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Mikki’s tiny smile—the one that had lingered even in a sleep that graced her with sensual dreams—couldn’t be convinced to leave. This morning, when logic tried to horn its way in and remind her everything about the last night had been completely irrational, she’d smiled wider. And had she really given him her panties? Her own boldness made her grin in retrospect. So worth it!
Growing up, she’d always been the shy, quiet, nerdy girl. The way they moved around, combined with her younger age in school, had only helped keep her in her shell. Even through college she’d kept to herself. Yawn.
After graduation, she’d met Payton. The name made her thoughts snarl in irritation. The things he’d said to her. To other people about her. Her gut clenched at the half-formed memories, and she shoved them aside.
It didn’t matter. He was in the past, and the poor decision to date him had led to her choice to experience life after they broke up. It had taken some time to get comfortable with stepping out of her shell, but she’d faked it until she made it. Her personal mission statement had become live first, think later, and never say “if only.”
The night before had been the perfect addition to her memories. Sexy guy who just happened to be an idol of hers, tons of fun, and wow...some sizzling mental souvenirs. The only regret she had—and she didn’t usually do regrets—was that she hadn’t been more up front about who she was. She’d assumed he knew, but maybe she should have made sure.
She smoothed out the polo shirt with her company logo on it, grabbed her exhibitor’s badge for the trade show and her purse, and left her hotel room behind her. Time to see more of Vegas, even if a lot of her view would be from the confines of a trade show booth.
It was her first time in the city of lights and though she was there for business, she was going to take every free chance she could to at least see the part of the strip their hotel and the convention center were on. When she’d wandered the shops the day before at Caesar’s Palace, she’d spotted the perfect place for breakfast. Now it could also provide a few more minutes for her to drift in the memories of last night. She and Jared had had undeniable chemistry on stage, and he was bandwidth-choking hot.
Her body flushed at the memories. She’d probably never do something like that again, which was all the more reason to relish the images seared in her mind.
The cafe looked like most she’d seen in her life—treats under glass, the smell of coffee in the air, and eclectic furniture. But it was nestled in the middle of a hotel and that made it awesome as far as she was concerned.
“Michaela.” The staccato word cut through all the noise, like Styrofoam on Styrofoam. She hated her real name, and she only knew one person who refused to call her anything else. He insisted it was professional. Playtime’s over. Bossman’s in town.
She pasted on a smile and turned toward Hayden. He was attractive and as clean cut as she’d ever seen a person. Close-cropped, dark blond hair, broad shoulders, and doing a decent job of hiding he was almost forty. And his suit ensured he’d blend in with all the retail store owners they were about to mingle with—beige, pressed, and plain.
He was the senior vice president of the team she worked for. She couldn’t imagine wanting to climb that high on the corporate ladder. Boring. His father owned NetSafe Systems, a company built on creating everything digital one could imagine for retail stores. Websites, shopping carts, point of sale software. Their group offered ethical hacks to companies with website security concerns.
Her job specifically—and the best job ever, in her opinion—was to try from every angle possible to break into a company’s website or network, and then tell them how to keep people like her from doing it again.
Which was the only reason she was okay with being reminded regularly to put on a polite face for the public. This was her dream job, and NSS was one of the two top firms in the country. Jared’s was the other. Okay, so it wasn’t his company, but still... Heat shimmered through her as more memories and fantasies teased her.
She would have liked a few more minutes alone with her thoughts, but she couldn’t completely brush off her boss. Especially on a business trip. She grabbed her food and crossed the short distance to the table he’d secured.
“I hope you weren’t too bored last night,” he asked as he toed out a spare chair for her.
She dropped into the wooden seat. Sometimes it felt like he asked too many questions, but most of the time she was pretty sure he was just making small talk. Not that the details of her night before mattered in the grand scope of work. She hadn’t missed anything, and she was awake and alert this morning. Besides, the question reminded her things had ended much better than she’d expected. “I kept myself occupied.”
More memories flashed through her head. Jared’s hands on her legs, roughly shoving her skirt up. Heat flooded her skin and she tucked the pleasant thoughts aside before she could fall into them.
“Glad to hear it.”
He riffled through the laptop bag resting next to his leg and pulled out a magazine. A whisper of relief flitted through her. Small talk was fine most days, but this morning she had other things on her mind.
All her other thoughts evaporated when she saw his reading material. Staring back at her from the cover were Jared and his two friends from the bar, the headline proclaiming them the corporate dream team that was Skriddie Bust Media.
She couldn’t pull her attention from the photo. The three had made their company a name. Vivian Graf was director of operations, Tate Foster was director of sales, and Jared Tippins rounded out the trio as director of technology. Her cheeks warmed, and a pleasant tingle crept through her. She’d really hooked up with him.
“Hey.” Hayden had set down the magazine and was staring at her. “Earth to Michaela. Did you just check out?”
“I’m good.” She swallowed, not able to push away the distracting fantasies tripping through her thoughts.
She’d heard stories in college—and after—of the legend that was Jared. A decade ago, he’d been her age—twenty-three, when he’d built one of the biggest, baddest-ass security systems corporate America had ever seen. He’d been some kind of genius savant back in his day, before he’d traded it all for a suit and an impressive title.
Hayden looked between her and the picture, and his eyebrows rose. “I’ll do you a favor right now, not as your boss, but as a friend. He’s not your type, Michaela. Trust me. He likes his women with a digital voice and a square shell.”
A cloud drifted across the vivid images painted across her thoughts. There was that. According to Hayden, Jared was the industry’s version of a monk—more interested in machines than dating. In fact, those were frequently the exact words Hayden used to describe him. Except, that didn’t mesh with the man she’d met the night before. “You’re exaggerating.”
He set the magazine down and locked a steady gaze on her. “It doesn’t matter if I am or not. I’ll remind you once because I’d hate to see you destroy your career before it even starts—keep your distance from these guys.”
She had a list of things that irritated Hayden, but she hadn’t ever expected to have to add “Don’t sleep with Jared Tippins” to it. She tried to be subtle about inhaling deeply. It didn’t get rid of the memories, but it did mute her body’s reaction. She wouldn’t blurt out she’d already crossed that line, but couldn’t hide all of her irritation at his professional advice. “I’m pretty sure my contract doesn’t delve into who I can and can’t talk to.”
“Does conflict of interest mean anything to you?”
Oh. That. Hayden had made it clear what he thought of corporate espionage, or any violation, real or perceived, of the non-disclosure agreement all employees signed. In fact, he’d spelled it out for her during the later stages of her interview. After he’d fired the guy who’d made hacking the Skriddie systems network a part of her technology test even though the interviewer told her she was still on NSS systems.
Hayden had reiterated his, and the company’s, zero tolerance policy about the ethics of spying on the competition. He also drove home that Skriddie would demand her head when they found, unless he smoothed things over first. She’d committed a serious transgression in breaching their security. All for a job.
She turned her attention to her breakfast, keeping her tone casual. “You want a dictionary definition of each word?”
“You kill me sometimes, you know? Slay me dead.” He pointed at the magazine cover. “Look, I’m not trying to be a wet blanket. This is standard stuff.” Concern edged his kind tone. “They were furious when I told them what you did, and steering clear of them is going to make your life less stressful. I just want you to avoid any unpleasant situations.”
She frowned at the reminder she might have pissed off someone at Skriddie and gave her full attention to her food. Six months, and she’d almost managed to put the entire thing out of her mind. Hoped the situation might just evaporate. Talk about a buzzkill. “I get it. Thanks.”
“Are you ready for the panel this morning?”
Good. A neutral topic. Dull as hell, but neutral. “I’m set.” She redirected her thoughts to work-related subjects. “I pulled anything that could be considered interesting—sorry, proprietary—from the slides.”
An unpleasant thought joined Hayden’s warning. If Jared had known who she was last night, would he have had a different reaction to her? What if he was still angry about what she’d done?
Professional people didn’t hold grudges like that, right? He was way too mature to do something like resent her just because she’d found a teeny, tiny...okay, fairly significant hole in their security when she wasn’t even supposed to be on their network. Besides, at least she’d found it before someone else. And Hayden had made sure they knew about it. There should be some forgiveness for that, right?
Still, conflict of interest. Not that it was Hayden’s—or anyone else’s—business who she did or didn’t sleep with.
Images and sensations teased back in response to her mental question. Jared’s breath on her skin, his teeth digging into her shoulder, his hands gripping her hips. No regrets. She just had to keep it quiet.