Cole said, “While we’re waiting for the barista to return—”
“I heard that!” Eddie called out, and everyone chuckled.
“Luna, why don’t you pull up what you need on the monitor.” Cole flipped open a manila folder.
“Sure.” She opened her laptop, and her fingers flew over the keys.
Anticipating her needs, Boone sat forward, reached to the center of the table, and grabbed the remote. “Here ya go.” He placed it in front of her.
“Thank you.” She kept her eyes on her laptop because, on top of him being so friggin’ nice and incredibly capable, his level of physical hunkiness made him super difficult to resist.
Luna just had to stick to the plan—be nice, be cordial, but remain aloof. And most importantly, never let her guard down.
Good luck with that, she thought.
CHAPTER TWO
BoonelistenedtoLuna’sportion of the debriefing from their op last night and, as always, was impressed by her skills. Not only was she beautiful, but she was brilliant, too.
“With regard to the bio-patch data—other than a slight spike in heart rate at the moment you apprehended Al-Shamrami—all readings indicate you are all in peak physical condition.” She smiled at Calliope. “However, Calliope’s heart rate was the only one that remained steady throughout the entire operation.”
“Boom!” Calliope leaned across the table and knocked knuckles with Luna. She looked around the table at all of the large men. “Suck it, losers!”
“Way to go, babe.” Lucas high-fived her.
“Great,” Eddie said. “We’re never going to hear the end of it, are we?”
“No, you are not.” Calliope was barely over five feet, and she more than held her own with this bunch of alpha males.
Boone chuckled at his half sister’s cockiness.
He’d only found out he evenhada half sister less than a year ago. She’d known nothing about him, either. When heoriginally called her to introduce himself, he had no way of knowing how much his life would change as a result.
She fully embraced the older sister role, even though they were only two years apart, and was determined to make up for all of the years that were “stolen from them” by their biological mother. Her words, not Boone’s.
Viking smiled and gave her a genuine, “Congrats, Calliope.”
The first time Boone saw Golden Bailey, aka Viking, the guy was walking toward him from across the compound parking lot. Boone recognized immediately how he got his nickname. At about six eight with long, wavy dark blond hair and shoulders broad enough to make him have to turn to get through a doorway, the dudelookedlike a damn Viking.
In contrast to his intimidating stature, he was probably one of the nicest, most polite humans Boone had ever met. And he was self-admittedly putty in the hands of his girlfriend, Marigold.
“Maybe your heart rate didn’t go up because you weren’t working as hard as we were.” Eddie lazily tossed a pencil at Calliope.
Lucas’s hand shot out, and he easily caught the pencil in midair, then set it on the table.
Calliope simply flipped him off.
“Anything else, Luna?” Cole crossed his arms on the table.
“Nope, that’s it.” She tapped a few keys and sat back.
Boone could tell by her sleepy eyes and dewy skin that she’d crashed at the ops center again. Was she really that busy, or was there something else keeping her from going home?
His curiosity about her was off the charts, and he’d tried to engage with her individually and within the group dynamic. But she had some serious walls up and was determined to keep him at arm’s length. She wasn’t rude or anything like that, just distant.
He’d started to look her up online one night and stopped himself. First of all, finding information about OSI employees online was impossible. Secondly, and most importantly, whatever details he learned about Luna, he wanted to hear from her lips and her lips only.
His eyes automatically fell to her mouth. Were those lips as soft as they looked? As warm as they looked?
