* *
AIDEN THANKED HIS lucky stars the FBI had trained him to be calm in a crisis. And finding out Quinn was his new colleague definitely counted as a crisis. Not only because he’d been pissed that she’d sneaked out without so much as a “so long, thanks for the laughs,” but also that she’d now see him as a liar and a fraud.
In his defense, he’d tried to come clean but she’d shut him up with her “this is just sex” spiel. Though, judging by the daggers she was shooting at him now, she must have forgotten that little nugget of information.
“Quinn Dellinger is our IT support guru, but given her unique skill set, we’ve assigned her to this case,” Jin said, motioning for Aiden to take a seat at the conference table. “She studied game design at university and has strong ties with the gaming community.”
“Nice to meet you,” Aiden said, sticking out his hand.
She let it hang there for an excruciatingly awkward moment, only accepting the gesture when Jin cleared his throat. “You, too,” she finally said.
“I believe you’ve already met Rhys?” Jin continued and Aiden nodded. “For your benefit, Quinn, Aiden will be working in the security consultant pool with myself, Owen and the others. But he’s mainly going to focus on the information and cybersecurity jobs, so he’ll be reporting to Rhys.”
Quinn looked as though she’d eaten something sour. But Jin proceeded as if nothing was wrong and ran them through the assignment with Third Planet Studios. There wasn’t a whole lot of extra information than the briefing Aiden had been given when he accepted the position at Cobalt & Dane, but the extra run-through was welcome since his brain was still clogged with memories of Quinn’s naked body.
She sat across the table from him, scowling, and the sexy little stone in her nose glinted in the light from the window behind her. Her brown-and-pink hair was piled on top of her head, a few strands escaping messily at the sides. What would happen if he withdrew the pin holding her hair in place? He already knew how silky and soft it would feel against his palms, or swishing over his chest as she rode him, her small breasts bouncing with each thrust—
“Aiden?” Jin peered at him from the head of the table. “Did we lose you there for a minute?”
You can’t blow it on day one, dumb ass. Pay attention to the job, not the girl.
“Just thinking about the case.”
Jin nodded. “It would be great if you could give Quinn a quick intro to your background before we dive into the approach I’ve put together.”
He swallowed, trying to ignore how intently Quinn was staring at him. No doubt she was eager to hear what he did for a living, since it was clear he wasn’t a game designer, as he’d told her.
“I’ve been with the FBI since I graduated. I started out in their police force, primarily working in the New York headquarters.” He sucked in a breath, trying not to let the memories get to him. “Then, two years ago, I moved into the Cyber Security Action team. I worked on a number of high-profile cases there, including taking down a prominent financial crime ring.”
“Why did you leave the police side of things?” Quinn asked, her tone more than a little accusatory.
“I no longer met the physical requirements for the job.” He touched his ear. “I was involved in a shoot-out inside a building, and I suffered acoustic trauma in my left ear. I failed the audiometer test.”
She uncrossed her arms and fiddled with the hem of her dress. “Oh.”
“I’m partially deaf in one ear and...it’s permanent.”
He remembered delivering the news to his father. Rather than asking how Aiden was coping with the change, his dad had immediately set about ordering the FBI to provide him a new job somewhere. Anywhere.
The perks of your father being the head of Intelligence. Too bad he’d never put that kind of effort into being a good dad.
“But my injury won’t affect my job here,” Aiden said. “I do my best work with computers and one-on-one interviews.”
Quinn shifted in her seat. Not many people knew about his hearing problem outside his family and the people he’d worked with at the FBI. Certainly no one he’d taken to bed. It wasn’t that he was ashamed of it, but he didn’t draw attention to it, either. He didn’t want sympathy, and he certainly didn’t want people thinking he was weak.
So he’d learned to cope, always taking a seat first—as he’d done with Quinn last night—so he could use his good ear. In groups or in noisy venues, he relied on his other senses for context. He read lips, analyzed gestures, listened to pitch and tone if the words themselves were hard to make out. For the most part, he could be around someone every day and he or she wouldn’t realize anything was wrong with him.
But even his father hadn’t been able to bend the FBI Police’s hearing rules. The audiometer test was an unforgiving SOB.
“Thanks, Aiden.” Jin nodded and fired up the large screen at the head of the room.
An hour later they were all up to speed with the plan for the Third Planet Studios assignment. Quinn would go undercover as a game designer—since she was the only one on the team who’d actually studied game design and had enough knowledge to pass muster with the employees—and Aiden would go in as himself. He would rattle the cage by interviewing staff and asking questions. Meanwhile, Quinn would keep her ear to the ground to observe the fallout.
They would work together. Closely.
“Is this your first time going undercover?” Aiden asked Quinn as they wrapped up the meeting.
“Yeah.” She pushed up from her chair and snapped her laptop closed. “I’m not all that adept at lying. Maybe you could give me a few tips?”
Rhys walked toward the door with Jin. “Excellent idea, Quinn,” he said, clearly missing the intended sting in her words. “Take Aiden for a coffee and get to know one another. I’m sure he could give you a few pointers.”
A blush flared across her cheeks, lighting up her porcelain skin. Her jaw clenched, the muscle twitching enough that he could tell she was grinding her teeth. “I’ve got a meeting scheduled with Addison about the new password requirements.”
“I’ll take care of it.” Rhys paused in the doorway for a moment. “Unless you’re having second thoughts?”
She steadied herself. “I’m not.”
Rhys and Jin left them alone in the room, and the air stilled. Tension rippled across his skin, heightening his senses. Firing up his brain. This was the calm before the storm.
“You...liar,” she spat, her eyes flashing. “I can’t believe I fell for your bullshit story. Game designer, my ass. Did you know I worked here? Were you following me?”
“Whoa.” Aiden held up a hand. “For starters, I tried to give you the truth last night, and you stopped me because it was ‘just sex.’ Second, I wasn’t following you. I’m not a goddamn stalker.”
“I stopped you,” she scoffed. “I thought you were going to lay down ground rules, not tell me you’d been pretending to be someone else. You didn’t try that hard to set the record straight.”
“When we stopped outside the hotel room, I was going to tell you.”
“So you say.” She tugged her denim jacket closer around her small frame. “How can I believe anything that comes out of your mouth?”
“You weren’t exactly up-front about where you worked, if memory serves me correctly.” He walked around the table to cut the distance between them.
“Keeping my private details to myself is not the same as lying.” Her fists clenched at her sides. “You flat out lied to me. Did you think you’d have a better chance with me if I thought you were a gamer?”
“No.”