by Ravenna Tate
“It feels incredible.”
“Yes, it does.” He thrust lazily, and she squirmed in anticipation once more because that usually meant he was far from ready to come. He pulled out, she heard him remove the condom, and then he was behind her, licking and sucking her pussy like he was a dying animal trying to lap up every last drop of water from the only source around for miles.
“Oh, fuck!” Another climax washed over her before she barely had time to acknowledge it had built, and he still didn’t let up until he’d forced the last contraction from her. He kissed her again, tongue and all, but Julianne didn’t mind. She was used to tasting her own pussy juices in his mouth now.
“Are you all right? I need to come, and I want to do it in your mouth.”
“Yes. Oh, yes.”
Kane held her head still and fucked her mouth without mercy, but she didn’t mind. She adored this. It was so animalistic and raw, and she knew how much he enjoyed it, which made it all the more pleasurable for her.
When he came, her mouth was so full she couldn’t swallow all of it, but she was used to that, too. He kissed her again, and then he took off the blindfold and undid the cuffs. He gave her water to drink and cuddled with her on his lap, stroking her damp hair and back. “Julianne, I never grow tired of you. Never.”
“Mmm … same here.” She could barely form a coherent thought right now.
“Just think of all the fun we’ll have by the time the train pulls into the station.”
She giggled. “They’ll need to reupholster this bench.”
“Not to mention clean the floor.”
She snuggled closer to his damp, hard body. “You don’t really care, though, do you?”
“Not a bit. I’ll buy the damn train car if they make a fuss about it.”
She rolled her eyes. He would say something like that. “I’m sure we’re not the first people to have sex in here.”
“I’m sure that’s true.” He eased them down until they were lying side-by-side, and she closed her eyes and listened to his soft breathing as she drifted off to sleep. This was where she wanted to stay for the rest of her life. In Kane’s arms, safe from hackers and the storms on the surface.
****
Julianne barely had enough time to take a shower and put on fresh clothes before the train pulled into the station at NorthCentral. Ace and Harper were meeting them, and she was nervous about it, although Kane had assured her there was no reason to be. She’d spoken with Ace on a video chat for his interview, so she knew what he looked like, but had never met Harper.
In addition to Harper, Liane Peyton, Emmett Radcliffe’s fiancée would be there, as would Angela Davidson, Dominic Greco’s fiancée. She’d interviewed all of the Weathermen except Viggo Ingram and Blaine Parker, and both had promised to fit her in during these next two weeks. Julianne was excited about finally finishing all of the interviews, but she was more excited about having other women connected to this enigmatic group of men to hang out with.
Ace looked even better in person than he had on the video chat, and Julianne was insanely jealous of Harper on sight. Long, wavy blonde hair and stunning blue eyes, she was a bit shorter than Julianne, but with a curvy body that screamed sexy. No wonder Ace had been smitten from day one. Kane told her that none of them had ever believed Arturo Charles Easton would fall in love.
“There they are!” Harper pointed, and then practically danced in the station while Julianne and Kane approached. Kane grinned, leaning close to Julianne as they walked. “Ace told me she is so excited to meet you.”
“Really? Why?”
He gave her a confused look. “Because she knows your work at UTU. Liane and Angela do, too. They’re all experts in IT.”
“I didn’t realize that.”
“You should be interviewing them as well.”
“Then maybe I will do just that.”
He winked at her, and her heart fluttered at the intimate gesture. Perhaps this would be even more fun than she was anticipating? She’d make three new female friends and get some articles from a woman’s point of view. They never had enough of those.
Harper gave her a big hug, which surprised the hell out of Julianne. “I’m so glad you’re here! How was your trip? I’m such a huge fan of your work at Underground Technology Update. I’m sorry … I’m fan-girling all over the place here.”
Ace and Kane both laughed, and Julianne just stared at Harper. “Um, thank you. And congratulations. To both of you.” She glanced at Harper’s left hand.
“Oh, here. You want to see the ring?”
“Holy shit.” It was a huge diamond surrounded by tiny sapphires. She’d never seen anything so gorgeous, and especially not since everyone had been forced underground. Where had he found it?
“I love it.” Harper gazed up at Ace like he’d hung the moon. “But I love him more than any ring or possession.”
Ace glanced down at his fiancée with nothing short of adoration in his dark eyes. A sharp wave of jealousy coursed through her as the two exchanged a hot kiss, right there in the station, with people all around them. She wasn’t jealous that Harper had Ace. She was envious of their intimacy, and of the commitment they’d made to each other for the rest of their lives. Would she ever have that?
Would she have it with Kane, or was she fooling herself that she saw the same emotion in his eyes that she felt for him? What if she told him she was in love with him and he freaked out? His father hated her, and Kane was tied in every possible way to his family and their company. If they forced him to choose, he’d never pick her. He couldn’t.
“I’m sure you two want to get to your apartment,” said Ace. “The building isn’t too far from here. Once you’re settled, come up to my apartment. That’s where we’re all meeting tonight.”
They walked with the two toward the station exit.
“You’re all on the same floor,” said Harper. “This is going to be so much fun!”
Kane took Julianne’s hand as they walked along, and she squeezed it tightly. Harper talked non-stop, pointing out various points of interest as they walked. Her enthusiasm for both her city and the coming two weeks was infectious, and by the time they reached the building where she and Ace lived, Julianne was smiling.
It was impossible to stay envious of Harper for long. She had such an unassuming quality about her, and Julianne looked forward to spending more time with her. She was also very intelligent, and that was made obvious when Julianne asked her about her work at ACE Communications.
“I’m over two teams right now. One is the group working on cross-referencing user names between the public forums on Ace’s various websites, and on the forums where known hackers and weather geeks hang out. The other team is the newest one. They’re checking IP addresses and machine IDs of people we suspect might be involved in hacking activities. Each of the Weathermen has teams doing this now.”
Julianne caught the cautious look that passed between Kane and Ace, and she hoped Kane knew by now that she wouldn’t go back on her word. Not one sentence of what Harper told her about the work these teams were doing would end up in her copy for any story.
“You’ll meet Liane Peyton in a bit,” said Harper. “She built the database where we’re storing all this info.”
“When will you take it to the department of Homeland Cyber Security?”
Kane’s eyes widened. “How did you know that’s what we intend to do?”
“It makes sense. This isn’t confined to one city, so any prosecution would have to be at the national level. HCS is over this kind of crime, so that’s who you would go to.”
“Told you she was intelligent,” said Kane, grinning down at her.
She returned the grin. “Thank you. So, when do you take this information to them?”
“When we have enough solid proof that these same people have infiltrated or have attempted to infiltrate at least half of our companies.”
That was the first time Kane had acknowledged to her that they ha
d discussed law enforcement. “You think they’re targeting your companies?”
“We now believe whoever is behind the Tommy Twister virus that sent The Madeline Project rogue was or still is working for one or more of us. In addition, we believe it was several individuals, not necessarily working in the same location. It’s likely more than one of our companies is compromised.”
They’d entered the apartment where she and Kane would be staying for two weeks, but Julianne didn’t glance around just yet. This was more important right now. “What makes you believe that?”
He and Ace exchanged a glance she couldn’t interpret, and as Julianne watched their faces and Harper’s, she realized that Harper already knew this, too. Did Liane and Angela know it as well? Another stab of jealousy pricked her, but she pushed it away. These women were engaged to their men and they worked for them. Hers and Kane’s relationship was entirely different. This was no time for envy.
A horrible thought entered her mind. Did Isabelle know this, too? If she did, why had she taken such a crazy chance and listed Rob’s wife among her references? It still didn’t add up.
Ace nodded almost imperceptibly before Kane answered her question. “This was never made public, and we can’t ever let it go that route.”
Her pulse raced. “I understand. It never will. Not from me, at least.” When would he trust her? Would he ever completely be able to, or was she fooling herself?
Chapter Seventeen
“About six months ago,” said Kane, “one of the weather satellites that was compromised began sending signals that weren’t weather signals. They were data signals. Actual conversation in electronic form between several people. Barclay Hampton is our data mining expert. He has friends at HCS that do this for a living, but he does it for shits and giggles.”
“He intercepted this data?”
“Yes, and then he found out that the people at HCS who track the satellites still in orbit had also intercepted it.”
“Wouldn’t they need to be on the surface to do that?”
“Right again. He goes up there once a month or so for a few days just to see what he can find on a computer. He was up there on the right day, but HCS would have caught the same data, regardless. They have teams that live in shelters on the surface who do this all day long.”
“They live up there all the time?”
“They rotate every few months. These aren’t the same shelters that Damien Rivera is redesigning. No one is supposed to know about these, and they’re only used by the government.”
“What was the data they intercepted?”
“Before this particular satellite was shut down by unknown persons or by a storm, HCS and Barclay intercepted enough snippets of conversation to know that a team of hackers had tried to use the satellite as a relay station to talk to others through it, instead of using the Internet. They’re trying to hide.”
She grinned. “You all have them on run.”
He and Ace nodded. “We’d like to think that’s the reason, yes,” said Ace.
“What else did they find out from this data?”
“This is the best part,” said Kane. “Eighteen user names we already have in the database Liane set up for us were the same eighteen user names in the data Barclay and HCS intercepted.”
“You have eighteen names?”
“We do, although we still have work to do on them. We have to find them, and we have to connect them with the real identities behind them.”
She frowned. “Can’t HCS do this same kind of work?”
“They’re already doing it, but they’re a lot busier than we are.”
“You would think saving the planet would be a priority for them, too.”
“It is,” said Harper, “but we can give this full time concentration and manpower now. They can’t. We have twenty-four teams among all the Weathermen working on sifting through user names, comparing them across message boards, and tracking the machine IDs and IP addresses behind them.”
“Do these eighteen people work for one or more of you?”
“That’s what we intend to find out,” said Kane.
Julianne’s pulse raced. “Dare I ask this? Do you all suspect these could be the same people who started this mess?”
The three exchanged another glance, and Julianne was suddenly transported back to grade school. Her best friend in third grade, Linda Milner, had a birthday party that year but didn’t invite Julianne because they’d had a silly argument the week before. Julianne had to watch and listen as nearly every other girl in class squealed in delight when Linda handed them each a hand-written invitation to the party.
She’d felt like an outsider then, and she felt like one now. “Never mind. Forget I asked.” She turned and started walking. “Let’s see this gorgeous apartment where we get to spend the next two weeks.”
When she glanced over her shoulder, the three had their heads together and it was obvious Harper was angry about something. Julianne hoped it wasn’t directed toward her. She poked her head into the kitchen, and then made her way through a formal dining room, two offices, and a media room with enough seating for twelve.
A back hallway led to the laundry room and to what appeared to be staff quarters. There was even a small elevator. As she made her way back to the great room, she heard Kane’s voice calling her.
“There you are. I didn’t realize you’d walked so far away.”
“Did they go up to their apartment?”
“Yes. They asked us to come up as soon as we’re settled. There’s a private elevator that goes up to their penthouse.”
“Is that the one in the back? I found it already.”
Kane ran a hand through his shaggy mop of hair. The gesture usually sent her heart fluttering, but right now it only made her want to cry. She desperately wanted to be part of his life, but she wasn’t sure that would ever happen. Not to the extent she had hoped it would. He enjoyed her in bed, but it was now clear he didn’t completely trust her.
“Julianne, we didn’t mean to exclude you. It’s sensitive information.”
“I’m not one of you. You probably told me more than you should have. I get it, okay? Let’s go see the upstairs.”
She brushed past him, but he caught her arm. Julianne shook him off and glared at him. “What do you want from me, Kane?”
“I want you to stand still and listen to me. I’m trying to apologize.”
“I heard you. Apology accepted.”
He looked wounded, which further confused her. “Please don’t say you’re not one of us. You are one of us.”
“No, I’m not. I don’t have a ring on my finger from one of you, and I don’t work for one of you. I didn’t build a database that you each use, or discover the same user names on two separate sets of message boards. I don’t know shit about computers except what I need to know to write my stories, and I don’t even understand how The Madeline Project works, let alone what it would have taken for someone to fuck it up six ways to Sunday.”
“That doesn’t matter. It—”
“I’m just the reporter who seduced you five years ago and wrote a story with ten percent truth and ninety percent bullshit. As far as your father is concerned, that’s all I’m still doing. Seducing you for a story. Thirteen stories this time. Or maybe sixteen, if Harper, Liane, and Angela will even talk to me now.”
“Why are you saying this?”
“Why am I saying it? Kane, for heaven’s sake. Open your damn eyes. I’m not part of the in crowd, and I never will be, because you don’t trust me. You never will. Not entirely.”
He shook his head. “That’s not true.”
“You just showed me how true it is.”
“There are things I cannot tell you. That doesn’t mean I don’t trust you.”
“Then you never should have brought up the topic to begin with.”
“You’re right.”
His quiet words stunned her into silence.
“You’re absolutely right.
That’s what Harper just chided us both for doing. We left you hanging after dangling a piece of the whole story in front of you like you were a dog we were teasing. I’m so sorry, Julianne. I never meant to do that. I was so damn excited about everything Barclay and his friends found. Ace and I got carried away.”
“I won’t repeat any of it.”
“I know that. I’m not saying this because I’m afraid you will. I’m trying to tell you we were wrong, and I’m sorry we hurt you. I’m sorry I hurt you.” He sighed and stepped closer, placing a hand on each shoulder. The intensity of his gaze almost frightened her. “Julianne … I care so much about you. You’re not the same person who forced her way into my office five years ago, and I’m not the same either.”
She watched the emotion cross his face, and suddenly didn’t want him to say anything else. If he said the words, she’d have to say them, too, and she’d have to do something about it. It would all be out in the open, and she was afraid to take that step. There were too many unanswered questions, starting with his father.
“I’m going to tell you this, but you have to keep it between us. Swear to me you will.”
What? “I swear it.”
“You were right. The names we found are most likely the people who did this. We know this because part of the data included them making reference to the Tommy Twister virus.”
Oh my God.
“And I don’t mean they merely mentioned it in passing. They talked about the code in it. They said things only the people who wrote it could have known.”
“Jesus Christ,” she whispered. “But doesn’t this mean you can shut it down now? The Madeline Project, I mean?”
Kane snorted. “I wish that were true. It means we have more solid coding information than we had before, but not enough to shut it down. Not yet.”
“This is wonderful news, Kane. I mean really fabulous. Right?”
He finally smiled. “Yes, it is. It’s tremendous.”
“I won’t breathe a word. I swear it.”
He pulled her close, and she moaned softly. Being this near to him, no matter what else was going in, always sent her hormones racing. “I know you won’t. That’s why I told you. I do trust you, Julianne. Please believe that.”