Tony had met his girlfriend, Caroline, through Pam. Caroline also happened to be Pam’s sister. To Alec it violated the don’t-fuck-where-you-work rule, at least tangentially. Tony and Pam were close, but working together meant she always knew where he was and what he was doing and could report back to her sister. Alec couldn’t imagine being in a relationship, let alone having to deal with being spied on in the office.
“You’re not exactly known for your tact.”
That might have been the most tactful comment Alec ever heard Tony say. “I can deal with people.”
“Ordering is not dealing,” Finn pointed out. “I thought you might need that reminder, so there you go.”
“This Gaige guy is not making my life easier.”
“Join the fucking club.” Alec refused to glance over again. He could go ten minutes without checking Gaige out. “He’s practically belted to my side right now.”
Finn cleared his throat. “And then there’s the part where they’ll go home together every night…”
That was enough of that. Alec knew when to throw down, and this was it. “Anyone with a question should have the balls to ask me. I’m the boss. The questions come to me.”
Finn snorted. “Yeah, that’s how humans work.”
“Especially humans who want to keep their jobs,” Tony said right on top of Finn.
“About our unwanted guest.” This time when Alec glanced at Gaige, he stared back and Alec didn’t break eye contact. “I want to know everything he’s looking at. This is supposed to be fake busy work, but all that typing sure as hell looks real. This mirroring program isn’t enough.”
Tony shook his head. “We locked down the system to prevent him from poking around.”
Alec let the comment sit there for a second. It was either that or start yelling.
He bit back the rush of fury banging inside his head and dropped his voice low, letting a thread of malice enter in. “And you think the guy the CIA handpicked for this operation won’t know how to break that? He’s supposed to be here to raise questions. An expert brought on for some top-secret reason I won’t disclose. Create an air of mystery and all that.”
“To flush the bad guys out,” Finn said.
Alec’s temper was unleashed. It roared through him, setting fire to his control. “That assumes Seth isn’t playing the bad guy here. I’m not convinced.”
Finn whistled. “That I-could-beat-him-to-death tone is something else.”
“I’m used to it,” Tony said. “But there’s a bigger problem.”
They were two of a handful of people who could get away with those responses and ignoring his anger, but there were limits. Or there used to be. Alec wasn’t sure how he felt about not having the usual level of control over them and the situation.
He glared at Tony. “Explain.”
“Seth left a cellphone for Gaige.”
“Which you took.” Alec didn’t ask it as a question because god damn.
Tony looked at Finn. “Well…?”
Alec tightened his grip on the edge of his desk. “How the fuck did that happen? Gaige is supposed to basically be our prisoner here. No access, limited movement. He’s not really here for an audit, you know.”
“Okay.” Tony pointed toward Gaige. “You tell him that.”
No, Alec knew exactly who to blame here. “This is Seth. He lies for a living, so I’m assuming something bigger is happening and he’s guiding it from outside this building.”
“What are you going to do?” Finn asked.
There was only one answer. One that could lead to a different type of trouble if Alec’s current lack of concentration was any indication. “Keep Gaige close.”
“Huh, I did not expect that response.” Some of the color left Tony’s face. The stocky Marine had been pinned down in Fallujah by near-daily gunfire during an eight-month deployment a decade ago and now handled multi-million-dollar contracts with ease. Today he looked stunned.
“That’s because this conversation just spun around in a circle.” Finn shifted his weight and half sat on the corner of Alec’s desk.
“Get up. Now.” Alec forced his fingers to ease their death grip on the desk. “There’s one choice here. I let Seth think he’s beating me while I move Gaige to our side.”
For the fifth time during the short conversation Tony made a what-the-hell-is-happening face. “How exactly?”
“Sex,” Finn said without moving from his new seat on the desk.
Tony sputtered until he coughed. “What?”
Motherfucker. “Finn, that’s not—”
“Your boss is attracted but fighting it…” Finn glanced over his shoulder at Gaige then looked back to Alec again. “Sort of.”
“But wait.” Tony held out both hands as if he were trying to bring a physical halt the conversation. “Alec doesn’t screw on work time. It’s like his mantra or something.”
Finn made a humming sound. “Just so we’re clear, does that just mean he doesn’t fuck other men while they’re in the building, or does it mean he stays away from employees completely?”
Alec blew out a long grumbling breath to let them know how done he was with this topic. “I’m right here.”
“Uh-huh.” Finn glanced in Gaige’s direction again. “Watching him.”
Damn, they were annoying. Great when they worked together on a contract but a pain in the ass when they used their tag-team effort to piss him off.
“Working. Trust me, baby brother. I’ve got this.” Alec hoped like hell that was true.
Chapter 7
Gaige wanted to bolt. He would have if the three men in the other office weren’t taking turns staring at him. Finn and Tony he could ignore. When Alec pinned him with that glare, Gaige’s insides froze. His ability to think sputtered.
Formidable. That’s the word Gaige mentally used to describe Alec. The word he tried to convince his brain fit as a simple, no-nonsense description. When his mind slipped over to compelling, Gaige tried to shut it down. Sexy in a wanted-to-slam-him-against-a-wall-and-run-his-tongue-over-him way? Yeah, that floated around in there, too.
He’d sworn off alpha assholes. Vowed to keep walking the next time a gruff fuck-me piece of hotness crossed his path. Certainly had no intention of having anything to do with anyone who worked for Seth. That guy was a raging dick.
But when Alec shot him a look, it stunned like a lick over his balls. Despite the recent shitshow his life had become, Gaige still wanted sex. Hell, he really missed it. Feeling wound up and ready to spring from a guy frowning at him? Well, that was fucking new.
He shook his head, trying to clear out the stray thoughts jamming up in there. The ones sure to make him hard and potentially sloppy about the task in front of him.
Seth had slipped him the burner cell and already demanded that Gaige start screwing with Alec’s phone and computer system. Seth wanted a tap, insisted he needed the window into what was happening at Drummond. He didn’t give a shit if Gaige got killed in the process.
Sneaking away from his desk to get the job done wasn’t exactly an easy task. Alec was right there at all times. That meant wandering off couldn’t just happen. Gaige had to plan and even then Alec likely would hunt him down.
For the hundredth time, Gaige wondered if sitting in jail on trumped-up espionage charges would really be so bad compared to this. Ever since he turned around in that server room to see Alec standing there, Gaige had been thrown into this wild storm.
He needed to get out of there.
As soon as he thought it, he glanced into the adjoining office and saw Alec and the other two men huddled together. They were studying something on his desk. A file, maybe. Since he refused to ask permission to go to the bathroom, mostly because he sensed Alec would follow and possibly watch, he decided to do what normal people would do: Get up and step out. Not make a scene or race around.
He pivoted around the side of the desk, keeping a close watch on the happenings in the other room. When none of the me
n bothered to look up, Gaige took his shot.
Walking faster than normal but refraining from busting into a full-scale run, he left the desk area. He knocked on the first open door he got to down the long hall. “Bathroom?”
The guy gave him directions that consisted of heading straight until he saw the door. Gaige didn’t let that stop him. He asked two more people, including one headed in the direction of Alec’s office.
He passed by a group of women and gave them a slight wave. Made it all the way to the bathroom and pretended to go in, before hanging a quick right and walking down another corridor.
He couldn’t just waltz into the server room. Breaking in required tools and a bit of time, neither of which he had, thanks to Alec and his security system. It bordered on pure paranoia, which made concealing even a small zip drive difficult. Alec all but had a body patdown conducted on his employees on the way in and out of the building.
No, the server room would have to wait until he could come up with a good reason to be in there…or convinced someone other than Alec to let him in. For now he’d settle for real computer access. He needed a back door. A way to nudge his way in while he was pretending to type jibberish on the computers Alec allowed him to use.
He kept walking but skipped the first office because the light was on and someone was sitting at the desk. Same with the next. By the fourth door, he found a dark space. The office didn’t have a lock and as soon as he slipped inside he knew why. Not an office. A small conference room. Only enough space for six chairs, but it had a monitor mounted on the wall and computer equipment on the edge of the round table. Still high tech. That was one thing Gaige could depend on in a billionaire’s office—gadgets.
He closed the door behind him and went to work. Scanning the room, he took stock of his options. He had a phone and what looked like the setup for a virtual meeting.
Perfect.
He slid into the chair tucked behind the door. The large windows would give his location away if someone really went looking. He figured he had only a few minutes before that happened.
With the keyboard out, he started typing. The screen on the wall clicked on but there was no picture, just a blue screen. That worked for Gaige. He wasn’t planning to call anyone. He was breaking through, using the systems page and heading for the code. Skipping over the usual settings and creating a few of his own.
He’d gotten halfway through typing the command sequence he needed when he heard the heavy footsteps. The commanding stalking of someone determined to kick his ass, no doubt.
He hit a few more keys and covered his work. Hit the off switch that flipped the blue screen on the monitor back to black. He’d just gotten up when the door opened and crashed into the back of his chair. It bounced but Alec caught it before it smashed into his face. Then he slammed it shut behind him.
He didn’t make a sound. Didn’t need to. Rage pulsed off him. One second he stood there. The next he reached out and grabbed Gaige. Spun him around until his back hit the door.
“Tell me why I shouldn’t beat you to death.” Alec wrapped his fingers around Gaige’s throat as his harsh tone filled the room.
Gaige fought back the need to lash out. To surge and punch and drop Alec. One move and he knew Alec would be all over him. The grip on his neck amounted to baiting, as if Alec was daring Gaige to come at him.
Needing to do something, Gaige braced his hands against Alec’s chest. Let them rest there, knowing he could take a more aggressive stance, wrestle for the upper hand, if needed. “I wanted a bigger screen.”
Alec never broke eye contact. “Bullshit.”
“You don’t know anything about tech.”
“I know when someone is fucking lying to me.” Alec shoved Gaige harder into the door. Didn’t so much as blink when Gaige’s head cracked against the wood.
“Jesus, Alec.” Gaige waited for reinforcements, for guards, but no one came. This was between the two of them. He and Alec, and there was no guarantee on how that would end.
“You can pray later. Tell me what you’re doing in here.”
“Getting some air.” Gaige tried to shove Alec back, get some room between them, but he didn’t move. “You’re a bit much to handle.”
“You’re trying to handle me?”
Alec delivered every line as if it had a hidden meaning. Gaige fought to keep his head in the game. The one where he stood a chance of losing everything because Seth had issued threats to get him to do this.
“Any chance you’re going to calm down?” Gaige tried to relax his breathing. The tension pinging around the room threatened to take them both out. He needed to de-escalate and fast.
“I’m about to search you.” But there was no heat between Alec’s words. Well, not anger. Something else lingered there. Something questioning.
A new type of tension whipped through Gaige. He could actually feel his balls tighten as he stood close enough for his breath to mix with Alec’s. “Is the plan to stick your hand down my pants? Because you really should ask first.”
Alec just stood with one hand balanced against the door and the other still wrapped around Gaige’s throat. He’d loosened the grip, but his fingers stayed there. Ready.
“You are playing a dangerous fucking game.” But Alec didn’t step back. Instead, his thumb brushed under Gaige’s chin, across his Adam’s apple then back again. It was a caress of sorts, one straddling a thin line between lethal and sexual.
Gaige could hear the whoosh of his own heavy breathing. Every lift of his chest registered in his brain. Every noise and every sensation. That thumb, tracing back and forth. The shift of Alec’s hold, a ticking up of the heat flowing between them. All of it sucked Gaige under. Smashed his control to pieces.
Still, Gaige didn’t say anything. He wasn’t convinced he could over the sudden scratchiness in his throat.
“If I didn’t know better I’d say you were testing me.” Alec’s voice grew rougher as his hand slid down Gaige’s neck to his chest. Then lower, traveling until his fingertips skimmed Gaige’s stomach.
Despite his shirt blocking the path to his skin, Gaige’s muscles clenched at the slight touch. His brain shouted to cram his back hard against the door but his body ached to get closer to Alec. The magnetic pull tugged at him.
“Are you winning or losing?” It was a risky question, but Gaige wanted to know.
Alec’s gaze dropped to Gaige’s mouth and stayed there. “I’m not sure yet.”
“How did you find me?” Gaige tried to remember the placement of the hall security cameras. “It’s as if you tied a bell around my neck.”
Alec’s gaze shot back up. “Is that what I need to do? Tie you down?”
That did not sound angry. The edge in Alec’s voice sounded like sex. Hot, dirty, stop-for-nothing sex.
Fucking damn he was in trouble. “Do you want to?”
The nod started slowly at first. A clipped reaction but then it continued. “Yes.”
“Sir?” A woman’s voice sounded in the hallway. It had a soft Southern lilt to it, but sounded pretty stern.
It was enough to break the spell. Alec blinked a few times before his hands dropped. Gaige took longer to react.
After months of shutting his body off, denying what he needed, it flowed through him now. Alpha asshole or no, he wanted Alec. Naked, on the floor, over the desk. It didn’t matter so long as his pants came off.
Alec nodded behind Gaige. “Step away from the door so she can come in.”
It took another second for the words to register and Gaige to move. As soon as he shifted his weight, the door pushed open. The woman standing there had a round face and shoulder-length brown hair. She was pretty and stylish in her slim-fitting black pantsuit. She also wore the flat-lined mouth, pissed-off look Gaige started to think was a requirement to work here.
Her gaze shot from Alec to Gaige, then to the dark monitor on the wall behind them. “Is there a problem?” she asked in a tone that suggested she had a big fucking proble
m with all of this.
Alec gestured to both of them. “Pam Masters, this is Gaige Owens. He’s the—”
“The specialist sent to review my work.” She nodded then turned to Gaige. “Right?”
Lucky me. “I’m a data analyst. An outside audit is recommended—”
“Why?” She frowned at Gaige and shook her head and looked at Alec. “Really, why?”
Well, she didn’t fool around. Gaige half wondered if she was related to Alec since she had his rabid in-control demeanor.
Before Gaige could mess this up with the wrong words, Alec stepped in. “It’s time for our meeting, Pam.” He turned to Gaige. “You were heading back to your desk.”
Gaige wasn’t about to let that opening go. “Right.”
He tried to slip past Pam, but she didn’t make that easy. She stood there, all five-ten of her. She was not a woman most men would ignore in the looks department. There was something striking about her. He also kind of admired that she held her ground against him. She didn’t shrink away or rush to please Alec. She evidently ran the computers and he’d pissed on her turf.
“Excuse me. I’ll leave you two to your meeting.” He liked that she intended to defend it, but that didn’t mean it was his job to stay and fight this fight.
“Why were you using the telecom?” she asked in a deadly calm voice.
Gaige froze. “Why do you think I was?”
“I know everything that happens around here relating to technology.” She crossed her arms in front of her. “If someone so much as turns on a pencil sharpener, an alarm goes off at my desk.”
Gaige could see Alec’s smile. Saw and ignored it. “My mistake.”
She nodded. “Exactly.”
Alec waited until Gaige left the room to do a quick check. He kept the door open, watching Gaige walk back to the office suite. Since he’d stationed Tony right around the corner, Alec was pretty sure Gaige would get there and stay there this time.
But that still left the problem of Pam. He turned back to face her. “I should have told you about this before today.”
Dirty Deeds Page 6
