Chapter 1
Fynn Dempsey closed the door to his lab, turning left down the hallway— a huge, bearded stranger loomed up in front of him. Gasping, Fynn leaped back.No strangers should be on this floor.He clutched frantically for his phone.Call 911.Except his hand met an empty pocket because he’d put the damned phone in a drawer when it kept spamming.
Shit!He whipped a glance over his shoulder to his lab door.Run down the hall? Duck back in and hide?
Before he could decide, the man stepped away from him, hands raised. “Whoa, easy, Dr. Dempsey. I’m waiting for your brother.”
“Bullshit. Micah never comes up here.” His brother’s interest in the science side of the business began and ended withDo you have anything new for me yet?
“Micah’s going to introduce me to you. He had to go to the john. I’m your new bodyguard.”
Fynn didn’t say bullshit out loud again, but he backed up slowly, darting his gaze left and right.
Except Micah came out of the bathroom down the hall buttoning his jacket, and called, “Hey, Fynn. I see you’ve met Stone.”
Stone. Sounds like a fake name.A guy who was six-foot-six and built like a brick wall would probably be called Nifflebanger or Doozenberg in real life. Not Stone. Even a TV writer would be more subtle than that, unless they were writing one of those adventure video games that dumbed things down to the lowest common denominator. “This isn’t a video game.”
“Huh?” Micah came up beside the big guy, looking less imposing for once— the only benefit Fynn could see to having a bearded man-mountain standing in his laboratory hallway. “What video game?” He waved off Fynn’s mumbled beginning of an explanation. “Never mind. I’ve hired Stone and his team to provide you with protection, after that kidnapping attempt two days ago.”
“Nothing happened. I was fine.” Fynn had to admit, things did get hairy for a minute. If he hadn’t decided efficient use of his commute time was worth hiring a driver, or hadn’t picked a driver with trained skills, that moment when they’d realized they were deliberately boxed in between two looming pickups might’ve led to… something really bad. He didn’t let his mind speculate on what. But Joehaddefensive driving training, and they’d gotten away with only minor damage to the Lexus’s front fender. The cops said the pickup Joe hit had been stolen and abandoned. “It was just an… episode.”
That’s what he called it in his head.The episode.The bad guys were gone, Joe helped him trade in the Lexus for a replacement, and life went on. If George de Mestral had let himself get distracted byepisodes,he wouldn’t have been able to spend years on his world-changing invention and its development. “We might not have Velcro.”
“Fynn, pay attention.” Micah got up close and waved a hand in front of Fynn’s face, a habit since childhood, and one he still hated.
He smacked at Micah’s hand and missed. Also a childhood pattern.
Micah turned to the man-mountain. “You’ll find Fynn’s rather easily distracted. I’m counting on you and your team to keep him safe.” Which would’ve sounded much more brotherly love-y if he hadn’t added, “In spite of himself.”
“You can’t hire him,” Fynn said huffily, because yeah, he was going to throw his weight around. He pushed his glasses firmly up his nose and sniffed. “I make all the company’s money and if I don’t want to spend it on gorillas in suits, those bucks won’t get spent.”
“Now, Fynn, be sensible.” Micah managed to sound like their great-aunt, a reminder Fynn didn’t appreciate. “You don’t want to get kidnapped, do you? Anyway, the company has the right to take measures to protect its assets, and you’re the biggest asset.”
“Well, you’re the biggest ass.”
Micah mimicked Aunt Louise’s saddened-but-unsurprised expression all too well too. “You’re being childish.”
“I’m not a child!” Fynn strode over to the lab door, pulled it open, and gestured at the hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of expensive equipment. “Does that look like a sandbox? Could a child have made us twenty-six million dollars in one year?”
“I never said you were a child, and that twenty-six million is the problem. Someone figured out the company would pay a big ransom to get you back, and they might try again.”
“The company would, huh? Not my loving big brother?”
Micah’s exaggerated sigh was overplayed, intended to impress Stone, no doubt. “Of course, me, but you also made me president of the company. We’re one and the same.”
There’s part of the problem.He and Micah had never been close. The ten years between them meant they hadn’t been playmates or shared many experiences, until their parents suddenly died. Then Micah had been stuck raising a little brother he barely knew and couldn’t understand. They’d both heaved a sigh of relief when Fynn went off to college on early admission at sixteen.
Five years ago, Fynn’s need of someone practical— not an adjective ever used for himself— to develop and sell his invention, had bonded them financially. Sadly, their shared family ties were now probably the least important of their connections. Micah was all about the company and finances and expanding markets and new designs.
To Micah the president, Fynn was anasset. Of course, that was the truth. No company could survive and expand on the basis of one invention. Micah was as dependent on him to keep innovating as he was dependent on Micah to do all the rest. He should be grateful— hewasgrateful— that Micah joining him had kept him from having to sell his idea to some other company to spoil or cheapen or take credit for. Gratitude still didn’t make Micah the boss of him.
Fynn jerked his chin up, resenting the two bigger men for making him feel short, which hewasn’t. “I’m working on something new. I don’t know if I want to keep working today if that Mr. Brick will be hanging over my shoulder.”
“He’ll stay outside your lab.” Micah’s expression went avid. “What are you working on?”
“An expansion of…” He glanced at Stone. “Shouldn’t he put his fingers in his ears or something?”
Stone said in his deep rumbly voice, “I signed a very detailed nondisclosure agreement, Dr. Dempsey.”
