****
“Mr. Wyles? Mr. Wyles?”
Damian looked up to find Alexis standing over him, a look of concern on her face. “Sorry?”
“I asked if you wanted lunch?” Alexis repeated. “Something from the bakery—”
“No,” he cut in, smiling. “That’s fine, thank you.”
Alexis hesitated, but she backed away, nodding. It wasn’t the first time in the last four weeks she’d found him daydreaming, and it wouldn’t be the last—not if he kept seeing Becca as frequently as he did. Hell, even if he stopped seeing her, he’d probably continue to think about her uninterrupted until the day he died, because nothing on Earth was better than being with her.
It wasn’t an overstatement or a delusion. Spending time with Becca made him happier than anything had in years, and it showed. He was more productive while he was working, but when he wasn’t, he was reliving the previous night’s date or heavy physical encounter with eyes wide open, sometimes even with people around.
Becca continued to keep sex off the table, but Damian was more than happy with where they were at presently. She really was the most striking woman he’d ever seen, and though she was small, she was strong and passionate and seemed as enthralled with him and he was with her. Because it sometimes took her an hour to get to his place, he sent a car for her and sent one back so she wouldn’t worry about falling asleep. They both worked early and had long hours most days, so their few hours were either languorously sensual or crammed with activity.
Their first week, he took her to Chinatown and they had a private dinner on the rooftop of his favorite restaurant. The second week, he flew her to New York to see her favorite play on Broadway. They stayed in a swanky hotel on Fifth Avenue where he’d spent all night exploring her supple body with his mouth and tongue, kissing over her pale nipples and nibbling the mounds of her breasts as his fingers ran over the slowly dampening triangle of cloth between her legs. While he kissed her, she tugged on his throbbing shaft while he struggled to keep from exploding, not wanting the moment to end before it had to. She only let him caress her until she got close, and when his breath came too fast, she made him back off. Still, they lay together for hours, and by the third week, Damian was sending Becca roses at work every day.
His own employees were giving him grief for it, but he didn’t mind—until something happened to bring him under a microscope.
“Have you seen this?”
Victor, his security expert, was showing him reports of a data breach. Their software, which was supposed to protect sensitive information and alert its users of credit changes, had somehow glitched and made thousands of customers vulnerable. Damian stared at the report helplessly, trying to understand how this could have happened. He triple checked all the code himself before it was implemented, and it was run through security walls. They’d done tests with the best hackers available, and everything had checked out. This isn’t possible, he thought, even as his eyes told him it was. It’s not happening.
“This is bad, boss,” Miles said gravely. “People are upset. They feel exposed, upset, like we messed up—and I feel like we did.”
Gary was nodding, but his eyes had a nasty glint. “Not trying to point fingers, but you’ve been very strict with who’s allowed to go over that code before it was implemented. Maybe if you hadn’t…”
Damian bristled, rage flashing through him. “What are you saying, Gary? That you’re a better coder than I am?”
Gary shrank back into his chair, but his eyes remained defiant. “I’m just saying. You’ve been understandably distracted. We dropped the ball on this one, because you always say we’re a team—but maybe we wouldn’t have dropped it if we were more of a team. Do you know what I’m saying?”
Damian did, but he didn’t respond. The rest of the men sensed his anger and fell silent, dropping their eyes one by one.
“Get back to work,” Damian said coldly. “All of you.”
The shock of their faces was worth his sudden change in tone. He watched them stand and start to filter out, but their motion was stopped by Victor standing and raising his hand.
“Just got word,” he said, peering at his tablet. “I ran a sweep, because I don’t think you’d make a lazy mistake,” he shot a look at Gary, “and it paid off. Looks like we have evidence of a bug being planted from our side that weakened our defenses, then the hack occurred.”
Damian swallowed, his heartbeat speeding up. “Wait. You mean…it was an attack? And someone planted the bug from within our systems?”
Victor nodded, then frowned as he realized the implications. His eyes swept over the men, and smiled a predatory smile that held no warmth.
“Looks like we’ll be working late tonight, boys.”
Damian sat in his office and called Becca from his cellphone.
“Hello?”
“Hey,” he said. “I have bad news.”
“No!” Becca said. “You’re cancelling on me?”
“Yeah.” Damian sighed. “It looked like we were hacked, and someone helped them from our side.”
Becca gasped. “What? One of your employees?”
“Probably a higher up,” he confirmed. “Victor is doing some questioning now, and he’s also trying to find out more about the bug.”
Becca made a thoughtful noise. “Hey, why don’t I come visit you? You sound super stressed. I bet I can help with that.”
Damian laughed. “Becca, I highly doubt what you’ll do to me will relieve pressure.”
He could hear the smile in her voice as she spoke again. “Are you sure about that?”
Damian started to respond, but her velvet tones made him pause. “Are you saying you want to…”
“Yeah,” Becca chirped.
Damian let out a startled laugh. “Here? Now?”
“No time like the present,” she confirmed. “I’m putting on my shoes now. But no pants,” she said softly.
The front of his slacks were straining at the zipper when he hung up, and Damian passed a hand over his erection, his mind buzzing with thoughts. He had no idea what had made Becca decide she was ready to have sex with him, but he was incredibly grateful she was finally comfortable enough. She used sex as an ice breaker in college, she explained, but she tried to make it more personal now.