Cocky Genius: Ethan Cocker (Cocker Brothers of Atlanta Book 9)

by Faleena Hopkins

  In my office were two of my executives, Stewart and Tom, my lawyer and friend, Vanessa, and my corporation’s Chief Financial Officer. All but he were staring at the video he’d brought to my attention. So it was of him that I demanded, “Brock, when did this take place?”

  “Oh Ethan!” burst out from the speakers.

  Everyone looked in time to see one of our new interns throw a stapler across the room in her growing ecstasy as Ethan Cocker hammered her from behind. In the office we paid him to work at, not fuck in. I was furious for so many reasons.

  Despite the fact that Stewart was stifling a laugh as the intern’s moans grew louder, Brock’s face was a mask of sobriety as he answered my question. “It happened yesterday morning. We caught it today when we reviewed the—”

  “Illegal surveillance footage!” I snapped, biting off the rest of his sentence.

  We were unfortunately getting a front and center view of this sex act, her youthful, flushed face bouncing repeatedly at the cameras, with profile views every time we switched from one of his computers to the other. Did someone professionally edit this? Ethan was standing behind her, blue sky and fluffy white clouds behind him.

  That office had a view any employee would die for, and this overly entitled jerk was having sex on the company’s dime. With someone barely out of high school.

  And he’d asked me out to dinner afterward?!!

  “The only problem is he could sue us for this!” I barked, motioning to the video.

  Brock ran a hand through his neatly trimmed hair and paused as masculine grunting joined the moaning.

  Then the intern moaned, “You like my pussy, Ethan? You like how tight I am?”

  I sighed with deep impatience.

  While Vanessa bit her lip I locked eyes with her and asked, “How much trouble can we get in for having installed surveillance cameras into only Mr. Cocker’s computers?”

  She huffed through her nose. “That’s Ethan Cocker, the guy who…” She paused and thought about it. “There are cameras throughout the building so people do know they are being watched.”

  “Yes, but not full frontal like this.”

  Stewart and Tom coughed.

  I shot them a look and they went straight-faced. Returning to her I asked with desperation in my voice, “Vanessa, can he sue us? How bad is this? Can I do anything? I need your legal advice. And it’s not just that, I still need him to do the job he was hired for!”

  She blinked two times and stared at the video as she fingered the diamond pendant on her necklace, black hair hanging in wavy sheets over a Roberto Cavalli dress. “The only people who know are in this room, plus the engineer who installed them. I think it’s best to keep it between us.”

  I could feel Brock go tense so I locked eyes with him. “What?”

  “Then he gets away with it!”

  I was about to speak when Ethan made the sexiest growl. Everyone watched the footage in silence as the lovers grew feverish. My lips parted as she moaned like she was about to climax. My stomach clenched as Ethan’s gorgeous head fell back and his t-shirt pulled across his muscular chest, the words Fuck The Man stretched taut. I could see every line of his pecs, his collarbone, the lines on his shoulders, and his arms were flexed too, with arousal and growing tension.

  One of the executives muttered, “He’s not fucking the man, he’s fucking the…”

  Everyone shushed him. Except me.

  I was hypnotized by Ethan’s impending climax. The muscles in his neck corded and his distinct Adam’s apple bobbed a few times as he groaned the sexiest sound I’d ever heard. The sinewy lines in his arms flexed and unflexed as his strong hands gripped onto this young girl’s hips.

  I found myself leaning forward, then caught myself and straightened up. My eyes locked with Brock's for a hasty, awkward moment, and I’m not sure how long he’d been watching me, but he frowned and pointed for me to look again. “Watch this.”

  I hesitated, swallowed and my gaze cut back to the video just in time to see our freelance computer genius pull out and shoot his semen all over the lens. We all flinched and Vanessa took a step back and covered her eyes.

  I swallowed hard. “Turn it off.”

  “Well, we can’t see anything anymore anyway,” Vanessa quietly said. We exchanged a look and I could tell she was trying not to laugh.

  “It’s not funny,” I barked, turning to my C.F.O. “Shut the surveillance down now. We’re going to act like this never happened and I don’t want anyone in this office to say a word to anyone. Not your family. Not your partners. Not your dog. Got me?” They nodded. “Leave us. Brock and I need to talk.”

  Vanessa was the last one out and she motioned that she would call me.

  As soon as we were alone, Brock said, “I did this to protect you, Charlie. He’s here to secure our prime operating system. We should have eyes on him in case he tries anything funny when he encrypts it.”

  “Then you track his typing not his face. This computer is turned around to watch him!”

  “That was a glitch.”

  “Was it? Is there something you need to tell me?”

  Brock blinked at me in confusion. “I don’t know what you’re implying.”

  “Do you have an obsession with him? You said you went to school together and yet you pull something like this?! Hijack his computers so you can watch his facial expressions?” I waited for an explanation. Brock was searching for something to say, and I didn’t have time for this shit so what little restraint I had, vanished. “What did you think would happen? You’d show me this and I’d fire him? Because you seemed disappointed that there will be no repercussions. And yet you told me there are no other candidates for what he is doing for us! You’re in charge of our books, you know how much our stocks plummeted. The only reason they’ve leveled out is we’ve assured our stockholders that we’ve plugged the leak. You want me to fire our one last hope? Or do you have someone else to replace him?”

  Brock glared at me. “No.”

  “Then what are you doing? Have you lost your mind? What was your reasoning behind this action?”

  “I didn’t know the engineer would position the camera that way until this footage was brought to my attention.”

  “Bullshit!” We stared at each other. I’d never cursed at him like that before, not in all the years we’d worked together. Certainly not when my grandfather was alive.

  I paced away from Brock, staring out my window as clouds gathered and darkened in the sky. “Which of my engineers did this?”

  “Robert Fuller.”

  “Fantastic.” I exhaled, shaking my head. “The one who wanted the job that Mr. Cocker now has. Well done.” Facing him I shouted, “Explain!”

  “Look, you’re clearly worked up. I’m going back to my office and when you can control yourself, we’ll talk.” He headed for the door. No, he strolled to it, which just pissed me off.

  “Stay where you are!”

  He froze, his manicured hand on the silver handle, class ring glinting. “Charlie, you’re upset.”

  “I want an explanation and I want it now.”

  “No,” he flatly replied and was gone.

  Seething I stared at the door. Underneath my frustration was the embarrassment at being made to watch that final explosion with my employees in the room. He’d made me look. Was that retribution for turning him down so many times? Once upon a time a man would have said, “No, don’t look.”

  Pushing the button to call my secretary I was so angry my voice was shaking. “Dolores, would you come in here, please?”

  The office door opened. “Yes, Ms. Reed?”

  “Who is the intern we hired about the same time we hired Ethan Cocker? Pretty girl, around nineteen or twenty at the most.”

  Crows feet darkened as Dolores concentrated, then her eyes lit up as the file sprung open in her mind. “That would be Stacy Eto, here during her summer break, then she’ll return to college.”

  “Where does she study? Tell me
it’s Vassar.”

  “No, she attends Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 4.4 average, and is heavily involved with DAPER.”

  I stared at Dolores a moment. “Which is?”

  “M.I.T.’s Department of Athletics, Physical Education, and Recreation. DAPER. Her application said she excels in tennis, track and field, and fencing. All of which were verified.”

  “When does she have time to…” I cut my envious grumbling short. “Was there anything in her application that would give you pause, or reason to let her go?”

  Dolores thought a moment and shook her head. “No, Ms. Reed. She was a prime candidate for our intern program.”

  “What about her family? Vassar graduates?” I was trying to connect her to Brock. It all just seemed too orchestrated.

  Dolores wrung her hands. “No, her father is from Japan, studied there, and is now a retired C.E.O. of a Japanese corporation that has since been bought out. He met her mother when she was living in Japan teaching English. She left work to be a housewife. Stacy has one sibling.”

  “Okay, that’s enough. Thank you, Dolores.” I was beginning to feel I was overstepping my bounds. I’d just seen Stacy in one of the most intimate acts known to man and I didn’t want to hear about her parents. It made her seem way too young to me. I finally decided she had to be innocent and there was nothing for me to do but one thing.

  Talk to Ethan Cocker.

  7

  ETHAN

  Diving deeper in Wyntech’s server, I tapped away, growing more confused with each click. The virus inserted into their system was more intricate than I’d seen before. It was intoxicating to follow the threads and unravel them. I fucking lived for this stuff. That’s why I didn’t hear the heels clicking into my office.

  “Ethan,” a female voice said.

  It took me a couple of seconds to look up. “Huh?” The room came into view like I’d woken from a dream. It always felt like that when I was coding, and something interrupted my focus.

  Stacy smiled at me and shifted her weight. She was in the same outfit as the day before. “You want to have…lunch today?”

  I blinked at her, still decoding that virus in my head. “What? Oh, no thanks.”

  My gaze dropped to the computers again.

  She cleared her throat to get my attention. “I didn’t mean we go out to eat. I meant we…eat out.”

  “Ms. Eto, would you excuse us a moment,” said a deeper woman’s voice.

  I looked up to see my redhead taking up the door with her presence. She was dressed in a charcoal-grey power suit that hugged her curves so well they made me salivate. It had to be tailored for her body. Not too tight and not at all loose.

  Stacy’s head drooped in embarrassment. “Of course, Ms. Reed.” She waited for enough room to exit, and hastily got the fuck out of there.

  I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms over my t-shirt’s graphic. Today it read, Will Work For French Fries.

  I’d almost dressed more conservatively after what went down between she and I the day before, but I wouldn’t allow myself to be so easily changed, no matter how much I’d obsessed about this princess all fucking night long. I wasn’t going to let her know her insults had gotten to me.

  Not only was I excited to see her again, I was feeling pretty proud of myself for having figured out who she was to this company. “Ms. Reed…so I was right! You are Charlie Reed’s daughter.”

  Her eyes flashed and she crossed her arms too, slowly walking to stand in front of my desk. “No, I’m Charlie Reed, you sexist slob.”

  I froze. My mouth dropped open. I blinked a couple times. “You’re the C.E.O. How old are you? I thought you’d be a man!”

  As soon as the words fell off my tongue, I regretted them. Especially after the sexist jokes I was throwing at her yesterday. None of them I meant. What a fucking idiot us geniuses can be. That was why most of us are introverts. We say the stupidest shit in public.

  Her already cold demeanor became glacier-esque, and the beautiful curve of her jaw flexed. “Of course you thought that. Most men do.” She held my look then asked, “How do you know Brock? I want to know your history and I want to know it now.”

  “Jeezus, you’re colder than a freezer in Alaska. If you and Brock are dating, I’m sorry I stepped on your eskimo-toes.”

  “I didn’t say we were dating!” she stammered. “What are you talking about?

  I wanted to know if she was dating the fucking asshole but I hadn’t meant to bring it up. “I’m talking about,” I began, but nothing came out. I wracked my brain for something witty and as the clock ticked I finally just blurted, “I don’t know, but there’s something about you that…”

  Her intense blue eyes were locked on me. “What?”

  You undo me. I’m a fucking mess right now because of that fucking body of yours so why don’t you just close the door and…

  I almost said that. I had to force my trap shut before it got me in more trouble. All that came out was an odd humming, “Hmmm”

  “Mr. Cocker.” She paused, her mouth opening and shutting twice. She turned around and walked out of the room.

  It was the strangest thing. I stared after her and sat back in the chair, mystified. Then she stormed back in and blinked a few times like she was about to say something, and yet again disappeared without finishing her thought.

  I muttered to myself, “What the hell is going on?”

  Just as I was about to lose myself in my work again, heels clicked into the office. My heart pounded hard and I looked up.

  “You never answered my question,” Stacy smiled.

  Glancing to the door, half expecting — no, wanting — to see Charlie Reed again, I muttered a confused, “What are you talking about?”

  “You want to…”

  My hand flew up. “Oh, right. Lunch. No, I’m working. And when I’m this into it I forget to eat so just leave me to it. No more interruptions.”

  Her mouth opened in shock and her head hung a little as she headed out.

  I was about to stop her but what was I going to say, “Hey kid, sorry about the sex? Let it go?”

  Charlie Reed came back into my office and shut the door.

  I frowned and cocked my head a little as she strolled back to resume the place she’d vacated. “Mr. Cocker, that girl is barely out of high school. If I discover you are taking advantage of her youthful naiveté, I will fire you.”

  A snort isn’t something I do everyday, but I sure as fuck did it then. “Her youthful what? Trust me, she knows what she’s doing.”

  We glared at each other.

  I’m better at machines, not people.

  And especially not women.

  They are a fucking mystery.

  Thank God.

  “Am I to assume,” she began.

  “Hold up, Charlie. Before you even go there let me just point out that I’m entitled to my private life. You don’t own me, and you have no right to say who I date or do not date. I read the company bylaws and it says nothing about employees hooking up.”

  “You didn’t read the company bylaws.”

  “Yeah I did.”

  “Really?” She crossed her arms, suit jacket bunching a little. Guess it wasn’t made for her moods. “Show me. Because this is my company and we don’t have any bylaws.”

  I glared at her. “You should write some.”

  She shook her head like I was an idiot. Next she started chewing on bottom lip, which of course made me look at it. It was plumper than the top one and her nibbling away on that tender skin made me wonder how it tasted.

  So I asked her, “You have coffee today?”

  She frowned, “Yes.”

  “Anything since?”

  “I brushed my teeth and then had a fruit salad.”

  “Any honeydew in there?”

  “Yes, of course. They always put it in as filler.”

  “Not if you tell them no honeydew.” I leaned back in my chair. Correction, her chair if I h
ad to be getting technical.

  “Well, I like the honeydew,” she muttered, glancing away as though considering if she should start the practice of ordering fruit salad with just berries. It hit her that the conversation had gone way off track and she shook her head and dropped her arms. “Why are you asking me this?”

  Spinning from side to side in my chair, much the same way I had when Brock told me to wear suits, I asked the frigid beauty, “You want the truth, Charlie?”

  “Always.”

  “I saw you chewing your bottom lip and I wondered how it tasted.”

  Her jaw slackened, and she started to leave, but she paused. I stared at her profile as she scanned her thoughts, gaze lowered to the floor. Her head turned a little and her copper hair made a soft sound as it slid over her shoulder. I wanted to touch it so badly my fingers twitched. Clear blue eyes locked onto me and her voice was less severe as she said, “Call me Ms. Reed, Mr. Cocker. Don’t call me Charlie again.”

  And then she was gone.

  Checkmate.

  8

  CHARLIE

  “To watching sex footage before I’ve even had my morning coffee,” Vanessa smirked.

  Pushing a stray lock of hair behind my ear, I rolled my eyes and finished the toast with, “To Ethan Cocker never finding out that we saw his O-face without his knowledge.”

  She cocked her head in agreement as our glasses touched. From her smirk I knew that she had been just as impressed by his appeal as I was. Any red-blooded female watching that man’s climax would have been silenced into a trance, too.

  She asked from behind her glass, “Have you met him yet?” before taking a sip.

  “Yes I finally did. I love warm nights like these. Look at this view! Buckhead’s skyline is far prettier than—”

  “Don’t change the subject,” Vanessa laughed. “I want to talk about your meeting with Growly McCumsticky.”

  Whiskey Blue wasn’t a place where you spoke loudly about such things. Probably eighty percent of the clientele around us didn’t have rooms there at the W hotel, where the high-end bar called home. The fantastic cabanas stationed atop an outdoor patio a hundred and twenty-five feet up, had a draw all their own. Everyone had style and money there. And a sense of decorum that Vanessa didn’t aspire to. Which was one of the reasons I loved her, despite how many times she made me blush.