by Livia Grant
“That’s a good idea, John. Harris, I know you’ve run through your findings with me already, but at the end of the day, what is your gut telling you?”
Tom Harris glances self-consciously around the table filled with John Tatum and three other technicians before looking Troy in the eye. “Honestly, Troy, I hate to say it, but I think there is only one conclusion I can come to. The code has been tampered with.”
“What are you saying?”
“You know what I’m saying, Troy.”
“Sabotage? I just hate to even consider it.”
“I don’t know what else it could be. We’d passed every test and were home free. The code wasn’t on the network. It can’t be a virus or someone from the outside. It has to be...”
“Someone in this room.” Troy finishes for his friend.
The room is silent. Troy looks from person to person and is met with varying degrees of anger and surprise, yet not one person in the room refutes the claim because they all recognize the truth in the accusation. Their project is locked down so tight that only one of the six people in the room should have access to do the kind of damage they are dealing with.
Troy doesn’t need this. He should be home remembering his wonderful weekend with Hallie and making plans for their future, but instead he’s at the base, dealing with a top-secret security breach possibly caused by someone close to him.
Taking one last look across his team, his gut clenches. “There has to be another explanation. I trust every person in this room. We have all worked together and I’ve watched you all pour your heart into this project. It’s important to all of you. There has to be another explanation.”
The room finally erupts as everyone starts talking at the same time, all agreeing with Troy, relieved that they feel the same. Maybe he’s being naive, but he is usually a good judge of character. There has to be another reason.
“John, make the forensic investigation into the backups your top priority. We need to know exactly when the bug was introduced and that will help us track down what the root of the problem is and with any luck, lead us to the person behind it. You all have been here all weekend. Go home. Get some sleep and come back in the morning. I’m going to spend some time here tonight to see if I can make some headway. Meeting in my office at oh-eight-hundred. Dismissed.”
The crowd disperses and Troy heads to the secure lab to dig into the problem. It’s going to be a long night.
* * * * *
Two long days later, the team has made marginal progress. Harris has pinpointed the introduction of the problem to Christmas Day, which only intensified the mystery since not one of Troy’s team had worked that day. All surveillance footage into and out of the secure lab the team works in confirms not one person had set foot in the lab for the forty-eight hours around Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Troy had been relieved with the proof that his gut hadn’t been wrong about his team, but the mystery still stands and they are running out of time. They were supposed to hand the project over by the New Year and the fact that they’ll now miss that deadline is a huge blow to Troy and his whole team.
He thinks back to the disastrous phone call he’d had to make late the day before to his commanding officer back in DC, outlining the problem and explaining the delay. He’d sat through thirty minutes of uncomfortable ass-ripping and was just grateful it had been over the phone and not in person.
That’s Troy’s next problem. His boss, Peter, is using this event as an excuse to try to pressure Troy into moving the team back to DC since nothing like this breach ever happened when they’d been working out of the more secure location in Washington. Peter had even threatened to turn the project back over to Victoria, a key team member he’d left behind in DC.
Troy hopes Peter was just blowing smoke because if Troy had been sure about moving to Colorado before he met Hallie, he is adamant now that this is where he belongs. He’s barely had time to eat or sleep since seeing her, but he’s made sure to text her often and they’ve spoke a couple quick minutes. He knows the responsible thing to do would be to cancel his date with her tonight to keep working, but there is nothing on this planet that could stop him from spending tonight with Hallie. His team had worked until four this afternoon before he called it quits, telling everyone to go home and report back the day after tomorrow. He tries not to feel guilty for wanting to spend time with Hallie and reminds himself his whole team is hitting the wall and they all need the downtime.
Troy is thrilled when he pulls into the covered parking garage of his apartment and finds Hallie just parking Gina’s SUV in the spot next to his. He hadn’t expected her for at least an hour. They both exit their cars quickly and rush into each other’s arms.
“Oh man, you’re a sight for sore eyes. Let me look at you?”
They’ve separated enough for him to look down into her beautiful green eyes. She looks incredible and his heart contracts that this amazing woman is looking up at him with such love in her eyes.
“Hi.” He can sense her shyness.
“Hi yourself. Damn, I’ve missed you. I know it’s only been two days, but it feels like a week. Let’s get you inside.” Troy grabs her duffel bag from the SUV before locking up and walking to the elevator, his arm tight around her waist as if to keep her from getting away.
They make it into the elevator before Troy leans in to claim his first kiss. He tastes her cherry chapstick and has a craving to taste her other delectable tastes and wonders if they have time for a nap before they head out for dinner. The trip to his sixth floor apartment is too short.
“Come on in. The place isn’t much, but I’ve only been here a couple months and haven’t even really unpacked. You’re the first guest I’ve had, other than my work buddies.”
Hallie is hugging him to her. “I don’t care about your apartment. I just missed you.” He hears a twinge of sadness in her voice that surprises him considering they’re just starting their time together.
“Well, you got here a whole hour earlier than I expected. You have any ideas what we might do with that extra time?” He grins.
“Oh, I can think of a couple of things. Which way to the bedroom?”
* * * * *
“I guess that settles that.” Troy grins down at Hallie from above, still buried deep inside her.
She can barely catch her breath. “Settles what?”
“I’d worried I had to be remembering how perfect you were wrong. There was no way you could be as beautiful and sexy as I was remembering, but damn, woman, that was perfect. You sure you want to go out tonight? We could stay home and I’ll order pizza.”
She knows he’s teasing. “Very funny. What do I look like, a cheap date? I already bought the concert tickets. Now you’re trying to get out of buying me a nice dinner too? I don’t know about you, Troy.”
“Fine. If you insist, but I don’t want to hear complaints from you when I can’t keep my hands off of you in public. And damn, this bed feels like heaven.”
“I know. I’m worried about you. You’ve barely gotten any sleep the last few days. All teasing aside, I’ll understand if you want to stay home to snuggle and sleep.”
“Oh no you don’t. It’s New Year’s Eve. We’re going out and going to ring in the New Year together. Let me go take a shower to wake me up and then we can head out to dinner.”
Troy has rolled away from her and is half way to the bathroom when his cell phone on the nightstand rings. Hallie notices his aggravated look when he walks back to retrieve his phone. She’s happy to have the chance to admire his naked body as he stands next to the bed, looking down on her with a grin.
“Hello, sir. I wasn’t expecting to talk with you again today. Do you have any new information?”
Troy is listening to the call and she watches as his grin turns to a scowl. “With all due respect, that’s bullshit. You know damn well this is out of our control for right now and you’ve made it clear we have to wait for Victoria’s results before we can move forward.” He scowl
is turning to outright anger. “Hold on, Peter.” Holding his hand over his phone, he whispers to Hallie. “It’s my boss. I’ll take this in the bathroom. You can have the bathroom in like twenty minutes, okay?”
Hallie tries to hide her worry. “Sure. Is everything okay?”
“Yeah. Just the issues with the project. He just wants to talk about the plan.”
“Okay, well let me know when I can have the bathroom to freshen up.”
He leans in to kiss her forehead and heads to the shower.
Twenty minutes later, as promised, Troy emerges ready to go to dinner. All traces of his anger are gone. “The bathroom is all yours. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. I hope you like Italian. I got us reservations at a new place that just opened a few blocks from the venue.”
Now it’s Hallie’s turn to wish they could just stay home tonight. “You sure we need to go?”
Troy reaches out to smack her on her bare ass playfully. “Oh no you don’t. No backing out now. We’re going, young lady. Get in there and get ready.”
Despite him telling her to leave, he is still hugging her close. Their eyes meet and she loves to see his grin as she replies playfully. “Yes, sir.”
*****
Hallie is just finishing freshening up her makeup and brushing her teeth in Troy’s bathroom when she hears a phone ringing. Glancing to the counter, she sees Troy had left his phone in there after talking to his boss. She’s about to call out to him to come retrieve the call when she glances down and sees the incoming call is from a Victoria.
Even as she feels her heart lurch with insecurity, she tells herself she’s being silly. Victoria could be anyone. She could be someone he works with. She could be the next-door neighbor telling him his car alarm is going off. She could be… his other lover.
Hallie isn’t proud of herself when she accepts the call. She hesitantly holds his phone to her ear, but doesn’t say anything. Several long seconds go by before she hears a sultry voice talking. “Troy? Are you there? It’s about time you finally answered your phone. I’ve been trying to reach you for days.” Silence. Hallie’s heart is racing. “Troy, honey?”
“Sorry, but this is Hallie.” She hates how small her voice sounds.
There’s a long pause. “Oh. I must have the wrong phone number.”
“No. Troy is… he’s in the other room. Can I take a message?”
“A message? Who is this again?” The woman’s voice on the other end of the line sounds so confident. Hallie wishes she felt the same.
“Hallie.”
Another long pause. “Well, Hallie. I had hoped to talk with Troy directly, but you can pass on a message. Tell him I heard the good news that he and his team are going to be moving back to DC next week. Be a peach and let him know I’ll be anxiously awaiting his return, will you do that for me?”
Hallie’s heart is beating so hard she can hear the roar of blood rushing in her ears. She actually feels faint and has to take a seat on the edge of the tub. She takes several deep breaths trying to stave off the sudden urge to throw up.
“Hallie? Can you be a dear and pass that message along?”
“But, he just moved to Colorado. He wants to be here.” She hates the quaver in her voice. She sounds like a little kid.
“Well, you obviously don’t know Troy very well then, do you? He’s very ambitious and he’s learned that he needs to be back in DC if he intends to get the promotion he is after. Not to mention, do you really think a man like Troy will ever be happy playing house in the country when he can have an exciting life here in the heart of things? Tell him I understand him wanting to stay there to wrap things up cleanly in Colorado before he heads back here, but I expect things back to normal next week. Have a nice night.”
The call is dead.
Hallie’s heart is breaking. She’d expect to be treated like this by Eddie the Asshole, but not Troy. Her mind reels. How could he be planning to move back to DC and not tell her? He’d made her believe he wanted to live in Corbin’s Bend. She replays Victoria’s words over and over in her head until it starts to make sense. He is going along with Hallie tonight without saying anything so he doesn’t ruin their last night together, but then he was going to drop the bomb tomorrow after he gets one more night of her in his bed.
She’d thought Troy Jackson was different, but he is worse than any of the other pricks that had fucked with her in the past. An anger like Hallie has never felt before bubbles up and takes hold. How dare he tell her he loves her? He’s used her and now he’s about to just throw her away.
She has to pull it together and come up with a plan. Sure, she could walk out there and confront him, demanding answers, but that would just make it too easy on him. She suddenly remembers the crock of shit he had fed her about the importance of always telling the truth… about never keeping secrets. What a fucking asshole. She knew this whole domestic discipline was a joke. The rules are just meant to keep the women submissive and come up with reasons for spankos like Troy to have a reason to light up their woman’s ass on a regular basis, but clearly the rules don’t apply to the men. No, not to the HoH’s. They get to lie and keep secrets all they want.
His knock on the bathroom door startles her. She quickly swipes her tears away and steels herself to be strong. He may think she is just a young, dumb blonde he can treat like this, but she’s gonna show him how wrong he is.
Chapter Fifteen
Troy has a headache. He’s spent the last two hours trying valiantly to figure out what has upset Hallie, but nothing he has said or done is helping. He may not be the most sensitive guy in the world, but even he can tell something is bothering her. Considering she was in a fine mood when she arrived, he is absolutely at a loss as to what could be the problem. Her short, quip answers to all of his comments and questions both in the car and here at the restaurant have gone from concerning to just plain rude.
What is most upsetting is Troy hates to admit he just hasn’t known Hallie long enough to know if this is a common occurrence for her behavior or not. He’s wracked his brain for anything he might have said or done that could have upset her, but comes up empty. Perhaps she’s one of those women who has major mood swings with PMS. He spends a few minutes thinking through how he can try to get her into a specialist to see if there is something she can take to reduce her symptoms.
“I’ll have one more wine, thanks, Nick.”
“No she won’t, Nick. Hallie has had enough to drink for now. Thanks.”
Their poor waiter has also felt the brunt of Hallie’s bad mood tonight. He doesn’t look ready to piss her off. Glancing between the two of them, he finally nods at Troy and walks away.
“That’s crap, Troy. I’m not driving tonight. There’s no reason for you to not let me order another drink. Stop treating me like a baby.”
Reaching across the table to take her hand in his, he looks her in the eye. “If you don’t want to be treated like a baby, then maybe you should stop acting like one. I don’t know what the hell has gotten into you tonight, but I’ve about had enough.”
“You’ve had enough? That’s rich.”
“Hallie, honey. Please. I can tell something is bothering you. Please. Talk to me. What’s wrong?”
For a brief moment, she looks like she’s going to cry, but it’s gone in a flash, replaced with a devious smile he doesn’t care for. “Wrong? Nothing’s wrong. I’m just trying to have some fun. If you’re not going to let me have any more to drink here, then let’s just get out of here and go to the concert. Or are you going to spoil my fun there, too?”
Troy is beside himself. “If this is how you’re going to act all night, then maybe we should skip the concert and go home where we can start the fireworks.”
“Oh goodie. Sex.” He hates her sarcastic tone.
“No. I was thinking more like a spanking. And not the funishment kind.”
That got her attention, but Troy feels like an ass. He knows that in spite of her enjoying the playful spank
ings they’ve experimented with so far, Hallie is not ready for a true punishment, no matter how badly she might need it. And considering he doesn’t even understand what’s wrong, he knows he can’t punish just for being in a bad mood.
“Thanks, but I think I’ll pass.”
Nick has returned with the check. Troy throws his credit card down without even looking at the bill. The sooner they can get out of here, the better. Hallie has made herself busy digging through her purse, looking for something, but to Troy it looks like she’s just trying to keep busy to avoid talking with him.
He hates that she’s painted him into this corner where he feels more like her father instead of her boyfriend. He knows the right thing to do is to drive them back to his apartment and hold her hostage in his bedroom until he gets to the bottom of what’s bothering her. He just feels like a heel skipping the concert that she had spent her own money on and had been such a thoughtful gift for him at the time.
Nick is obviously ready to get rid of them too, because he is back in record time, and Troy stands to leave, helping Hallie with her coat. He takes her hand and leads her quickly from the restaurant. They are only a few blocks from the concert location and they’d planned on leaving the car in the garage. When he heads in the direction of the car, Hallie pulls him to a stop.
“The concert is the other direction. You’re going the wrong way.”
Turning back to her, he pulls her close. “We aren’t going to the concert, Hallie. We are going to the car and then we are going back to my apartment where we are going to sit down and you are going to start at the very beginning and tell me what the hell has you so upset tonight, because honestly, if I didn’t know better, I would swear you are a whole different person than the Hallie I know.”
