“I disarmed the alarm,” he stated calmly.
Eliza’s arms flew up. “How?”
“With my phone.”
“Dr. Lewis gave you the code?” That only surprised her because he’d been so freaked out even to give it to her. He said that it was only written down on one paper and he’d made his employees memorize it.
“I don’t need the code,” his tone indicated that the answer was as obvious as the nose on his face.
Right.Because he was not only a genius but he specialized in cyber security. If the rumors were true, he was the go-to CIA expert. It was hard to think of him as anything but her super-hot lab partner, and the twin brother of her first boyfriend.
“So you hacked into the security system and disarmed the alarm,” she said aloud as she tried to wrap her head around who he was now.
“Yes.”
“With your phone?” That was the part that was still so crazy to her.
He shrugged his left shoulder. “It has a QWERTY keyboard.”
“Right,” she laughed. “Cause that was the unbelievable part. The keyboard. I’m sure you can do anything as long as you have a keyboard.”
“I can do a lot without a keyboard.” He remained in place, but his voice was rough and low and it felt like a physical touch. She felt his gravelly tone spread through her like a shot of whiskey causing a blush to rise up her neck.
Oh boy. She was in trouble. Big trouble.
Just like that, she turned into a fourteen-year-old girl who read into everything. Her mind filled with all the things he could do without a keyboard, starting with him stepping forward, backing her against the wall and kissing her so hard and so deep that the entire world disappeared.
She shook her head and forced herself to snap out of her fantasy world. All those years ago, she’d thought that he’d been sending her mixed messages, but the truth was he’d just never been into her. And he wasn’t now.
Eliza forced herself to smile as she said the name of the woman who he was interested in. “I met Bailey, last night. She’s amazing.”
***
Nate’s eyes shot to hers. “You what?”
He was sure he must’ve heard her wrong even though when she’d spoken he’d been staring at her mouth so hard he should’ve been able to read her lips. But his mind was focused solely on stopping himself from doing something stupid, something he couldn’t take back, again. Like kissing Ellie. He’d forgotten how much he’d missed her laugh. Her laugh was sexy, soft and light as a breeze. When he heard it, it shot straight to a deep primitive place inside of him and all he could think was, mine. He wanted to claim her. To make her his.
She cleared her throat and squared her shoulders and repeated, “I met Bailey. She’s amazing.”
Now he was focused. It turned out he’d heard her correctly. His eyes dropped once again to her mouth and he saw the same forced smile that she’d worn at the front desk yesterday. It was as if Eliza didn’t like her but was trying to be nice.
For some reason he felt like he needed to clarify their relationship. “We’re not together.”
She blinked several times and her plastic smile faded. “Oh, I thought…I mean…Becca said…”—her arms waved as she stumbled over her words—“she said that you were…and then Bailey said you were going to the Masquerade—”
“We’re friends.” He wasn’t sure why he felt so defensive about his relationship with Bailey. If Eliza thought they were in a relationship that would be better for him. Safer. It would serve as a buffer so he was even less tempted to make any bigger mistakes with her than he already had.
“But you’re going to the Masquerade Ball?”
“Yes,” he confirmed.
“But you’ve never dated?”
“We have.” He’d never understood the Facebook relationship status “It’s complicated” until now.
“I’m confused.”
This wasn’t a conversation he’d ever imagined having, which wasn’t a place he found himself in often. He also wasn’t sure why she was asking, what her motivation was. Which was another rarity for him. Most people were as easy to read as a Dr. Seuss book for him. “It’s not serious.”