by Lexi Blake
“I think you should be careful,” Eve agreed. “And so should Noelle. I believe Jessica Layne is a narcissist, and potentially a malignant one. I’ve read her interviews and watched her publicity spots. She’s as interested in her own image as she is in the science she backs or the money she makes. If you come into contact with her, do not challenge her view of reality.”
“So don’t call her on her shit.” He’d known people like that. Of course they didn’t usually have the same money and power someone like Layne did. “Or she’ll sue me.”
“The lawsuits are a way to break her victims,” Alex explained. “You know she had a partner in the beginning. Another woman who insiders believe was probably the brains of Genedyne. At some point, Jessica decided to cut her out. Not only did she bury the woman in lawsuits, but she sent her social media followers after her. Oh, she said everything in public that she should have, but there’s evidence she was manipulating things behind the scenes. Her partner was crushed on many sides and eventually took what the police called an accidental overdose of sleeping pills. Then Layne cried prettily on camera and made it all about her and how she’d had to survive a relationship with a person with mental illness.”
Eve sighed. “She looks like a model, and she’ll be good at putting the people around her at ease. She’ll be charming right up to the moment she decides to devour you whole.”
Alex stood and held a hand out to Eve. “Good luck, Hutch. I think you’re going to need it. And keep us updated on Kyle. Also, try to remember that just because your past taught you how a bad relationship works, your present has a whole lot of good ones in them. I would hate for you to miss out because you’re still worried there’s a piece of your father in there.”
He shook his head. “It’s not that.”
Eve started to lead her husband out. “Sure it’s not. Come on, babe. I’ve got to go through about a thousand employee reviews before we can leave. The kids all have afterschool activities that include dinner of some kind, and we’re not on carpool this week. We’re picking up some Top and watching TV that includes actual human beings instead of cartoon characters this evening.”
They were still talking about drinking wine and watching TV as the door closed behind them.
“Ah, that’s the dream. All the kids out of the house for the evening,” Big Tag said. “All my monsters are grounded after the whole ‘let’s play spies’ thing. Do you know that kids get grumpy when they’re not allowed to do anything but chores?”
Charlotte’s head dropped to Big Tag’s shoulder. “So grumpy. And Hutch, I really thought the two of you would get along. What I saw today makes me think I made a mistake. I’m sorry. I won’t try to do it again.”
“But you were right. We’re definitely attracted to each other.” He knew it was perverse, but he felt the need to argue with her.
“But there wasn’t a lot of peace there,” Charlotte mused. “It’s good for sparks to fly, but that was more like war than ‘hey, I just met my future spouse.’”
“When I met my Charlie and our eyes locked across the crowded dungeon, I knew,” Big Tag said.
She snorted, but her lips were turned up. “That’s why he promptly invited me to join him for a threesome.”
He chuckled. “Foursome, baby. Give me credit.”
She smiled at her husband, their faces close together. “I promptly got rid of all the other subs and started a fight that ended in butt plugs flying. All for your amusement. But I did know I wanted you in that moment. I knew, somehow, that you would complete me.” She turned back to Hutch, and a sad expression came over her face. “That’s why I’m sorry I set you up with her. I saw two people who should have had a lot in common, and I couldn’t help myself. I was definitely meddling, and it didn’t work. I won’t try again. I promise.”
Again, it was perverse, but he didn’t like the sound of that. “I think if I were in a different place in my life, we would probably suit each other very well.”
“I think she might have too strong a personality,” Charlotte admitted. “I did underestimate that.”
He wasn’t sure how that was a problem. “She obviously needs a guy as strong as she is.”
Charlotte nodded. “Yeah. I can see that, too.”
“You are such a bitch,” Ian said softly, though he was smiling in that way that told Hutch he wasn’t getting their inside joke.
“She was attracted to me, too, you know.” He’d caught Noelle staring at him, and it hadn’t been with distaste. He’d actually been surprised because most women would have watched Kyle, but she’d seemed oddly unaffected by him. And she’d definitely sparked when he’d started talking about helium. He was a science junkie. If she wanted to throw down over some future tech, he could be right there with her.
Except she was a sweet lady from small-town Louisiana who had probably never once been tied up and had her tits clamped. She’d never cried prettily while her Dom fucked her ass with a plug.
“I don’t know.” Charlotte sounded uncertain. “She seemed annoyed. But it’s okay because you don’t want a relationship. Maybe you should be the brother.”
“No.” He wasn’t going to let her play around with Kyle. He could be dangerous, and honestly, he and Noelle made more sense. “We’re the more believable couple, and I need access to the systems. She’s right. The company works on a closed system. I could hack them, but they have far better security than Noelle has on her laptop. Although, honestly, she’s got pretty good security, which makes me think this is an inside job. I can’t get into her lab as her boyfriend’s brother.”
“You could get a job there.” Tag seemed more interested in his wife’s earlobe than the discussion at hand. “I’ll fire you right now. I’m a team player, man.”
He’d been through this so many times. Ten years he’d been here, and he’d seen way too many times Tag decided to turn his office into a playroom.
God, wouldn’t that be something? Having a woman to share all of that with. Having one soul in the world who meshed with his. Someone he could tease and have discussions with. Someone who would help him figure shit out.
He was getting tired of figuring shit out on his own. Or rather not figuring anything out and letting life flow by him, bouncing from one good time to another until they all felt hollow and meaningless. Maybe it was the fact that he’d bought a house from a man who for years had been a whole lot like him, a man who’d finally gotten his life together and moved into a future with the woman he loved and their kiddo.
God, did he want kids? No. He wasn’t father material. His dad had been awful. But then he knew what not to do, and wasn’t that part of the battle? Didn’t he know exactly what he’d needed from his parents? He wasn’t a bad guy. He constantly checked himself because he knew there was darkness in him.
“Do you think he’s going to stand there and watch?” Charlotte’s question brought him out of his thoughts.
“I think he’s thinking, and I also think I don’t care,” Big Tag replied. “Hutch, I took the kids to church on Sunday and let my wife have a morning all to herself. She’s about to pay me back with a midday blow job.”
Hutch sighed. “I don’t suppose the fact that I need guidance changes your mind.”
Big Tag shook his head, a decisive no. “Church. Kids. I missed the first quarter of the Cowboys game. No. Also, I can give you good advice while I’m getting a hummer.”
“He really does think better mid-sex,” Charlotte added as she gracefully slid to the floor and found a submissive position.
“I think I’ll go and make sure my client hasn’t run.” He’d told her to wait at his desk and he’d escort her to her office, pick up a key to her place, and then get them all moved in together while she worked.
“You sure you want to do this? Because I can still fire you and you can go the employee route,” Tag offered as his hand went to stroke down his wife’s head.
So Noelle could ignore him entirely. “I think I’ve got a handle on it. I’
ll call in with an update.”
He practically ran out the door because those two weren’t waiting. He almost bounced off Geneva Rycroft, Big Tag’s long-time assistant. She was a lovely woman with dark hair and a ready smile. Another woman who’d been through hell and found her happiness on the other side in the form of a husband and two kiddos she adored. She was carrying a stack of files.
Hutch shook his head. “You should wait a while. Big Tag had to go to church.”
Her eyes widened and she set the files down and picked up a single laminated sheet of paper that she often hung on her boss’s door. It had one word on it. NOPE.
Genny had once told him she’d made the sign because Big Tag and Charlotte never locked the door. They liked the danger, they often said.
He often thought Genny had saved them many an HR complaint.
“Cool,” she said. “I’ll set this up and go take a coffee break. Maybe I’ll go see what the bodyguards are up to.”
She had a sparkle in her eyes because her husband worked in that unit.
Everyone was getting lucky today.
Except him. He would likely be sleeping on a couch tonight.
Genny had two muffins on her desk. Noelle’s lemon muffins. She’d taken them to feed to Tag when he got snacky this afternoon. She did that a lot.
Well Big Tag could survive on one. Hutch grabbed one of the muffins and prayed it wasn’t as good as it smelled.
He savored that tart and sweet piece of heaven.
He was in so much trouble.
* * * *
Noelle sat in a chair in Hutch’s office and wondered about the man. The name plate outside simply said Hutch, Head of Cybersecurity. Not his whole name. Just Hutch. The office was surprisingly spartan given the fact that the man had worked here for a decade. That was what had thrown her off. Was he older than he looked? She thought he was likely in his early thirties. How had he gone from the military to college to head of a team for one of the world’s premiere security firms in a little more than a decade?
The math did not add up.
She looked at one of the three framed pictures he had in his office. This one wasn’t actually a picture. It was his degree from the University of Texas at Dallas proclaiming Greg Hutchins was a graduate with a Master of Science in Computer Sciences.
“He did that without an undergrad, you know,” a feminine voice said. “That’s why it’s his only framed degree.”
She turned and there was a young woman standing in the doorway. She was the quintessential geek girl in her miniskirt, black T, and combat boots, her purple hair in a high ponytail. There was a familiar laptop in the woman’s hands.
“How do you get a master’s without an undergrad?” She shouldn’t have asked, but she was pretty much fascinated with Hutch. Much to her own chagrin.
“You score so high on the GRE that they can’t not take you,” she said, walking into the office. She held out a hand. “I’m Mae Beatrice Vaughn, but everyone calls me MaeBe. And yes, I cringe when I say that sentence too. How that song is still popular I have no idea. I blame all the covers. Anyway, I’m working my way through the same program right now, though I do have an undergrad. I don’t have Hutch’s real-world experience, though. You must be the chemist. Nice system, though totally infected. Sorry about that.”
She handed her the laptop she’d bought for herself when she’d gotten the job at Genedyne. “I didn’t notice anything was wrong except that a file that I hadn’t touched in a long time was showing up in my recents.”
“Yeah, it’s funny what can trip a hacker up.” MaeBe leaned against Hutch’s desk. “You open the files you’re currently using by going to the recently opened folder?”
It was a habit. “Of course. What do you do?”
“I know where all my files are. I pull them up. I organize my own system,” she replied. “If you didn’t use the recents folder, you likely wouldn’t have noticed anything at all. Unless you typically check the dates on your files, which I would bet you don’t.”
“No. I’m more worried about what’s in the file than when I last used it,” she admitted. “I don’t think about security very much, but I noticed that file and thought it was weird. And there was a break-in at my building. The woman in the apartment underneath me got broken into, and the only thing they took was her laptop.”
“Why would that make you worry?” MaeBe asked. “I mean besides the obvious that you don’t want to get your stuff stolen.”
She’d put this in the file. It was one of the things that truly worried her dad. “Because when I first hired on, I mistakenly put the wrong floor number on my HR paperwork. 515 instead of 615. I’d just moved from a building in Austin where I lived on the fifth floor and it was ingrained in my brain. I’ve fixed it but…”
“So someone could have mistaken that apartment for yours,” MaeBe surmised. “Yeah. That doesn’t feel coincidental.”
“So now I’ve got a file I need to worry about. There was research on that one. I can see why a corporate spy would want to read it.”
MaeBe waved a hand. “Oh, honey, it was all your files. Like every single one. I’m almost certain they duped the whole thing then went back through and fixed the metadata, but they forgot one. It was kind of a sloppy job. I’ve got a few thoughts on who it could be.”
There was a brief knock on the door and then Kyle was walking in. He was all confidence and swagger as he looked Noelle’s way. “Good. I was afraid after Hutch’s performance that you would have run. He should be back in a few minutes and then we’ll get you to work.”
“Hutch performed?” MaeBe asked.
And then Kyle wasn’t so confident. His eyes flared and then softened. “Hey. I didn’t know you were in here. Uhm, everything okay this morning?”
MaeBe gave him a smile. “Yes. I’m good, and thank you for walking me to my car last night.” She nodded Noelle’s way. “I had a date go bad and he works in the building. He seems to think if he bugs me enough, I’ll go out with him again. Big Tag has a bodyguard walk down with me. Kyle got the job last night, and lawyer dude did not show. I think after Jamal stood over the guy and told him if he ever saw him near me again, he would be the one who needed an attorney, he got the message. Jamal has a foot on him and way more muscle.”
“I still think we should keep it up for a while,” Kyle replied, his voice softer than before. “And you have my number. I’ll be on a job for a week or two, but I still want a call if he bugs you again.”
“Sure. It will teach me to date lawyers. My dad always warned me,” MaeBe said with a grin that lit up her face. “I’m sticking to geeks from now on. If a guy can’t speak computer or doesn’t own a bunch of board games, this shop is closed. How about you, Noelle? You’re a science girl. Do you date other scientists?”
Noelle was fairly certain MaeBe didn’t notice the way Kyle’s face had flushed slightly.
He liked the woman but he didn’t think he was her type.
“I don’t date much, but I think opposites can attract. I wouldn’t want someone who was too like me, you know.” Which was why she should stay away from Hutch. Why had he not gotten an undergrad degree? Why didn’t he carry himself the way the other military guys did? “It’s good to have someone in your life who can bring a different perspective. As long as that person is willing to listen to you as well. It’s hard when you meet someone set in their ways and their views.”
“Hutch called her a hick,” Kyle said with a shrug.
MaeBe’s eyes went wide. “What? Hutch wouldn’t say that.” She turned to Noelle. “I don’t know what you heard, but Hutch is like the best. He’s a great boss, and he’s one of the nicest men I’ve ever met. Super laid back.”
“He threatened Tag,” Kyle continued.
MaeBe turned his way. “What? Dude, I need the lowdown on this meeting. What did Tag do? Did they fight over those awesome muffins? Did you try one or are you watching your carbs?”
“Watch my carbs?” Kyle frowned. “I
don’t have to watch my carbs. And Noelle brought them in.”
“My Aunt Lisa knows Mr. Taggart from way back and told me the best way to soften him up was to offer him something lemony,” Noelle replied. “I like to bake. I got it from my mom. I like to think that all those times we spent in the kitchen together were my first experiments. I’m glad you liked them. And I wasn’t that offended by what Hutch said. It’s not like I’ve never heard it before. I’m from small-town Southern Louisiana. I’ve been called a hick many times.”
“I never used that word.” Hutch was in the doorway, frowning her way. “And I’ve apologized. I know what it’s like to be stereotyped, so I shouldn’t have done it. Now, MaeBe, do you have our credentials?”
MaeBe stood up taller. “All done, boss. Anyone looks and you are from Papillon, Louisiana, by way of Dallas. You and your brother Kyle were born here in Texas. You moved to Louisiana when your dad took a job at a place called Beaumont Oil. I can’t change your accents so you can’t be born there. You met your girlfriend in high school. The rest of the story you two need to work out, but let me know if I can get you anything. You’ll find you have a credit card, library privileges at the Papillon Parish Library, and a grocery store discount card. I also Photoshopped some pics of you and your bro there. And I hacked the high school archives, so there’s some sweet pics of you and Noelle at senior prom.”
What? This was all moving fast. “How did you do that? I didn’t even know there was an archive.”
MaeBe gave her a grin and brushed her electric pink nails over her shirt. “I’m just that good.”
Hutch moved to his desk. “MaeBe is taking over some of our deep-cover logistics. She’s good at making sure anyone who tries to do a trace on one of us sees what we want them to see. She’s got a creative mind.”
“She’s thorough is what she is,” Kyle corrected.
“And creative.” MaeBe smiled and walked toward the door. “I take all compliments, thank you. I left packets on your desks. Let me know if you need anything else. I live two blocks from Noelle’s building. Noelle, if they cuddle together on the couch, get me pics. Hey, boss? Where’s my treat?”