A Covert Conquest

by Ravenna Tate

  The enthusiasm was infectious, and as she tried to keep up with all the ideas for going forward being tossed around the call, she realized she was part of what might turn out to be the biggest breakthrough the world had known since The Madeline Project first went live. What she and Barclay had just found potentially affected the state of the entire world.

  They had names. Five names, and from the context of the conversation, they were the original five. They had dates of real time tests, and that information corroborated the fact that while Rob Marin might not be one of the original five, he’d passed along information about them to others, and he knew enough inside information to be dangerous.

  The only thing they didn’t know was why any of them would share this info with Rob. Had only one of them shared it with him, rather than all five? But why?

  As for who had a need to know the dates of real time tests, it turned out to be approximately one hundred and fifty of the fifteen hundred who had worked on the project. That’s as far as Ace and Emmett had been able to narrow it down. She learned that much of the data on the NSSL servers had been lost forever. Unless they could force the original hackers to tell them what they’d found, where, and how, they might never know.

  They all agreed, however, that not knowing that particular information wasn’t important at this stage. Finding these five and figuring out how to undo what they had done was the most crucial focus now. They had thousands of names on their databases, and would now focus their attention on these five names.

  She and Barclay talked to the others about their plan for moving forward. They agreed that after going through the rest of the data on Rob’s laptop, they might find the name of the people who were still working for any of the Weathermen. They also might figure out how and why anyone would have shared this information with Rob in the first place.

  Kane Bannerman suggested Rob might have blackmailed someone, and then reminded them that Rob and his wife had already tried blackmailing a former employee of Kane’s into hacking into the databases.

  “I remember Olivia talking about that,” said Rissa.

  “Yes,” said Kane. “She tried blackmailing a woman named Isabelle Sharpe into accessing the systems where we store the databases that Harper and Liane created. It couldn’t be done because only the twelve of us, plus Angela, Liane, Harper, and several lead IT members on each of our staffs have access.”

  The men agreed that the people who had access were men and women the twelve trusted with their lives. Whoever these hackers were in real life, they didn’t have access to anything they wanted at these companies. They had to rely on other sources to obtain information, which brought Rissa back to her other nagging question. What information did Rob have on each of these men, and how had he obtained it?

  After the call ended, Barclay picked up Rissa and twirled her around in circles until she was laughing so hard she could barely beg him to stop. He placed her back on her feet and kissed her, hard.

  Rissa groaned into his open mouth and molded her body against his. He released her mouth and pulled off her tank top, fastening his mouth on one nipple, then the other like a man possessed. She tried to take off his shirt, but he took it off on his own, almost ripping it in the process.

  “Take off your shorts.”

  She didn’t hesitate, pulling them off and taking her panties with them. He removed his pants and underwear, too, and then kissed her again, his mouth moving over hers so possessively it almost hurt. Her pussy was soaked, and her clit throbbed. Barclay turned her around and leaned her torso over the desk.

  Rissa cried out as he clamped his hand on her pussy, rubbing hard. “Baby, you’re so fucking wet.”

  “As if I can help that.”

  “I’ve never wanted anything as much as I want you.”

  He shoved his dick into her pussy from behind, thrusting in and out hard. She moaned loudly and pushed back against him, gripping the edge of the desk for leverage. He’d never fucked her this hard, but she loved every second of it.

  When he reached around and grasped her breasts, rolling the nipples between his thumbs and forefingers, she groaned as her climax approached. This was going to happen without him touching her clit. It exploded in a whirlwind of her loud cries of pleasure and his groaning. Seconds later, he shuddered and his thrusting grew even quicker.

  When Barclay finished coming, he withdrew, wincing audibly, and then turned her around and pulled her into his arms. “Oh, Rissa. Thank you.”

  “Good thing you disconnected the video call first.”

  Barclay snorted then laughed. “They would have enjoyed it.”

  “Is that so? You all share video like that often?”

  “Yeah. Every Friday. Wait until tomorrow. You’ll see a whole new side of the Weathermen.”

  His laughter made Rissa laugh as well, and the more they laughed, the more they couldn’t even stand up. They slid to the floor, where he pulled her into arms and cupped her face.

  “You’re the most fun I’ve ever had, Rissa Kerry.”

  “Ditto, Barclay Hampton.”

  They stared into each other’s eyes for long moments. Rissa’s heart fluttered as she glimpsed the admiration in his. This was more than just sex for him. That much was suddenly obvious. Did she feel the same way? Could she feel such emotion for anyone again? Was that what he wanted? Was it what she wanted?

  Fuck. She knew falling for him had been a possibility, but until this moment, watching the emotions cross his handsome face, she hadn’t allowed herself to picture it happening. He was falling for her, and she was already gone.

  Rissa didn’t need to question whether it was reasonable to fall in love with someone in less than a week. She knew it was. She’d done so at the tender age of fourteen.

  Now she was there again, and it both excited and frightened her.

  “We should get some sleep,” he said.

  “You don’t want to keep working?”

  Barclay shook his head. “No. I want to hold you in my arms all night. The data will still be here in the morning.”

  Her heart melted. This is it. She was gone, baby, gone. “How can a girl resist an offer like that?”

  ****

  For the next two weeks, Rissa and Barclay worked from his apartment. Twice a week, he went to the office for a few hours, and Rissa went with him once to move the things from her former desk to a new office on the same floor as Barclay’s. The office was gorgeous, but she wondered how much she’d ever work inside it.

  As she was leaving the new office to walk down the hall into Barclay’s, where he’d asked her to meet him once she finished, Mindy and three other people she knew from various analyst teams came off the elevator.

  “There you are!” Mindy gave her a hug. “We thought he’d kidnapped you.”

  “No, not even close. What are you doing up here?”

  “Are you kidding? As soon as you came down to get your things, Darryl let everyone know.”

  Darryl Bonn was the biggest gossip on any team.

  “Show us your new office,” said Tina, a woman who also worked on Ed’s team.

  Rissa was about to lead them inside when Barclay came out of his office. The four eyed him, then glanced toward Rissa.

  “Maybe another time,” said Tina.

  “Well, we do need to get back to work.”

  Barclay said hello to each of them, and Rissa was impressed he knew their names. “Come to see Rissa’s new office?” he asked.

  “Yes,” said Wendy, her eyes gleaming with barely concealed lust. Rissa was used to that look now. She caught it on the face of almost every woman who glanced toward Barclay.

  Barclay smiled at Rissa. “A quick tour won’t hurt. Then we’ll head back.”

  He came with them, and Rissa was glad because it saved her from having to dodge their questions about what she and Barclay were working on. When they left the building, Barclay was too quiet on the way back to his apartment. Once they arrived, he asked her if the people she use
d to work with were asking questions about the project.

  “Not anymore.”

  “What does that mean? Were they asking questions earlier?”

  Guilt washed over her. She’d forgotten to tell him about Mindy’s text message until now. She pulled out her phone and showed it to him. “She called the day of the wedding, but that was to ask about the dress. Then she called again but I missed it, and I never called her back.”

  “What did she ask about when she called the second time?”

  “Nothing. I mean there was no voice mail.”

  “What would you have told her if you had called her back?”

  She winced at the tone in his voice. He was really pissed.

  “I don’t know. What specifically are you trying to say, Barclay?”

  “How did they know you were at the office today?”

  “Darryl Bonn saw me packing up my things and apparently told everyone. That’s what Mindy said before you came out into the hall.”

  He fixed her with a pointed stare, his eyes dark and intense. “Have you said anything to them about this project, Rissa?”

  “Of course not!” Rissa understood why he was so paranoid about this, but the lack of trust on his part stung.

  “Why did you save this text?”

  “I meant to tell you about it and then simply forgot. We’ve been a little busy, and you’ve distracted me with our extracurricular activities.”

  “Do they know about those activities, too?”

  “No, they do not. In case you might have missed it, I haven’t talked to anyone in over two weeks except you and your friends, and I’ve only talked to them online when you’ve also been on the calls.”

  His expression finally softened, and he pulled her close. “I’m sorry. Forgive me. I’m an ass.”

  “No, you’re not.” He was being an ass right now, but she wasn’t going to say that. “I understand this is important and you don’t want to compromise it by leaking information to people who don’t need to know it.”

  He pulled away slightly and cupped her face. “I’m glad you understand that.”

  “I do understand it, Barclay, but if you don’t trust me, why am I here?”

  “I do trust you, but you should have told me about Mindy’s text right away.”

  “You’re right. I should have. I’m sorry I didn’t. I honestly did forget. There hasn’t been anything else.”

  “All right then. Let’s move forward from here, okay?”

  “As long as I know I have your trust.”

  He kissed her. “You do have it. All of it.”

  Rissa hugged him again, hoping like hell he meant what he said. She’d made a mistake in not showing him the text from Mindy right away, but it hadn’t been because she’d been trying to hide anything. She’d be more careful from now on. This was crucial, and she understood that.

  Chapter Sixteen

  They had finished going through the current year’s conversations between Rafael and Rob, and were now sifting through everything else on his laptop. Barclay was very frustrated. After the elation of finding the hackers’ usernames and realizing the dates Rob had mentioned the night Rissa overhead him and Olivia in the bathroom were the original dates of the planned real time tests, they hadn’t found one additional stick of information that was of any use.

  Barclay had said to Rissa more than once that if that was the extent of what Rob knew, they’d wasted their time breaking into his house.

  She had disagreed with him every single time. “You have the names of the hackers. You never would have had that if you hadn’t taken this.”

  “We have their user names. So far, the only place they match is on the list of eighteen names we ripped off that satellite.”

  “But now you know that five of them are the hackers you’ve been looking for. You can ignore the rest.”

  “No, we can’t. We need to know who the other thirteen are on that list. Why haven’t we come across their usernames anywhere else? How the fuck are we supposed to figure out who these people are in real life?”

  He ran his hands through his hair, and she wished she knew what to say.

  “And we still don’t know how or why Rob has them, so for all we know, he made all this shit up. We also don’t know what he has on each of us, or if he actually does have any info on us. He might have made that up, too.”

  Rissa didn’t have answers. All she could do was sit by his side and keep looking.

  Each time they ate together, talked about everything except work, took a shower or a bath together, and made love, Rissa fell more under Barclay’s spell. He gave her so many lingering looks that she wanted to say something, but what?

  The last time she’d told anyone she was falling in love with them, she’d said it after he had done so first. Harry had told her he loved her when they were fifteen years old, and at the time, they’d both laughed about it because it sounded like such a grownup thing to express.

  Once they graduated from high school, they began to make plans to spend their life together, but they also agreed that earning their college degrees had to take precedence over a big wedding. She’d never “I love you” to anyone else except her parents, and that wasn’t the same thing.

  What if she’d misinterpreted Barclay’s looks? What if she said it first, and then realized it was the last thing he wanted from this relationship? They still had a lot of work to do. She couldn’t keep assisting him with this project if things grew awkward between them because she brought the L-word into their dynamic.

  ****

  Barclay took a call from Addison late one evening while they were working, and Rissa couldn’t help being swept up in Addison’s joy as he told Barclay that he and Nadine Jarvis were engaged. Barclay had told her about Nadine’s father, Dixon, being lost after a storm on the surface. He was a Storm Trooper, and Nadine had gone to the surface with a team, including Addison, to find her father.

  After the call, Barclay had given her a sideways glance. “Do you ever think about that?”

  “Going to the surface?”

  “Becoming engaged again.”

  She tried to slow her heart rate. “Sometimes.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah.” She forced herself to silently count to ten before speaking again. “Why do you ask?”

  “That’s six of us now.”

  She finally faced him. “And how do you feel about that?”

  He gave her a long, searching look, and then he took her hands. “I’m jealous. I want what they have.”

  Holy shit. “Do you have a woman picked out?”

  A slow, sexy grin spread across his face. “Yeah, I sure do.”

  “Does she know you feel that way?”

  “She should. I told her weeks ago that’s what I wanted.”

  “Maybe she’s waiting for you to show her you still feel that way about her?”

  He raised his brows. “Oh, really? You mean fucking her into the next century isn’t enough?”

  She couldn’t help laughing.

  “What else does she want me to do?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. How about taking her out? I hear she’s been working non-stop in your apartment for three weeks straight without a break.”

  The smile he gave her was tender and indulgent. “You’re right. She has been. She deserves a night out.” Barclay let go of her hands and pulled over his laptop. “Let me call her right now.”

  Rissa laughed again and slapped his arm. “Smartass.”

  He had her over his knees before she could even process the fact that he’d moved. She squealed as he gave her ass cheeks a few hard smacks. “Watch it, Miss Kerry. I’m still your boss.”

  “I’m sorry. What can I do to make it up to you?” She was laughing so hard it was difficult to speak.

  “Have dinner with me tomorrow night.”

  “You mean takeout here, in the apartment?”

  He spanked her again, and she yelled because he wasn’t holding back and it
stung. “No, I mean out.”

  “Where?”

  Barclay caressed her ass cheeks, and Rissa found it hard not to moan in pleasure. “Eden’s Garden.”

  “Really?” That was the most expensive restaurant in the city. She’d never been there, and on her salary it was unlikely she could afford more than a side salad and perhaps a small cup of soup.

  He pulled her up and into his lap. “Yes.”

  “I’d love to.”

  This time, she did moan as he nuzzled her neck. “I can’t wait to show you off.”

  “You don’t need to. I was only teasing, you know?”

  He cupped her face. “But I wasn’t. I’m not giving you up, Rissa. This isn’t only about sex. I want you in my life. And you’re right. We’ve been working very hard. We deserve a night out.”

  As he placed her on her feet and took her hand to lead her upstairs, Rissa couldn’t stop smiling. Barclay had captivated her, heart, body, and soul. She was ready to let this happen, and she couldn’t imagine her life without him now.

  ****

  Barclay held Rissa in the dark, knowing it would be a while before sleep came. He’d almost said the words tonight. He’d almost told her he was in love with her. What harm could come from saying it? She felt the same way.

  He saw the truth of her feelings in those beautiful blue eyes. He felt it in her touch, and he heard it in the sultry tones of her voice. It wasn’t like he was going to make a fool of himself or get shot down, right?

  But what if he was wrong? What if she wasn’t capable of loving another man? Sure, she’d told him she thought about becoming engaged again, but she might have only said it because they’d just finished hearing Addison’s happy news.

  Barclay had known Rissa over a year but hadn’t made love to her until three weeks ago. They hadn’t had a relationship before now other than CEO and employee. It was too soon. She wouldn’t believe the words were sincere, but Barclay knew it was real. He didn’t need a set amount of time to tell him that. He’d known it the first time he touched her. Every time he looked into her eyes he knew it all over again.