Probably.
He could be neat, just most of the time chose not to.
“About three years.” She crossed her legs.
He liked seeing her leg encased in pants that hugged to it, but did miss the skirt and hose. “So since you’ve been working at Cybernetics.”
Her voice came cautiously. “Yeah. How did you know how long I’ve been working there?”
Oops. Because the angels sang the instant you walked into that building. If he answered that way, she’d see “stalker.” He shrugged his shoulders. “Just saw it recently on some files I was looking at.” A lie. He had no reason to be in employment records. But maybe she didn’t know that.
“Oh.” Her voice came through with what sounded like interest. “You were looking through files.”
“Just something I was working on.” Actually he’d been doing code and had noticed something a while ago. Someone had tried hacking into his system from an outside computer. He was paying more attention these days and had set up several alerts if it happened again. There had been leaks and he didn’t want the work he did outsourced like that. He might not like working for the company, but he wasn’t about to betray them. He was going to check into his desktop soon and maybe some of the code monkeys’ computers, too. Maybe someone was doing something after hours.
But that was neither here nor there right now. Right now, he had the woman of his dreams sitting with him as he fixed her computer. And he couldn’t think of a damn thing to talk about.
“What kinds of things are you working on?” He looked back to see she’d sat up in the chair.
“It’s all boring code stuff.”
“Oh, tell me about it.” She put on a falsetto voice that didn’t suit her one bit. She sounded eager, as though they were discussing something interesting.
“It’s boring.” It bored him, how could it be exciting to anyone else? Now his computer software company? That he could talk about all day.
“Not to me.” Now her voice dipped down into a husky territory. She slid her chair closer to him. “I’d love to hear about what you’re working on.”
He’d had many dreams about talking to Anna Marie. It never involved talking about his work. “Well, I’m doing some code for this program…” He droned on with technical jargon that he couldn’t bring himself to explain. Boring himself out of his gourd. This wasn’t the Flash of computers. Now Flash was a superhero worth getting excited about. “…it’s compliant with all the company policies.” He glanced back and her eyes had glazed over so he’d brought it to a short end. “Told you it’s boring.”
She blinked as though she’d just realize he’d stopped talking. “Oh no. No. Really interesting stuff.”
“Then what did I just say?” He arched a brow at her.
Her eyes widened and her tongue came out to lick her lips. At that point, she could have said the Pledge of Allegiance and he’d have agreed that was what he’d said. His cock stiffened uncomfortably under his tight pants. “I…uh. You said stuff about computers. I can’t explain it. Not like you did. I’m not smart like you.”
He whirled his chair around to face her. Second time she’d dumbed herself down in his presence. “You are a smart capable woman. Don’t put yourself down.”
Her smile was wry. “I know what I am.” She wrapped her arms around herself and looked vulnerable. Too vulnerable.
Without thinking, because if he thought about it, he wouldn’t do it, he jumped to his feet. He crossed the two steps to her chair. He knelt down in front of her and put his hands on hers. “You are a very capable woman. I don’t know how you do what you do with the phones. Put up with Bob the Boob, who’s nothing but a two bit phony.”
A smile crept up on her lips at Bob the Boob.
“You’re intelligent. I couldn’t answer so many lines. You’re…so beautiful. You have a smile that can light up the cosmos. You’re going to school and holding down a job.” He shook his head and stroked her fingers so cool under his. “You don’t give yourself enough credit. You’re wonderful.”
Oh boy. He’d shot off his mouth. Maybe he should have thought that through before he started. Was there any way to hear all that and not realize how he felt about her? What a stupid move. But he couldn’t sit by and do nothing while she said such untrue things about herself.
She gazed down into his eyes. Her eyes registered confusion, then softened. She shook her head at him. “Why do you think so highly of me? I don’t deserve it…”
He squeezed her hand before she could finish. “You deserve it and more.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I mean it. You are wonderful.”
She blinked, almost as if tears were invading her gaze. Her hand shifted to escape his and went down to stroke his face.
His face.
He swallowed. Her hand was cool as she stroked along his cheek. She was touching him. Him. He shivered a little and then nuzzled into her touch. Tingles rippled up his spine and jingled along to his stiff cock. If she touched him much more, he’d come right there in his pants like some sixteen-year-old nerd. Only he was a nerd, just not sixteen.
He shifted upward, again acting before he could think it through and rose to tower over her.
She looked up at him with unshed tears in her eyes and a look of “what’s next?” shining in her eyes.
What was next?
Only the thing he’d dreamed about doing for three years. Since the first moment he’d walked into the reception room and seen her smiling face instead of the dowager who used to have the job.
He dipped his head, quickly but not too quickly. He wanted her to know what was coming. If she chose to evade him, that was fine. It was her choice, this matter.
She didn’t evade him but sat right there in the chair, back ramrod stiff. One hand tightened on his in her lap. The other was somewhere else and he didn’t know where.
He moved ever closer to her and gently placed his lips on hers. Whatever he was expecting he got even more.
Heaven.
Her lips were soft under his. Soft and pliant. They snuggled into his like she’d been made for this moment. Slowly as his lips gently probed hers, she opened under his pressure to let him in. She tasted of mint. Must have just brushed her teeth.
There was little time for that thought as he deepened the kiss, tasting her and melding his lips with hers. Her scent surrounded him. Somehow utterly wholesome like vanilla in a warm kitchen. Only he was hot. The fires of his long suppressed passion were banking and igniting within every fiber of his being.
It was when his tongue tasted the outside of her lips and then pressed inside that he felt her shudder ever so slightly.
She was just as affected as he was by this kiss.
The flames roared up from those embers of passion and threatened to take him along with them.
He ran his hand behind her head and captured her hair in his fingers. The strands were soft and silken.
She stiffened a little.
Which meant it was time to back off.
He didn’t want to but knew that he had to. He couldn’t press this any further unless he wanted to lose his chance with her completely.
He pulled away and shoved his hands in his pockets. Probably not the best course of action as it did bring attention to the raging erection bulging out in his pants. “I better get back to your computer.” A nicer man than him probably would have apologized. One who was more a gentleman. But he wasn’t sorry that he’d kissed her. He couldn’t be. He’d dreamed of it for far too long. Not only was it everything he’d thought it would be, it was even more.
Her voice sounded hoarse. Strained. “Yeah, I guess…guess you better.” She brought her hand up to touch her mouth as though she couldn’t believe it.
“I don’t know how long this will take.” He sat down in the chair, trying to ignore how turned on he was. “When did you need the printout?”
“The what?”
“You know, your paper. That was due. That you needed to print?” The
re was still a blank expression on her face. “You said you needed to print and the virus was impeding you.”
“Oh.” Her eyes went wide. “Oh, yeah. I…umm…I don’t need it until next week.”
Was that what she’d told him before? He couldn’t remember. She seemed to have trouble remembering too.
Which filled him with positive energy.
His kiss had done that to her, hadn’t it? Had to be. He’d thrown her that much off balance, not an easy feat for Anna Marie. He’d watched her multi-task and never break into a sweat.
Yes, he’d done that to her.
He pressed a couple of keys on the computer as he went about wiping the virus from its hallowed disk drives.
She still seemed discomfited, shifting her weight in the chair as though she couldn’t get comfortable.
And that’s when he started to get an idea.
A wonderful, wacky idea.
Could he really do it? Could he really make his mouth move to ask?
He remembered once in high school, trying to ask a girl out. He’d shouted it out at her as she walked by in a fit of teenage boy hormones. He’d panicked, doing it before he lost his nerve. Maybe he should do that now? Without the shouting.
He didn’t turn to look at her but tried to appear lost in the computer’s whirs and whizzes, with his hands still on the keyboard.
“Anna Marie, would you like to go out tomorrow night?” His voice was surprisingly steady and he didn’t shout it out, so he was improving.
Her breath caught in her throat. He heard the slight sound like a gasp but didn’t dare turn to look at her. “Go out? Like a date?”
“Yeah. We could go to dinner.”
“I owe you a dinner.”
“No, you don’t. And this would be a date, not a payback dinner.” He held his breath, waiting on her answer. There was no way she would go. No way the likes of Anna Marie would spend time with him other than when her computer was in need. That kiss had frazzled his hard drive more than the virus had fried hers.
“Okay.”
The heavens might not have opened, the hallelujah chorus might not have sounded out loud, but in his head, those things happened. “Good. We can talk about it tomorrow. Or tonight before I leave.” Or any damn well time she wanted to.
He had a date with Anna Marie tomorrow night.
Chapter Four
Anna Marie fluffed her hair up for the fiftieth time. “I need to have my head examined.” And not by a hairdresser either. What was she thinking? She was thinking that the more she got to know Baxter, the easier it would be to get evidence on him and earn her promotion. That’s all she needed to be thinking about.
She definitely shouldn’t be thinking about that stolen kiss and how good his lips had felt on hers. Nuh uh. That shouldn’t be crossing her mind.
Stay focused on your goal. She then repeated the words out loud.
No matter how good his mouth feels.
“Uggh.”
The doorbell rang. She glanced at the clock. He was early. Figures. It was show time. Wonder what he had in store? Probably dinner where they sold Tab or Mountain Dew and an evening filled with Star Trek. Or Star Wars. Or one of those Star movies.
She took a deep breath and painted a smile on her face. She’d have to keep that in place no matter what the evening held.
She opened the door and Baxter stood on her stoop with his hands in his pockets. He glanced at her.
He wore a blue button down shirt and khaki pants, looking like his usual code monkey self. Only a lot more nervous. “Hi.”
She plastered that smile on her face, hoping her visage wouldn’t crack under the strain. “Hi.”
“You ready?”
“Let me just grab my sweater.” She motioned him to step in and scurried to grab her green sweater. She was wearing an emerald blouse and black skirt. She remembered to swing her hips, accentuating her walk. One look back confirmed he liked it. He seemed mesmerized. Good. That would distract him from her true purpose.
“How’s the computer working out for you?”
“Oh, it’s good. Much better.”
“I’d still like to work on building you a machine.”
She walked back, sweater in hand. “I can’t really afford it right now. My slow one will have to do.”
He nodded. “Gotcha. You ready?” He repeated the question from earlier.
“Now I am.” She tried to put on her game face as she led them both out of the door. She shut it behind her and locked it.
“Your chariot awaits. Or…well, a Honda.” He led them to a black four door. He opened the passenger side and motioned to her to get in.
Wow. He was holding the door for her. Most dates she’d had—not that she’d had many—didn’t seem interested in playing chivalrous. She hadn’t expected that from Baxter. She settled herself in the car while he ran around to the driver’s side to let himself in.
He quickly started the car and put it into reverse. His hand seemed so large on the gear shift. Amazing how those big hands could go so quickly over a keyboard.
She mentally smacked herself. She was here to gather information, not gawk at his hands. “So what are we doing tonight?”
He smiled. “I thought we’d have dinner at Bilagios.”
Bilagios was a small Italian restaurant that wasn’t at all where she’d expect him to take her. She’d never been there but had heard the food was good, price was excellent, and the atmosphere…romantic. She gulped. Not what she’d expected.
“I know you like Italian but if you’d rather eat somewhere else…” His hands gripped the steering wheel as he broke off.
He’d noticed her lack of communication and was attributing it to unhappiness at the choice in place. Darn it, she needed to get her act together or she never was going to pull this off. “Oh, no, it’s a good choice. I love Italian food.”
He beamed, happy at that answer.
The muscles in her stomach clenched involuntarily. She liked seeing him this happy. A little too much. Even as he continually surprised her, she found herself surprised by her reactions to him. She’d never been so star struck by a guy before. She shouldn’t be now. There was too much she wanted to do with her life. She’d watched her mother give up on dreams for men one too many times. That wasn’t going to be her. Her fingers bit into the door frame. No way was that going to be her.
“After dinner, I thought maybe…well, I have a friend who’s having an art show tonight down at La Casa.”
“That sounds…wait, an art show?” An art show? First Italian food, then an art show? This was a completely different scenario than fast food and a sci-fi movie—science fiction movie. She’d learned fans preferred the latter term over the former in her research about the genre. She’d been putting on her stoic face about the evening but this actually sounded as if it might be fun.
“But we don’t have to go…”
She’d clammed up again. Dang it. “No, that’s great. A friend with an art show huh? Neat.”
He shrugged. “He’s a gamer. Two other friends of mine, Joel and Sam are going to be there.”
“Joel’s your roommate, right?” Joel handled security at the company where they worked. Did he know about her assignment? Probably not. They would probably keep him out of the loop so as not to alert Baxter as they were friends. Not to mention, Joel was a security guard, not on any other security detail. Amazing that a gamer had his own art show. That was interesting. She didn’t think people who wasted time on games like that would do much else. Look at Baxter. She had to keep pointing that out to herself. Otherwise he might just seem to be a dream come true. No, Baxter was no prize even as much as he seemed to be. Or was he? She couldn’t help the doubts that kept creeping in, which was why she had to keep her thoughts on what he wasn’t rather than what he was.
“Yep. For the most part. He spends a lot of time with Sam now.”
She nodded and glanced at the scenery whizzing by. Baxter kept her off balance. She didn�
��t like it. She’d always seen what she wanted, gone after it without problems, and this promotion should be no different. She was going to get into trouble if she didn’t watch her thoughts. She rubbed her head and before she knew it, they’d arrived at the restaurant.
Baxter opened her door and held the door for her at the restaurant. They were seated within a minute after entering.
“So you like Italian? What do you usually like to order?” Baxter had opened and now perused his menu. The flickering candle made some interesting shadows on his face.
“Chicken parmesan or spaghetti.” She could be healthy other places but Italian was her one vice.
“That’s what Sam likes. Here, it’s pretty good.”
The elusive Sam. Must be a gaming buddy. Funny how they were all male in that world. Or so she thought. She nodded as the waitress came and took orders and provided drinks. Baxter did order a Mountain Dew, so she’d been partially right about where they’d eat. She’d never thought it would be here though.
They sat in the silence for a few minutes. The candle flame danced like a ballerina, bowing and straightening up. The only sound was the hushed conversations of the other diners and clinks of forks on plates.
“So, what are you working on with work?” She couldn’t stand the silence any more. Maybe she should. But of course that silence wouldn’t get her anywhere on her mission.
“Not a whole lot. Just some code… Didn’t you ask me this the other night? When I was working on your computer?”
Her insides eeked. “Maybe.” She had asked him. He’d tried to explain it to her and that had resulted in the…kiss. “I guess I did.” She gave an easy laugh, trying to blow off the repetition in question.
“It’s really boring stuff anyway.” He seemed to look down and become fascinated with the table. “The exciting stuff is what I do outside of work.”
She blinked at him. Surely it couldn’t be this easy. Was he about to tell her all his extracurricular activities? The ones that she could bust him on? Surely she couldn’t be that lucky, could she? She should have had a listening device. Something she could record this conversation on. Maybe next time. Or maybe was he was going to talk about gaming? That would be a subject that would enthrall her—not. “And what’s that?”
Code Monkey Page 4