by Claire Adams
“Okay, I really need to get back to work now,” I whispered as I looked up at his amazing eyes.
“I’m not stopping you.”
“Yes. Yes, you are. Your lips, your hands, those damn eyes… They are too hard to resist.”
“I’ll close my eyes.”
He did close his eyes and pulled his hands behind his back as he stood there smiling at me. I used the only bit of willpower I had to kiss him quickly, one last time, and then ran into the building.
“Mattie, I’m in love.”
“Wow, you look in love. But you hardly know this guy. What happened to taking it slow?”
“Why do I look in love? Is it because I’m smiling? Damn, I can’t stop smiling. Even thinking about him has my body tingling from my toes to my head. What is going on? I seriously didn’t plan this at all. I couldn’t have planned this. I hardly know him, oh man,” I rambled on as I collapsed in my seat.
“That consultant guy was here a minute ago; he needs you to log him into the system so he can look for the errors again.”
“Oh God; it’s ridiculous that Robert would rather let some strange consultant fix things than allow me to do my job. It’s like he doesn’t care that I actually work here.”
“Chauvinist pig,” she said, using my words from a few days before.
“We went to lunch, and we flirted so hard.”
“Mmmm, do tell.”
“I feel like I’m not even in control of my own emotions when I’m around him. It’s like he has a grip on my heart and is pulsing it harder and harder each time we meet.”
“That’s grossly graphic.”
“I know, but it’s true. I’ve spent the last few years terrified to have any sort of real relationship, but here I am feeling all sorts of love with a guy I barely know.”
“A rich guy you barely know,” she said with a smile. “Let’s be honest here, Del, he’s an awesome catch. He’s nice, handsome, smart, and rich. I don’t think even you could find a reason to push this guy out of your life.”
“Who knows? I seem to have a knack for ruining good things.”
When the consultant came back to my desk, I was forced to get back to work and couldn’t keep talking with Mattie. I felt bad that the consultant had to bother with our issues; it obviously wasn’t what his job normally was, but Robert had a way of convincing people to do things for him. His level of bossiness was off the charts, even around people who didn’t work at the company.
“How are you two doing with this problem? You know I expect this to be figured out soon,” Robert said as he hovered over the two of us.
“Sir, we are on top of it and should have it secured shortly,” the consultant answered.
“Yep, we got this,” I added.
Robert didn’t stay long enough to hear my answer and quickly went back to his office. Sometimes I wasn’t sure if he was a chauvinist pig or just a jerk to everyone. I was starting to think that acting like a jerk was just part of his character.
“If you’d like to show me the server where the financial data is kept on, I think there’s a link that needs to be secured so we can verify there isn’t a hacker. The financial data seems to be the main information they go after, so let’s make sure that is secure and we can move on from there to look for their trail.”
“Of course,” I said as it hit me. “We have some very high profile clients with a lot of money. We definitely can’t have hackers getting access to their personal information.”
“See this,” the consultant said as he pulled a string of code out and pasted it to the clipboard. “What’s this look like to you?”
“I don’t know. I’d have to compare it to the original code. What do you think it is?”
“It looks like a worm. I’ll let you do some research, and then I’ll come back tomorrow to see if we can fix it. Let me make a quick copy of this code and I’ll look it up at home tonight, too.”
The consultant put a flash drive in and quickly copied the information we were looking at. I hated to admit it, but I was a little relieved he had found the error so quickly. It certainly did look like some erroneous coding and that was the first sign of a hack in our accounts.
The consultant didn’t seem like the typical computer guy, and although I tried not to notice, I couldn’t help it. He was muscular and fit – not really the norm for computer nerds. But then again, I wasn’t the norm for a computer nerd, either.
My heartrate was sky high as I spent much of the rest of the evening going through code and trying to see if there were any other signs. If that code was fake, there had to be more, or at least some other sign that I could use to find the hacker. It was also entirely possible there wasn’t a hacker at all and the code was a vital part of the system.
The longer I stared at the screen, the more I started to question my own ability as a computer professional. I had been working with the coding on our website for several weeks and had not been able to find the error. But within one afternoon, the consultant found erroneous coding in our financial system. It really bummed me out that I hadn’t found it first.
It was close to midnight when I finally climbed in my car to go home. I check my phone before getting on the road and just in time to see a text come through from Brandon.
Brandon: How’s your night? Are you curled up in bed thinking about me?
Delilah: Still at work. Getting on the road shortly, though.
Brandon: That’s probably my fault for dragging lunch out so long. Sorry J
Delilah: No worries. We actually have a big a mess going on here. Certainly not your fault. I had fun at lunch.
Brandon: Me, too. I’ll let you get to driving. I’ll pick you up tomorrow at seven.
Delilah: Deal. See you then. I’ll text you my address.
Brandon: Goodnight. Try not to have too many dreams about me.
Delilah: Night.
Oh, I was planning on having as many dreams about Brandon as humanly possible. I hoped I would have so many nasty, naughty dreams that I’d wake up in a state of pure bliss. Our little lunch date was going to fuel my dreams for a long time to come. Pretty much all the time I’d spent with Brandon since meeting him was fueling my naughty thoughts at night.
It had been so long since I’d allow myself to be a sexual being. I’d spent the last few years as a mother and a responsible employee. Those were the only ways I identified myself. But now, with Brandon, I felt like a sexually attractive woman who was desired and longed for. I really hadn’t realized how much I missed feeling attractive and desired.
Desire was just one of those feelings you didn’t realize how much you missed, until it came back to you after being gone for a very long time.
So far, dating Brandon had been absolute perfection and I couldn’t wait to see how our date went on Friday. I didn’t have expectations and I wasn’t pushing myself into a relationship. I genuinely was happy with exactly how things were going. I was even happier with how full of energy and life I felt because he had come into my life.
PART 3
Chapter 12
Brandon
“What are you doing on your trading account?”
“I’m just checking to see what’s going on. They still haven’t cleared that flag, though.”
“I’m starting to think you’ve got a real-life investigation going on here. I think we need to look at the companies you’ve invested in and see if we can figure this out. With your card getting frozen the other day, this isn’t looking good, Brandon.”
Josh was looking out for me and I knew it, but I didn’t like to be scared for the hell of it. I liked real data and so far, we didn’t have any of that. So far, we just had a red flag on my account and nothing more.
“The credit card thing was because of a mess up with Rose, it wasn’t part of this,” I tried to assure him.
As the words left my mouth, I doubted them, though. Was it all totally unrelated? Or had I actually invested in something that triggered an investigation? I real
ly had no idea, and I knew if I was going to be able to get to the bottom of things, I needed to be totally honest with Josh.
My life had been pretty much by the book. I followed usually the rules, and when I didn’t, I was still within legal limits. I wasn’t the kind of guy who looked the law in the eyes and laughed at it. I followed the law and the idea of going to prison for anything scared the hell out of me.
“Okay, well then, you are probably fine.”
“Josh, I need to show you something,” I reluctantly said as I logged into the purchasing area of my account. “I continued trading for the last few days, and I even did pretty well.”
“What? Brandon!”
“Shit, I know; but if they were investigating me already, then it wouldn’t have mattered. I didn’t invest in anything I shouldn’t have.”
“I’m telling you, Brandon, they find a way to connect you to the weirdest things. I had a friend who was investigated because he purchased a lot of diapers online and happened to invest in the same diaper company. None of it was illegal and he happened to have twins, so he bought a lot of damn diapers, but it was a disaster.
“If it’s all right with you, I think we should have my friend check this out. He’s a private investigator and can dig up some details for us. At the very least, he will be able to confirm whether there is or is not an investigation going on. Is that all right?”
“Should I get my attorney involved?”
I didn’t want to have to call my attorney. Not only was he hundreds of dollars per hour, but I really didn’t want to waste his time if there was nothing actually going on. It was entirely possible that neither my online account nor my banking issue were a big deal, at all.
There was a loud knock at the door, which scared the crap out of me and Josh. We both sat still and looked at each other for a moment before I got up to answer it. I couldn’t explain why, but I was afraid. Maybe it was that I was afraid someone was coming to arrest me, or just afraid because of how loud the knock had been; but I certainly was worried.
“There’s a scary-looking dude in a suit,” I said and shrugged because there was no reason for a dude in a suit to be at my house. “If something happens, call my lawyer; his number is in that top drawer.”
“Hello, I’m looking for Brandon Baker,” the man said as he removed his sunglasses.
He flashed a smile at me that barely hid the dangerous look in his eye. If he hadn’t been wearing a suit, I would have thought he was there to rob the place. His muscles bulged at the seams and his neck was at least as large as my leg.
“Can I help you?”
“Hi, I’m Antonio Pryor with the Securities Exchange Commission. I’d like to ask you a few questions about your old business partner. Do you have a minute?”
A wave of relief rushed through me. My old business partner was the guy who had bought my company from me. I was up for answering questions about anyone else as long as I wasn’t the one in trouble. I breathed a sigh of relief as I let the man into my house.
“Brandon, should I call your attorney?” Josh asked as he joined us in the entryway.
“No, I think we are okay here. Do I need an attorney?”
“That’s up to you. I just have a couple questions about your interactions with your business partner leading up to the sale of your company. I’d be happy to set up an appointment if you’d like to wait and have your attorney present.”
“No, no, I don’t have anything to hide. What can I help you with?”
“Mr. Miller purchased your company on the first of April, is that correct?”
“Yes, I believe that is the day the sale was final. We had worked together for many years up until he purchased the company, though.”
“Were you aware that Mr. Miller had sold off all his shares in your company prior to making the offer?”
“No, I’m not close with him or privy to his investing strategies.”
“Doesn’t it seem suspicious that he would want to get rid of the shares in a company that he believed so much in and was going to make an offer on?”
“Again, I don’t know. I’m not privy to how he makes his investing decisions or purchasing decisions. Is that illegal?”
“There’s more to the investigation, but that’s all for now. That’s a nice painting there,” the man said as he noticed my new large painting I had purchased a few weeks prior.
“Yes, it’s new.”
“Interesting that a man of your stature would be fond of childlike artistry and prostitutes.”
“What?” I asked in total shock.
It was bad enough the guy was making fun of my art taste, but why the hell was he saying I liked prostitutes? That was absolutely not the truth, and I started to get worried that his guy wasn’t who he said he was.
“That woman you were out with a few nights ago – she’s a known prostitute and swindler. You should be more careful of the company you keep,” he said as he made his way toward the door.
“Who? Delilah? She is not a prostitute! And what do you know about who I date? Am I being followed? Am I under investigation?”
This guy had some nerve coming into my house and pretending to be investigating my old partner when he really wanted to get to me. It couldn’t be legal to get information the way he was. I hadn’t done anything wrong. Even if there was some sort of investigation, I would have had some contact with the agency.
All my alarms were going off about this guy. The problem was he was the size of a bus and not really the type of person I wanted to mess with.
“Hey, what’s your badge number?” Josh asked as he grabbed a piece of paper to write the information down. He must have been feeling the same weird sense that this guy wasn’t who he said he was.
“You stay out of this or I’ll make sure you have a full investigation on your trading practices, as well, Mr. Josh Market.”
“I know the law and if I ask you for your badge number, you are required to give it to me. I am asking for your badge number, sir.”
The guy in the suit didn’t look like the type you wanted to mess with. He stopped dead in his tracks and used his muscular hand to straighten out his tie while he stared at Josh and me. We both were pretty damn close to pissing ourselves as his intense gaze looked at us like he wanted to break our necks.
The way he stood there without moving had me wondering what I would do if he didn’t leave? I certainly couldn’t force the guy out of my house; he was at least twice my size. I looked at Josh, who continued to stare at the man in the suit – who started to move toward both of us.
“Hey, hey, now. Let’s calm things down,” I interjected. “Is there an issue with giving us your identification? It seems to me that a legitimate investigation would mean that I had a right to contact your office. Just give me your badge number and I’ll be in contact, it’s as simple as that.”
“I don’t take orders from scum like you.”
“Okay, well, I appreciate that you don’t like to take orders. Is there some other way we could verify who you are?”
Negotiating was one of my best skills. I had worked large corporations over for millions and they thanked me in the end. Being nice and compromising when it was possible was necessary in any situation.
Unfortunately, this Antonio Pryor person didn’t seem like the type who liked to negotiate. He seemed more like the kind of guy the mob hired to go break someone’s knee caps…if that sort of thing was still going on in the world.
“You think a lot of yourself, don’t you?” he turned toward me.
There was one time in the sixth grade that a bully had started to pick on me because of the sports team I liked. I felt almost the same way as I did in that very moment as this big dude in a suit moved closer to me. I couldn’t think of a way out of the situation, and I didn’t want to think about how easily I would cry when he laid his hands on me.
“If you touch him, I’ll kill you,” Josh said with all the confidence of the nerd he was.
By that
point, both Josh and I were visibly sweating, and it was pretty obvious we were scared to death. Neither of us were the fighting type. People loved me – I didn’t have to fight with anyone. People liked Josh, too; he was the funny guy everyone was friends with.
“I think you should leave,” I managed to say in a solid voice without quivering.
I would have fought him. No doubt about it, I would have thrown some pretty damn good punches and put up a fight. But I would have lost. Hell, both Josh and I together couldn’t have taken this guy; not to mention he looked like the type who was probably carrying a gun, as well.
“Kiss my ass,” the man said as he quickly turned and walked out the front door. “The next time I come here, I won’t be so forgiving.”
This was not happening. My hands turned clammy, and I tried to get a good look at the man’s license plate as he sped off, but I couldn’t. Nothing about the situation seemed right. I couldn’t remember the last time I felt fear like I did while he had been in my house.
If I was under investigation, they wouldn’t just come to my house with one guy. Any investigation would have required two interviewers; no federal agency would send just one. Plus, the pure size of the guy made it unlikely that he actually worked for the Securities Exchange Commission; they were filled with brainiacs and number crunchers. Of course, it was possible that he worked there, but my gut was saying something else was going on and I had to figure it out.
“Now, it’s time to call your lawyer.”
“I have no idea what’s going on here. Is this about me or about Antonio?” I mumbled as I talked to myself and tried to figure out what was happening. “It seemed like it was actually about me. But he didn’t work for the government. Was he casing the joint? Maybe going to rob me or something? Perhaps going to try and blackmail me? This is so strange.”
“Yeah, it’s strange and dangerous. Brandon, you’re a billionaire. People come after men like you because they want money. Any number of things could be going on here. We need to get your lawyer involved, and we probably need to call the police.”