Keri Arthur - Fireborn

I stopped suddenly. His laptop . Sam’s people would have checked whether the institute’s system had been compromised, but I doubted they’d have known about either the laptop or the cloud storage Mark cross-copied everything to. Hell, as far as I knew, even Lady Harriet wasn’t aware he’d been stashing copies of everything, because he accessed it only from his laptop. I’d once asked him why he was being so secretive about it, and he’d mumbled something about having had research stolen in the past and that this was one way to both ensure its safety and to prove he was the originator.

If someone was after his work, then that would be the one place they’d get it all. Although if they had accessed it, why did they then wreck his office, lab, and home?

“One problem at a time,” I muttered, then thrust to my feet, grabbed my jacket, and headed back out.

The last rays of the setting sun painted the gathering clouds with streaks of pink and gray. The wind was cool and thick with the promise of rain. I shoved my hands in my pockets and hoped it held off until I made it home tonight—although getting soaked walking home from the train station would certainly cap off a perfectly shitty day.

It didn’t take me long to jog to Mark’s. I pulled the door open without really looking where I was going and plowed nose-first into a heated chest.

“Ow,” I said, instinctively jumping back and then rubbing my nose. “Sorry, I wasn’t watching—”

I stopped, suddenly recognizing the grinning man in front of me. It was the emerald-eyed Fae I’d talked to yesterday.

“Meeting in this doorway seems to be our destiny,” he said, idly rubbing his chest. Though I’d hit him with some force, I doubted I’d actually done any real damage. He was too muscular—too hard-looking—to be injured by a short woman in a hurry. “How’s your nose?”

“Sore, but that’s what I get for not looking where I was going.” I shrugged, my cheeks heating. Only I very much suspected its cause wasn’t embarrassment, but the rather intense way he was watching me. Like I’d suddenly become prey he very much intended to hunt. I might not be an innocent, but—if his expression was anything to go by—he very much intended to explore some of the more sensual pursuits with me.

“Well, I’m afraid it’s not entirely your fault.” He raised his left hand, revealing a phone. “I was texting rather than looking.”

He was also blocking my entry into the building and showed little inclination to move.

“Do you live here?” I asked, more to break the silence than any real need to know.

His gaze dropped to my lips as I spoke, and the waves of heat rolling from him sharpened abruptly. Desire flared deep within me. Heat—any sort of heat—was a siren call we found hard to resist.

“No. But a friend rents an apartment on the second floor.” His gaze scanned me, and it felt like I was standing naked before him. It was a rather pleasant sensation. “You?”

“My boss lives here, but he’s a forgetful old sod and I’m always having to retrieve stuff.”

He laughed. It was a rich, strong sound that rumbled across my senses and fueled those inner flames. “I’ve known a few bosses like that. Sounds like you might need a drink to recover.”

“Possibly,” I said, raising an eyebrow. “Depends on who’s offering.”

“Ah, of course.” He held out his hand. “Jackson Miller, at your service.”

“Emberly Pearson.”

His big hand enclosed mine, and a tremor ran through me. God, his skin was so deliciously warm it was all I could do not to close my eyes and draw it into me.

“Well, Ms. Pearson, I do think I need to buy you a drink to apologize for my clumsiness.” He drew my hand to his lips and lightly kissed my fingers. It felt like a caress of flame. “What are you doing tonight?”

I couldn’t help smiling. He was a fast worker, that was for sure.

“Sadly, I’m working tonight.”

“Well, technically , so am I, but I can always find time for a pretty lady.” He pursed his lips, amusement and desire making his bright eyes glow. “What about breakfast?”

“Breakfast?” I repeated, all sorts of exciting possibilities running through my mind.

“Yeah, breakfast.” He paused, his grin widening. “Nothing else, just breakfast. Fae prefer to savor the chase, so the rest will come with our second date.”

Second date? I didn’t know if I’d survive the first one without at least exploring some of his unrestrained heat. But I raised my eyebrows and drawled, “And what if the first date bombs?”

“Given what’s burning between us, my sweet, I very much suspect the first date will be hot and heavy and that our second date will be sooner rather than later.” He took a business card out of his wallet and handed it to me. “Ring me whenever you’ve finished work, and we’ll go from there.”

I accepted the card. Jackson Miller, Miller Engineering, it read, with a cell number underneath. I tucked it into the top pocket of my jacket. “It could be very late by the time I’ve finished tonight.”

He shrugged and finally stepped to one side. “I’ll be awake.”

“Then I’ll call.” With a smile, I brushed past him and made my way up the stairs. His hungry, heavy gaze followed me until I was out of sight.

Damn, but he was hot .

I blew out a somewhat shaky breath and tried to pull the scattered remnants of my thoughts together. Work first, then Sam, then pleasure.

Although once upon a time Sam would have been my pleasure, instead of an unknown but sexy fire Fae.

I shoved the thought back into its box. Sam had moved on to the amazonian, and maybe, just maybe, I’d run nose-first into her male counterpart.

I coded myself into Mark’s apartment and then ducked under the police tape and went inside. The mess was much the same, only this time there was fingerprinting dust everywhere. I ignored the empty but bloodied chair and walked over to his desk. After feeling around for a couple of seconds, I found the little latch and pressed it. There was a click; then a drawer popped out from the base of the old table. I grabbed the laptop, plonked it down onto the desk, then hit the on button. After a moment, it fired up.

I pulled up the chair and got to work, accessing his network and then entering his cloud site. To discover it was empty. Totally empty.

The bastards had not only accessed his site but erased all his files. And the only way they could have done that was via Mark. I wondered how long he’d lasted before he’d given up his secrets. I guess if his battered state was anything to go by, it had been quite a while, and for that I could only admire him. Many a stronger man would have suffered far less before giving in.

I studied the screen for a few moments longer, then clicked back into the activity screen. The information had been accessed at 9:20 and then removed at 3:45 a.m.—hours after Mark had been killed and the institute ransacked. Why? If they’d wanted to ensure they were the sole owners of all his notes, why not erase it immediately?

I didn’t know. Probably wouldn’t ever know, given Sam wasn’t likely to bother me again once I’d handed over all the information I could. And given they apparently had open orders to kill the virus-afflicted, I very much suspected that whoever was behind the professor’s death wouldn’t exactly be getting his day in court if caught.

I leaned back in the chair and rubbed my eyes for a moment. It had been a long day, and all I really wanted to do was go home and go to sleep before I went to breakfast with a certain Fae. But I needed to complete my task here and get Sam out of my life again, and the sooner I went through the rest of this mess, the better.