While I appreciate it that Alex seems to have cleared her busy schedule to stay in this conference room with me while I work, her presence seems to suck all of the available oxygen from the room. It’s hard to fully concentrate on my oversized computer monitor with her sitting here looking so gorgeous.
“Don’t let me keep you from making any multi-million-dollar deals,” I say, hoping that she’ll take the hint.
As much as I don’t want her to leave, I’m sure to be more productive without her in such close proximity. Besides, since there’s no way she would ever date a normie, like me, I might as well finish this project. The quicker I wrap up this job, the sooner I’ll get out of here and receive my giant payday.
“Am I bothering you?” she asks with wide eyes.
“No,” I answer too quickly. Hoping she won’t get a sense of exactly how hot and bothered I am by her, I add, “I’m just sure you have more important things to be doing.”
“Not at all. This is my top priority, and I’ll do anything I can to help you,” she offers.
I’ve been keeping her occupied with busywork, which I thought she would tire of within minutes, but she’s proving herself to be quite hardworking and resourceful.
“You type faster than anyone I’ve ever met. Don’t you make mistakes when you go that quickly?” Her voice is filled with something that sounds dangerously close to awe.
“Lots of practice,” I answer, still typing rapidly.
Without me giving my express permission for the flirtatious gesture, my left eye winks in her direction.
Her breath hitches, and my fingers pause on the keyboard for the first time in hours.
Every cell in my body wants to lunge in the beautiful woman’s direction. An innate sense tells me that she wouldn’t stop me, but that same instinct says that one hot tryst with her wouldn’t be nearly enough.
It’s all I can do to force myself to refocus on my computer. We are from two different worlds, and that fact will never change. It’s better for me to keep things professional between us and be able to move on with my heart still in one piece after this job is done.
I get into the groove with my work, and time seems to slip by in the blink of an eye. What feels like only minutes to me has likely been several hours, since the daylight slanting in through the large window is starting to fade.
Brinkley appears and offers to order us food for dinner.
I barely pay attention as they discuss delivery options, since I’ve found an interesting rabbit hole to dive into online. When I follow it to its source, I blink at the screen as I try to make sense of the information before me.
My voice sounds scratchy when I say, “I think I’ve found something.”
Brinkley and Alex both freeze before moving to hover over my shoulder, as if the gibberish mixture of data points is going to make any sense to them.
Proving that it doesn’t, Brinkley says, “Cripes, looking at this is giving me a headache.”
He dramatically holds his pointer finger and thumb over the bridge of his nose.
“Headache or not… I’m pretty sure this is what we’ve been looking for,” I tell them.
“Already? You’re even better than I imagined,” Alex weighs in.
It’s all I can do to refrain from puffing up my chest at her praise. But I know that what I have to tell her next is going to displease her.
“It looks like someone already beat us to it,” I admit.
“What do you mean?”
The desperate, pleading look in Alex’s eyes makes me wish I had a different answer. Opting to rip off the bandage quickly, I say, “Someone recently pulled some data and deleted it from this highly protected file.”
Alex’s gaze turns hopeful. “If they deleted it, then perhaps they aren’t planning to do anything nefarious with it. Maybe it was someone looking out for our interests.”
I hate to burst her bubble, but decide that honesty is best. “I’m afraid not, since they made a copy before deleting it.”
“Can you undelete it just long enough to see what they know?” she asks.
She and Brinkley are both gazing at me as if I am their personal savior. “Perhaps, but it will take a while.”
“That’s okay,” Alex starts.
Knowing that I have a better plan, I say, “It will likely be quicker and easier to go straight to the source who found the information and find out what she plans to do with it.”
“She?” Alex asks, instantly picking up on the hint I shared.
I nod my head. “The person who stole the information has a digital signature that I would recognize anywhere because I’m the one who trained her.”
Alex’s eyes flare with anger. “You trained the person who is likely getting ready to make our lives a living hell… again?!?”
“I did,” I admit quietly.
“Do you run a hackers training academy, or something?” she asks.
I chuckle at the mental image of an official school teaching people the ins and outs of computer hacking. “No, it was nothing like that.”
“What was it like?” Brinkley asks.
“Harlow was my girlfriend,” I answer.
Alex lets out a huff of breath before saying, “Well, start packing because we’re going to visit your ex.”
I nod solemnly before warning her, “Just so you know… My relationship with Harlow didn’t end well. She absolutely hates me.”
Brinkley claps his hands as he practically squeals, “Oh-wee, I do love drama. I’ll go have the private jet fired up.”