Unfinished Seductions

by Raleigh Davis

  Hell, it’s more than a success—it’s a sensation. We’ve already published another story on Fuchs’s dealings—this one about him buying up encryption companies so he can break into any phone or system he wants—and that’s all the tech world can talk about.

  Callie’s got an interview scheduled with the New York Times for their Sunday Magazine, a cover story about how she wrote The Silicon Wife and then went on to found a media company that’s exposing the dark corners of the tech world.

  Some people are still pissy about what she wrote in her blog, but Silicon Valley loves nothing more than success. Now that her site is taking off, most people are willing to forgive her anything.

  And it looks like Arne Fuchs is one of those people. He called Anjie—actually called her instead of sending his android assistant to call—and scheduled a meeting between me, him, and Callie.

  I made him come to us. He can do the walk of shame through our offices, with everyone from the interns to the partners glaring at him. Some humiliation will be good for him.

  Callie is in my office as we wait for him, staring blankly at her laptop screen. Her body is still, so she’s not that anxious, but she’s too pale.

  “Don’t worry about that fucker,” I say. “He’s crawling to us.”

  She wrings her hands together. “I know, but… After everything he’s done, it’s hard to convince myself we’ve won. I keep thinking he’s going to throw one last bomb at us.”

  “I’ll catch it and defuse it.”

  She sends me a look that’s half-amused, half-affectionate. But she’s smiling, which is what I wanted.

  I know the exact moment Fuchs arrives because a hush falls over the office. I’m tempted to watch as everyone glares at him—Mark’s sending the dude death rays with his eyes, I just know it—but I need to stay here with my wife. And I need to look cool and composed when Fuchs walks in. I’m in command here, and he needs to know that from the very first moment.

  “Right here,” Anjie says, her mouth twisting with distaste. She takes off without offering refreshments.

  Fuchs is right behind her, looking small and unimpressive. How can a dude who looks like such a generic dork be such an evil asshole?

  “You wanted to talk to us?” I ask coolly. I don’t offer him a chair.

  Fuchs’s gaze snaps over Callie, quick and assessing. I get the impression that he doesn’t think much of her.

  His fucking mistake. Give Callie another month, and no one will even remember TidBytes.

  I cross my arms. Maybe I should throw him out right now, not let him back in until he treats my wife with the proper respect.

  Fuchs’s cold gaze lands on me, and his mouth tightens. “I’m selling TidBytes. I wanted to give you the first chance to make an offer.”

  Callie gasps. I’m as shocked as she is, but I know better than to show it.

  “Really?” I drawl, as if I couldn’t care less.

  “You’re selling?” Callie asks, her mouth wide.

  “Thanks to your website”—Fuchs practically spits the word out—“TidBytes is now useless to me.”

  I snort. Of course he’s here to get some kind of advantage for himself. “And here I thought you’d be apologizing to us. If it’s useless to you, why should I buy it rather than leaving it hanging around your neck?”

  I’d love to see it choke him, although TidBytes’s budget is a drop in the massive bucket that is Fuchs’s fortune. Sadly, he won’t go broke from one failing website.

  Fuchs’s mouth turns up into something too nasty to be a smile. “Because if you don’t, I’ll fire every single employee and purge all the archives.”

  “Oh.” That’s caught at Callie’s heart—she wants to save all those employees.

  Which means I’ll have to save them now. I can’t have my wife thinking I’m a heartless brute.

  “I’ll hire them once you’ve fired them,” I say with a shrug. “Hell, I’m already recruiting a dozen of them right now.”

  They’re all too afraid of his lawyers to accept an interview, but I imagine they’ll get over it once they hear the site is going under.

  Fuchs’s face turns a dangerous shade of red, the kind a bull would charge at. I keep looking bored, even though I’m inwardly cheering. Asshole thinks he can come in here and strong-arm us? Yeah, no fucking way.

  “They can’t be hired by you,” he finally gets out. “Their noncompete won’t allow it.”

  “Contracts are void once the company goes under.” I move toward the door since I’m ready for this farce to be over.

  “Why is it useless to you?” Callie’s expression says she doesn’t expect him to answer, but she has to ask anyway.

  I pause on my way to the door. “Because everyone knows he’s behind every single slimy story on the site. That he’s only publishing that crap to manipulate people. And it’s hard to manipulate people when they know who’s pulling the strings.”

  Fuchs’s expression goes stony, meaning I’ve hit it right on the head. And he still won’t acknowledge Callie.

  “If you won’t buy it,” he says, “someone else will.”

  He’s out of tricks if he’s pulling that one.

  “No, they won’t,” I say. “Media properties are a dime a dozen. And who’d want to go up against my wife’s site with a tainted brand like TidBytes? Better to start fresh.” I pull open my office door, inviting him to take his evil ass right through it. “You’ve lost, Fuchs. Again.”

  “I’ll make sure everyone in this town reads your wife’s blog and sees everything she wrote about them behind their back.”

  Callie’s expression is stricken. I silently curse all the jerks who’ve been shitty to her about that blog.

  “Good,” I say. “My wife has excellent insights. She said things that needed saying.”

  “Logan.” Callie twists my name into delighted shock.

  I raise one eyebrow in a shrug, because everything I’ve said is true.

  “It will be a scandal.” Fuchs practically snarls that.

  Finally I take hold of his arm and push him through the door. I’ve had enough and so has Callie.

  “I’m a Bastard,” I say. “I eat scandal for breakfast. And if you come after my wife or my marriage again, I’ll break more than just your toy website this time—I’ll break you.”

  Chapter 38

  Wow.

  I know I should say something, but all I can think is wow.

  “You just slammed the door on Arne Fuchs.”

  Okay, I’m stating the obvious here, but still. I can hardly believe what I’ve just seen. Or what I’ve just heard.

  Logan thinks everyone should read my blog. He thinks I said things that needed to be said.

  And Fuchs is selling TidBytes. He’s abandoning it.

  “I should have tossed him out the moment he offered TidBytes to us.” Logan dusts off his hands as if he’s just finished a job well done. Which I suppose he has. “But at least that’s out of the way.”

  Logan throws himself into his desk chair, all negligent sprawl. He looks like an ad for a high-end cocktail. Come enjoy me at the end of the day.

  I’m the lucky girl who’ll get to.

  He pats his leg, his gaze darkening. “Come here. I need to tell you something.”

  This sounds promising. And exciting.

  “Oh?” I slink over to him, desire sliding through my limbs, making me loose with heat. “Is it safe to talk about at work?”

  His smile is knowing. “Yes.”

  I pout as I fold myself into his arms. “That doesn’t sound as fun as what I was imagining.”

  Instead of teasing me back, he wraps me up tight, his chest solid against my back, his arms lashed around my rib cage, his chin tucked into my hair. We breathe together for several long, lovely moments.

  “You did it,” he says, breaking the silence. “You wanted to stop Fuchs, and you did. TidBytes is done.”

  I ponder that, turning it over in my mind. Yes, that was my original go
al—at least that’s what I told myself. “Yes, and that’s a good thing… but I think what I really wanted was you back. Only I couldn’t quite admit it or see how to make it happen.”

  I hear him swallow. “I was stupid and blind. I won’t make that mistake again.”

  “They say the only way you learn anything is by making mistakes.” I turn so that I’m nestled against his chest. “I’d say we’ve learned quite a bit here. And I’ve made more than my share here too. Like the blog.”

  His arms tighten. “The blog wasn’t a mistake. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about—you should keep doing the blog. Only as a column on the website, under your real name.”

  That’s so unexpected all I can do is blink. “But…”

  I’m about to say I’m not a real writer, but I close my mouth on it. Because I’ve also never built a media company before or thwarted an evil mastermind, but somehow I managed to do both of those in the past month.

  “But what?” Logan prompts. “People loved the blog. So keep it going. And it would bring traffic to the site.”

  I set my hand on his flat stomach, spreading my fingers wide. Through the thin cotton of his shirt, I can feel the warmth of his skin, the bunch and give of his muscles. Lord, but his body is distracting.

  “So this is all about site traffic?” I grin at him.

  “No.” His voice drops. “But you share things there other people need to hear. People like you who feel lost in this world. And people like me who sometimes can’t see those who feel lost.”

  My eyes prickle and I blink hard. “How can I say no when you put it like that?”

  He wraps his fingers around my wrist. “You can always say no. But I think you need that outlet.”

  “There will probably be a scandal,” I warn him. But he’s right—I do want to keep writing The Silicon Wife. It will be different from what I was writing before since I’m in a different place in life, but I still have a lot to say about Silicon Valley.

  “I eat scandal for breakfast, remember?” He nuzzles my ear, tickling me with his voice.

  “That’s right.” I lift my face to his and am rewarded with a kiss. “I guess I’d better do it then and make some more scandal for you.”

  His laugh is dark and sensual but nothing compared to his kiss. I could do this forever, just lose myself in him.

  “God, I wish I could drag you home right now,” he mutters against my lips. His cock is pressing against my ass, proving how badly he wishes it.

  Then I remember the thing I forgot. The thing that was occupying my mind before the launch, that got lost in the lawsuit and my unmasking and the almost-failed launch.

  Oh my God, of all the things to lose in that mess…

  Chills are running over my skin. “We need to go home.”

  He’s instantly alert. “What’s wrong?”

  “I… I forgot something.” It’s happening all over again, the hope, the fear, the sense that everything will change. “Please can we go home? Now?”

  I know he needs to work, and I need to work, but I have to know, right now. And I need him with me when I do.

  “Can we…?” He stops when I keep staring at him pleadingly. His jaw tightens, his gaze cutting away. “Okay,” he says heavily. “We’ll go home and get whatever you need.”

  This is hard for him, leaving work in the middle of the day, and I haven’t even explained to him what’s really going on. But he helps me up and rises from his chair, all without reluctance.

  I said that I need him, and he’s coming. The hope in my heart burns so strong it almost hurts.

  Chapter 39

  As soon as I shut the front door, I ask, “Okay, what’s really going on?”

  During the entire drive up the 280, Callie refused to tell me why we were racing home. She did promise to tell me once we were inside, and now that we are, I want some answers.

  She looks okay—hell, she looks amazing—but something serious is going on. If she doesn’t tell me what it is, I can’t fix it.

  She clasps her hands together as she stops in the foyer, her eyes wide. “I don’t know how to tell you this, and I feel like such a fool.”

  I know she’s not leaving me, not again, but my heart kicks with adrenaline anyway. This can’t be good, not when it’s starting like this—

  “I think I’m pregnant.”

  “What?” I didn’t mean to yell, but the bottom is dropping out from under me. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

  “I, um, forgot. I was late the night of the launch and was going to tell you then, and everything happened and I forgot all about it until today, and that’s why I feel silly.”

  I grab her and spin her around, because she’s just that amazing and I can’t think of any other way to show her how I feel. “Oh my God. I thought something was wrong.”

  She sets her forehead against mine. “So you’re not upset?”

  “God, no.” Suddenly I realize what I’m doing. I set her down quickly. “Shit, did I hurt you? You need to see a doctor, right away. We’ll have to find someone at Stanford. No, UCSF—they’re better.”

  She’s laughing, and I don’t understand why. “Logan.” She puts her hand in the center of my chest. “I haven’t even taken the at-home test yet. I don’t even know if I really am.”

  I hold up my keys. “I can be to the drugstore and back in twenty minutes. What kind do you want? Never mind, I’ll get some of each. Can’t be too careful—”

  Her hand flexes on my sternum. “I already have a test. From last time.”

  My breath catches. I don’t want to remember her leaving. But that painful past is still part of us. The pain makes the happiness we share now that much sweeter.

  “Okay,” I say. “What should I do?”

  “Just… just wait for me.”

  “Always.”

  I feel like an expectant father trapped in the fifties as I wait outside the bathroom door for Callie. She’s in there taking the pregnancy test, and I’m stuck out here, feeling useless.

  And yeah, a little proud. She might have a baby, thanks to me. Hey, a man’s allowed to be pleased when he’s impregnated his wife, as long as he’s not a dick about it.

  I jiggle my leg, biting back the urge to ask her if everything’s okay. Peeing on a stick isn’t exactly dangerous.

  But… it also kind of is. Everything in our lives will change if the test is positive. We won’t just be married—we’ll be parents.

  Finally I can’t hold back. I think my heart might explode with waiting. “Honey?”

  “Sorry.” When she opens the door, her eyes are wide, her breath coming too quick. She’s nervous too. “It’s ready, but it takes a couple of minutes.”

  She links her fingers deeply in mine, and we walk into the bathroom together.

  The stick is sitting in the sink, looking way too innocent for what it’s about to tell us. I had no idea pregnancy tests were so plain. This is a big fucking deal. Shouldn’t there be more?

  I should have gone to the drugstore. I still can.

  I squint at the stick. “Is that…? What does that mean?”

  There might be a very faint line there, but I can’t quite tell. It’s there one second, gone the next. What a shitty trick to play on someone taking a pregnancy test.

  And then— “Oh shit.” My heart is hammering against my ribs.

  Callie’s hand tightens on mine. “It’s only the test line.”

  “Way to give me a fucking heart attack,” I mutter.

  She snickers.

  Another line starts to form. Maybe.

  I hold my breath tight, as tightly as I’m holding Callie’s hand, wishing and praying.

  “Is it really there?” I whisper.

  Her swallow is loud, but her answer is quiet. “I think so.”

  “What… what does it mean?” I was thinking the second line meant the test is positive, but Callie isn’t reacting, and now I don’t know.

  “It means…” She takes a deep breath that
goes shaky at the very end. “It means yes.”

  “Yes?” Suddenly that word is more than just a word. It’s the rest of our life, together. Loving each other and our child.

  Callie nods, then covers her mouth, a wild laugh bursting out of her. “Yes. Yes, yes, yes.”

  I pull her into my body, cover her with the curve of mine. Covering her and the child inside her. Our child.

  I try to think of something to say, words that will encompass this moment and how I feel about her and our future child. About how I’ll always be here for her, always trying to be better because that’s what they both deserve.

  But all I can say is “I love you.”

  When she says, “I love you too,” those simple words feel like more than enough.

  Chapter 40

  I didn’t fully appreciate the winery Logan bought me the first time I saw it.

  Back then it felt like a bandage over a wound that needed stitches or even surgery—Logan couldn’t see that I was badly, badly hurt and he was only offering a token bit of comfort.

  Things are very different now.

  I put my hand on my belly as I take in the massive two-story entry, with parquet tiles on the floor and scrollwork banisters and skylights. The entire sensation is one of light—both illumination and weightlessness.

  “Not bad for a weekend house?” Logan says as he brings in our bags.

  “That’s one way to put it.” I’m too awed by the place to say anything more.

  We’ve decided that as a way to slow down, we’ll be spending the weekends up here in Napa, at our winery. We’ll be mostly cut off from the rest of the world, and we definitely won’t be working.

  “How are you feeling?” Logan asks, pressing a kiss to my forehead.

  He only asks me that every five minutes every day. And he races home by five each night in order to make me a home-cooked meal. He’s also been to every doctor’s appointment, not that we’ve had a ton. I’m only five months along, and everything is going well so far, so they don’t need to see me that often.

  Logan wasn’t happy to hear about the appointment schedule and wanted to find a doctor who’d see me once a week. I managed to talk him out of that—barely.