Chapter Twelve
Drew was late.
Cassie fiddled with the pencil holding up her hair while doing her best not to churn over what his absence did or didn’t mean. It figured she’d finally sleep with a man she’d been fantasizing about, wake up to find strange papers in his apartment, and then he’d go AWOL on her.
Kevin popped his head in her cube, interrupting her obsessing. “The partners want to see you, Cass. You have a second?”
Weird.
“Of course.” She hit a few keys to lock up her computer. No need to save her work because she wasn’t getting anything done. Unless you counted staring at the same screen mindlessly for the last hour.
She followed Kevin to the large conference room. “Anything wrong?” she asked.
He flicked her a glance that was impossible to interpret. “No.”
“Okay.” She’d never been called in to see all three partners before. Not concerning at all, the snarky voice in her head piped up.
She ignored the voice. When had she become a paranoid nutcase?
Kevin opened the door to Lou’s office and ushered her in to where Lou and the other two partners, Jason and Malcom, all sat around a modern glass table at one end of the large space. Lou’s equally modern chrome desk sat at the other end, with windows behind. The men were quietly talking, but stopped and focused on her when she appeared.
“Cassie,” Lou boomed in a too-jovial voice.
He’s not smarmy, he’s your boss, she reminded herself, hoping her expression didn’t reflect her less than enthusiastic response to the guy.
Lou was young for what he’d achieved in life, only in his midthirties. He didn’t appear smarmy in terms of first impressions—in shape, his head shaved bald but a smart look on him, and wearing a simple gray suit. His appearance didn’t bother her, more the way he looked at her. Dismissive unless he wanted something.
The other two men who headed up Data Minds were brothers. Both the epitome of nerd—tall, rail thin, washed out, and hair worn a bit too long. Lou was the business mind, but they had been the brains behind the big-data-focused company.
“Please take a seat.” He waved at the chairs on the opposite side of the table from where the three partners sat, lined up like judge, jury, and excrement.
Quit it. They’re smiling at you. Cassie smoothed down her striped skirt with slightly shaking hands, fighting off a trepidation she couldn’t fathom, and did as they asked.
“First of all,” Jason started. “We wanted to praise the work you’ve been doing for Data Minds.”
Cassie blinked even as a flush of pleasure washed through her. See, all good things. “Thank you.”
“Truly stellar work. You are easily the best asset we have in this office,” Lou said.
Okay, that was a bit much. Cassie tasted the bitter tang of blood as she bit down hard on her lips, lest the thought pour from them.
“We want to make sure you’re happy here,” Malcom added. “Can’t have you stolen out from under our noses.”
Is that what they were worried about? “I love Data Minds. The work I get to do here is cutting edge.”
“Good.” Lou smiled and Cassie’s skin crawled. All show and no heart, that one.
“That brings us to another topic…” Lou paused, checking her expression.
“Yes?”
“How’s the new qualitative analyst working out?”
Did they not know his name? “Drew?”
He nodded.
“He’s gr—” She thought about this morning and revised her comment. “He’s fine. Solid work.”
He nodded as he perused something on his laptop screen. “That’s good to hear. We’d like you to keep a close eye on him.”
Her stomach dropped. What was that supposed to mean? She’d just decided to give Drew the benefit of the doubt. This was not helping in any way, shape, or form.
The three men in front of her exchanged a glance. Those tiny alarm chimes changed to more of a fire truck siren in her head. They’d give her a headache if they kept going off nonstop like this. “Is there cause for concern?”
Please say no. Please say no. Please say no.
“Just pay attention to him. Check his work. Make sure everything is…as it should be.”
Cassie smothered a groan. That was the last thing she wanted to hear.
Drew had come to mean more to her than she was willing to explore too closely. But now she was really worried. Her stomach churned as bile rose, sour and stinging in her throat.
“Is there anything specific I should look out for? Or maybe ask him?”
The three exchanged yet another a glance. “Let’s just say we’re monitoring a potential situation, and could use your help. We don’t think it’s anything serious, but discretion is important,” Lou said.
Discretion is important? But they don’t think it’s serious? What?
“I’ll…keep an eye on him,” she promised. What else could she say? And what would they say if she told them she’d had every body part on Drew last night and not just an eye?
“Excellent.” Again, Lou aimed that car salesman smile, the one that didn’t reach his eyes, her direction.
Subtly the three men turned back to one another. Clearly dismissed, she left the room, slowly walking back to her desk and mulling over a day’s worth of information overload. That had to be the strangest conversation. Computer engineers often lacked communication skills, but even Cassie was left wondering what she was supposed to do with that entire conversation.
Plan A—in which she calmly asked Drew about the papers at his apartment—had to be scrapped, obviously. That comment about discretion threw it right out the window. If he was doing something illegal, he wouldn’t be honest and might even rush to hide any evidence. She prayed that wasn’t the situation—her heart wouldn’t take it well.
Think Cassie. Plan B. Proof. What she needed to do was gather proof first, or prove her heart right. Please, please, please let her heart be right this time. But proof meant getting back into Drew’s place tonight. She wouldn’t sleep with him. At least, she could probably keep her hands off him until she knew for sure. But if she could find a way to distract him…
Guilt already ripped at her. Could she be that person? To Drew? Was the word “asshole” already tattooed on her forehead in neon colors?
She stumbled to a halt as she caught sight of Drew’s dark head over the tops of the cubes. Finally, he’d come in to the office, and was now at his desk. What had taken him so long? Despite her screwed up head, her heart tripped along happily at the sight of him. She wanted to rush into his arms and have him tell her all her concerns were nonsense. Of course, that couldn’t happen, but she could see him at least. Maybe reassure herself.
She hurried down the small hallway and stopped in his doorway. He sat staring at his screen with the total focus she’d come to expect from him. She blinked as she absorbed the fact that he was wearing jeans and a T-shirt. He never came into the office in anything but his standard black pants and white button-down shirt.
Maybe last night was his laundry night and she’d put a crimp in his plans. She grinned secretly to herself over that thought, her concerns melting somewhat in the face of his nearness. She was such a jerk, being so suspicious.
When he didn’t turn around, she rapped her knuckles against the whiteboard. “Knock, knock.”
He turned, unsmiling. “Hi.”
Cassie had no idea what she’d expected. This was Drew, after all. Mr. Blank Expression. However, given they’d shared mind-blowing, melt-in-your-mouth, better-than-chocolate-ever-could-be sex last night, she’d sort of hoped for a smile, or a sexy nerdy one-liner, or even to be bent over backward with a breath-stealing kiss. But she’d settle for a smile.
“Get trapped in your shower this morning?” she asked.
He frowned. “What?”
What was with him? Normally he’d get the joke. In fact, he’d be the only one to get it, and they’d share that secret glance that acknowledged they were the only two people in the room who got each other. Only that didn’t happen. He stared at her.
Cassie deflated a little, like someone popped her happiness balloon. “I guess I’ll get back to work,” she said slowly.
“Okay.” He turned back to his computer without another word.
Dismissed for the second time in five minutes, she crossed the small hall to her cube and dropped into her chair hard enough that it rolled into the wall. Other than an oomf, she didn’t pay much attention, her mind swirling.
This job and the satisfaction she got out of it meant everything to her, only Drew was starting to mean more. Much more. Her heart was terrified of what she might find if she dug too deep, but he wasn’t giving her any choice.
…
Drew swallowed down the nausea that threatened to make his uninspiring breakfast of energy bar and coffee come back up.
Cassie is the bad guy.
After being ripped a new one by his boss, instead of going into the office, he’d gone home and devoted a few uninterrupted hours to proving Cassie was not the person they should be arresting. He’d found zero evidence pointing to her, as had been the case since he started this damn assignment. Satisfied about his assumptions concerning her, he’d finally made his way into the office. There were a few things the secure connection was too slow for him to check from home.
She hadn’t been at her desk when he arrived, but her laptop was docked. He’d taken advantage of the fact that she wasn’t online to do one final check.
There, in black and white print on his screen, was all the proof he needed. Mountains of data which belonged not to Data Minds, but to their competitors, all stored on her local machine, hidden behind the encrypted files he’d finally cracked, along with analysis performed by her specially designed algorithm. He had cracked these files a few weeks ago, though. How he’d missed this data the first hundred times he’d checked was a goddamn mystery. Sure, the files were well hidden, but he’d found it quickly enough this time. Helen Keller could’ve found this with her eyes closed.
Hell, there was practically a neon arrow pointing to the files with the words, “Look here to find bad guy, you moron,” blinking out at him. All that was missing was a singing, tap dancing chipmunk graphic to point the way.
He’d been wrong about her. Totally. Fucking. Wrong.
Last night, after making love, he’d thought she might be… Drew cut that thought off abruptly. It didn’t matter a damn what he’d thought she might be to him last night. As of now, she couldn’t be anything but his assignment. His takedown.
He’d been in such shock, he hadn’t even bothered to minimize his screen and hide the evidence of his hacking when she stopped by to say hello. She hadn’t seemed to notice, though. But she’d sure noticed the fact that he couldn’t even turn around to look at her. When he finally did, she’d been so damn beautiful, with her chunky glasses and her hair back up with the pencils, a pink and blue striped skirt, and a pink T-shirt that read, “I’m not short. I’m concentrated awesome.”
He’d had to swallow down the anger and accusations that he wanted to hurl at her.
Drew had hardened his heart against the confused hurt in her voice and eyes, and let her walk away. Now, quickly, he exited his intrusion into her drive, so she wouldn’t see his footprints in there when she logged on.
Then he bolted for the bathroom.
The face staring back at him in the mirror reflected his insides. Crushed didn’t begin to cover what this discovery was doing to him. He scrubbed a hand over his face.
How was he supposed to go back out there and function like he hadn’t had his guts ripped out? Worse, he couldn’t tip Cassie off, because he needed to properly capture and catalog the evidence before he had her arrested. He couldn’t blow his cover. Not yet. Otherwise she’d have a chance to erase things. Which meant getting his act together and playing along. She was probably already more than suspicious.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
FUBAR. If he was still in the military, that’s what he’d be calling this situation. What made it ironically painful was the fact he’d put himself in this situation. He’d fallen for a criminal. Hook, line, and he was sunk like the Titanic.
Fate had a twisted sense of humor. Not only did he have to keep up the part he’d stupidly set in motion, but he also needed to get his team moving on the evidence. To do that, he needed Cassie off her computer.
Given her workaholic, nonstop coding and analyzing habits, the best way was to distract her, keep her occupied and off the computer. Which meant inviting her over again tonight. No sex. He couldn’t do that to her, no matter how much his body still wanted her. If he could keep her distracted, though… Maybe he’d suggest they watch a movie or something? His team would have to do the computer work. Normally that would be Drew’s job, but he needed to provide the distraction, and they were plenty capable if he showed them where to find everything.
He gave the face in the mirror a hard look. “Do your job, Kerrigan.”
Right. He’d channel Max the rest of the day…smile, respond, ask questions. Preferably ones that kept her in the dark a little longer.
With determination overriding the vileness of what he was about to do, Drew pulled out his phone and headed for the elevators. He had a few calls to make, and he didn’t need anyone listening in.
…
Hey.
Cassie typed the three letters, hit enter, and waited. Usually she’d go on to ask for whatever she was messaging Drew about, but earlier he’d been so distant, and weird—like freaking out weird—she had no idea how to act normal. She hoped his behavior when they talked was simply focus on what he was doing, and not freaking out. Or something worse.
Hey.
That wasn’t much to go on. Had the man been this reticent before the military? Next problem, how to word this message so anyone watching—IMs were stored on the company server and easy to access—wouldn’t suspect what was going on.
I was hoping to show you those anomalies? I’d like your opinion.
She stared at the computer, waiting for his response. A big band song played softly on her internet radio, and she found herself bopping along as she had nothing better to do than stare at her screen. Was this the technology-age version of waiting for the phone to ring?
She typed a succession of question marks. ??? He’d get the point.
He finally responded. I think we should do that off company time.
Cassie frowned. Sort of the response she’d been hoping for, but still lacking. However, as excuses went, she guessed it could be considered legitimate. They were trying to pin down potentially illegal activity within the company. Doing so while everyone was online might not be the best course of action.
How about after work?
More direct. She needed to get back into his apartment. Again, she had to be careful with her wording, because she knew Kevin checked the IMs. He’d fired someone last year for inappropriate sexting at work.
Again, a blank screen greeted her question.
“Enough of this bull-honkey,” she muttered. Patience never had been a virtue of hers.
Pushing back from her desk, she marched over to Drew’s cube. “Hey,” she whispered.
Drew sucked in a surprised breath and swung sharply around to face her. Momentary satisfaction snuck under her current mood of on-the-edge-of-freaking-the-hell-out. He always snuck up on her. Flipping that on him…one point for Cassie Howard.
When she didn’t immediately speak, he raised his eyebrows in question. Now that she’d surprised him, though, she wanted to really rattle his cage. She wanted to see his eyes darken with the need that had swallowed her up until this morning when she’d ridden away in a cab. She needed some sign her suspicions were wrong. Because if they were right, he’d slept with her for reasons she didn’t want to contemplate.
She refused to accept that. She couldn’t have imagined his reactions last night. He’d been just as into her as she had been into him. If she touched him now, how would he react?
Cassie stepped closer, invading his space. She was tempted to straddle his lap, but if someone came by, that’d be uncomfortable for them. Instead she placed a hand on his chest and leaned closer to put her mouth beside his ear.
His heart thundered away under her palm. Not so stoic after all, then. The knowledge brought a secret smile to her lips and melted a tiny bit of the cold lump that had formed in her chest. “How about we do some investigating tonight, after…”
The pause was deliberate. Who knew a secret sex goddess lurked under the geeky exterior of one Cassandra Elaine Howard? She took a moment to revel in her femininity while Drew inhaled sharply.
“After?” he whispered, like the word was torn from him.
Cassie grinned at the hoarse timbre to his voice. “I’d like to see if last night was an anomaly. My research into our chemistry requires more…field testing.”
Yikes. Put on the brakes. No sex tonight, remember?
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.” She winced at her idiotic response as her brain scrambled to come up with words that didn’t give him a mixed signal.
Drew’s hands came up. At first, she thought he was going to push her away, but then he clasped her hips, kneading the flesh there. “You want to come over?” he asked.
“Sure. I’ll even cook dinner if you provide the wine.”
A breath punched out of him. “Okay. I was thinking we might watch a movie.”
Stupid disappointment dropped like a bucket of ice water splashing all over her. Had she imagined the reluctance in his agreement? Or were those anxieties in her head projecting their voices like ventriloquists? Not that it mattered, she was sticking to Plan B, darn it. This is what she wanted to happen.
She pulled back to see his face. There it was…the unadulterated need staring back at her. God what that look did to her body.
Cassie smiled and told her inner voices to shut the hell up. She wouldn’t act on their chemistry, not until she knew for sure what was going on. She’d stick to the plan. “I’m going to head home and grab provisions for dinner, and a change of clothes for the morning. See you at six?”
Drew slowly nodded. “Six.”