations, adapting to the job. But Logan didn’t see that. He would always remember that first moment they’d met. She’d been a prisoner of a madman, hadn’t showered in ages and looked like hell. To him, she was someone who needed protecting.
Kelsey didn’t need that in a man, no matter how good he looked. If she ever took a man seriously, it would be one that supported her. Like Miles or Evan.
The good ones were always taken.
Kelsey let her gaze skim the next file she was scanning into their digital filing system, but there was nothing of note to her on the pages.