With a lopsided grin, which was much too sexy, he assured her, “Nothing to be sorry about, Gracie. Trust me. Experience has taught me you never can be too careful. Now”—Nate held up two bulging sacks that smelled incredibly delicious—“what do ya say we go eat this and plan a kick-ass party?”
Feeling much more relaxed, Gracie held the door open and motioned with her hand. “Lead the way.”
Less than an hour later, they had most of the bachelor-bachelorette party planned. They were all going to meet at a restaurant called The Gardens, then go to a bar called Bucky’s to have a few drinks and hang out.
According to Nate, The Gardens was owned by Trevor Matthew’s wife, Lexi, and was the best restaurant in town.
Gracie had met Trevor last week when Jake was introducing her to the other members of R.I.S.C.’s Alpha Team. Trevor was Jake’s right-hand man, and as with everyone she’d met at the company so far, he seemed very nice. And was very nice-looking.
In fact, she’d noticed right off that everyone on both Alpha and Bravo seemed to be attractive in their own way. At one point, Gracie had considered asking Jake if it was some sort of requirement or something.
Smiling at the thought, Gracie wasn’t paying close enough attention to the piece of sweet and sour pork she’d just picked up. As she was trying to take her last bite, the piece of meat toppled off the edge of her fork and rolled down the front of her white shirt, leaving a trail of the tasty red sauce all the way down the center.
Nate snickered. “Hope that shirt wasn’t special to you.”
Rolling her own eyes at herself, Gracie shook her head. “Nope, not special.” She glanced down. “Not white anymore, either.”
The two laughed together as Gracie reached for the napkins lying beside one of the sacks. She attempted to wipe the sauce up, but only managed to make things worse.
“Well, it looks like this one’s a lost cause.”
Still laughing at her, Nate stood from the table. “Come on. I’ve got a clean shirt you can borrow.”
“Thanks, but that’s not necessary. My car’s just across the ally, and I’m going straight home from here.”
“Oh, that’d be great,” Nate said sarcastically as he grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. “Someone sees you walking down a dark alley with all that red on your shirt, they’re probably going to think you’ve been stabbed or something and freak out. Come on.”
Gracie’s shoulders shook with silent laughter as he led her down the hallway toward what she assumed was his bedroom.
“I guess you’re right. If you really don’t mind me using one of yours, I can wash it when I get home.”
“Wouldn’t have offered if I minded. Give me a sec to get one, and then you can change in the bathroom.”
As she waited in the hallway, Gracie found herself drawn to the other room across from where she stood. Her curiosity had her pushing on the half-open door and going inside.
Rather than a bed and a dresser, as one would expect to find in a spare bedroom, the space looked more like a tiny version of one of the US Cyber Command rooms at the NSA.
She’d never personally been inside one. Her job title didn’t warrant access to it, but she’d walked by as their doors were being opened or closed and had gotten a good enough peek to get the idea.
Gracie couldn’t help but be almost as impressed with the small room she was standing in now.
Along the wall in front of her were two long tables that had been pushed together to make one, large work space. There were five computer monitors, four separate computers, and two keyboards.
Other electronic equipment she didn’t recognize sat about the desk area and two expensive, black leather chairs were pushed in at the center of each table.
On the wall to her left hung a white board. It was currently empty, but Gracie could tell it got put to use often by the black streaks left behind by whatever had been wiped away.
To her right was a smart board and attached to the middle of the ceiling was its projector. They were just like the ones in the conference room at work.
“Maybe you’re the one who can’t be trusted.”
Letting out a tiny squeal, Gracie spun around to find Nate standing behind her, a light grey T-shirt in his hand.
She slapped his arm out of reflex. “Stop doing that!”
“Hey!” Pretending to be hurt, he rubbed his arm with his free hand and pouted. “Sarah never mentioned you were prone to violent outbursts.”
A little embarrassed by her reaction, Gracie played it off by crossing her arms at her chest and lifted her chin. “Only when provoked by sneaky men trying to scare me.”
