by Lexi Blake
Jake sent Adam a long look that let Sean know something was up. Adam shook his head, but Sean knew them way too well to let it go. “If you know something, spit it out.”
Adam rolled his eyes. “Fine. But if this weren’t a mission, I would tell you to go to hell.”
Jake leaned forward. “We took a sneak peek at Grace’s eReader while we were at her place.”
“So, the lady reads. What does that have to do with anything?” Sean asked.
“The lady reads a lot about bondage,” Jake said with a chuckle. “She seems to love romance novels about BDSM, with a heavy slant toward the D/s side. I don’t know if I would peg her so much as a trained sub. She’s more like a very curious lady. I took a look at her pictures when we were at her place. She’s never wearing a collar.”
Sean felt his groin tighten. A tourist? A sweet, curious, innocent little tourist. Now that was something to think about. If Grace was really interested, he could show her a thing or two. Maybe satisfying her curiosity was a way to get close to her. But Adam and Jake didn’t need to know that. “Now tell me what you’ve learned. I know it’s going to come as a shock to you, but we’re here on a job, not to get laid.” It was a reminder he could use, too.
“Says the man planning on getting laid,” Adam shot back. “Fine. Jake and I are working in sales. It was easy enough to get in. It was also fairly easy to get access to the personnel files.”
Jake sighed. His brown eyes heated up. “Tonya in HR. She thought we were gay, too.”
They gave each other a quick fist bump before Adam continued. “We turned over the files we copied to Eve. She hasn’t come up with anything yet, but she just got them yesterday. We’ve managed to keep our ears to the ground and come up with a few choice tidbits. First, Wright is a drunk.”
Sean huffed. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
“Fine. He’s completely dependent on Grace. She’s involved with every meeting he has, except the ones with Evan Parnell. She never attends those. Parnell is a subcontractor who seems to have some sort of hold on Wright. Normally Wright specializes in white collar temps, but Parnell runs a small-time janitorial service. Three years ago, Wright brought him in as a way to get into the lower end of the temp services.”
“Why would he want to do that?” It didn’t make sense to Sean. “He has to make less money off janitorial services.”
Jake took over. “His higher-end business took a dive when everyone started offshoring their IT departments. He started out offering IT services here in the States. It was too expensive and companies started looking for cheap labor. He’s making a comeback. As you know, he’s started acting as a broker for Indian and South American companies, but the lower-end work saw him through some lean times. The question is, why hasn’t he cut Parnell loose? He doesn’t need him anymore. The other employees aren’t exactly sure what it is Parnell does. Gossip has it that Wright owes him some gambling debts.”
“Do we have his financials?” Eve should have run those. Sean pulled out his Blackberry and looked for the pertinent e-mail.
“Don’t bother, man.” Jake sat back, relaxed. “His personal finances have done nothing but increase in the last few years. He has to be hiding something. Get on Grace’s laptop. I bet everything you want to know is there.”
Sean thought about the careful way Grace had packed up her laptop before leaving for lunch. She had made sure she had it with her when she left. It was important to her, and he would have to get very close to get on it. He thought back to what Jake had said about his lasagna. Cooking was a pastime he’d taken a lot of ribbing for, but maybe it would come in handy with Grace. Maybe it would allow him to get very close to her. “I’ll download the hard drive the first chance I get. Now, tell me what I need to know to get into her bed as soon as possible.”
A long sigh escaped from Adam’s mouth. He exchanged a glance with his partner that let Sean know he’d thought this problem through. “If we have to give that sweet thing up, at least she’s going to someone we like. Here’s the skinny on little Grace…”
Sean leaned in. He didn’t want to miss a word.
* * * *
Grace tried to concentrate on the eReader in front of her but found it utterly impossible. Normally, she would be eating up the tale of a lovely submissive and her Master, but tonight the words swam before her eyes like a playful school of fish. They swam this way and that and inevitably ended up looking like some scrumptious bit of Sean Johansson. First, it was his sensual lips. The bottom lip was slightly larger than the upper, giving his mouth a ridiculously sexy shape. Then she couldn’t seem to get the sight of his backside out of her brain. His trousers hugged that ass in all the right places. She wondered what he looked like in tight jeans. And nothing else. She leaned back against the headboard. The eReader fell out of her hand. She didn’t need a book. Her imagination was flying.
He would leave the top snap undone, exposing the place where his hip bones would be perfectly cut. She would love to run her fingers across that valley. There would be a line of light hair that travelled from his navel down, disappearing into his jeans like an arrow pointing the way to the Promised Land. The tent in his jeans would be impressive. His cock would be hard from the minute he looked at her.
She would get on her knees in front of him, naked with the singular exception of her heels. He would insist on the shoes, of course, and as he was the Master, he would get what he wanted. Her hands would slip inside his jeans, pushing them down over his hips, his cock bouncing free. He would order her to start at his bellybutton and lick her way down until she took the head of his cock just inside her mouth. His taste would be salty sweet on her tongue, and she would lap him up. He would want her to take him deep. It would be hard because there was so much of him, but she would try. She wouldn’t complain or tell him it was impossible. She would just relax her throat and breathe through her nose. His masculine scent would be arousing in and of itself. He would taste so good. She would love the hard feel of his hand tangling in her hair as he fucked her mouth.
The shrill ring of the phone brought Grace out of her fantasy.
Grace sat up. She wasn’t sure when she’d slumped down in the bed, probably the same time her hand found its way into her now awfully wet panties. Her finger had been circling her clitoris as she’d thought about sucking Sean Johansson dry. She glared at her phone. It had been a long time since she’d even wanted to masturbate. Shouldn’t she be left to do that in peace?
Grace looked down at the caller ID and sighed. Naturally. He couldn’t just sleep it off. “Hello, Matt. The aspirin is on the nightstand.”
There was a shuffling noise. “Oh, thanks, Grace.”
Grace could hear him fumbling, the cap to the aspirin obviously challenging him. If he kept this up, she would have to start pulling out the proper dose so he didn’t have to do anything so complex as opening a bottle.
“Are you all right, Matt?” Despite the burden he had become in the last couple of years, she had a hard time forgetting that he had been the one to save her from working at a fast-food joint. He had also been the one to offer her health insurance. Matt had been the one to understand when she needed to work from home or take off a little early to attend her sons’ baseball and football games. Matt had been an anchor after her husband had died. She took a deep breath and banished her annoyance. He had a lot of leeway with her. “How do you feel?”
“I feel like shit on several levels, Gracie.” He sounded past sober now. He would be going into his “woe is me” phase. “Tell me, did I scare off Johansson?”
She thought about the way Sean had pulled her into his arms before the asshole on the motorcycle could take her head off. There had been no hesitancy to him. He’d been masterful in the way he saved her. It had done all kinds of things to her pink parts. “I think it would take a lot to scare Mr. Johansson.”
She blushed when she thought of the instinctive way she’d called him “Sir.” She’d been fantasizing about him all
afternoon. She was damn glad he couldn’t possibly know what that meant to her. He would probably run screaming from the building if he knew she viewed him as her dream Dom. Not that she’d ever actually had a Dom. Her husband had laughed when she said she wanted to try. She’d loved Pete, but he’d been very vanilla. He hadn’t even liked her reading about BDSM.
There was a long pause on the other end of the line. “He was flirting with you pretty hard.”
“I’m sure he flirts with everyone.” She had reminded herself of that little truth over and over again. Sean was beyond hot. He was smoking and completely out of her league. Even if she’d been twenty years younger, that man would be playing a different ball game from her.
“He seemed very interested in you. He was the one who insisted on bringing you along.” Matt’s voice was a gravelly mess. There was no mistaking the hint of accusation in it.
Grace sat up a little straighter. She wasn’t used to that tone coming out of his mouth. From day one, they’d had a strange relationship, she and Matt. They were friends, more partners than boss and admin. Now, he sounded like she’d done something improper. “Well, it’s a good thing. I was able to drive you home. I don’t think it would have made a very good impression on the client if he’d had to take you home. Your place is a mess. What happened to your housekeeper?”
“She quit. I haven’t found a new one.”
That explained it. Matt was a bit of a pig. She made a mental note to find him a new service. “It’s a disaster area. It looks like a tornado hit your living room. And you need to do some laundry.”
“It’s not that bad. I know where everything is. Well, I know where all the important things are.” He paused for a moment. “Son of a bitch. I think I’ve been robbed. Think Grace, was the door open or locked?”
“It was locked. I had to use my key. I didn’t notice anything missing.” There hadn’t been. His monster TV had been in its place, along with his plethora of electronic equipment. His laptop had been in its bag with him. She hadn’t checked the safe.
“Damn it.” He sounded like he was running. “Damn it to hell. Where’s the thumb drive? I had the thumb drive on me. They couldn’t have taken it.”
“Matt, calm down. Are you talking about the thumb drive that was in your pants pocket?” She’d found it when she’d helped him undress. It had fallen to the floor with a little bounce.
He breathed heavily into the phone, relief apparent in his tone. “Yes. The thumb drive that I brought home with me tonight. I put it in my pocket before we left for the restaurant.”
“It fell on the floor. I picked it up.”
“This is very important, Grace. Where did you put it?”
“I put it in my purse,” Grace replied. “You have a habit of losing thumb drives, then I have to find whatever important data you’ve managed to misplace. Do you know how long it took me to replace the payroll data the last time you lost it?”
Matt growled. “I don’t give a shit about the payroll data. Just get over here and bring me that drive.”
Grace looked at the phone like it was a snake that might bite her. He’d never spoken to her that way before.
“Grace?”
She put the phone back to her ear. “I’ll be over as soon as I can change. I was ready for bed. It’s almost midnight, after all.”
“Gracie, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled like that. It’s been a trying day, but I shouldn’t take it out on you. You’re the only one on my side. Won’t you please bring me that drive? It’s got some info I need for the Kelvin bid. I thought I would stay up awhile and get some prep work done.” He was all syrupy sweetness now. He sounded much more like the Matt she knew.
She took a firm hold on her temper. She didn’t see what was so important it couldn’t wait until the morning, but she was through arguing. “All right. I’ll be there in a bit.”
He agreed. Grace hung up her cell and rolled out of bed. Her nice night of dreaming of hunky executives was blown. She pulled the thumb drive out of her purse. “Stupid little thing. You’re costing me sleep and some special quality time with Bob.”
She needed to get a life, she thought as she pulled on jeans and wrestled the girls back into a bra. She’d named her vibrator. It was a sure sign that she’d taken a wrong turn. Of course, she also referred to her boobs as the girls, when they were obviously mature women, so she had to forgive herself for being fanciful. She pulled on a T-shirt. It occurred to her that he could still lose the damn thing. It made sense to download the data before she turned it over to him. She turned on her laptop and had whatever data it was that was so important tucked safely away before she left the house.
* * * *
Matt’s street was very quiet as she turned into his driveway. Grace checked her rearview mirror and breathed a small sigh of relief. There wasn’t anyone behind her now. For awhile, she’d thought she was being followed, but given the time of night and how tired she was, she brushed off the feeling as paranoia.
Soft lights broke through the dark night. It looked like Matt had every light in the house on. The minute she opened the car door, Matt was striding out of the house. He was dressed in pajama bottoms and a T-shirt, his feet bare. His hair was wet from a recent shower. Even in the dim light, she could tell his eyes were red.
“Did you bring it?” His hand was out as he walked across the yard.
Grace practically threw the damn thing at him. “There’s your thumb drive.”
She turned to get back in her car. Matt’s hand was on her shoulder in an instant.
“Come inside. Just for a minute. I want to talk to you about something, and it’s best we don’t do it at the office.” His voice had softened, and the hand on her shoulder ran down her arm. “Please?”
Grace sighed and followed him inside. It seemed like the night was never going to end.
She walked through his entryway and into the living room. It looked as though he’d tried to straighten up the place. The pillows were back on the couch, and the papers that had been strewn all over were now in a neat pile on the coffee table. Matt shut the door behind them and gestured to Grace to sit down. She planted herself on his sofa and hoped this would be over soon.
“What is it, Matt?” Grace asked, trying to sound somewhat interested in what he had to say. She bit back a yawn. She needed her beauty sleep. Sean Johansson would be back in the morning. She didn’t want to look like a hag. She wondered briefly if she had a low-cut blouse in that closet dungeon of hers.
“I need to talk to you about this Johansson guy.”
He had Grace’s full attention now.
“I don’t want you to make a fool of yourself over him. You have to see he’s not really interested in you. He’s interested in getting a good contract.” Matt stood over her like a father talking to a recalcitrant daughter. His mouth was a flat line as he regarded her.
“I know that.” Grace felt her face go up in flames. She wished she didn’t have such damn fair skin. She couldn’t hide her reactions. She did know Sean wasn’t really interested. She’d told herself the same thing. Hearing it put so bluntly, though, made her feel like an idiot for the little daydream she’d had before.
“Do you? You can’t possibly believe he wants you. He’s ten years younger than you and looks like he could have any woman who caught his eye. Don’t try to tell me you didn’t notice. You were practically drooling over the bastard the minute he walked in the door,” Matt said on a low growl.
Humiliation washed over her. Grace stood up, blinking back tears. She was not going to cry. “It wasn’t drool. It was a product of my advanced age. Now, if you’re done, I’ll take my elderly bones and ugly face and get the hell out of here.”
“Damn it, I’m fucking this up.” Matt’s face fell. He reached out to grab her hand. “I’m sorry, Grace. I can’t get anything right today. Number one, you’re not old. You’re forty, a year older than me.”
She held herself stiffly. It was different for a man. She knew it.
He knew it.
His words were soft and cajoling now. “And there is absolutely nothing ugly about you. God, Grace, sometimes I think I stopped dating because I figured out I was never going to find anyone as lovely and amazing as you.”
Grace snorted. She knew it was a horrible sound, but she couldn’t help herself. He couldn’t possibly insult her like that and then think she would buy his compliments. “Don’t feed me a line of crap.”
Matt straightened up. “It’s not a line of crap. It’s true. Maybe seeing how that big blond bastard affected you is making me come to my senses. I need to get off the fence, or I could lose you. I really care about you, Grace. I think we make a good team. We work well together. We like each other. Well, I like you and you tolerate me. It’s not a bad basis for a relationship.”
“Are you still drunk?” Grace leaned in to get a good whiff of his breath. It wouldn’t be the first time he attempted to get over a hangover by starting in on a new drunk.
Matt leaned over. One minute Grace was trying to discern her boss’s recent liquor intake, and the next his lips were shockingly pressed against hers. Grace was stunned into stillness. Matt’s hands found her waist, and he pulled her close. Her chest was smashed against his. Matt’s dry lips nibbled at hers almost hesitantly, then with more force as his hands began taking a bold voyage towards her rear end.