The mad dash back to Wilder Enterprises ended up being a bust, and I’m still fuming about it a week later.

Milton had been half right. There were fewer people in the office than there would have been in the middle of the afternoon. What Milton didn’t know, however, was that half the executives are attending a conference in London next week, which means that their staff members were busy working overtime to make sure every last detail was smoothed out well in advance. Overhiser isn’t one of the executives heading to Europe, which explains why he was gone—as usual—before Dominic had a chance to sweep me off my feet.

I told a few innocuous white lies once I got back to my desk, but finalized some details for a meeting scheduled later in the week so I could point to something concrete if anyone asked. Only then did I set about snooping as best I could in plain sight with so many people still around. I made calls to other departments to ask if specific people were still there, casually following up to see if anyone was actually there at all.

The executive level was a hive of activity, like it tends to be before a big trip. There were a few people staying late in the marketing department, three more in tech support, a bunch of people from the janitorial staff…

I’d wanted to scream.

Instead, I printed off files and came up with excuses to visit the other floors to spy on what was happening.

It wasn’t the most subtle of investigations, because—as Milton must have known when he called me—the information that was being exchanged with the Chinese wasn’t going to be transferred in some obvious way, like being handed over in a black briefcase. The transaction would likely be transmitted in an email that the culprit hoped was secure, hoped was secret.

At least, all indications pointed to this method.

That didn’t stop me from keeping my eyes peeled for any kind of handoff between an employee and someone who appeared to be from the outside.

Overhiser receives a master file listing all of the meetings scheduled on a given day, same as all the executives, and when I wasn’t walking the building, coming up with feasibly related questions for as many people as I could without setting off any alarm bells, I studied the schedule for anything—anything—seemingly out of the ordinary. Anyone visiting from a foreign country, China specifically, but anywhere outside the United States. Anyone making a delivery from a company with a generic business name or title.

Everything came up empty.

A little after six-thirty, I burst into one meeting between a marketing consultant and a representative from one of the Midwestern states, only realizing too late that my behavior looked desperate and strange, exactly the opposite of how a competent undercover FBI agent should appear.

My only saving grace was that most of the floors have the same layout—the only three that are different are the ones housing Dominic’s private office, his penthouse on the top floor, and the executive level, which is configured so that each executive has the maximum amount of space possible for their glassed-in offices.

I had put a hand to my forehead, the blush in my cheeks entirely unmanufactured. “I’m so sorry, uh—” I took a quick glance at his nameplate. “Charles. I got off on the wrong floor.”

He was a handsome gentleman, the marketing consultant, with blonde hair that wouldn’t have looked out of place on a beach in the Hamptons. He’d laughed indulgently, looking me up and down appreciatively. “You can make that mistake any time.”

I’d nodded, pretending to be in on the joke, and backed out of the room.

I left the building and called Milton from down the block. “I’m not seeing anything.”

“Nothing?”

“There are—” I swallowed my frustration. “There are way more people still here than you’d think for after hours, and there’s nothing drawing my attention. I’ve been all over the building.” I took a deep breath. “It must have been via email, Milton, or somebody got it past me while my back was turned.” I could feel his level of confidence in me fading by the moment.

“We’ll watch everything outgoing from here,” Milton had replied with a sigh. “Keep looking. Anything new on your guy?”

“Not a thing.” I wasn’t proud to admit it, and even less proud to say the next thing that had to be said. “I might have been wrong about him.”

“We’re all wrong at one point or another, Viv. Keep your nose to the grindstone.”

I’ve been keeping my nose to the grindstone every day since then, and there’s not a single crack I can exploit at Wilder Enterprises. I thought Overhiser was my big break, but now he’s an irritation I have to deal with—cheerfully and professionally every single moment—while I try to find some other way to solve this case.

“Vivienne.”

His quiet voice from the doorway of Overhiser’s office sends a thrill of pleasure down my spine. It doesn’t matter that I have been sifting through emails for the last hour, gritting my teeth and willing one of them to contain something that’s worth forwarding on to the team.

“Mr. Wilder.” I stand up smoothly. “What can I do for you?” Things might be going to shit as far as the case is going, but seeing him makes my heart sing. I wish I could cross the room right now and kiss him like there’s no tomorrow, but it’s only five-thirty. There are enough people lingering around still to make that a very bad idea.

“Were you on your way out? I have a few things I’d like to discuss with you.” He speaks in an even tone, loudly enough for anyone passing by to hear. He’s covering, getting me out of here, and there’s a glint in his eye that tells me the first stop on his agenda is his penthouse.

“I was,” I say with a smile. “Let me finish up one thing.” I take thirty full seconds to sign out of my computer, clicking back out of the list of emails I’ve been sorting through. “I’m happy to walk out with you.”

“That would be excellent.”

Nothing in his voice betrays us to anyone else—anyone except me. I can see the pent-up energy he’s carrying in the line of his shoulders, and I feel it in that instant—I’m wound up tight, too.

I gather my purse. I can’t stay at Dominic’s all night. I need to stay focused, keep working, keep fighting this. But I can lose myself in him for an hour or two first.

Outside, in the car, he waits until we’re a block down from Wilder Enterprises, then takes me into his arms, kissing me hard, kissing me hot, kissing me like he loves me, and as if there’s nothing else he’d rather be doing in the world.