One Sizzling Night(17)

“Like what?” Logan braced himself for the next assault. The rest of the old college gang would be so proud. Their little sister was growing up. Five years ago the conversation would’ve gone over Sam’s head. “Okay,” he said when she glared at him. He’d bet she could program the apartment for some mean payback. “Sorry.”

Ah, she wasn’t glaring anymore. Sam had returned to geek mode.

“You know, I think it might be possible to synthesize an aerosol that can make people horny,” she said absently, and then blinked. “Look, Logan, one thing I know for sure. I trust Neil down to my bones.”

“Fair enough.” He found it a little disconcerting that Sam put Neil Patterson first, but it made sense. Logan and Sam were old friends, but they led such disparate lives. The great part was, whenever they did see each other they were always able to pick up right where they’d left off.

“So tell me what else is new? Didn’t you mention something really big?”

“Oh, it’s major, all right,” she said. And then she almost smiled.

“This is gonna be good. I know that look.”

She held up her arm. He’d wondered about the bracelets. She wasn’t a jewelry kind of person. But clearly she’d changed. There were four silver bangles just above her wrists. They were very slim and had interesting markings.

He leaned in for a better look. “Are those hieroglyphs?”

“No, but you’re not far off.” She moved her chair closer. “One of these, when slipped from your wrist, turns automatically into a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree camera. And all the data is sent directly to a master hub, where it’s encrypted with some wicked new software I’ll tell you about later.”

She stopped, caught her breath and then she was going again. “But it doesn’t have a limit on how much data it can gather, because it just flows through to Mama Bear. And there can be a chain of data collectors, an infinite number, because of the cloud system I’m using. It’s so detailed that the operator, Mama Bear, would be able to re-create every inch of space in a given room. It self-generates forward motion, which is done by nano chips that I can’t tell you about because that money’s already spoken for. Anyway, that doesn’t matter. Just, it’ll never run out of steam. Think a Roomba that picks up pictures instead of dirt and hairs.”

“Holy shit.”

She nodded. “The hieroglyphs tell her what direction to go in. What kind of landscape she’ll have to maneuver. She can only move if there are no people present. No strangers, actually. If she’s working for you, you’ll have a marker that lets her know you’re cool with her doing her thing. Although you’d better not do anything gross, like some people I could mention.” She glared at Clark, who ignored her completely.

Jesus. It slowly registered for Logan. His mind was scrambling in several directions. Yeah, he’d call this breakthrough pretty major.

“I’m working on audio, but that still needs some tweaking, so we’re not sharing that yet. In fact, you, Neil, Clark and I are the only people in the whole world who know about her so far. She’ll be getting her big debut on the last day of the conference.”

Before Sam had finished talking, Logan had thought of ten viable uses for this device. The possibilities were endless. It could save a lot of lives.

“Hey,” Clark said, from behind Logan.

Sam checked her watch and stood up. “I’m sorry, Soldier Boy. I have to go. I have another interview,” she said. “But I’ll see you later, and we’ll catch up on you, okay?”

He stood and gave her a brief hug. “Later.”

She ran off, and Logan spent some time looking at her newest crop of goodies, mingling with the swirling crowd built entirely of Sam fans. Goddamn, he wished she’d go public. Although she didn’t need to. Good for her. She worked as hard as anyone he’d ever—

Kensey.

He spotted her down the aisle, carrying a briefcase. Her hair was pulled back, and she looked like those models who showed up in magazine ads, pretending to be typical working women. Her dress was green, sleeveless and showed off a lot of leg. Every guy in sight stopped what they were doing and watched her. She just kept walking, her confidence both a dare and a warning.

By the time he could see her dress was suede, he’d forgiven her everything.

Then she stumbled a tiny bit.

Because she’d seen him.

Damn it to hell, she turned around and started walking away, and that really pissed him off.

Bullshit.

He made his way through the bustle, completely unwilling on every level to let her get away with this. No way, no how, were they gonna dance her dance.

“Kensey,” he called, and her stride slowed.

She was debating letting him chase her down. What the hell? He’d been dismissed more kindly by Afghan militants.

Then she stopped.

It didn’t help his mood, knowing she hadn’t wanted to.

* * *

WHY? KENSEY CLENCHED her jaw so hard she might have broken a tooth. Why had she come down this aisle when she knew it was possible Logan might be hanging out at Sam’s booth? Why couldn’t she have seen him first?

She hated this. Hated that what she really wanted to do was take him straight home to bed, and not leave until this whole week was over. Sure, she wouldn’t be helping her father, but he’d never done much to help her, either.

Just thinking that made her stomach twist into a knot.

This wasn’t a problem her father had created. She’d heard the name Holstrom last night, and that was it—she’d freaked. She had no way of knowing what Logan’s connection with the man was or what he knew about him. It could very well be nothing. It was too big a risk to take. To like him so very much.

But who was she so attracted to? The sweet, funny, amazing lover? Or the dangerous man who’d been the kind of soldier who wasn’t allowed to talk about the things he’d done.

“Hello, Kensey,” he said.

She gave him a brief smile. “I was just coming to see Sam, actually. I wasn’t expecting to see you.”

“I could tell.”

Kensey gave him nothing. No reaction. Inside, though, a maelstrom was raging. Logan had no business looking so good. Feeling so betrayed. She should apologize. Make up an excuse. Ask him what he was doing with Holstrom.

Sam vouched for the man in front of her. Neil vouched for Sam. Which didn’t mean Logan wasn’t in Holstrom’s pocket. It didn’t seem likely, but then Logan was a chameleon. She understood that. So was she.

Her father’s daughter.

It would be her own fault if she let this man get under her skin. There was no one else she could blame. “Well, actually, I have to go. There’s a presentation...”

“Right.” He made a point of looking at his watch. She knew it was two-thirty and all the presentations started on the hour. “Well,” he said, shrugging. “See you around.”

“Wait.” The word was out before she could stop it. She didn’t know what to say but she couldn’t leave it like this.

He slowly turned back to her. “Don’t worry. I get the message. For what it’s worth, it’s a shitty way to tell me to get lost.”

“Last night, I was just trying to give you some privacy. And then I heard something about work and...”

Logan stared at her as if he couldn’t believe how lame the excuse was, and she didn’t blame him. But spending any more time with him wasn’t a good idea. “I have something tonight and I have no idea what time I’ll be home. Back,” she corrected. “But if you’re free and still up, we could have a nightcap.”

He nodded, but from his expression it was clear he wasn’t expecting much, which was for the best. She’d only wanted to extend an olive branch. Leave things between them on a more cordial note. Tonight she’d wait him out. Return after he was asleep. He’d understand she got caught up in whatever.

When he walked away without saying goodbye, it stung.

* * *

AT MIDNIGHT, LOGAN finished the single bottle of Pliny he’d allowed himself to have while he reviewed his presentation notes. He’d been back at the apartment for almost an hour after having dinner with a couple of old friends. He hadn’t mentioned his plans to Kensey. Why bother? She had no intention of having that nightcap. Hell, he’d known she’d only made the offer to smooth things over. What he couldn’t decide was whether or not to force the issue. Stay up. Call her bluff. Find out what the hell had happened last night.

He gathered his notes, turned off his tablet and switched off the lamp. The soft glow of the lighted tiles would be enough to get him to his room. Of all the apartment’s cool surprises, the tiles were way up on the list. Walls turning into monitors to receive calls might be his favorite, though. He was still on the fence about the body sensors.

Halfway to his room he heard the front door open. It barely made a sound but he had exceptional hearing. Suddenly, he didn’t like the illuminated tile so much. She saw him right away. And she didn’t look happy about it.

“Hi.” She closed the door behind her. “I’d hoped to be back earlier.” She moved a few steps into the foyer. “I didn’t want to wake you.”