by Sophie Stern
Then there was Allison.
It was a small group of people, but Allison understood that the guys probably wanted to keep this little breach as quiet as possible. That might not be feasible, unfortunately. Allison knew just as well as anyone else that gossip spread like wildfire. If James already knew, then other people already knew, and if the Monster brothers weren’t careful, it was going to be the talk of the town on Sapphire Island.
“What happened?” Declan was asking. He was pacing at the front of the room. Each of the brothers had their own little quirks. Declan’s was that he paced so much he’d actually started to wear out the flooring in his office.
“Sit down,” Brian said calmly. Brian was leaning back in his chair and had his legs crossed and propped up on the conference table. He didn’t seem the least bit concerned with what had happened, which was strange. Brian was, in many ways, the face of the company. Allison would have thought that he, out of everyone else, was the person who would be panicking.
“On Saturday night, McKenzie alerted me that there had been some sort of security...probing,” Christopher said.
He was sitting beside Brian, and even though he was speaking to the room, Allison felt like he was talking directly to her. It was a bit unnerving. She could still see his lips on hers. She could still taste him. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She needed to focus on what he was saying, and not on how good that kiss had felt.
“So, you came in,” Brian said. “You dealt with it.”
“I thought that I did,” Christopher said. “I was here all weekend working on everything that I could. From where I was, it seemed like minor stuff. I figured some kids had gotten a little too crazy with their high school computer class and had tried to hack us.”
“You were wrong,” Declan said.
“Very wrong,” Peter agreed.
“You were here, dipshit,” Christopher glared at Peter. “Do not try to throw me under the bus for this one.”
Peter had the decency to blush, and Allison quietly cheered for Christopher. She’d never liked Peter much. He’d always seemed somewhat sniveling to her. That probably wasn’t a very fair assessment. Peter was just an ordinary guy who wanted to do ordinary things. The fact that he was head of digital security meant he was allowed to access more confidential information than she was, though, and that bothered her more than she was willing to admit.
Allison had paid her dues at the company. She’d worked long hours and she’d turned down other offers to work for competitors because she believed in the mission of this organization. The fact that she’d been excluded frustrated her, but knowing that Peter, of all people, knew more than her was even more annoying.
“Uh,” Peter sputtered, but Brian rolled his eyes.
“Don’t bother saying anything else,” he snapped.
Peter looked at Brian sharply, but Brian continued.
“You were the one who was supposed to protect us from this shit. We’re a fucking security company, yet we got hacked? That’s not going to look good for any of us. It’s not going to please our investors, and it’s not going to please our clients, and it’s really, really not going to please me.”
“Well, I, um, I...”
“We need a plan,” Allison finally spoke up. All eyes were on her.
“We already know that,” McKenzie said. Allison didn’t care. McKenzie was a total suck-up. She’d do anything if she thought it would get her some attention from the bosses. McKenzie had had an open crush on Brian for what felt like an eternity. Brian was either completely oblivious or wildly disinterested, and Allison didn’t know which was worse.
Ignoring McKenzie, Allison stood up. She smoothed her clothing and moved to the front of the room. Declan seemed amused by this turn of events, and he stepped aside. He even managed not to pace while she was standing up there. Christopher just kept watching her, looking at her like she was the most important person in the room. Somehow, that gave her the willpower and the courage to keep talking.
“What do we know so far?” Allison said, pointing to Rebecca. “Can you sum it all up in a few sentences?”
“Absolutely. Saturday night internal alarms went off notifying us that someone was trying to access a classified server. Mr. Monster and his brothers were notified immediately. They came into the office, along with Peter and me. McKenzie was the one who raised the alarm.”
So, Allison was the only one who hadn’t been called in.
Interesting.
“Really?” Allison looked toward Christopher. “You called in every single person but me?”
“I...”
She wasn’t sure whether she should be offended or pissed that Christopher had left her out of this. She understood that he hadn’t wanted to bother her, but she was bothered. She didn’t deserve to be left out of her own career. She’d deal with that later.
“It’s fine,” she said, not wanting to start an argument. “I’m sorry,” Allison turned back to Rebecca. “Please continue.”
“Upon investigation, Mr. Monster came to the conclusion that no personal information had been leaked. It was just someone testing the waters.”
“They were trying to figure out how tight the security was,” Allison said. “I get it. What were they after? Any idea?”
“What they accessed today was pretty straight-forward. They tried to get some employment files and, if I’m correct, potentially some data on previous employees.”
“That’s weird,” Allison said. She looked to Christopher. “Have you fired anyone recently?”
“No.”
“Strange.” Allison would have to mull it over. She did some of her best thinking in the bath, and there was definitely a nice, long bath in the cards for her tonight. She’d earned it, she thought. She deserved to just go home, lay down, and relax. She could take some time to think about everything they’d covered because she really did need to figure this all out.
The group talked for a few more minutes. Declan and Brian had meetings they had to attend, so they took off. Christopher got irritated with Peter and sent him away. That left Rebecca, McKenzie, Allison, and Christopher to finish coming up with a plan of action, which they did.
Christopher wanted to know exactly what files had been accessed. He said that if they could get that squared away, then everything else would become clear. Allison trusted him, but she had a feeling there was more to this than that. Christopher still seemed to think that whatever it was they were dealing with was minor kid stuff. He didn’t think the company was really in danger. He didn’t think he was in danger.
But Allison did.
Chapter 5
The rest of the week flew by. Christopher had daily meetings with his team to try to figure out what was going on. They discovered that the breach had occurred sometime during lunch from one of the common computers in the break room.
Yes, the Monsters offered computers to their employees in the break room. It was supposed to be one of the perks of working for them. Apparently, it also had a dark side.
When Christopher and Allison had reviewed security footage to figure out who had been on the computers, they’d been disappointed, but not surprised, to discover the data had been wiped. Whoever had hacked them was good. Christopher would give them that. They knew enough not to leave visual evidence.
It still pissed him off that he couldn’t get ahead of this guy.
Whoever it was. Whoever he was, he was in for a rude awakening when he finally discovered their identity. Christopher didn’t like the idea that one of his employees was less than reputable. He didn’t like to consider that someone wanted to hurt his team or his company. He knew that his brothers felt the same way, but they were also busy with other things that occupied their minds.
Christopher was busy, too, but not doing anything productive.
He couldn’t stop thinking about that kiss. About her. Allison had acted completely professionally since the kiss. She’d acted like it hadn’t even happened. How had she do
ne that? He didn’t understand for a single moment how she could pretend like they hadn’t kissed each other.
Christopher must have touched himself twenty times that week. Every time he was alone, he was hard thinking about her lips on his own. He wanted to know what it would be like to have her lips on other parts of him, too. Namely, his cock. That was what he wanted. He wanted her to see his cock, to touch it. He wanted to touch her, too. Allison was lovely, and he wanted to make her come apart.
He couldn’t do that, though.
He couldn’t do any of it because he had a stupid hacker to deal with, a holiday party to plan, and a business to run. If Christopher thought he could escape and go on a vacation, he would. He deserved one more than anyone else at the company. That much was true.
The weekend was uneventful, and then it was Monday again.
Lunch time.
Lunch date time.
Would Allison show up for their regularly scheduled programming? He wasn’t sure. He had spent far too much time thinking about her for his own liking. That kiss had been...
Well, he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it.
Lunchtime came, and he watched his office door for a full fifteen minutes before he realized that she wasn’t coming. Christopher found himself irritated, rankled at this unexpected change of routine. He loved his Monday lunches with Allison. She was so sweet with how she planned something different for them every week. He always gave her cash for her troubles. He wasn’t about to expect her to pay for everything. Still, she always tried to refuse. It was cute, really.
They’d gotten into this routine, this song-and-dance, and they’d learned to really accept one another. Allison was the only person who didn’t seem to want anything from Christopher. He appreciated that. Everyone else in the world had things they expected of him. They wanted him to buy things or sell things or attend meetings.
Not her.
Never her.
He was just about to get up and head downstairs to the first-floor bakery when his office door swung open and Allison came in. She was drenched, and she was dripping all over the floor. McKenzie was right behind Allison, and she looked exasperated.
“I tried to stop her, Mr. Monster,” McKenzie whined. While Christopher appreciated everything that his secretary did for him and his brothers, this kind of thing wasn’t necessary. He didn’t need someone to stop Allison from coming into his office.
Christopher wanted Allison on her knees in front of him, playing with his balls and licking his cock.
No, he didn’t need McKenzie to keep her away.
“That’s quite all right,” Christopher told her. “You can leave us.”
“But Mr. Monster...” McKenzie’s voice trailed off as she jerked her head toward Allison’s disheveled appearance. It was true that Allison was dripping all over the floor. It was also true that she looked like a puppy that had been abandoned. Instantly, he found himself wanting to comfort her. He also wanted to be alone with her.
“You can leave us,” Christopher repeated. This time, there was a bit of an edge in his voice. McKenzie was smart enough to pick up on it because, sure enough, she left them. As soon as the office door was shut, Christopher strode over to it, locked it, and turned back to Allison. “What happened?”
“I got caught in the rain.”
“It’s the middle of winter, Allison. There’s no rain.”
“I...um...”
Christopher’s nose twitched. He looked at her stumbling for an answer, and he wondered what the problem was. How had Allison gotten so wet? Why was she so wildly soaked right now? He wanted to ease the truth out of her, but she really was dripping everywhere. Aside from that, it really was winter, and she really did look cold.
“First things first,” Christopher gestured to Allison’s body.
“What’s the first thing?”
“You need to get out of those clothes, Allison.”
“What?” Allison’s mouth dropped open just the slightest bit, and Christopher’s cock hardened. Yeah, he knew that asking someone to get naked in his office probably wasn’t the best way to start the holiday season. He couldn’t resist, though, and he couldn’t let politeness and good manners get in the way of keeping her safe.
“You’re soaking wet, kitten.”
“Well, if you have a towel or something...”
“We’re in my office. I don’t keep towels here. Now, you came here instead of going anywhere else. You could have gone home, or to your own office, or down to the locker rooms that are next to the employee gym on the second floor. You didn’t. You didn’t do any of that, which tells me you want to see me.”
“Yes,” she whispered. Allison nodded. “I do want to see you.”
“And I want to hear everything you want to tell me. You need to dry off first, though, so let me ask you again: will you take off your clothes?”
It was perhaps the most awkward way he’d ever gotten a woman out of her clothes, but he didn’t have time to stress or worry about it. She was going to get sick if she didn’t dry off soon. He didn’t give a fuck about the wood flooring in the office, although that would probably be damaged, too.
“Okay,” Allison finally nodded. She reached for the hem of her shirt and tugged. It clung to her body like a second skin, and soon, she was frustrated and shivering. It simply wouldn’t come off. It was far too clingy.
“Turn around,” Christopher growled. He was doing this as a favor. It wasn’t anything else.
Allison listened, turning around so that she was facing the wall. Her back was to Christopher, and he reached out, grabbed her clothing, and tugged it up and off. Her shirt came off easily beneath his touch. Then he unhooked her bra. It fell forward, and she caught it before tossing it aside. Allison covered her breasts before he could look, not that he was going to. He might be a dick, but he could be a gentleman when he wanted to be.
“Now the pants.”
“There’s a button,” she whispered.
Christopher stepped forward so he was right behind Allison. He reached around to her front, placing his hands on her tummy. He was very aware of the dampness of her skin as he slid his hands down to the button that kept her pants up. Allison barely breathed as he touched her, moving just a little bit closer so that he could unhook it more easily. Then he reached for the zipper and tugged, lowering it.
“Christopher,” she whispered.
“Allison.”
They were touching now. His chest was pressed against her back. Her skin was cold, but he’d warm her up. He didn’t care. Christopher reached for the top of her pants and pushed, shoving them down.
“Wait,” Allison whispered. Christopher realized that she still had shoes on. How could he have been such a fool? He dropped to the floor, kneeling behind her. Her pants were bunched around her knees, but her panties were still on. Sure enough, her heels were still on, too.
“Step up,” he tapped her left shoe. She lifted her foot, and he unhooked the strap and slid the shoe off. He repeated this with her right foot, and then he got back on his feet.
“Thank you.”
“It was nothing.”
“I’m almost naked.”
“I know.”
“I want you to see me.”
Christopher stilled. He hadn’t been expecting that. That wasn’t what this was about. Was this the most erotic encounter of his entire life? Yes. Yes, it was. He wasn’t trying to get anything out of Allison, though. They’d kissed, and it had been wonderful, but then they hadn’t talked. Sometimes, he wasn’t sure if she even liked him very much. Maybe she was just as confused as he was.
“Allison, I just want to warm you up.”
In response, she turned around and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her breasts pressed against his chest, and her pants were still halfway down her legs. Her nipples were hard as they rubbed against him, and his cock twitched, excited.
“Allison,” he whispered.
“Just kiss me,” she said quietly
. She bit her lip, looking up at him with the most beautiful eyes he’d ever seen in his life. “After you kiss me, I’ll take off my pants, and you can help me warm up, and then I’ll tell you everything.”
How could he resist such a perfect request? The truth was that he didn’t want to resist. He wanted to kiss her. Over and over, he wanted to show her exactly what he thought of her, and that would start with a peck. Then it would evolve into something more. Something wonderful.
Something wild.
So, he kissed her. Something was different this time around, though. He’d had an entire week to think about Allison and what their making out had meant. He’d had a whole week to deal with problems on his own, and to think about how much she impacted his life, and he’d come to a realization. He cared about her a lot. He liked her. She was sassy and she stood up to him. She wasn’t afraid to tell him how it was. He liked that a lot. Christopher often felt like people were scared of him, and maybe that was a good thing in the business world.
Right now, though, he was enjoying the fact that she wasn’t scared. He held his hands on her waist, and then he moved them up. She groaned a little as he raised his hands to her breasts, running his hands up and down the sides.
“More,” Allison groaned against his lips. Then, she added, “please.”
Christopher moved his hands to her front and ran them over her breasts tenderly, gently. He teased her skin with his palms touching her over and over. Soon, he was hard, and he was aching. He wanted more, and he thought she did, too. No, he knew that she did. He could scent her arousal. He could smell her. One of the perks of being a dragon shifter was that he could tell a lot about a person just by their scent. It was a fact that made many humans uncomfortable, but he used it to his advantage.
So, he teased her, playing with her body, and he kissed her over and over. Suddenly, she shivered, and Christopher pulled away. She was still wet. He needed to get her dry.
“Come on,” he murmured. Christopher helped her out of the rest of her clothes, and then he rummaged around in his office closet. Someone had left a blanket on one of the top shelves after the gift exchange last year. He couldn’t remember whether it was Brian or Declan that had received the ugly quilt as a gift. It wasn’t as bad as everyone said, Christopher thought. It was a slew of bright colors, though, and Christopher thought it had a unique sort of look. It had been sitting on the top shelf of the closet all year. Now it finally had a purpose.