and curiosity and abandonment in her work. Art was not his thing—numbers and data were. But she’d invoked a kind of visceral reaction that was totally foreign.
And then she’d kicked him out.
He wasn’t sure what to make of it. But one thing he did know for certain was that he wanted to see her again, despite understanding that she wasn’t planning to stay.
“Boss?” Quinn Dellinger poked her head into his office, her mass of dyed pink hair almost blindingly bright under the office lighting. “You got a sec?”
“Sure, sure.” He motioned for her to take a seat as he shoved thoughts of Wren from his mind. Work was his priority right now, not women. Not one woman, no matter how tempting. “What’s going on?”
Quinn’s chunky combat boots clomped on the floor. For a woman so petite she made a lot of noise. “I’ve been assigned a case but I need to do a site visit and none of the other guys are free to come with me.”
As a newly appointed junior security consultant, Quinn wasn’t yet cleared to do site visits on her own. She had another few months of shadowing the more experienced consultants before that could happen.
“I’m ready,” she added. “I can do it. I just need you to sign off.”
“You’re familiar with the policy, Quinn. Three months of supervision before you can fly solo.”
Her button nose wrinkled, causing the clear stud there to glint in the afternoon sunlight. “And it’s worth upsetting the client for some stupid policy?”
“It’s not a stupid policy. We have it for a reason.”
He didn’t need to repeat the story; everyone at Cobalt & Dane Security was well aware of what had happened when they’d sent a rookie in alone. One bad incident was all it took to make sure that new security consultants had the proper training and supervision so that they didn’t lose anyone else.
“I know how capable you are, Quinn. I wouldn’t have promoted you if I didn’t believe in your skills.” Rhys reached for his coffee and swigged, praying the caffeine would soon work its magic. “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to bend the rules for you.”
She rolled her eyes but a smile twitched on her lips. “You never bend the rules. For anything.”
“Tough but fair, you know the drill,” he said.
“Yeah, yeah.” She folded her arms across the front of her black skull-and-crossbones T-shirt. “So what should we do about the client, then? He said he wants us there today but everyone else is busy.”
“I thought Owen was in the office today.”
She shook her head. “He got an emergency call out to that private client we signed—the crazy stockbroker guy. He’s paranoid. I told Owen as much.”
“It comes with the territory. Doesn’t mean we can ignore the client’s needs.” Rhys tapped his fingers against the surface of his desk. “And Jin is still out sick?”
“Yep. Aiden’s around but he’s scheduled to do a visit to the data warehouse with Logan.” Quinn’s cheeks colored slightly despite the neutral expression on her face. She and Aiden had only told the team they were dating a few weeks back, and every time his name came up in conversation she blushed like a schoolgirl.
Rhys thought it was cute, but Quinn would probably throw something at him for saying so. “Okay, well, I guess it’ll have to be me, then.”
Perhaps a trip away from the office would do him good. He’d been staring at the same email for the last ten minutes and his lack of progress was starting to grate on his nerves. Fresh air and something to focus on might help him to get into the zone again.
“You never do site visits.” Quinn cocked her head. “Ever.”
“You seem to think I never do a lot of things.”
God, did everyone really believe he was that dull? Sure, he liked to follow the rules. He was a “by the book” kind of guy. What was so bad about that?
She shrugged, seemingly unaware of the questions her words had stirred. “Whatever works. I’d rather get out there today and keep this guy onside. He sounds like a bit of a control freak.”
“Let’s keep our insults about the client to a minimum, shall we?” Rhys pushed up from his chair and stuck his phone into his back pocket.
“Sure thing, boss. Whatever you say.” Quinn grinned at him as they fell into step.
After a quick pause at her desk so she could collect her things and confirm with the client that they would now be coming to complete the site visit, they were off.
“This will be fun. We haven’t had an excursion together in ages.” Quinn had a spring in her step as they walked through the office.
“That’s because you’re annoying.”
He didn’t mean it, but he and Quinn had that kind of relationship. There were no filters, no walking on eggshells. She was one of the first people he’d hired when he’d started as IT manager four years ago. They’d developed a deep mutual respect. She was whip smart and loyal to the bone, two qualities that were sorely lacking in the world.
“I’m annoying?” She pressed her hand to her chest and he noticed a small, heart-shaped ring on her finger. “Those are mighty words coming from Mr. Spreadsheet himself.”
He ignored the dig. “What’s with the ring? I’ve never seen you wear anything that didn’t have a skull on it.”
Her cheeks turned hot pink. “It was a gift.”
“Are you engaged?”
“No.” She laughed as if that were a ridiculous notion, but her voice sounded tight and a little strange. “It’s just a ring.”
“A ring from your boyfriend.” He nudged her with his elbow and she immediately swatted him. “Hey, I’m not judging. I’m happy you’ve found someone who puts up with you.”
“He’s man enough to handle me.” Her expression turned serious as they entered the elevator. “I know you two didn’t get off on the right foot, but he’s it for me. I love him.”
Rhys had been forced to hire Aiden because he was friends with the boss, Logan Dane. Given Rhys’s feelings about hard work and the need to prove oneself, it hadn’t been a great start to their working relationship.
“You’re getting all mushy on me, Dellinger,” he joked.
“It’s true. He’s a good guy, Rhys. I want you to respect him.”
Rhys didn’t point out that respect had to be earned instead of given out like candy. But Quinn was practically family to him, so he would keep his feelings to himself and take the high road. He always took the high road.
“I do respect him. He’s on my team now so I’ll treat him the same as I treat any other employee.”
She grinned. “Tough, but fair.”
“That’s my motto.”
“I appreciate it.” She laid a hand on his arm, the pink stone in her ring glimmering. “Honestly.”
He cleared his throat. “For what it’s worth, you deserve to be happy.”
“So do you, boss. Why don’t you ever seem to have any ladies hanging around?”
Probably because Rhys kept his work life and his love life totally separate. He’d never believed in mixing the two, though he accepted that not everyone agreed with him on that.
But that didn’t mean he could avoid the little stabs of envy he got watching his friends pair up and find happiness. Maybe it was old-fashioned, but he wanted that stability. He wanted a woman to come home to, wake up next to. To make him feel like he was