Free Big Bad Wolf by Gennita Low Page A

across it.
    He plucked at his lips as he manipulated the command strings that moved across the screen in rapid succession. He had no idea when the man for whom he left the code would come across the message, and he was going to need another excuse to play with the computer.
    Swiftly, he removed all traces of his activities and returned the screen to MENU. Jaymee probably wouldn’t know he was breaking into the government’s most secured lines even if she was watching him, but Nick didn’t want to bet too heavily on that. His boss had a way of grasping a situation very quickly.
    “Lunch is ready! Nick?”
    “Yeah, I’m almost done,” he called back as he finished up.
     
    *
     
    Jaymee couldn’t figure him out. It was her source of pride since her unfortunate brush with the deceptive side of the male gender that she’d learned to read every one of them and put them in their rightful category. Through the years, she and Mindy had exchanged notes. There was the Bear, the one she could leave at a job site as long as there was honey, the promise of better pay if the job was done that day. There was the Rabbit, the worker who hurried, hurried, hurried to finish a job. From her list of restaurant adventures, Mindy, in her typical droll sense of humor, had added in the Drunken Monkey, the Snake, and the Peacock. But he wasn’t any of those.
    There was one more in her list, the most dangerous animal of all because he was the most deceptive, knowing when to hide under sheep’s clothing and be nice, only to turn around and devour women like her. And nothing about Nick Langley had convinced her he was anything but a wolf, out on a hunt, only after a good time.
    But sometimes she wondered whether she was wrong. She couldn’t figure out why he was in her world at all, and most important, why he wanted her. Unlike before, she didn’t have any money or assets now to interest a wolf. Eight years of eluding men had taken away any confidence of how she could affect any male interest.
    She flashed him a smile. “How’s it going?”
    Nick sat down at the kitchen table. “Almost done. I need a Philips screwdriver to open up the case. I might as well check everything while I’m at it.”
    Jaymee put the plate of cold chicken salad and a glass of milk in front of him. “Go ahead. I’m just glad the the computer isn’t a lemon , even though it’s a refurbished one .”
    Nick smiled at the food in front of him. How long had it been since a woman fed him cold chicken salad and milk for a meal? It was an uncomfortably homey gesture, and warm pleasure blunted the anger he’d been carrying.
    “It’s not a Z-28,” he agreed, lifting a fork, “but it’ll take you where you want to go.”
    He watched her take a sip of milk from his glass. Nice lipstick. Tempting lips.
    “Let me get my dad to join us,” Jaymee said, heading for the screen door. “Dad! Dad! Come in and eat your lunch.”
    She turned to Nick and warned, “Just ignore his bad manners, al l right?”
    Nick nodded. Bob shuffled in, giving a wide yawn. He cast a resentful look at Nick.
    “Still here? I thought you said he was your laborer, Jaymee, not your bodyguard.”
    Jaymee set a place for him, then took the middle seat. “He’s fixing the new computer.” She gestured. “Here, take your medication and get some food in you.”
    “I don’t want milk,” the old man growled.
    “Sorry, beer and medication don’t go together,” she calmly informed him. “If you end up in the hospital this time, I’ll have to mortgage the house to pay the bills, and then you won’t get your business back in the black for sure.”
    Nick suddenly realized Jaymee dangled the roofing business in front of her father like bait. Every time he pushed her too far, she would bring up the subject of getting the business back in the black, and it always had the desired e ffect . The old man sat and washed down the pills with a glass of milk and obediently started on his meal. Nick