AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He’d dropped the formality of calling her Agent Zenner in front of others days ago. Everyone in the executive suite, probably the whole damn hospital, knew they were sleeping together. They hadn’t tried to be quiet in the break room yesterday, and he wouldn’t pretend he wanted to have a professional conversation with the special agent now.
There was nothing professional about begging on his knees for a miracle cure for his network.
Rosalie’s brilliant smile blinded him as she turned the laptop. “Look familiar?”
“Is that…?”
He flattened his palms on the table and blinked once, then again. “Holy shit. You recovered the drug trial files.” He stared at the miracle on the screen and then raised his eyes to the miracle worker who’d recovered it. “You did it.”
“Wedid it.” Karl pulled her to his side. “I’ve been working at this for days, but Agent Zenner’s assistance today was instrumental in the outcome. Full restoration of the trial data and all oncology records.”
Rosalie slid away from Karl and stepped to Cannon. “You’ll have to look and make sure it’s all there, but I think it is.”
Cannon wrapped her in his arms. Her laughter—the first genuine laugh he’d heard since they’d met on the mountain—chimed in his heart. “And people in this town call me the hero.” He kissed her on the nose. “You’re amazing. Thank you.”
“I know, and you’re welcome, but—” The pride in her gaze dimmed.
Karl cleared his throat. “Don’t I get any credit?”
“Of course, you have my gratitude.” Cannon extended his hand. “Incredible work. Now, go home and get some rest.”
Karl looked at Rosalie. “You need to rest too. We have a lot more data to recover.” He stepped toward his office and opened the door. “I look forward to working closely with you again soon.”
“Not too closely,” Cannon muttered. Turning to the table, he leaned over the laptop. Any thoughts about the familiar way Karl acted around Rosalie disappeared as he scrolled through the files more valuable than gold. “It looks like everything is here. I might have to start calling you Special Agent Genius. Are the files securely backed up?”
She slapped his ass. “Nice and tight.”
He snagged her hand. “You’ll pay for that later.”
“What are you going to do? Mark me with your teeth again?” She rubbed her shoulder. “Or on my inner thigh like you did the other night?”
“Yes.” All playfulness left his voice. He opened the top of her blouse and stroked her skin with his fingertips. “Maybe this time I’ll do it right here on your pretty neck, so Karl knows you belong to me.”
Rosalie swallowedas a shiver zipped up her spine. “I don’t belong to you.”
Jerking away from his dominance that shouldn’t turn her on, she scooped her laptop off the conference room table. As she skirted past him and into his office, he spun her to face him. “As long as my teeth marks are on your body, you’re mine. End of story.”
The heady sensation from his hand around her neck and the fiery truth in his midnight gaze shot a needy groan from her throat. She needed a quick conclusion to her twisted story with Malgor. Wanted the beginning of a beautiful new story with Cannon. Burned to experience all the pleasure her possessive lover could give.
Setting her laptop on his desk, she ran her finger over Cannon’s lower lip. “Care to discuss this jealousy act you’ve got going on?”
He caught her finger between his teeth. “It’s not an act.”
As his mumbled words skated his tongue against her skin, her heart stuttered along with her breath. The urge to assure him that she was his, that he was her present and future and nothing or no one could keep them apart surged onto her tongue. She bit back the promises she couldn’t give until she delivered Malgor to prison or the morgue. “Karl didn’t lay a hand on me while we worked alone. In fact, he was quite professional.”
“He better have been.” He released her and sank into his desk chair. Flipping her laptop open, he stared at the screen. “Christ, Snow Angel, the data we need to hopefully save my sister’s life is really back. You said it would take weeks, but it took only days.”
She bit her lip. God, she hated to pop his bubble. “Recovering the data was too easy. Like Malgor opened a peephole that we then excavated into a door that led to the treasure. The bastard was probably monitoring our progress and laughing the whole time. We did a sweep of the hospital but didn’t find any cameras or listening equipment.”
“Wulf did too. Nothing.”
Ice picks clawed up her spine. “That could mean Malgor’s got someone on the inside. Is there anyone on your staff you don’t trust?”
“No, but there is someone I don’t like. I want to punch Karl for taking all the credit back there. Even if Malgor did open a peephole, you worked your ass off to get inside.”
A warm and gooey feeling, like chocolate-covered cherries melting on her tongue, amped up the stuttering in her heart to a drumbeat. How could she have thought this man didn’t respect her work? She perched on the edge of his desk. “What about Wulf? Do you trust him? He makes me uneasy with the way he’s always skulking around.”
Cannon laughed. “Wulf’s the guy in this hospital I trust the most. Now let’s go tell Julia the good news.”
