She was already stepping back into her shoes and slipping into her blazer. While a low-level buzz of energy hummed through her body, she was beyond ready to leave the confines of the bank headquarters.
“Do you want to ride with me back to the hotel, so we can get some rest?”
She shrugged. “I know I probably should, but I’m too wired to sleep.”
Marco placed his large open palm on her forearm. “At least walk out with me. You can decide on the way.”
She felt a smile touch the corners of her mouth. Gathering her purse and the case holding her clipboard and other supplies, she tapped Chloe on the shoulder. “Will you be able to get back to the hotel?”
The blond technologist working with her offered, “We’ll have a car bring her as soon as she’s done, and I’ll personally escort her.”
“Thank you.” Joi glanced around at the remaining staff. There were four women and two men, including Chloe’s partner, still at work. Knowing that Chloe was in good hands, Joi followed Marco out of the room and into the corridor, toward the elevator bank.
In the silent hallway, he turned to her as they waited for an elevator car. “Are you sure you’re not tired?”
She chuckled, wondering where this line of questioning was going. “I feel like I’ve gotten my second wind.”
He reached out and clasped both of her hands in his. As the elevator doors chimed and slid open, he spoke. “Then walk on the beach with me, Joi.”
She let her fingertips graze the stubbled line of his jaw. “That sounds lovely.”
* * *
Marco called the car service, and had the driver deliver him and Joi back to the hotel. The Hotel De Sol’s prime beachfront location on the shores of Limón made it his preferred accommodations whenever he visited home. As a full-grown single man, he found staying at his parents’ house to be awkward at best and unbearable at worst.
When they exited the car and started for the hotel’s lobby, he stayed a few steps behind her so he could watch her walk. The delicate, sensual sway of her hips held his attention, fueling the fires of passion already burning inside him. She was a lot of woman, and he was just the man to fill her needs.
She stopped at the elevator bank and jabbed the up button.
He strolled up next to her. “Meet you back down here in fifteen minutes.”
She gifted him with a soft smile and nodded. When the doors opened, she stepped inside the car. “Aren’t you coming?”
Their rooms were both on the tenth floor, but with the way he felt, Marco knew better than to isolate himself in an elevator car with her. “I’ll take the next car. If I get in there with you, you may never want to come out.”
“I’m sure I would get off, though.” She winked.
His groin tightened instantly at the naughty little double entendre.
The doors began to close, but he got a look at her sly smile before they shut fully.
By the time he got his own elevator car up to his room, he was so hard he had to think of basketball statistics so he could walk straight.
He took a few minutes to strip off the clothes he’d been wearing and slipped into a pair of casual black slacks and a white linen shirt. With a pair of sandals on his feet, he returned to the lobby to meet Joi.
He saw her standing by the lobby’s rear door, wearing a long, flowing floral-print sundress. Whisper-thin straps bisected her shoulders, baring her collarbone and arms.
She turned his way as he approached, and reached out her hand for his. The simple gesture touched him deep within. He felt a smile spreading over his face as he took her hand and led her through the hotel’s building and across the grounds to the beach.
Soon they were under the light of the full moon, walking along the strip of soft white sand bordering the Caribbean Sea. The moonbeams lit the water’s surface, illuminating the frothy white waves as they rose and fell. The sound of the water’s movement soothed his mind, and he relished hearing it up close again.
He turned his head, watching her stroll along beside him. The breeze coming off the water played through her hair, lifting the dark waves of it so that it swirled around her head like a halo.
“It’s beautiful out here.” She made the remark while looking reverently out over the water’s dark surface.
He gave voice to his own thoughts. “Almost as beautiful as you.” He saw her expression change, and even in the dim light, he knew she was blushing. “I remember coming here as a boy with my parents. We came here at least two weekends every month, to picnic and enjoy ourselves.”
“Do you have any brothers or sisters?”
He shook his head. “I’m the only child of Cruze and Iveliss Alvarez.”
She looked up at him then, seeming concerned. “Didn’t you ever feel lonely?”
“Far from it. My parents adored me, and I enjoyed every bit of attention they gave me. They played with me, and I always had friends from school. But at home, whatever I had was my own, and I liked that.”
Joi chuckled. “Actually, that explains a lot about your personality. Apparently all that attention from your parents has turned you into the charmer you are today.”
“I like to think so.” He brushed away a lock of hair the wind had blown into her face. “What about you? I believe you said you had a sister.”
“I have an older sister, Joanne. It was just the two of us growing up. Poor Daddy was the only male in the house, and I’m sure we drove him bonkers.”
That statement intrigued him. “What makes you say that?” They were still walking, keeping a good distance from the water’s edge.
“We were so different. Joanne is a girl in every traditional sense—tall, graceful, feminine. But me, I was a tomboy who climbed trees, didn’t like dresses and got into fights.”
He stopped walking, turning to face her. “Do tell.”
She looked a bit embarrassed, but said, “Let’s just say I don’t take kindly to people calling my sister names. So when Jerry Brown called her a giraffe, I knocked him out.”
“How old were you then?”
She shrugged. “Ten or eleven. He was fourteen, and hasn’t shown his face in town since.”
He didn’t know which was funnier, the tale she told, or the poker face she wore while telling it. Laughter boiled up inside him, tumbling out of his mouth. Soon they were both laughing at her story.
When they finally stopped laughing, she raised her free hand to her mouth, stifling a yawn. “Oh, boy. I think my second wind has petered out.”
He glanced at his wristwatch. “It’s almost three in the morning. I’ve kept you up long enough. Let’s get you inside and into bed.”
She didn’t protest, and they walked back up to the main building of the hotel.
This time they shared an elevator car, and spent the entire time locked in a heated embrace. He sprinkled his kisses over her forehead, her eyelids and her cheeks. Then he tilted her head up so he could kiss her mouth, tasting the sweetness there. When the doors slid open on the tenth floor, they reluctantly broke the kiss.
His arm draped around her shoulders, he escorted her to the door of her room. They’d been assigned rooms at opposite ends of the corridor, so he knew he’d have a bit of a walk to get to his own room, but he wanted to prolong their time together.
In front of the door, she turned to face him. A glimmer of desire danced in her dark eyes. She lifted her arms, put them around his neck. “Do you want to come inside?”
He sucked in a breath, thinking her sassy mouth would be the death of him. She had no idea just how much, and in how many ways, he wanted to come inside. “That’s the best offer I’ve had all day, but we’ve got to be back at Royal in a few hours.”
She stuck out her bottom lip in a mock pout.
“We both know that if I come in, we�
�re not going to sleep. Get some rest, Dulce.” He ran the tip of his index finger along her jawline, reveling in the sweetness of her presence while he still could.
“You’re awfully honorable, Marco Alvarez.” Her expression had softened into one of understanding.
He pecked her on the forehead. As she unlocked her door, he shooed her inside. “I hope you’ll remember that, and reward me accordingly when the time comes.”
She giggled as she let the door swing shut.
He turned, drew a deep breath and took the long walk to his own room.
Chapter 15
Wednesday morning, Joi was back in the same room in Royal’s headquarters, working with Chloe and the tech team as they attempted to disarm and dismantle the malicious worm that had eaten its way through Karen’s cybersecurity program. They’d managed to shore up the bank’s central defenses, disallowing the worm from penetrating the firewalls of the other branches. That meant the breach wouldn’t go any further, and that was an excellent start.
Joi found doing this during the day shift a bit easier, due to the bright sunlight streaming in through the wall of windows that made up the western side of the room. She’d purposefully set up her makeshift workstation so that she’d be angled toward the light, and with a few sips from the steaming cup of coffee next to her, she finally felt fully awake.
Marco was behind her, out of her line of sight on the other side of the room, but she still sensed his presence as if he were in her personal space. Her body still hummed from the remembered sensations of his touch and his kiss. He’d been right to go back to his room in the wee hours of the morning, because they both needed sleep so they could focus on their work. Still, she’d been so aroused last night that she’d lain awake for quite some time before sleep claimed her. She knew that working so hard on four hours of sleep would eventually catch up with her, but right now, she had a job to do.
All around her, laptops were open, as were notebooks. The sounds of clicking keys and the murmur of several conversations provided the background noise to her own work. Being in this environment reminded her of how much she enjoyed being in control of the physical aspects of security. This tech stuff bores me to tears. Thank God for Karen.
Thinking of her business partner reminded her to give her a call. Chloe was very capable, and she and the Royal technologists had made a lot of headway in disabling the worm, but no one knew the software like its creator. Grabbing her phone from the table, she picked it up to dial Karen.
Before she could swipe the screen, the phone rang, and Karen’s number appeared. Joi answered right away. “Hello? Is that you, Gabe?”
The answer was prefaced by Karen’s chuckle. “No, it’s me this time. I was awake enough to make the call on my own.”
Joi heaved a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank God. We need you to help us out so we can get this damn worm taken care of.”
“Of course you need me. Ultimate Lockdown is my brainchild. I can see Chloe’s already accessed my secured cloud to get the backup copy. Who’s making the modifications?”
Joi shrugged. “I guess Chloe’s doing it, but you know the technical stuff is not in my wheelhouse.”
“I’ll talk to her in a minute. Anyway, I need to let you know about the staff that trained on the software when I came in to set it up.”
Joi straightened in the metal folding chair she was sitting in. “Yes, we need that information, because this is looking more and more like an inside job.”
Karen’s tone changed to one of disgust. “I trained the three senior staffers at the branch on the software. They watched me install it and everything. Those three were Roosevelt, Nancy and Donetta. And I think I know just where to lay the blame.”
Joi’s ears perked when she heard Donetta’s name. Donetta Charles, the bank’s loan officer, rarely ever spoke to any of the other staffers. And beyond that, she hardly ever came out of her office, or even opened the door. It seemed that the bank staff was accustomed to Donetta’s antisocial ways, but as a security manager, Joi had been aware of Donetta’s odd behavior from the first time she’d met her.
“Joi, are you still there? You got quiet on me.”
“I’m just thinking about what you said. I’ve always been a little leery of Ms. Charles. I think my next call is going to be to Yolanda. She may have found something in the security footage that can help.”
“Sounds good.” Karen yawned. “I’ll call Chloe’s phone. That way I can work with her and your line will be freed up. Later, girl.”
“Bye, hon. Feel better soon.” Joi ended that call and immediately began another one with Yolanda. By the time she pocketed her phone, she had a satisfied smile on her face. While combing through ten days’ worth of security footage, Yolanda had found just the footage they were looking for.
She rose from her chair, intent on going to Marco with the news. As she crossed the room, her thunder was stolen by Chloe, who jumped up from her seat in front of one of Royal’s company laptops and squealed.
“We’ve got it, y’all! We eviscerated that worm!”
Chuckling at both her youthful exuberance and her use of the word eviscerate, Joi joined in the applause and cheering that took over the room. After this ordeal, she was pretty certain Karen would hire Chloe on a permanent basis once she graduated from Johnson C. Smith with her masters degree.
When the excitement started to die down, Joi stopped off to congratulate Chloe briefly, then made her way to where Marco stood speaking to another Royal staffer. As she approached, the other man drifted away, leaving the two of them alone.
Directing his full attention toward her, he spoke. “You look like you have something to say.”
Staring into his handsome face and mesmerizing gaze, she almost forgot what she’d come to tell him. After a few long seconds, her brain kicked into gear again. “I spoke to Yolanda, and she found something very interesting in the security footage.”
He folded his arms over his chest, his dark brow furrowed. “Really. And what was that?”
“Donetta Charles, your loan officer, brought two flash drives into the bank. We think those drives delivered the worm to your computer systems.”
His jaw hardened, as if he felt betrayed. “Flash drives. Have they been recovered?”
She shook her head. “No. The footage shows her removing them after the fact. We assume she discarded them, but she won’t be able to deny the footage.”
“And your guard could get all this from the security footage? Flash drives are pretty compact, and hard to see on camera.”
“My guards are the best in the business, and they are very thorough. I know she combed every inch of the frame, and with digital imaging, it’s easier to blow up a particular frame of the image for closer inspection.”
“Then I’ll put in a call to the authorities.”
“Yolanda already did. I imagine there will be a warrant out for Donetta’s arrest before we get back to the States.”
His expression softened. “Once again, you and your staff have impressed me. Citadel is quite an outfit.”
That made her smile, but she couldn’t resist teasing him. “Really? So does this mean you’re admitting you were wrong to judge me and my company based on the past?”
He rolled his eyes, yet he acquiesced. “Yes, I admit I was wrong. Initially I doubted you, based on my very limited knowledge of who you were. But you’ve shown yourself to be as professional and as capable as the job demands.”
She propped her fists on her hips, raised her chin with a hint of defiance. “Apology accepted, Mr. Alvarez.”
He chuckled, shaking his head. “You are too much.”
Heat crackled between them. She wanted to grab him by the arm and run away to some dark, secluded corner of the building where they could kiss and paw at each other like two hormone-crazed teenagers.
<
br /> Sal strode into the room, and that thought fled as he made a beeline straight for where she stood with Marco. Sal’s bright smile made her think someone had informed him of their victory over the worm.
“Ms. Lewis, I hear your staff has destroyed the malicious software.”
She returned his smiled. “Yes, we have, sir. Just a few moments ago.”
Sal stuck out his hand. “Impressive work, Ms. Lewis. You and your staff are to be commended.”
“Thank you, sir.” She matched his hearty handshake. “Your satisfaction as our client is the best gift we could receive.”
The older man’s salt-and-pepper brow furrowed. “Nonsense. The best gift that you and your staff could receive is the permanent security contract for all three US branches of Royal Bank and Trust.”
Her heart somersaulted in her chest. “Excuse me? I must have misheard you, Mr. Perez.”
“Let me be clearer, then. I want Citadel Security to handle the contracts for my branches in Charlotte, Los Angeles and New York.” He nudged her gently with his elbow. “Did you get it that time?”
She fought back the happy tears rising in her throat. “Yes, sir, I did. Thank you. Thank you so much.” Securing a contract this lucrative would mean a very secure future for Citadel and her staff, and that was all she’d ever wanted for her business. Remembering the size of her staff, and of her offices, she spoke. “We’ll be glad to take on the contracts, as long as you don’t mind giving us a bit of time to restructure. I want to make sure we’re equipped to meet Royal’s needs.”
“Can you be ready to take over in four months?”
It was a stretch, but she knew that if they buckled down, she and her staff could get it done. Knowing she’d be a fool to say otherwise, she accepted his terms. “Yes, sir. That won’t be a problem.”
“Excellent.” He turned to Marco. “Set her up with whatever she needs. I’ll have accounts payable forward an initial payment to her.”
“Got it, Sal.” Marco slapped his boss on the back as the older man walked away. Turning back to her, he said, “This is cause for celebration.”
A Sultry Love Song Page 13