by Ravenna Tate
When he released her, he gazed into her eyes with unbridled lust. “You haven’t seen my bedroom yet.”
“A terrible oversight. Take me there at once.”
His bedroom was the one room she imagined had been decorated to suit his personality, rather than simply filled with antiques and oddities he’d collected from the surface. It was all chrome and steel, but fit him perfectly. The furniture resembled the modern design of what she’d seen in the loge, but this room had been better put together.
The large expanse of full-length windows looked out over the fake night of NorthEast, but few buildings from this view were as tall as this one. He’d have total privacy in here, even at night with the lights on. “Do you keep the shades open at night?”
“Yes. I like to pretend I can see real stars when I glance out the window from my bed.”
She studied his face. “What you’re all doing, the secret teams and the work behind the scenes, you each really do want the same thing, don’t you? To return to the surface.”
He nodded before she finished asking. “Yes, yes, yes. Absolutely. If we as a people stay down here long enough, we’ll forget all that. What it’s like to breathe natural air and see the actual sun. We won’t remember the moon, or the sound of rain hitting hot pavement. We won’t know the difference between fake birdsong and the real thing. We’ll never see an insect. It will all be gone if we wait much longer. It’s been almost seven years now. Think of the children born here during that time in all the cities around the globe who have no idea of the world we once knew up there.”
Julianne had to take a step back as the enormity of his words rushed at her. She’d misjudged him. She’d misjudged all of them. Sure, they were billionaires, and they lived and breathed their work, but there was more to each of the men than their companies and their fortunes. She understood that now in a way she never had before, and shame at what she’d done to Kane all those years ago filled her once more.
If they didn’t succeed, no one would ever live on the surface again. The very fate of the entire planet was in their hands, and she had the chance to become part of their mission. She could help them do this.
She licked her lips and swallowed hard against the sudden lump in her throat. Julianne knew what she had to do. It was time to step up. “The source is Isabelle Sharpe. She works in your general administrative assistant pool, but you didn’t hear that from me. I’ve never revealed a source, Kane. Never. You’ll have to find another way to out her because if you tell anyone I told you, I’ll deny it.”
His eyes widened, and then he furrowed his brow. “I know the name, but I can’t honestly say I ever remember speaking with her.”
“Then she fabricated the story about you asking her out, and I was obviously wrong about my assumption that it was the other way around.”
He gave her a confused look.
“When she told me you asked her out and she turned you down, I could tell she was lying. I then assumed it was the other way around. That she had asked you out and you turned her down.”
“Julianne, very few of my female employees approach me and ask me out. I don’t make myself available to them on purpose so that what happened to me years ago will never be repeated.”
“What happened to you?”
He averted his gaze and the hairs on the back of her neck prickled. There was a story here. “It’s not pretty.”
“I’m sure it’s not, considering you avoid giving any possible suggestion that you’re dating an employee. Since your friends have no boundaries where that’s concerned, whatever happened to you must have been traumatic.”
“It nearly ruined my company.”
She walked over to his bed and brushed her fingers along the comforter. Soft and plush. She’d have expected nothing less. “I’m not asking as a reporter, Kane. I’m asking as friend.”
“Is that what we are?”
She turned at the sound of his voice, so small and unsure. It was unexpected, considering everything they’d done so far tonight. “I certainly hope so. I’m not in the habit of fucking strangers. That only happened once.”
The corners of his mouth turned up. “Yeah. Same here.” She saw him swallow. “I’d like us to be more than friends, though. Much more.”
“So would I. Let’s start by trusting each other. I think we have a great start, but I know I have to earn that from you.”
“Thank you for acknowledging it.”
“What happened to you that nearly ruined your company?”
He took a seat on the bed, so she did as well. “Her name was Ellen Grimes, and I hired her specifically to work in my PR department. This was ten years before we all moved underground. I was twenty-four and had been at the helm of this company for less than one year. I had no fucking clue what I was doing.”
“Who does at that age?”
He snorted. “My father and grandfather would disagree with you. They’ve had high expectations for me since birth. So, I hired this woman who had red hair and blue eyes.” He gave her a sheepish grin. “My weakness.”
Julianne’s body tingled with warmth and lust at his words. “What did she do to you?”
“Blindsided me. She was twelve years older than me, and knew exactly how to play me. In her former life she wrote for a rag mag, much like the one you used to work for.”
Oh shit. She knew where this was going and didn’t like the landscape at all.
“Once she got me into bed often enough, and got me talking, and had collected enough insider information, she quit and took it public.”
“Oh, Kane…”
“My family was ready to kill me. It took two years to bring that mess under control, and only because my mother stepped in and took over the PR department. That’s her forte. She only retired a few years ago, and hand-picked her replacement.”
“You must have been devastated.”
“I felt stupid and naïve, and I’m neither. That woman used me, and I never saw it because I was too busy learning about sex and kinky play.”
“Those aren’t terrible things.”
“No, they not, but I should have been thinking with my head, not my cock.”
Julianne nodded. This was serious stuff, and she understood that all too well.
“I should have listened to her questions and realized what was going on.”
“Lesson learned.”
“Yes.”
They stared into each other’s eyes for a long time. “When The Whole Truth printed that story five years ago, it all came back to you, didn’t it?”
He nodded.
“Then when I showed up Monday, you thought I was back for more of the same.”
“Yes, I did.”
“But you no longer believe that.”
He sighed. “I took a huge chance tonight, Julianne. Don’t prove me wrong again.”
Her heart nearly burst. She understood why he was suddenly unsure, so she placed a hand on his arm. “I won’t, Kane. I promise you. That will not happen.”
Chapter Nine
Julianne climbed onto Kane’s lap and kissed him. This enigmatic man had crawled under her skin five years ago, and he’d never left. Now that she understood his past better, she also understood why he’d been so affected Monday morning. She now was more determined than ever to help him.
“I’ll write the stories you want me to write, and I’ll give up the one about your secret teams.”
“Thank you.” The relief on his face and in his voice was evident.
“I also need to tell you what Isabelle said, because it concerns me.”
“Okay. I’m listening.”
Where to start? “Well, she said you hired all female employees on your floor so you could look at them every day, and that you’re a player.”
He laughed. “I didn’t hire most of the people who work in my company, let alone who work on the top floor. HR did. That’s why I have a human resources department, so I don’t have to make decisions like that.”
/> That made perfect sense to her. “She also said you’re all about your wealth, and told me about the holiday parties you throw every year.”
“I like to give the people who work for me expensive gifts. That doesn’t make me a monster or a saint.”
“I agree. Those aren’t the things that concern me. It was what she said about your secret teams and the complex code behind the systems you and the other Weathermen designed for your companies. She seemed to know an awful lot about both.”
He frowned. “Did she now? Anything else?”
“She said she had taken the job in the administrative assistant pool to wait for an opening in IT, and then she told me about Rob Marin.”
His gaze darkened. “That’s insider information.”
“I figured as much.”
“No, I mean that’s information she couldn’t possibly know about unless she was on one of the teams you were trying to write a story about. Our hacker teams have his name, and our newly-formed teams tracking IP addresses and machine IDs will have it, along with dozens of others. How did she come across his name?”
Julianne shivered, but this time it wasn’t from lust. “I didn’t ask her.”
“Ask her.”
“What?”
“Julianne, this is serious shit.”
“I know, but are you really asking me to use a source I’ve just named for information to help you fire her?”
“Isn’t that exactly what you do to them when you want a story? Use them for inside information?”
“Ouch.” She climbed off him and grabbed her bag from the floor. “I think that’s my cue to go home and get some sleep.”
“I wasn’t trying to hurt you, merely pointing out a fact.”
“That may well be, but I think this conversation is taking a dangerous turn. I don’t want to do this tonight. We had a lot of fun earlier, and I’d rather remember that. Not an argument we had about Isabelle.”
He rose and placed a hand on each shoulder, his face filled with indecision and pain. “We’re not arguing, Julianne. We’re on the same side here. I need your help with this. Isabelle shouldn’t have that information.”
“All right. I get that, but I’m not going to be your spy and ask her where she got it. That’s your problem.”
He nodded slowly. “You’re right. It is. I’m sorry.”
Julianne shrugged out his grip. “Apology accepted, but I really think it’s best if I go home. I need time and space to think about everything we did tonight, and to process all the things we told each other.” He looked so hurt she almost changed her mind. This was so damn confusing. “Thank you again for everything. I had a wonderful time.”
“Then why are you leaving?”
“Because we barely know each other.”
“That didn’t stop you earlier,” he said quietly.
“It’s not stopping me now. I just need some time to think.”
He ran his hand through all that shaggy brown hair, and she had to look away because it was such a sexy gesture. “I’ll walk you home.”
“Not necessary. I’ve been out at night alone before.”
“Damn it! Why are you pushing me away like this?”
“I’m not pushing you away.”
“It feels that way from where I’m standing.”
“I’m sorry it does.” She kissed him on the cheek. “I’ll call you tomorrow, after we’ve both slept on this.”
“I won’t change my mind about you once the fake sun comes up.”
Julianne turned away before he saw the pain on her face. She didn’t want to go, but she was very confused, and could not possibly think straight when she looked into those damn sexy eyes of his. She had to get away for a while.
****
Kane stood in the doorway of his apartment building and watched Julianne walk down the deserted street until she turned the corner. He’d made her promise to text him once she was safely home, but the urge to run after her now was strong.
He shouldn’t have asked her to help him ferret out the truth. That had been wrong. It had just slipped out, but now he realized how sleazy it sounded. She’d taken a huge chance tonight, too, in telling him who Isabelle was and what she’d revealed. Instead of thanking her, he’d asked her to breach yet another confidence.
Fuck. He was a damn idiot. No better than the stupid kid who had let a woman fuck him into giving away trade secrets all those years ago. Kane went back up to his apartment and grabbed his Internet phone, then left the building. He caught up with Julianne two blocks away, and she whirled around at the sound of his footsteps, obviously afraid. Hardly anyone was out at night. Anything could happen to her.
“I’m walking you home.”
She looked relieved. “Thank you.”
He grabbed her hand and walked with her. “I’m sorry. I should not have asked you to do that. It was wrong. I wasn’t thinking. Please forgive me.”
She stopped, so he did, too. “Thank you for that. I do forgive you, but I’m very confused, Kane.”
He brushed a finger along her face. “About me?”
“Yes. About us, that is.”
His pulse raced. “What has you confused?”
“All of this. I mean, what the hell are we doing? I just revealed a source to you, and you have a history of spilling secrets in bed. What the fuck are we doing together? We’re going to hurt each other.”
His breath caught in his throat as a tear slid down her face. Kane wiped it away, and then he pulled her close, inhaling her scent. He could still smell her perfume, but mixed up with it was the musky, warm smell from their earlier lovemaking. He wanted to be back in bed with her, where everything made sense and was easy.
“No, we’re not going to do that,” he said. “We will not hurt each other. I won’t let it happen.”
“How the hell can you prevent it?”
He pulled away to look into her eyes. “Are you good friends with Isabelle?”
“Not really.”
“Then don’t call her again. I’ll have my own people find out how she knows this. All you have to do is cut your ties with her.”
“I can do that. I was thinking of not using her again anyway. Her comments made me that uncomfortable.”
Something clicked in his head suddenly, and he narrowed his eyes. “Is that why you went to the university? Because of what she said about the code and our systems?”
“Yes. I got curious and wanted to know where she’d learned about your systems. It wasn’t in school.”
No, it wasn’t. Then how did she know so much? “Does she know you went there?”
“I don’t see how she could. I didn’t tell her I was going.”
He mentally shook away the suspicions trying to surface. Julianne was not using him. She’d merely seized an opportunity, that’s all. He did the same thing every day when he read the financial news online. She was doing her job, nothing more. “Please come back to my apartment and spend the night. We don’t have to make love again if you don’t want to. I have other bedrooms. You can sleep in one of those if you want, and I’ll leave you alone.”
“Kane, it’s not that I don’t want to make love to you again. I’m very tired, and that’s the truth. You wore me out.”
He smiled. “You wore me out, too, but I still want you with me tonight.”
“Can I really have my own room?”
He laughed and pulled her close again. “Yes. You can have a choice of rooms, and you can even pick one on the main floor. That way I have to descend stairs to get to you.”
When she pulled out of the embrace and smiled back at him, his heart soared. “Okay, then. How can I pass up an offer like that?”
Once they were back at his place and Julianne had chosen a room down the hall from his, he left her alone as promised because she really did look exhausted. After making sure she knew how to find her way to the kitchen if she should need anything to eat or drink during the night, he went down to the main floor and into his office. He
was no longer tired. It was time to find out what Isabelle Sharpe’s story was before he fired her ass.
He accessed the company’s HR system on his laptop. It was now separate from other systems, unlike most of his friends’ companies, for a damn good reason. Ever since the Ellen Grimes Caper, as his father caustically referred to it, the family hadn’t wanted anyone but them and HR to have access to personnel records. Sure, it could be hacked into, but they’d know in a heartbeat who had done it and when.
Isabelle Sharpe had graduated from the same university he now funded, with a very impressive resume. She’d worked on multiple class projects in graduate school, and had a high GPA. At the time she was hired, there had been no openings in IT, but she was on a list of internal candidates who were qualified for them.
It wasn’t a surprise to find she’d been flagged for their new team, but what he did find more than a bit curious was the fact she had turned down an offer to interview for it. Why on earth would she do that? Why had she wanted to stay in the general AA pool instead? Even more disturbing was the fact that she’d told Julianne she was waiting for an opening in IT. Obviously that had been a lie.
Why had she taken her current job to begin with? She was over-qualified for it, and the pay was less than half of what she’d make in their IT department, even for an entry level position. Had she merely wanted to get her foot in the door, or was there another reason she was working for him?
Instead of looking deeper into her HR file, he decided to search for her outside of the company first. IT graduates were a dime a dozen these days, but this woman was a standout. She shouldn’t be working in the general AA pool, and she’d turned down an interview for a killer position in IT. Kane needed to know why.
Julianne telling him that Isabelle had mentioned Rob Marin bothered him more than Isabelle turning down the offer to interview. How would she know that name? She might have seen it while trolling through correspondence, in which case he would need to speak to his folks in IT and advise them to keep the names of the suspected hackers restricted to emails to and from each other, and to him only. None of those names or any correspondence associated with them was supposed to be sent to the general queue for processing.
