Covalent Bonds

by Trysh Thompson

  Seth: 10 mins

  Seth: 8 mins

  Seth: Bored. Ask me a ?

  Aubrey: No.

  Seth: Aubrey!

  Seth: That was a good ?

  Aubrey: Yeah it was.

  Seth: Smart is sexy.

  Seth: 4 mins

  Seth: Finally! Meet me in hallway.

  Seth: Where are you?

  Seth: If you’re talking with that guy I’m putting him on spam lists.

  Seth: I’m sending him a worm right now.

  Seth: He’ll be cleaning up malware for years.

  Seth: Aubrey!

  She flew into the hallway, searching for him.

  Grinning, he tucked his phone away. She even looked out of breath.

  Narrowing her eyes, she pointed at him, before smoothing hair away from her face and walking toward him. “You are not as charming as you think,” she said, breaking through the crowd between them.

  Seth held his hands out. “I thought I was getting your A game for coercion but you went to a rival’s panel? Then you sat in the back of mine chatting with some idiot who probably still lives with his parents and plays D&D. Aubrey! You’re hard on the ego.”

  She rolled her eyes and stopped two feet from him with her hands on her hips.

  He hooked his hands at her waist and pulled her closer. Damn, she felt good in his arms. He’d missed her this morning. Leaving Aubrey sleeping in her bed had been way too hard.

  Her hands came up to frame his face. Her gaze scolding, Aubrey said, “You can’t just snap your fingers and expect me to jump.”

  Other attendees were swarming the hallway, and he was getting jealous looks. It was a shame he had other things to do today. If only they could spend the day together. Unfortunately, he’d filled his schedule, cramming in meetings on top of the handful of consultations he’d agreed to do. He’d rather stand here, staring into her brown eyes which were warm with annoyance.

  “You look beautiful when you’re irritated.”

  Her lips twitched as she fought a smile. “You’re not off the hook that easily.”

  “I have somewhere I need to be in twenty minutes. I’ve got to work fast.” He leaned in and kissed the corner of her mouth.

  Her soft gasp sent his blood racing.

  His lips traveled up her cheek to her ear where he whispered, “Do you know what I’d do right now if we were alone and had the time?”

  “Mm. Another consultation?” Her breath feathered across his cheek.

  “Sure. I’d introduce you to my hard drive.” He bit her earlobe.

  “We could explore the subject of dongles.”

  “Ooo dirty.” He kissed just below her ear. Tightening his arms, he sighed. “It probably isn’t terribly professional to show up with a hard drive at my upcoming meeting.”

  She giggled and pressed herself against him. Every so often, her inner vixen made an appearance, and he loved it—he loved every side of her. “Did you like how I called you Mr. Lawrence when I asked my question?”

  “Mm. I did. Of course everyone walking by us now thinks we’re into some kinky role play. You should have called me Master Lawrence.”

  Her arms crept around his neck. “In your dreams.”

  His dreams hadn’t gotten quite that detailed but she was on the right track. “Can we meet up for lunch?”

  “Isn’t there a keynote speaker at lunch today too?” She tipped her head back. “Wait! Isn’t it you?”

  He groaned. “Damn, I forgot. How could I forget? They roped me into it a couple months back.” Yet another thing in his schedule that was keeping him away from Aubrey. How wrong would it be to hack into the convention’s schedule and start cancelling things? He could do the consultations in emails instead. Someone would probably notice and get pissed off. People tended to pay attention to where a retired big-name hacker was at things like this—especially when he was one of the keynote speakers.

  Aubrey’s eyes widened. “Have you written something?”

  Seth grinned. “Aubrey, the day I can’t handle a room full of geeks is the day I hang up my white hat and toss my keyboard.” While public speaking had never been a problem for him, this time he’d be anxious to have it over and done so he could get Aubrey in his arms again. Hopefully he wouldn’t rush through his prepared speech and end up with time to fill.

  Her frown returned. “If you text me during your speech…”

  “I told you we’d be sexting.”

  “Are we in a hurry?” she asked, tugging on his hand as they walked toward their rooms with him setting land speed records.

  “Sort of.”

  “Do we have reservations somewhere?” She pulled her keycard from her purse. Honestly, even if it was her last night in Vegas with him, she’d much rather spend the night with him and only him. Let the rest of Vegas enjoy the noise, lights, and high-octane energy. She wanted a quiet night with Seth Lawrence and Savage Lynx. He’d promised to tell her stories about his exploits last night but she’d fallen asleep. She planned to hold him to that.

  Taking the card from her hand, Seth opened the door, and she squeaked as he jerked her inside. They crashed together, his mouth finding hers as he spun her around, pressing her against the wall with his body. His hands cupped her face and he pulled back to say, “Today was the longest day ever.”

  It made her smile, she even shared the sentiment. “I thought your speech went well.”

  He ducked his head and kissed her neck, moving back up toward her mouth. Oh, wow, everywhere he kissed was singed with heat.

  “Everyone, uhh, everyone clapped when you were all… all done.” His mouth on her neck was the sexiest thing ever and his warm breath sent wonderful shivers all over her body.

  “They were clapping because I was done. They probably had someone they wanted to show their hard drive to also.” He pulled back and complained with a faux glare, “How are you still thinking? I can’t even…” He pressed his mouth on hers, his tongue stroking hers. His mouth tasted so good. Mm.

  She rubbed her body against his, trying to get closer. He angled his head to kiss her deeper. Yes. That was so sexy. He was devouring her, claiming her. Wow. This was manic. This was insane. She loved it. Even if she needed to break to use her inhaler, it was still the hottest moment of her entire life.

  His hands slid down and cupped her butt.

  “Mm,” she moaned into his open mouth.

  “Yes. Aubrey, hell yes,” he gasped between kisses. He rocked his hips against hers. The friction of her own clothing against her skin was a teasing, delicious torment. She saw stars… or fireworks… or maybe she was lightheaded because breathing took too much energy and was a waste of time.

  Pulling her mouth away, she sucked in a breath. So intense. Almost too intense. “Mm.”

  Seth nipped a kiss of her lower lip before tracing wet kisses down along her jaw.

  Her head dropped back and she arched her neck to give him better access to her throat.

  “You taste sweet like vanilla and spice all at once.” He softly bit her neck before brushing his tongue against it.

  “Seth.”

  He pulled back. “What?”

  She dragged in ragged breaths. “Nothing. Just your name. Not everyone wants to ask you questions today.”

  He pressed into her again, chuckling against her neck. “Sure you do.” He trailed kisses down her neck. “Seth, can you kiss me again? Of course.” He teased her collarbone with his teeth. “Seth, can you bite my skin? Absolutely.” He bit her shoulder, making her clutch his head. “Seth, can you suck me?”

  “Ohhhh,” she moaned as he sucked her skin into his mouth. There’d be a mark there and she didn’t care. “Seth, can you shut up and kiss me again?”

  He dragged her legs onto his hips as his mouth returned to hers. Pushing her into the wall, he kissed her deeply in slow, open-mouthed kisses.

  The bright stars behind her eyelids were back again, and she pulled away, ducking her face into his neck to pant softly. “Wh
oa.”

  His breathing didn’t sound any easier than hers. “Are you okay?” He tipped his head back to check on her. “Because I’m not. I think this was the boss level of kissing, and it kicked my ass.”

  She laughed—a deep throaty sound that she didn’t recognize. Wow.

  “I’m serious. I might need to borrow your inhaler.” He huffed out a breath and laughed softly. “If we don’t stop now, I don’t think I’ll be able to… and it might kill me.”

  She’d done that to him. She’d made Savage Lynx… Seth Lawrence crazy with need. Amazing.

  He kissed her temple while letting go of her legs so Aubrey slid against him as she slipped to the ground. His hands tightened on her hips when her knees went weak. Without commenting, he held her against him as their heavy breathing sounded in the quiet room.

  She hugged her arms around his neck, holding herself up. That was intense. It had never been that hot. He’d blown her mind.

  Finally, she tilted her head back and asked, “Are you seduced yet?”

  He hugged her, laughing. “Next time we do that will be back home and on a horizontal surface.” He exhaled shakily. “Okay. Since I’ve never been this turned-on in my life, how about we order room service, I take a cold shower, and you think of something to do that doesn’t involve us tearing our clothes off?”

  “Starcraft II?”

  “Mm. We probably ought to play on the same team. If you beat me, it’d make you impossible to resist.”

  She grinned. “It sounds perfect.”

  “I beg to differ on the cold shower, but I did say we’d wait…” He sucked in a breath. “I take it back.”

  Her eyes widened. They were going to do it after all?

  He stepped away from her, leaving her leaning against the wall for support. “You order room service. Whatever you want. Ask them to bill it to my room. I’m getting out of here while I still can.” With one last heated look, he strode through the door.

  When the door shut behind him, she giggled. It built in her until she laughed out loud as she dropped to the floor.

  “Hey!” he said, pounding on the wall. “I can hear that.”

  She didn’t care. She fell onto her side, still laughing. Nothing had ever been this good.

  Chapter Six

  “Aubrey.” The whispered word combined with the warm kisses on her neck made her blink awake. Seth hooked a strand of her hair and pulled it behind her ear as he leaned over her. His body pressed against her side was having contradicting effects. She wanted to attack him, even as she never wanted to move again. She was so cozy and aroused—all at once.

  “Mm. Good morning.” She glanced over at the clock. “Last day here.”

  He frowned. “Yeah. Which is why I’m waking you up. I want to have breakfast with you.”

  She wasn’t normally a morning person, but that got her up and dressed by the time there was a discreet tap on her door. Seth seemed preoccupied as he answered and brought in the breakfast he’d ordered. He’d already been dressed when he woke her up.

  After twenty minutes of stilted conversation and them both picking at their food, she sighed and set her silverware down. “Everything will change after it ends this afternoon, won’t it?” Or it already had. Anticipation was killing the mood.

  He swallowed and scanned her face. “Will it?”

  “Yes. No.” She shook her head. “I don’t know.”

  “Nothing has to change. We live in the same place. So, if you really want… more, it can stay the same.”

  She wrinkled up her nose. “But when you find out what I, I mean, they want, you’ll…”

  He shook his head. “That has nothing to do with us. The only thing that matters between you and me is how we feel about each other.”

  He didn’t rush to say how he felt. Of course, she hadn’t either. But he was acting so strange this morning. It was as if the other shoe was about to drop. This whole morning, reality had intruded. The last two days had been magical, but this morning…

  Maybe after they settled everything, they could go back to worrying about their relationship. Or maybe he’d say how he felt.

  Anyway, that was later. She had to press through and trust that he was on the same page as far as their relationship went.

  She licked her lips. “Okay, fine. So, we have the last session at noon. I’ve got a late check-out. We come back here, chat it out, and you,” she took a deep breath, “you make a choice. And I take a cab to the airport.” She glanced at her laptop. “My flight leaves at seven.”

  “Eleven.”

  “Your flight leaves at eleven?”

  Seth shook his head. “Your flight leaves at eleven. Well, both our flights leave at eleven.”

  She blinked. “No, my flight leaves at seven.”

  His gaze dropped to the table, and he shifted the fork so it was parallel to the knife in front of him. “I changed your flight.” It was casual. Almost too casual.

  Swallowing, she pushed to her feet. “You changed my flight?” She squinted. “You just… changed it?”

  Meeting her gaze, he got to his feet. “I wanted to spend more time with you.”

  “You can’t just…,” her voice rose in volume, “how did you do that? You hacked into the airline’s system?” What the hell?

  Seth nodded at her laptop. “This morning, I used your laptop to change it.”

  Cold washed over her. “But my password… passwords…” He’d torn through her privacy like it was nothing, like she was nothing. So much for thinking she was different, that he respected her. She rubbed her forehead. She tried for a calmer tone as she said, “Seth, just because you can do something—doesn’t mean you should.”

  He shook his head. “It wasn’t like that.”

  “You could have asked me to change it.” She pointed at the laptop. “All you had to say was that you wanted me to change the damn flight.” Her voice was getting loud again. She’d rather he hacked to find out her identity. Not this.

  His eyebrows drew together. “You’re mad.”

  “Hell yeah, I am. I thought we’d agreed I wasn’t part of the game. But I guess I was wrong. I guess it’s all a game and we’re all your NPCs.”

  He held up his hands with a shrug. If his jaw wasn’t so tight, she’d have thought maybe he naively didn’t get what he’d done wrong. “Look, I’m sorry. If you’re so anxious to leave, I’ll switch it back.”

  She opened her mouth to correct him.

  “You’ll switch it back,” he interrupted. “I thought you wanted to spend time with me, but I guess I was wrong.”

  “It’s not that.”

  “It is that.”

  She groaned. “Seth, how would you feel if I hacked into your laptop and changed your plans for the day without your permission?”

  “It wasn’t a hack.”

  No, it was easier than that. All her passwords probably auto-filled after he got past the first one. He’d still managed to get past the first one.

  He glanced guiltily at her Mal figure.

  Hell. How many passwords had he tried before he’d hit “Serenity”? It was a cake password for anyone who knew her, but she never let her laptop out of her sight so having a password on her private laptop seemed silly anyway. It was something she’d have kicked any of the agents she worked with for relying on. Even if she wasn’t technically in security, this was an idiotic mistake. She’d been overconfident that anyone who had access to her laptop would be someone she trusted.

  Closing her eyes, she deliberately inhaled and exhaled. “Maybe you should just go,” she said when she opened them.

  “And we’ll meet up later?” There was a wary look in his eye. Almost like he’d been expecting this. Maybe that’s why he’d done it. He had to know how she’d react—how anyone would react. Maybe he’d wanted her to get pissed off and leave. He’d been acting strange all morning.

  “Was this a test?” she asked.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You w
anted to see how I’d react. If I’d walk away or stay.”

  He stilled.

  “Or maybe this was about seeing what was more important to me. My pride or us. My work or you.”

  “Don’t psychoanalyze it, Aubrey. Look, I made a mistake. That’s all it was. I thought we could spend more time together. I thought you wanted it. I guess I was wrong.”

  “Don’t make me the villain in this.”

  “I’m not… I… never mind. Switch the damn flight back.” He strode toward the door. “So, I’ll see you later.”

  She sighed.

  He reached for the doorknob.

  “I don’t think you should do it.”

  “What?” He didn’t turn back to look at her.

  “The thing… the thing I’m supposed to ask you about. I don’t think you should do it. They want you to hack into somewhere—somewhere you hacked before when you got caught. I don’t think you should do it.”

  “Why?”

  “Because they’ll be using you. They’ll say it’s okay this time because they’re the government and they can make judgment calls like that, but you should be able to walk away from it. And asking you to hack somewhere you were put on probation for is just a jerk move. You’ve earned the right to live your life on your own terms without some government suit coming in and convincing you that you owe them something.”

  “Why are you saying this?” He spun around. “You had me. I would have gone along with it.”

  She shrugged. “I’m not going to be a part of using you.”

  “What if they fire you for not convincing me?”

  She heaved a deep breath. “Then, they do. There are worse things in life than losing a job for the right reasons.”

  He nodded distractedly and then turned and left.

  There were much worse things. The door clicked as the lock engaged. She slumped back into the chair and stared across the room at her suitcase.

  Why had he done it? On some level, he’d known how Aubrey would react. She was an intensely private person, and she’d let Seth in, trusted him. This morning had been like cartoons with the devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other. The devil had won.

  It wasn’t even like the old days: hacking because he could. Her laptop wasn’t a challenge. Her eggshell security measure was surrounding herself with people she trusted, and he’d just proven she couldn’t trust him.