Once Bitten, Twice Dead - By Bianca D'Arc Page 0,42
prompted them to deliver it. Whatever it was, she enjoyed the change and almost basked in the confidence he exuded.
Xavier opened the door as she reached into her utility belt. She always kept a couple of pairs of rubber gloves in one of the pockets in case she had to deal with evidence or blood. She noted Xavier donning a pair he’d taken from his own pocket. They could touch things in the lab now without worrying about leaving fingerprints behind.
“I assume a fingerprinting crew will be coming along behind us, right?” She looked at him over her shoulder as she swept past, into the office.
“As soon as we leave, they’re going to go over this place with a fine-toothed comb searching for microscopic evidence. We’ll want to know who else has been in this office since Sellars moved in. It’ll probably take the techs a few days to sort out all the stray fingerprints and trace evidence that must be in here, but this mission is too important to leave any stone unturned.” He shut the door behind them and pulled the shade. He didn’t want to be seen searching the office if anyone happened to walk by in the hall.
Late-morning sunlight came in through the blinds on the windows, bathing everything in stripes of light and shadow. Sarah did her best to ignore the distracting play of light as she searched the obvious places first—the desk, file cabinets and credenza—while Xavier booted up the computer and set to work tapping keys.
“Sam did a quick search of the hard drive, but I have a little more geek in me than he does.”
The comment startled a laugh out of her and she looked up from a file she’d been leafing through to meet his gaze. “There’s nothing remotely geeky about you, Xavier.”
“I’m glad you think so.” His smile was pure seduction. “But I do have a couple of certifications from Uncle Sam as well as a degree in comp sci from MIT.”
“MIT? The Massachusetts Institute of Technology? That MIT?” She was shocked by the idea. Xavier was about as far from a geeky engineering student as she could imagine.
“The very same.” He didn’t seem insulted by her patent disbelief, but she realized her tone was insulting.
“I’m sorry. I just can’t picture you as a college student.”
“I didn’t hatch fully grown, you know.” He continued to grin and she hoped he wasn’t offended.
“So how’d you get from MIT to Green Beret? I assume you got the degree before enlisting.”
He shrugged, still tapping keys at lightning speed. His voice was pitched low when he finally answered. “The terrorist attacks of 9/11 changed a lot of lives, Sarah. I was engaged to a girl who worked in the World Trade Center. She died and I signed up. I wanted payback, I guess. My family understood even though my original plan had been to join the family business after I finished grad school.”
“Oh, Xavier, I’m so sorry.” She didn’t know what else to say. A native New Yorker, Sarah knew firsthand about the tragedy. She’d lost friends that day, too.
He seemed to shake off the sad memories before replying. “Well, the good news is, Dad still runs the firm and I definitely have a job to go to after I retire from the army.”
“What kind of company is it?” She tried to keep the conversation going in less volatile and depressing directions.
“Have you heard of XB computer chips?”
“Who hasn’t? They’re in everything from coin dispensers to my laptop. They revolutionized the microprocessor when they were introduced—or so everyone says.”
“XB stands for ‘Xavier Beauvoir’…Senior. My dad invented the whole thing and marketed it from our garage.”
“You’re kidding.” She knew her jaw was hanging slack in amazement. She must look like a fool, but Xavier wasn’t laughing at her. He was concentrating on the computer screen as if it held the secrets of the universe. She realized then that he was sharing something with her he didn’t tell many people. He was opening up. Trying to impress her? Or maybe just being honest with her out of respect…and hope that they might be building toward something here.
She tried not to get her hopes up. Of course, there was an undeniable chemistry between them. She’d had her hand in his pants in the middle of her kitchen, for cripe sake. She didn’t get in that kind of situation with every man she met. Hell, she’d never done that before—never behaved so brazenly with someone she’d just met.