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“You can’t see anything?” Her eyes widened.
He shook his head. “Your program was built too tight. Which can be good, but not in this case.”
She dropped her arms to her sides. “What do we do now? I need to know what Angelica took.”
“I can only give my best guess that it had something to do with the encrypted files.”
Bronte planted her hands on the workstation and let out a rush of air. “No!” she rasped.
“You knew she wasn’t downloading a calendar of scheduled lunch breaks.”
She closed her eyes. Those thick, dark lashes fanned over her creamy cheeks. Then she opened them and nodded. “I know. I just hoped we would have a real answer.”
For the first time he realized how much time had passed. The sun had sunk low in the sky and the office was filled with shadows.
“I put in a few more security measures in case this happens again, but she wiped the history and added a measure of protection to wipe out any record of when. I don’t think there’s much more I can do to help you find out that information, Bronte.”
Plus he wanted to grab a bite before boarding the next flight back to Montana.
She straightened to her full height, which wasn’t more than five and a half feet, about the size of his own momma. And he knew all too well how easily he could tuck someone her size under his arm. His momma squealed often enough whenever he did it.
“Thank you for giving your best. I was afraid of this, but I don’t think it was a wasted expense to have you fly out and check the system. It gives me peace of mind that I did everything I could.”
He nodded. “I’ll just close out here and be on my way.”
“I have some shutting down to do too.” She flip-flopped her way to her desk.
Minutes later, he had his laptop bag zipped up again. Bronte met him in the middle of the room, a purse hooked over her shoulder. A tiny gold frog charm swung from the handle.
“I’ll walk out with you,” she told him.
Together, they left the office. She locked up using a security code she concealed from him. As if he couldn’t hack the code.
On the way out, he noted who was still in the building working late. Nobody paid them any attention. Then they rode down the elevator and she said goodbye to the security guard on the way out the door.
Once they stood on the sidewalk, they faced each other. He tugged on his Stetson. “I don’t usually do this with a client, but I was going to grab something to eat. Would you care to join me?”
Surprise registered in her deep brown eyes. “Oh. Thank you for the offer. I’m going home to feed my—”
Something exploded from their right. Jace didn’t even think—he leaped at her.
As he hurled her to the sidewalk, he broke her fall by cradling her in his arms. His training kicked in and he plastered every inch of his body over hers.
* * * * *
What the heck happened? One minute she and Jace were talking on the street like civilized human beings and the next, he threw her on the ground and jumped on top of her.
His heavy weight pinned her. She couldn’t even wiggle her pinky finger. The man seemed to cloak every inch of her body from head to foot.
Suddenly she noticed one of her kitten-heel mules had fallen off. Her foot was bare but she couldn’t move it either. When she tried, her big toe brushed the denim of Jace’s jeans.
Bronte tried to inflate her lungs, but his weight crushed her, making breathing difficult. Though the breath shedidmanage to drag through her nostrils smelledgood. Woody and green, like he’d just hiked through a national park.
Okay, maybe this wasn’t so bad, being pinned to the ground by a good-smelling man. If Kimmy were present, the woman would be waggling her brows to indicate how hot he was, just like she had back in the office when Jace turned his back.
Bronte couldn’t just lie here in the middle of the sidewalk, though.
Twisting her head, she cracked an eye to see Jace’s head facing toward the street.
