by KB Winters
Besides, Parker was a nice enough guy—and it was just dinner. One little dinner. Nothing more.
“Hi,” I greeted him as I opened the front door. “Let me just grab my purse.”
Parker waited on the doorstep for me, and then ushered me down to his waiting car. It was some fancy import that probably went faster than was legal in any state, but it sure was pretty. Surprisingly, he also knew how to handle such a beastly car. Then again, I guessed from what little information I had, that he’d been born wealthy and probably had always had nice cars to drive.
Must have been nice. I sighed to myself.
“Ready?” Parker asked once we pulled up to the valet of a very posh-looking restaurant.
I nodded and glued a perma-smile to my face.
He handed off the keys and came around to escort me inside. I placed my arm on his and it felt weird. Parker had a similar build to Cooper, but for whatever reason, even just holding his arm felt completely different and I was grateful when our host seated us on opposite ends of a small table for two in the center of the restaurant. I glanced around, and realized that this was the perfect place to be seated when you wanted to see and be seen. I considered Parker and realized he probably was that kind of guy.
Somewhere in the back of my mind I felt a little guilty for pre-judging so much about the guy across from me, but for some reason, I couldn’t turn off my own critical eye.
Once Parker had placed an order for a bottle of wine and some kind of fancy appetizer, he turned his attention back to me. “You know, this almost didn’t happen tonight.”
My brow wrinkled at his odd statement. “What do you mean?”
“Cooper came to see me—after he’d left your office, I’m assuming.”
I sucked in my breath and gripped the cloth napkin draped across my lap.
“He told me, in no uncertain terms, that I was not allowed to have anything to do with you. Outside of the office, that is.”
I couldn’t breathe. A strange mix of terror and anger wrapped around my lungs, making it impossible to exhale.
Parker laughed softly and reached a hand across the table towards my hand. “It’s all right. I’ve known Cooper for a long time now. He’s a lot of hot air, if you ask me.”
It might be true that Parker had known him longer, but I would argue that by now, I might have a more complete picture of who he actually was. Which seemed ridiculous, considering how little I actually knew about my mysterious, sometimes lover.
“Did he say anything else?” I asked, trying to keep my voice casual, before taking a sip of wine.
“No. He’s weird sometimes. It’s not like no one has ever dated in the office before.” Parker paused and took a sip of his own wine. “I mean, you guys didn’t have a thing or something, did you?”
I almost spit out my mouthful of wine.
Alarm bells were ringing in my head and I wanted to get up and bolt from the restaurant. My eyes darted around the restaurant, as if expecting Cooper to pop up from one of the surrounding tables and yell, “aha!”
He held up a hand before I could speak. “Sorry, totally inappropriate. This isn’t the time to open the ex-files. Let’s talk about something else.”
“Um, aren’t you worried that he’s going to get mad? I mean, couldn’t he fire you?”
Parker shrugged. “I doubt it. Brighton Enterprises is a little too…fragile…for that right now. Like it or not, Cooper needs me. Besides, we go way back.”
I tried to feel as relaxed as Parker looked, but I couldn’t unwind the panic seizing in my chest.
“Enough about all that,” Parker said. “So, you said you were from Kansas. Did I tell you that I went there once?”
I shook my head and he launched into some story of a road trip from hell that ended in a family reunion that made the road trip seem like a vacation. His story was quite animated, and I was sure that under other circumstances, I would have found the entire thing quite charming. As it was, all I could muster was feigned interest while the majority of my brain reeled, trying to keep it together so I didn’t have a panic attack in the middle of the restaurant.
The rest of the so-called date passed in a blur of Parker’s overly self-indulgent stories about his life. By the time he pulled up to my apartment complex, I was relieved to be home so I could stop worrying about Cooper popping out from behind the bushes, but also to finally get some peace and quiet. Parker’s endless ramblings had made it impossible to fully analyze the situation at hand.
Parker unbuckled his seat belt and I looked over. “Let me walk you up.”
I wanted to say no, but figured it would be rude. Parker might have been mentally exhausting, but he was a nice guy and I didn’t want him to think I was a bitch.
He opened the car door for me and led the way back to my apartment. We hesitated outside my front door. I nervously jingled my keys, trying to figure out how to get him to go away.
He mis-read my cue and leaned into me. My whole body rattled with panic as I jolted back, hitting my back against the door frame. I could feel my eyes were popped wide open as I stared at him. Parker frowned and seemed confused. “Is something wrong?”
“No, no, everything was lovely. Thank you so much, Parker.” Before I could stop myself, I extended my hand out for him to shake.
He took my hand and squeezed before I turned and jammed the key into the lock on my front door. I disappeared inside and shut the door behind me.
I leaned back against the closed door and took in slow breaths to stop my racing heart.
God…things were going to be awkward at the office tomorrow.
Chapter Three
I skulked into the office the next day, fifteen minutes late, hoping that everyone would be in their morning meetings and I could get to my office without running into Parker. Or Cooper. I breathed a sigh of relief when I was in my office, the door shut tightly behind me. I sank into my soft chair, kicked on my computer, and leaned back, closing my eyes against the overhead lights while it booted up.
As soon as the computer came to life, it started chirping with new email messages.
The beeping perked my interest and I leaned over the keyboard and started to read through the messages. Most of them were inter-office memos that I was automatically included in, but actually had very little to do with my position. Cooper had placed me in the IT department for Brighton Enterprises, but technically, I was off on my own thing, under the Plush branch.
To say it was complicated would be an understatement.
The last email is the one that caught my attention and made me jolt upright in my chair. It was from Cooper, demanding that I be in his office, at eight-thirty for a briefing.
My eyes flicked to the corner of my computer screen, where a blaring digital clock showed it was eight twenty-three.
“Fuck!” I jumped up out of my chair and raced around the desk and back into the hallway. Cooper’s office was only one floor above, but it would take at least five minutes to get there, and that was if the elevators were cooperating with me.
I scuttled down the hallway, trying to hurry, but also keep my ankles from rolling in my ridiculous heels. I was so busy focusing on my mission that when Parker came into view, I barely registered his presence.
“Allison! Hey,” he said as I barreled down the hall.
“Sorry, can’t talk.”
He looked a little puzzled and I couldn’t help but wonder what he would think of me now. Our date had ended so abruptly and I’d acted like a complete nut case. A handshake? Really, Allie? I rolled my eyes at myself and continued down my path to the elevators.
I made it to Cooper’s receptionist from hell, Kimberly, with less than a minute to spare.
“Good morning,” she sneered. I didn’t know what her problem was, but she’d been a bitch to me since the very beginning. Secretly, I wondered if she either had slept with—or was trying to sleep with—Cooper and that was the reason for her overwhelming hostility.
“I have an
appointment.”
“I will notify Mr. Brighton.” She pressed some buttons on her phone and I walked away. I was in no mood for her today, and knew that if she said anything rude, it would be very difficult for me to hold back.
Luckily, I wasn’t left alone with her for long. Cooper stepped out of his office to collect me. He was wearing a dark gray suit, and I almost melted at the sight of him. I took him in, but when I reached his eyes, the flutter of desire was quickly replaced with anxiety.
“Miss Rand,” he said.
Keep it together, Allie, I told myself.
I nodded and stepped past Kimberly’s desk and followed Cooper into his corner office.
Once inside, he shut the door behind me and crossed the room to sit behind his desk. He indicated that I should sit opposite him, in one of the two leather chairs sitting on the other side of his desk.
I struggled to keep from turning crimson as I stared at the edge of the desk, realizing that was where I’d been perched, with my legs wrapped around his hips the first time that he fucked me. It had been several weeks since, but the memory was surprisingly fresh as I stared at the polished oak. It was hard to push it all to the side and regain my focus. When I lifted my eyes, he was staring at me and I could feel the fire in my cheeks.
“Allison, sit,” he said.
I hadn’t realized I was still standing. I’d gotten lost in a rush of memories and lost track of myself. I smiled and lowered into the seat he indicated and waited.
“Did you go out with Parker last night?”
Something inside me told me that he already knew the answer, and that his question was entirely rhetorical. There was no point in lying to him. At the end of all this personal drama between the two of us, my place at Brighton Enterprises was a job. One that I desperately needed to keep in order to avoid going back to stripping—or worse—Kansas.
“Yes, I did. We went to dinner. Nothing happened.” I don’t know why I added the last part. It slipped out before I could stop it.
Cooper nodded and his eyes seemed to shift as he watched me squirm. My limbs were suddenly restless as I tried to figure out what he was thinking. The harder he stared at me, the more I wanted to jump up and run from his office.
“So, you lied to me?” he asked.
I let out my breath. I needed to be careful, but I was also getting incredibly close to the end of my patience with his controlling tendencies. “When you asked me about it, I hadn’t said yes or no to Parker’s invitation. So, no, technically, I did not lie to you.”
He scoffed and a flair of anger coursed through me at the sound.
“Cooper, listen to me,” I began, tempering my voice to keep my tone steady while the rest of my started to tremble. “I am not your girlfriend. You don’t have any say over where I go, who I see, or if I go on dates. I don’t know why you think you can nose about in my personal life, but I’m sick of it. If I am going to work here for you, then I deserve to be treated just like any other employee.”
I steeled myself, waiting for his wrath to fall.
“Allison, why do you think I offered you the job here?” he asked.
It was an odd question and it caught me off guard. “Because you felt bad about me getting fired from Spotlight?” I ventured.
He shook his head. “I know that you’re new to all this, but I don’t make business decisions, like hiring and firing, based off of personal feelings.”
“Really?” I quirked an eyebrow at him, calling his bluff. “So hiring me has nothing to do with…well, with whatever is going on between us!”
He sighed. “No.”
I cocked an eyebrow at him. “I find it very hard to believe that you couldn’t afford to hire someone for this secret project thing you keep talking about. I mean, really? You’re the billionaire CEO of a huge company! You can afford whoever you want. So, why me? If it’s not just because you like staring at my ass?”
“Allison, lower your voice,” Cooper insisted.
I crossed my arms and waited.
“Are you really so insecure that you don’t think I could want you for anything other than your body? You doubt your skills that much?”
I was speechless. I wanted to scream at him, to yell and get loud so he would stop picking apart my walls of defense. But I couldn’t. Because he was right. Even if we hadn’t already slept together, and he was just offering me the job, I would still assume that he had ulterior motives hiding in his back pocket.
“I hired you because I need help obtaining the information we’ve already spoken about,” he continued. “I could have hired anyone, you’re right. I hired you because I know I can trust you to keep things confidential.”
“And how do you know that? Cooper, you don’t even know me.”
I didn’t know why I was arguing. He was right. I was trustworthy and wasn’t going to blab his secret project all over town—regardless of how infuriating he might become.
He stood and came around the desk and I automatically stood up, too, not wanting to be sitting with him standing over me. It felt a little too intimate.
“I do know you, Allison,” he said.
I sucked in a silent gasp as a wave of his cologne hit me. He always smelled so incredible. My knees weakened underneath me but I stayed planted, not daring to move an inch.
My eyes locked with his and my stomach twisted. He was standing so close that I could feel his body heat radiating off him, and I so desperately wanted to take one small step forward and have him wrap his strong arms around me and not let go. The last few weeks had been full of so much drama and stress and I was suddenly overcome by exhaustion. I needed a safe spot to land, and for some reason, in that moment—it seemed that my heart had decided that he was it.
I dropped my eyes back down to look at my hands as they nervously fidgeted with the edge of my blazer.
I was about to make some excuse to get me out of the room, away from the suffocating emotions that were threatening to overtake me, and far, far away from the smell and heat and sound of Cooper. Before I had a chance to say anything, he placed his fingertips under my chin and brought my face up to look at him again. “It’s going to be okay. I promise.”
I nodded, hardly allowing myself to breathe for fear of falling completely apart.
His face was lowering to mine and I struggled to keep my eyes open. It was startling how much I wanted to let myself melt into one of his hot kisses. His fingers slid down my chin and traced a path down my neck, sending sparks exploding all over my skin, wherever his fingers touched. His lips pressed to mine and my legs nearly went out from underneath me. There was a little voice screaming in the back of my mind, reminding me about the actress, telling me that he wasn’t to be trusted, but the voice was drowned out completely as Cooper’s tongue entered my mouth and swirled around the tip of mine.
He wrapped his fingers around the back of my neck and held me possessively. I let him pull me closer until our bodies were pressed against each other. My breasts ached as I leaned into him, desperately wanting to feel his skin on mine. Scenes of our previous lovemaking flashed behind my eyelids and I was breathless, panting between each crash of his lips on mine.
Just as suddenly as it had started, Cooper stopped and backed away. He released me and my eyes popped open.
“I don’t want you around Parker,” he said, shattering the sexual tension between us.
His words sunk in, and my anger shot back to the surface again. Before I could rail against him, he pushed up his sleeve and checked his watch.
“I have to go. I’ll check in with your progress later,” he said. He swept past me and went to the door of his office.
I squared my shoulders, and strutted past him and through the door as he opened it.
I marched past Kimberly’s desk, not bothering to look back at her—or Cooper.
Chapter Four
I spent the afternoon in my office, alternating between crunching numbers on my personal budget, and fantasizing about Cooper. I was trying
to figure out how many months of salary I would need to save up in order to live off of for a year, while I figured out what the hell to do with the rest of my life. However, it was proving to be trickier than I’d imagined, with images of Cooper flashing in and out of my mind in such lifelike daydreams that my panties were getting wet just playing it all out in my mind.
By the time four o’clock rolled around, I figured I wasn’t going to be able to focus on numbers right that moment. I’d been late getting to work and didn’t want to be the first to leave, so I decided to start hacking and get the information Cooper was counting on.
I rationalized that maybe once he had the information he needed, he would leave me alone and give me some cushy filing job that required no involvement with him. Then, maybe I wouldn’t have to budget at all, and could keep my obscene monthly salary coming in indefinitely.
The nagging voice in my head told me that would never happen, but I pushed it aside, much preferring to live in my fantasy land. At least for a little while longer.
I started typing and spent the first fifteen minutes cloaking everything, so that on the off chance someone at the competition’s headquarters realized they’d been hacked, they couldn’t trace it back to Brighton Enterprises. I wasn’t going to be tampering with anything, just researching, so I doubted anyone would ever notice, but it was best to play it safe.
Once I’d double, and then triple-checked that my digital fingerprints were nowhere to be found, I started looking for ways to get into their database.
It was easy to zero in my focus and forget all about Cooper. As I worked, the adrenaline of the hunt kicked in, and I was dead to the world around me.
“That’s weird…” I whispered, leaning closer to stare at the screen and make sure I was seeing things correctly. It looked like there was some kind of digital siphon, sending information from the Brighton Enterprises database and sending it to another address.
My heart raced as I clicked around, trying to figure out what was going on. I’d been hacking for several years, on and off, but I’d never seen anything like this. I kept an eye on the information going out, numbers running along the screen, changing into other numbers rapidly. I tried to open the database, to see if I could find the origin, but then it changed and two tables were affected. Either the hacker on the other end of things was in the database at the same time, or what I’d just done had made it spread.
