“Aubrey… something,” the moderator said, covering his mic too. He grinned. “I checked out her badge when she first walked in.”
Aubrey. Huh.
Seth switched to watching her as she nodded along before scribbling something in her notes. Her gaze shifted back to him, and she blinked and jumped when she noticed Seth watching her. Licking her lips, Aubrey Something focused on her notes as if they contained the answers to the universe. Hm. She didn’t like the attention shifting to her. Turnabout was fair play.
Wait, Aubrey?
He’d received a schedule early this morning and it listed a one-on-one consultation with an Aubrey Lowen. Great. Fifteen minutes alone with someone he was already wildly attracted to? That’s a level-three professionalism challenge right there. She’d be talking about the fate of the free world, and he’d be staring at the shape of her mouth. He’d be lucky if he made it to the end of the meeting without asking her out.
He’d gone too long without dating. That’s all it was. He should let his buddy set him up with his coworker if he was this hard-up. He was practically salivating and he only knew her name and what she looked like… and that her voice sounded like warm syrup and made him want to taste her.
Now that he’d focused on her, her gaze was everywhere but on him. She even looked at the ceiling. Next, she was tapping on her notes as if he was discomfiting her. Was she shy?
Oh hell, could she get any more attractive? He’d always had this thing for brainy, shy women. And she was smart and sexy. The clingy red top she was wearing would have fueled a fantasy all by itself, and it wasn’t even revealing.
Finally, finally, the panel was over and Seth got to his feet. He could duck out a back door and escape the tempting Aubrey Lowen until later. Maybe he had time for a cold shower before their consultation.
Aubrey sprang from her chair with a hurried glance at him and started to make her way to the end of the row, despite several guys stopping her to introduce themselves. She politely nodded and shook their hands before dismissing them. Her eyes shot another furtive glance at him.
Crap. He should get out of here. She might want to speak with him, which was fine. But not now. For some inexplicable reason, he wasn’t ready.
A middle-aged guy named Chris stepped right in front of his retreat. “Seth? Or I guess I can call you Savage Lynx.”
Wincing, Seth shook the man’s hand. “I don’t answer to that anymore. That was a different time in my life.”
Aubrey was almost to the end of her row.
Fine. He’d talk to her here and now and hope he didn’t make a fool of himself.
“But what you did back then… that was amazing.” Chris grinned widely.
“And illegal.” He had a love/hate relationship with the world now that everyone knew what he’d done in a quiet dorm room, back when he thought he was invincible and believed the hacks he’d accomplished would stay secret.
“Yeah, but you do okay now.”
Hopefully Aubrey wouldn’t want to join in this conversation. Seth frowned as she turned away from him and strode toward the farthest exit. Wait, she was leaving? Without talking to him? Apparently his ego was so gargantuan he’d just assumed she’d want to talk to him, despite her nervousness at the end.
“Will you excuse me?” he said to Chris, pushing by the other man as graciously as he could.
The mass exodus swallowed up the brunette, and he couldn’t spot her in the crowd until she reached the door.
She looked back at him, her eyes widened, and she escaped through the door.
By the time he’d reached the hallway of the convention center, she was nowhere in sight.
“Damn.” He scowled and shook his head. He was behaving like a psychopath. One minute, he didn’t want to speak to her, and the next, he did. At least he’d see her later.
“Seth,” a voice called behind him, and he turned to talk to someone who wasn’t nearly as intriguing as Aubrey Lowen.
“How bad would it be if I don’t keep this consultation?” she asked her boss.
“Aubrey!” Carter said, sighing into the phone.
She’d found an out of the way spot outside the convention center for the call. “No, you know, I’m not cut out for this. I’ll pay my own expenses, and I understand if you don’t want me consulting anymore but…”
“Has he done something to intimidate you?”
Well, he existed. And everything she’d imagined about him—he was that guy and that guy seemed amazing. He’d lived up to her expectations. Then, on top of everything, he’d noticed her. “No, I don’t know. He was watching me, and I just think I’ll mess this up. I’ll sound stupid talking to him.” Even when he’d been distracted during the earlier part of the panel, he was, easily, the most dynamic and intelligent person there.
“You’ll do fine, Aubrey. It’s fifteen minutes. You can talk to anyone for fifteen minutes. Hell, read directly from the paper we gave you if you’re that worried about it.”
“But you wanted me to actually gain his confidence, get him to trust me. He’ll think I’m a weird freak. This isn’t going to help things. It might make things worse. He’ll suspect you’re trying to manipulate things, and it was his girlfriend who turned him in last time.”
Her boss sighed again. “Try to make it to the consultation. It’s a legitimate reason for being there. If that’s as far as it goes, that’s as far as it goes. It’s fine.”
“Okay. I can try.” She exhaled through pursed lips. She could do this. Hanging up, she looked at the time. In two hours, she was set to meet him. Face-to-face. And she would sound intelligent. She could do this.
Seth pinched the bridge of nose as he stared at the empty seat across from him. She’d missed the consultation. No Aubrey Lowen.
Maybe it’d been an accident. She misunderstood the time. Maybe something had happened.
Maybe he put her off with all that staring he’d done at the end of the panel. If so, it was his fault she’d missed the consultation—the consultation she’d paid quite a bit for—or her company had.
Dropping his hand to the table in front of him, Seth drummed his fingers.
It might be his fault that she wasn’t here.
If it was his fault… His eyes skimmed to his laptop. He should try to make it up to her. It was only right.
Back and forth, she paced the empty hallway. Back and forth. Ugh. Her boss was going to kill her. It was fifteen minutes! She could have managed fifteen minutes. And she was going to… right up until her panic attack and then she was wheezing from her asthma, so she’d rushed back to her room for her inhaler. She’d made it back to the convention center three minutes after her consultation would have ended.
A responsible employee would try to reschedule, not be relieved like she was. All she had to do was take a few turns and go check if there was a later appointment available. She could even explain she’d missed her appointment due to a medical reason. Which was the pathetic truth.
Her phone buzzed in her purse. Damn. Her boss was already calling? Did he know she’d missed the appointment?
“Hello?”
“He’s taken the bait,” Carter said. “He’s been searching for you ever since your appointment.”
Aubrey spun around. “What? Wait! How do you know?” She flattened up against the wall. Should she make a run for it? “Where is he right now?” Why was she panicking? He was just a man. A man who’d been like a deity to her when she was younger. A man who was so hot she got jittery and out of breath just from looking at him.
There was a pause. “No, I mean online. He’s looking for you online. He’s tripped across some of our alerts.”
She relaxed. Oh. Online. Okay.
“You did fine, Aubrey. Obviously you were able to handle it.”
She winced. “Actually, I didn’t. I had an asthma attack and missed the consult.”
More silence. “Well, apparently that worked too.”
Ugh. She wanted to bang her head against som
ething. Why was she behaving like such a freakstar?
“Maybe it’ll work better if he comes looking for you anyway. He’ll trust it more. It’s like you’ve accidentally played hard to get.”
“I don’t think he’s that interested.” She was her. He was him. He might be curious—that was all.
Carter laughed. “I wouldn’t be so sure. I don’t think he’s hacked this aggressively in years. He’s carving his way through the convention’s secure network as we speak. It’s a good thing he’s a sponsor of this convention—and I can let this slide.”
“What?” Her phone beeped. She pulled it back from her head. “Huh. Agent Wilson, I’ve got another call on my phone.”
“Sounds good. Have fun, Ms. Lowen.” She could hear the amusement in his voice. Weird.
“Hello,” she answered the phone.
“Hello.”
Her knees went weak, and she dropped against the nearby wall. Oh crap. “Hi.” Wow, that sounded dumb. They’d done the introduction thing already. She exhaled noisily. Say something. Say anything.
“Miss Lowen? Aubrey Lowen?”
Aubrey swallowed what felt like a brick in her throat. “Yes. This is she.” And this was him. He’d tracked her down—that fast.
“This is Seth Lawrence. We had a consultation twenty-five minutes ago.”
Biting her lip, she slid to the ground. “Yes. And I missed it.”
“You did. Was that on purpose?”
“Yes. Well, no. I mean, maybe.” She slapped a hand against her forehead. She could do better than this. She worked for the FBI. Well, with the FBI… and if they ever had a swimming chase, she was going to rock as an agent… well, a consultant. “Let me start over. I was going to be there, but I ended up a little, uhh, freaked out, and I ran back to my hotel room to get my inhaler.” She shook her head. “Actually, the truth sounds dumber than whatever you’d probably thought up for a reason.”
He laughed. “No, it’s okay. Did I freak you out? Because that might be the first time that’s ever happened.” She doubted it. She really did. He probably hadn’t noticed. There’d been a buzz among all the attendees when he was introduced at the beginning of the panel, and they hadn’t even mentioned his hacker handle or his history. Every time he’d spoken after that, everyone in the room had subconsciously leaned in to bask in his awesomeness. He’d been asked five times the number of questions as anyone else on the panel.
“Uhh. I was just… intimidated, I guess.”
“By me?” He sounded doubtful. How could he doubt it? Had he met him? His presence was intimidating and then there was all that he could do… Wow.
She sighed. “I know who you are.”
“A washed-up hacker who is a small business owner and has a record?”
“Washed-up? You got my phone number awfully fast.” It was even the cell that was through the FBI.
“It wasn’t that hard—you used it when you signed up for the conference. Actually, it wasn’t hard enough. I need to talk to the convention organizers about their security. It’s tissue-thin. My nephew is seven and he could have gotten in eventually. As a sponsor, if they get hacked, it makes me look bad.”
“It was nice of you to find out what happened with my consultation.”
There was silence and then an exhalation of a breath that sent shivers down her spine. “Ahh, Aubrey. I’m not being nice at all. I’d finally decided to ask you out. Not very professional or nice.”
She couldn’t help it—she smiled. “You were going to ask me out?”
“During a consultation no less. I’d figured ‘fear is the mind-killer’ so I made reservations for dinner—that way I wouldn’t back out—which was both cocky and gutless.” He snorted. “So there you go: not nice.”
“You don’t even know me. Up until this phone call, we hadn’t even spoken.”
“I figured our mutual staring during the panel indicated there was some attraction. On my part there was. Was I wrong?”
She blew out a soft breath. “No.”
“Are you married? Dating?”
“No. I don’t… I mean, I’m not.” She’d almost told him she didn’t date. Had she lost her mind?
“Me neither.”
“You still don’t know me.”
She heard the snap of a laptop being closed. “I’m closing that before it becomes too tempting to cheat and find things the easy way.” She heard a knock. “Damn, that’s my next consultation. What are you doing later?”
“Are you trying to reschedule my consultation?” This was all so baffling.
“Sure. If you feel like having it over dinner. You can fit in questions over an appetizer and hopefully we’ll have you squared away by dessert. It’s the least I can do.”
“Like a date?” He really was asking her out. This was like some crazy Mountain Dew-fueled fantasy. This was a “three Code Reds and four a.m.” feeling of surreal.
“You could call it that. Or a more in-depth consultation where food is provided.”
Aubrey’s smile grew. “Savage Lynx is asking me on a date?”
There was a pause, and her heart dropped. Maybe he didn’t like being reminded of his past. “Actually, Seth Lawrence is asking you out, but if Savage Lynx gets you to say yes… he’ll be there too.”
She licked her lips. “Savage Lynx is a bit… larger than life.”
“Is that good or bad?”
“Well, you can leave him behind in the hotel room. How’s that?”
Apparently, that was the right answer, because she could hear the smile return to his voice as he said, “Fair enough. Meet me in front of Carnevino. It’s in the Palazzo. Seven o’clock.”
“Okay.”
“You’re not going to no-show on me again, are you?”
“If I do, are you going to track me through cyberspace?”
“I don’t do that anymore. As of… five minutes ago. Next move is up to you.”
He swore under his breath as he stalked toward his hotel room. So much for leaving time for a shower. At least he could brush his teeth… which he would have done anyway. Good oral hygiene was important.
It’s just as well the only appointment today that might have made him sweat had no-showed on him. It made him smile as he opened his door.
Tossing all the swag he’d picked up for the day on the bed, he listened to the TV in the room next to him. The soundproofing in this hotel was better than most places he’d stayed; they had to have the volume cranked up. Curiosity drove him to lean against the wall listening. Hah! Figures. You throw a bunch of geeks in a hotel and instead of porn they’ve got Mythbusters turned up to eleven.
He dropped down on his back on the bed and breathed in and out. It’d been a long time since he’d been out on a date that wasn’t related to work. It’d been forever since he’d met a woman who seemed intimidated and excited by his past. Tonight would be all about going slow. Her registration had turned up an address not so far from his home address. This would be one time that what happened in Vegas shouldn’t stay in Vegas. He hoped.
Slow.
Very slow.
There was an explosion on the TV next door. The occupant laughed, huskily, and yelled, “Nice!” A woman—and her voice sounded familiar. He frowned. Nah. What were the odds on that?
He pushed up off the bed. Time to get ready.
Chapter Three
She toyed with the lightning bolts in her ears as she shifted from foot to foot.
“Harry Potter or the Flash?” a voice asked beside her.
Aubrey jumped. Taking a deep breath, she turned to face Seth, dropping her fingers to give him a better look. “The Flash.”
He smiled. “My kind of girl.” His gaze skimmed her up and down. “You look fantastic.”
She laughed, even though her cheeks felt warm. “Are you allowed to say that to someone you’ve barely met? What’s your basis of comparison?” She’d put on a little red dress with thin spaghetti straps. It was a lot more daring than she usually wore, but
she was determined to make up for her earlier cowardice.
He shrugged. “I was comparing you to everyone I’ve met before you. You came out on top.”
Shaking her head, she rolled her eyes. “Oh please. Your flattery is sweet, but…”
“But what?”
“I’m just an ordinary girl with enough geek cred to make it into the boys’ treehouse.”
“Your definition of ordinary must be vastly different from mine, but I’ll let that go,” he said as he walked beside her toward the restaurant. “I don’t necessarily want you noticing you can do a lot better than me. Especially if you stick to places with a male-to-female ratio like today’s panel.”
“That’s most days for me,” she said as they entered. “Some of the other cons aren’t quite as lopsided in the attendees, but the panels usually are.”
“Then, it’s probably crazy sexist that I wanted to have you thrown out for distracting me the entire first half.”
“What?” she asked, stopping to stare at him.
“You heard me. I wasn’t even responding to my name. The other guys on that panel were mocking me all day.” He pulled out his phone and tapped a few times before tilting it to show her. Someone had sent him a Photoshopped picture with him on the panel—replaced by a wedge of cheese. “I’ve also been a goat, a garden gnome, and a brick. I’m a meme. It’s awesome.”
It made her heart beat faster and a warmth spread throughout her chest. “And you’re blaming it on me?”
“You were staring,” he said, pocketing his phone.
She gulped. She had been. And he’d noticed. Yikes.
“But then I figured you were smarter than most of the room, and we couldn’t hold it against you that you’re better-looking than the rest of them combined.” After he checked in with the maître d’, they walked toward the table. “I realized after I suggested here that I should have given you a choice of where to meet. I’m staying in the Venetian and I’d heard this place was good. Was it okay to meet here?” he asked, as he pushed in her chair as she sat.
She smiled up at him. “Yes. I’m staying in the hotel too.”
He tilted his head as he took his seat. “Would it be creepy if I asked you which floor?”
Covalent Bonds Page 2