cock that was becoming embarrassingly hard.
“I would like to see you again,” he blurted with none of the finesse he could have hoped to inject in the request.
Poppy blushed all the way into her hairline, and she bit into the soft flesh of her lower lips.
“Oh. Yes, please. I would like that.”
Her response should have been a surprise, because it was usually hard for him to get a second date. But he wasn’t overly shocked. They’d had a good time. Conversation flowed and had no awkward pauses. There was also an obvious physical attraction on both sides.
“Maybe next time, we can have dinner, and you know…” He gave her a crooked grin. “Not hide at the back of the coffee shop while we’re doing it.”
“Right. Totally. I can probably get Dakota to come to keep an eye on my safety. So long as you don’t mind spending more time with someone who is security challenged.”
“Not at all. If you need three guards to protect you, I would still want to have dinner with you.” He wanted to say something smooth like, I could protect you.
But unless she needed cyber protection, there was no way he was making that offer. He had a serious lack of skills in anything physical.
Poppy got to her feet, and he did that same, closing the distance between them. Shaw couldn’t remember who initiated the kiss, but it didn’t matter at all.
All that mattered was that the kiss had happened.
The first press of lips was soft and sweet. But the second go-round was completely different. It was as if the first kiss had been fuel, and they were dry kindling. Tongues drew together, and moans filled the small coffee shop.
“Maybe we can have dinner tomorrow night?” he whispered against her lips, as his eyes hooked onto hers.
“Yup. Text me the details?”
He licked his lips, tasting her there. “You can count on it.” He kissed her again, because he couldn’t help himself. Because she was delicious. Because he never wanted to part from her again.
His revenge mission was in serious trouble.
Chapter Seven
Shaw
Shaw sped on the way back into town. He couldn’t quite believe just how well his date had gone. He was exhilarated and so full of energy, he knew there was no way he could go back to his apartment and do nothing.
He changed his course and headed back to the protection agency. He would work until the edges of his brain were clear again. Coding always managed to calm him down. Besides, he owed that much to Nick and his company. Shaw still felt bad that he had fooled the shifter. Not to mention how wretched he felt about breaking the man’s trust. He took no pride in what he had to do.
It’s not like life had left him any other choice.
The parking lot was nearly empty by the time Shaw pulled in, but he was surprised to see that the boss himself was still hard at work, even if it was well past six in the evening. Nick was just as shocked to see him.
“What are you doing back here?” Nick asked him with a deep-set frown.
“I just want to finish a few things before the day is over.”
“You do know that you’ve already worked a full day’s time, right?” Nick struck Shaw as a very suspicious man as a general rule. This was different. Shaw could have sworn that the other man was onto him.
That couldn’t be possible. He was so very careful. Besides, if Nick caught onto what Shaw was doing, he was a dead man. He would be seriously hurt by the Cains, if not flat-out killed for stealing all of their cash.
Shaw was suddenly very aware of the major flaw in his plan. He definitely should have made sure he had the serum before stealing the money. Now he was vulnerable on all sides. There was no time to worry about that. He would deal with it as it came.
He settled himself at the small desk. It took him but a few seconds to log in to the system. And once he was in, it was a million times easier to access all of the company’s information. He made a few patches over a few holes that had been made by some mildly decent malware. He then built a wall around all of the company’s files. It was as he was poking around their old client files that he spotted it.
What he was after.
The entire reason for all of the