Page 82 of Out of the Shadows

Her mouth opened to reply, but she froze at the gagging noise behind her.

Xander squeezed past her and into Gavin’s office. “I think I actually threw up a little in my mouth.”

He flopped into one of Gavin’s guest chairs with a grimace. “Just so we’re clear, I have no issues with the two of you. Hell, you guys are fucking cute and I’m happy for you both. But this shit?” He pointed a finger at her andthen at Gavin. “Gross. It’s like hearing your parents having sex.”

Bean chuckled. “Well, maybe if you didn’t sneak up on people, you wouldn’t hear what you’re not supposed to.”

Xander’s mouth gaped. “You’re standing in the doorway.”

Gavin shrugged. “Could have been worse.”

“Yeah, I’ve already walked in on you two making out.” He shuddered as he glanced around. “Everything in here’s been disinfected, right?”

Bean rolled her eyes. “I’m out of here. I’ll be back in about an hour or so. Two max.”

“Well, shit. Look at you, Miss Outdoorsy,” Wilson said from behind her.

Chuckling, she struck a pose. “Who’d have thought, right? But I’m sticking to the easy trails.”

“Good for you,” Wilson said, patting her on the shoulder as he entered the office and took the seat next to Xander. “Mark my words, you’ll be joining me on my eight-mile treks before you know it.”

“Don’t hold your breath.” She snorted. “On that note, I’ll leave you guys to it.”

“B,” Gavin called out, and she turned back. “You have your phone on you?”

She patted the pocket of her leggings. “Yup.”

“Call me when you get back to the trailhead.”

She arched an eyebrow, and he held her gaze, arching an eyebrow right back.

Sometimes his bossiness wasn’t as cute. “You do recall that the entire area is monitored, right?”

“Yeah.” Xander chuckled. “You guys traumatized the entire cyber team. They were talking about how it was like watching their mom and dad make out.”

Wilson chuckled. “I heard about that.”

Gavin sent both men a glare, which they both ignored. Hefocused back on her, his sharp jaw clenching. “I recall, but humor me? Please.”

She rolled her eyes. It wasn’t a big deal, but apparently, she liked needling him as much as he liked to needle her. Because that jaw-clenching thing he did? Pretty hot. “Fine,” she said with an exaggerated huff. His eyes narrowed, and she shot him a wink before turning.

An hour and a half later, Bean was back in her office, unlacing her hiking boots. She had to admit, she was pretty damn proud of herself.

Who would have thought she’d like the great outdoors? Not her. That’s for damn sure.

She hated to admit it, but Gavin had been right. There was something balancing about wandering around the woods. Everything was so big out there, and that reminded her to slow down. Her programs would still be there when she got back to the office. A part of her felt guilty for taking time away for herself, but she was pretty sure that was the workaholic, control freak talking. The fact that she’d even felt any sort of anxiety for taking a break was telling. She really needed to work on the whole work-life-balance thing.

Baby steps, right?

After changing out of her hiking clothes and back into her work outfit, she pulled the hair tie from her hair and brushed it out. Satisfied she looked work ready again, she grabbed her laptop and headed to the large conference room. As the first one to appear for their meeting, she dialed up Tiny. Moments later, his face appeared on the screen.

“How are you, Tiny?”

“Good. You?”

“Can’t complain.” Her eyes narrowed at the smirk that crossed his face. “What’s that look for?”

“Nothing.” He chuckled as she continued to glare at him. “Cyber put together a montage of yesterday’s hiking highlights for me. Said to consider it a welcome-to-the-team kind of thing.”

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