Chapter 14

Stella

I’m just pulling up outside the reserve when I finally hear back from Meredith.

I yank the parking brake on and snatch up my phone. “Please tell me that was a sick joke and you don’t think I’m that desperate?”

She coughs. “What are you talking about? And where are you? I thought you were coming to fix that thing with my email and get drunk with me?”

I frown as I look through my now dusty windshield. I’m tired, cranky, and after driving almost non-stop ready to start the job. “I’m talking about Chad.”

She goes quiet for a few seconds before she replies. “Chad? You mean Chad, my neighbor? Why are you talking about him?”

I press a finger and thumb to my eyeballs. “You set me up with him. I had a date with him this morning. How could you forget that?’

She sounds halfway confused and indignant when she snaps. “What? I did not.”

At the sight of a black Jeep driving towards me from inside the park, I know I’m going to have to cut this short.

“Yeah, you did. You sent me a message last night. Want me to read it back to you?”

She sucks in a breath of air. “Oh dammit. I wondered what the weird message from Chad was about this morning. I wasn’t wearing my contacts last night. I meant to set you up with Chris. But that wasn’t until next week!”

I blow out a breath and check my reflection in the failing light and grimace at the result of five hours behind the wheel. “Yeah, well Chad texted me and I agreed to meet him this morning. I gotta say, I’ve met some jerks lately, but he was in a league of his own.”

She snorts a laugh. “He sounded really angry, what did you do? Hit him? Because God knows I’ve come close a few times.”

I have no time to reply when the door to the Jeep opens and I nearly drop my phone as a real-life action man climbs out.

As he starts stalking through the grass, wearing camo gear, and boots with a knife strapped to his waist, I have to remind myself to breathe.

“Um, I need to go,” I mutter.

“What? Aren’t you coming for drinks? It’s Valentines’ Day and I do not want to spend it alone again.”

I wrinkle my nose and hastily check my reflection again. “I’m in Oregon working and I won’t be back until Monday.”

Before she can complain or tell me I’m a shitty friend for abandoning her, I slide my phone into my pocket, and hop out of my truck, ready to meet the man who Waylon says will be my guide.

I put my pro-voice on and extend my hand. “I’m Stella,” I say.

His hand shoots out immediately, but his smirk is a little wry for my liking. “Jagger Lincoln. And the head of security seems to be under the assumption you were a guy.”

I grip his hand a little tighter than needed as I reply. “Is that going to be an issue?”

He releases his hand with a cautious smile. “Can’t speak for Matt, but as long as you don’t go wandering around the reserve, I have zero issues.”

I frown at him, no longer impressed by his resemblance to a lot of the men in my dirtiest fantasies. “I have no intention of wandering around.”

He looks decidedly amused as he leans a hip on the Jeep. “You know how to use a radio? We’ll need to stay in contact and the cell coverage is patchy in the field.”

I frown. “Why do I need to contact you?”

His eyebrow lifts. “Because there won’t be anyone else here all weekend.”

Feeling less sure of myself as I look at the open space behind him, I manage a nod. “I’m used to working alone. I don’t need a babysitter.”

His frown only grows. “I’m not here to babysit anyone. I’m here to catch a poacher, so I need to know where all staff on site are at all times. This isn’t up for negotiation. If we’re not in sight of each other, you check in with me via radio every hour.”

I nearly laugh in his face. “Are you serious? That seems a little extreme for a poacher.”

He scratches the back of his neck and sends me a glare probably meant to scare me. “Poachers are more than thieves, they’re armed criminals.”

To emphasize his point, he gestures to a no-trespassing sign. “These guys have no respect for the animals and no respect for the law or anyone else. You can lock the office, and I’m sleeping on-site, but I won’t be able to get to you in a hurry, so you need to stay alert.”

I jam my hands into my jean pockets and try to look a little less worried than I now am. “Got it. I’ll check in with you every hour,” I concede.

When he just nods, I look at the gate he’s left open. “Can you show me where the office is? I’d like to set up a diagnostic test on the network before I check into my motel.”

His eyebrow rises. “You’re staying in the motel?”

It seems such a weird question to ask, I just stare at him for a few seconds. “Where else would I be staying?”

He jerks his thumb over his shoulder. “Matt thought you were going to hunker down in the office. Laid out a cot for you and everything. Mind you, that was when we thought you were a dude.”

I snort. “There seems to be a serious lack of communication going on. You and Matt need to speak to Waylon. He offered me the motel and that’s where I’m planning on sleeping tonight.”

He looks a little perturbed but nods slowly. “You’re not wrong. Which emphasizes why you and I need to communicate effectively.”

I stifle a yawn and make a move toward my truck. “Unless there’s something else, I’d like to get moving before it gets dark.”

The slightest of smiles appears, then he bobs his head. “Grab what you need and lock up. No sense taking two vehicles. I’ll show you where the office is.”

***

Friday 4.13pm

Jagger

I did not need this kind of complication.

A beautiful, long-legged, curvy, raven-haired complication.

Instead of the weedy little IT geek I expected, I’m now stuck with an incredibly sexy, tough, and obviously smart woman who under any other circumstance I’d be actively trying to get to know in a biblical sense.

I have to stop myself from admiring her as she jumps in the passenger side and places a laptop on her thighs. “That’s all you need? A laptop?”

Her brow wrinkles. “What did you think I’d need? I’m doing a pen test. I could have done it remotely, but I like to see what I’m working with first.”

I keep my eyes on the entrance to the reserve and try not to let my thoughts stray into areas they shouldn’t.

“And a pen test is?”

“Short for penetration testing. And save your jokes, I’ve heard them all. It’s basically a simulated cyber-attack.”

Despite her warning, I do smirk at the job title as I slide a look sidelong and have to mentally slap my neanderthal brain and remind myself she’s off-limits.

“You’re a hacker then?”

She nods and stretches her shoulders back. “An ethical one. There’s a difference.”

“Oh yeah? Don’t you do the same thing?”

I can feel her eyes on me as she replies. “A hacker is trying to steal information. I’m trying to prevent that from happening.”

A smile tugs at my lips as I think about how I’ve spent the better part of the day. “Sounds a lot like what I’m trying to do.”

“Security is security. Probably why our respective employers thought they needed us both for this.”

I know I should keep my mouth shut, but for the dumbest reason I say it anyway. “No offense, but this isn’t something that can be solved by you checking to see if the firewalls are holding, or whatever it is you do.”

If she takes offense, I can’t hear it in her voice. “It’s actually pretty common for poachers to hire someone to hack into servers. They can access the security systems, switch off cameras, delete records, read emails, that sort of thing. No offense, but I’m surprised you didn’t know that.”

Fuck. She got me. I should have known that. And at the wry look on her face, she thinks I’m an idiot. I’m clearly still hungover but that’s no excuse.

“Computer shit isn’t exactly my forte. I’m here to bait and trap more than anything else,” I say.

“Good thing you have me then,” she says.

I hide a smirk and don’t bother with a reply. I’m too busy trying to work out how to navigate this.

When she stretches her back out and her shirt stretches tight against her tits, my cock reminds me I’ve spent too long in the desert, living with an all-male anti-poaching unit.

In an attempt to remain professional, I glue my eyes to the track and try to come up with a good enough reason to keep my distance while she’s here.

I had planned on spending some time in the office myself, making sure the cameras are working, but that isn’t going to be an option now.

“Can you keep an eye on the monitors when you’re in the office?” I ask her.

This time she does sound pissed off. “Define check? I’m not here to be your assistant. I have a job to do,” she snaps.

I glance sidelong. “A simple yes or no would have been fine.”

Her brow scrunches. “I can feed the cameras to a laptop for you. You don’t need to come into the office.”

That’s going to make things a whole lot easier even if I now halfway want to come into the office.

“Thanks,” I say.

She nods. “I probably should have detoured to the motel rather than drive straight here. I’m a little jaded right now.”

When she slumps a little in her seat, and I catch her stifling a yawn, I quit thinking about being close to her all weekend and get my head back in the game. “Where’d you drive from?”

“A little town in Washington. Ellensburg.”

That’s a surprise. As far as I recall, Ellensburg isn’t exactly a hub of activity.

“I know the place. My dad used to take me and my brother fly fishing on the Yakima. Wouldn’t have thought there’d be much call for cybersecurity experts there?”

She nods and covers a yawn. “There isn’t. But I like the location and for the most part, it’s peaceful.”

I don’t doubt it’s peaceful. What I do doubt is why someone like Stella is living in such a small town.

I’d have picked her for a latte loving city chick, through and through.

Either she’s bullshitting me, or she’s got reason to want peace and quiet.

“For the most part?” I say.

Her head snaps in my direction. “Huh?”

I frown as I peer through the windshield. “You said it’s peaceful for the most part. I’m interested in what the other part is.”

She’s silent for a few moments and I think she’s going to tell me to mind my own business, but she answers. “I tend to rub people the wrong way.”

That gets a rise out of me. “What kind of people?”

She blows out a breath. “The kind of people I’m hoping you’re not going to turn out to be. Can we change the subject please?”

I frown a little harder at the terse tone but concede I have no place prying into her private life and I can’t say I’d like it if someone was prying into mine.

And while Matt wants me to keep an eye on the reserve employees, Stella isn’t someone I need to interrogate, even if I want to.

Since we’re still a few klicks from the office, and the daylight is fast fading, I flick the headlights on. “What made you decide to drive here? No flights?”

She pulls a tie off her wrist and puts her hair up into a ponytail. “I’m not a fan of airports or planes.”

“You have a bad experience?”

Her reply comes out without a hint of sarcasm. “A lifetime,” she says.

When she doesn’t elaborate further and she makes it clear she’s done talking, I don’t push her on why she dislikes planes.

The last thing I need right now is to get to know her better.

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Lexi Hart is the pen name of a crazy Kiwi romance junkie who prefers to live in the heads of her characters than her own.

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