CHAPTER FIVE
“This will be your home for the duration.” She unlocked the heavy oak door and Draco followed her in.
He stared around the elite riverside apartment, trying not to look impressed. “It’ll do.”
She actually laughed. “Nothing out of the ordinary.”
She flashed him a fiery glance.
He closed the space between them in three paces. “No need to try to impress me. I have my own place.”
“Does it look like this?” She nodded across at the floor to ceiling windows and the view of the River Thames beyond.
“Not quite. Then again, I’m supposed to be your buddy Steven Smith, a first year student. Do students in their first year on a business degree really live in this kind of apartment?” He really was baffled. “If you’re a student, how can you afford a place like this?”
“I’m teasing you. I don’t usually live in a place like this.”
Teasing? Fine. As far as he was concerned it meant she was free game to be teased back. He took off his jacket.
“You might as well know. It’ll come out at some point.” She looked at him for a long silent moment as if deciding what to say.
Draco waited for her to spill. He needed to know everything there was to know before he waded any deeper into this situation.
“My mother rented this place for me for the summer placement, so I didn’t have to live with my dad and my brothers.” She paused. “I usually live with my mum. My parents are divorced.”
She didn’t really want to share the information, but Draco figured it was relevant. Anything that set her apart from her brothers in this ludicrous competition was important. “I didn’t mean to pry.”
She shook her head. “It would’ve come out eventually, so you might as well know now.”
“How well do you feel you know your dad, and your brothers?” It could be important.
“Well enough to second guess them, I think. I was nine when my parents split, but I spent part of every summer and other holidays with my dad and my brothers. We’re not close but we get on okay, I guess.”
Draco sensed she was on the outside trying to get in. This was really important and she had a lot invested in it. “I get on better with my stepbrothers than my sisters,” he offered, mainly to put her at her ease. He’d discovered the best way to get people to open up was to offer something about himself. “I guess sometimes being related makes it more difficult, the expectation that you’ll all get on, whether you spend time together or not.”
She looked at him with wide-open eyes and nodded thoughtfully. Neither said it aloud, but they exchanged it in glances—despite the differences in their lives there was something in common there, although he supposed you could find common ground with anybody if you tried hard enough. This felt significant, though.
“I’m afraid my mum has a grudge against my dad,” she continued. “He had an affair while they were still married. She wasn’t happy about me taking the student placement with him, so she paid out for this place so I didn’t have to live in the house with them.” She considered him thoughtfully for a moment. “Don’t think I’m a spoiled brat, because I’m not. I have a private allowance from both parents but I only use my allowances for tuition fees. I hold down a part-time job in a bookstore during term time, to cover my living expenses. I only agreed to the rental of this place to pacify my mother.”
“I see.” He wasn’t expecting such an in-depth explanation, but it was eye opening. He’d come from a very basic background where the biggest luxury was fish and chips on a Friday night. Why was she so worried he would think she was spoilt? His opinion of her mattered. Was she the same with everyone, or was it just him? Time would tell. One thing he knew for certain, spoiled brat or not, he wanted her. “Not your usual run-of-the mill student though, are you?”
“You’d be surprised.” She rolled her eyes, threw the keys down on the long marble breakfast bar carving up the massive space in open plan apartment. “A lot of the guys on my course have a similar background, parents in the finance district. I try to focus on my studies and do the best I can, because I don’t automatically have a cushy job in the family business at the end of it the way many of them do.”
Interesting. Was that why she was embarking on this crazy endeavour?
“I’d love a place of my own,” she continued, “but my dad insists I stay at home with either him or my mum until I finish my degree.”
She bent down and took off her high heels, kicking them to one side. Draco watched in surprise as she went into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. It certainly didn’t look as if she wasn’t going to hand him the keys and leave immediately. This gig was looking better and better all the time.
After the simmering hot looks she’d been giving him in the suit shop, Draco sensed there might be perks other than the fee he’d been offered. Had she picked him because she fancied a bit of rough, a known criminal at large to seduce the panties off of her?
He followed her to the refrigerator, leaned in close and looked over her shoulder. “What are we having for dinner, honey?”
She laughed and jostled her elbows, pushing him away. “Dinner? You’ll be lucky. I have some sandwiches for while we’re working this afternoon.”
Before she closed the refrigerator she pulled out a catering tray covered in plastic. It contained fancy looking sandwiches and things on sticks with dips. In her other hand she had a bottle of champagne.
“To toast our arrangement, later.” She gestured with the bottle and then put it back in the fridge. “First we’ve got work to do.” She nodded into the area beyond the long low leather sofas, where a glass dining table with fancy chairs stood.
Draco saw two laptop computers there on the table.
“There are some juices in the fridge, would you grab them?”
Draco collected the orange juices as requested, kicked off his shoes near hers, and then padded across the plush cream-colored carpet after her. He stared down at it. Never before had he seen a less practical floor covering.
“As I mentioned, you’re going to be introduced as a friend of mine from my class, Steven. Therefore the first thing you need to do is hack into the University student list and add your ID photo instead of Steve’s.” She set the bottle on the table and walked along the laptops, opening them and switching them on.
Draco laughed. “That simple, huh?”
“Let’s hope so. We can use the student ID link for your Compton Finance work pass, which will be set up once we begin, tomorrow. I used mine when I started, so they’ll accept it. It just has to look like you.” She peeled open the food. “Sandwich?”
It took a couple of hours to find his way around, but Draco got into the college records and uploaded an indistinct photo of himself over Steven Smith’s. He didn’t want a decent image stored there in case it was used to track him down, later.
Throughout the afternoon she’d sat by his side, observing with interest. She also kept him supplied with coffee, water, and sandwiches. Whenever she left his side, he wondered if he was insane, entering into this. It didn’t exactly shatter his vow not to hack, because she was taking responsibility. Nevertheless, it didn’t rest easy on him.
He didn’t like to think about the money either, not until he had it in hand, although it would come in useful. His younger sister Sky was in London trying to get herself hooked into an art course. She’d need money. So he could certainly use the fee, but there were no guarantees he’d be around long enough to get paid. He might not be able to put his hands on the knowledge she wanted. He might be outed as a hacker, or worse still banged up like his stepbrother. Enjoy the gig while it lasts, he told himself.
“Flawless,” he told her once he was done.
“Excellent.”
At some point her shirt had slid loose from her waistband. She’d curled her legs under her on the chair. Relaxed, that’s how she looked. It pleased him.
She pulled the second laptop closer, clicked onto a desktop icon and logged in to an account. “Let me quickly show you what the Compton Finance system looks like, it’ll save time tomorrow.”
Draco stared at the screen. If she could log in remotely he could do the task from here. Restraining himself, he didn’t comment, and let her show him around the system set up, watching her fingers on the keyboard, his mind whirring as he stored away details.
“Looks pretty user friendly,” he said, once she’d done.
“Great. We can crack open that champagne.”
“One question.”
“Go ahead.”
“You said this was my home for the duration, so does this mean you’re staying with me?”
With a laugh, she gave him a knowing look. “I want you here so I know where you’re at and you don’t disappear on me.”
“I won’t disappear. Trust me.”
“I’ll try.” She studied him with interest.
Draco swore she was thinking about the same thing he was. When she got flirty it showed in her eyes, like a tell. Did she even know how sexy she looked? God, she was delicious. “You haven’t answered my question. Are you staying over?”
“I think I’ll let you settle in on your own tonight. I’ll stay with a girlfriend. Once we’re both working at Compton Finance together and we’re fully locked into the project, I’ll be here, making sure you don’t do a runner on me.”
“I won’t do a runner.” He wanted her to stay. As far as he was concerned, she was the real prize. The rest of it was just a bit of fun. “There’s plenty of room,” he gestured around. “No need to go to your girlfriend’s.”
“Indeed there is, two bedrooms.” She smiled, but she looked as if she were thinking of trying them both. “I’ll leave you alone for tonight. Let’s call it a cooling off period.”
Draco chuckled. When he first met her she seemed a bit bonkers. Headstrong, dangerously keen and eager. She was all those things but she was also determined, grounded, and thought things through thoroughly. It was quite a mix.
He pointed at the screen. “Mr. Steven Smith is much better looking now, I have to say.”
“And definitely heterosexual.” When she saw his face she laughed. “Steve is gay.”
“Oh, right.”
She stood up. “I’ll get the champagne.”
He looked back at the ID card on screen. It was too weird seeing his face with a strange name. “Do you think someone will check my background?”
She paused “Maybe, maybe not. I’m not taking any chances. Have you ever opened a champagne bottle before?”
“No. Have you?”
“Maybe, maybe not. I’m not taking any chances.” She winked. “You open it.”