Breaching His Defenses - Allyson Lindt (best short novels .TXT) 📗

Spill anything good? Serve Hayden right? Wait, what? The circuits in Jared’s head collided with each other and he stumbled. He stepped on the edges of the treadmill before confusion could become a full-blown face plant, and shut the device off. She’d definitely said and done things that would stick in his head for a long time. But the tension rolling under his skin told him that wasn’t what Tate meant, and shouldn’t have anything to do with one of the senior vice presidents at NSS. “I’m missing a key point of reference, aren’t I?”

Tate grimaced and set his coffee aside. “You don’t know.”

Obviously not. “Know what?”

“Vivian told me. I think she would have told you too, but figured you’d find out directly from the source. You and your karaoke partner seemed to be getting on just fine without us.”

For the most part, he was used to Tate’s tendency to not get directly to the point. He didn’t appreciate it, but he accepted it. Just now, he needed to have details sooner rather than later. His brain was already erroring out from lack of information. “Tell me.”

“She’s Michaela Elford.”

So that was what Mikki was short for. Why did her full name sound familiar? From Tate’s expression, it was clear Jared should know it.

Tate continued, “She’s the new prodigy Hayden hired. The one he stole from V six months ago.”

Right. The weird interview that had pissed Viv off for weeks after. Apparently Michaela—Mikki?—had been just as impressive in her resume as in person when Vivian had interviewed her, and had seemed like she was ready to all but sign. Then, out of nowhere, she’d sent Vivian a very polite and apologetic thanks but no thanks letter. Something along the lines of, “I hope you’re not too angry with me. I think we can all agree the best place for me is with NetSafe Systems.”

Viv had tried to reach her a handful of times after, but Mikki hadn’t returned her calls.

Yup, that was exactly where he’d heard her name. He never should have misfiled information that important. Fuck. Jared stepped off the treadmill. “Got it. And no, it didn’t come up.”

“Maybe she didn’t recognize you.”

Except she had. Alarms clanged in the back of Jared’s thoughts. Suspecting anything was off about the situation was ridiculous. The encounter in the elevator had been random chance, and she couldn’t have known they were heading out to get wasted and sing bad music. His paranoia might be a rampant bastard sometimes, but there was no way this was like Karen.

But Mikki working for the competition dragged up unpleasant memories he hadn’t expected to deal with on this trip. Especially if she was associated with NSS.

Karen had taught him years ago getting involved with anyone in that company was a dangerous path to follow. Good thing he and Mikki knew last night was a one-time thing. The thought didn’t take the edge off the realization she’d kept something as significant from him as working for the competition.

“Speaking of, if you want to see your karaoke partner on stage in a more professional fashion, she’s running an NSS panel in the morning breakout sessions.” Tate took another sip of coffee, grimaced, and tossed the cup in a nearby trashcan.

Jared cringed as coffee splashed in the waste bucket. So messy. Despite his irritation at being deceived, his pulse kicked up at the thought of hearing that playful voice again. He beat the reaction back with the rest of the morning’s conversation. “I was planning on it anyway.”

He was going to see if there were any hints about the direction NSS was taking their security offerings. And hopefully uncover a detail or two as to what he was missing in these rumors that his company wasn’t worth its own press releases. Not that he expected there to be any usable information—providing as little information as possible was status quo for these demos—but there was always a chance. And he could almost convince himself Mikki wasn’t adding another layer of incentive.

Tate’s brow furrowed, and he studied Jared for a minute. “I was joking. Vivian’s already attending. You can skip it if you want.”

Jared shrugged. “Hayden’s been bragging they’ve got something that can put us in the dirt. I’d like to form my own opinion.”

He didn’t want to be excited, or intrigued, or anything besides nonplussed about the thought of seeing the playful siren again, but he couldn’t swallow his growing arousal. Every inch of him hummed, his pulse racing in a way he knew wasn’t related to his abbreviated jog.

“Almost forgot.” Tate plucked Jared’s phone from the top of his gym bag. “Check your mail.”

Jared glanced between him and the device. “Just tell me what I’m looking for. You know I have about fifty unread messages.” His own verbal reminder set his mental compulsion on edge. He always forced himself not to check before his morning workout. Otherwise he’d be stuck in email hell before he had a chance to wake up. But he’d have to catch up on those before the morning breakout sessions.

“That’s it? How late were you up last night?” Tate shook his head. “Anyway. Peacock announced his retirement.”

That was almost enough to pull Jared back to the now. Larry Peacock was chief operations officer for Skriddie, and rumors of his retirement had been circulating for a while.

Jared wanted the job, and he knew he was one of the people being considered. The kinds of changes he could make in a position like that… Excitement tingled in his limbs, and he drummed his fingers against his leg. One of the reasons he loved his work was because there was always something new to learn—another way to make things perfect. And a step up the ladder would give him even more access to exactly that. “Any other news?”

Tate tossed the phone back on the bag. “Nah. But I’m sure you’ll hear before either of us anyway.”

****

Jared slipped into the conference room with a just a few minutes to spare. Vivian already stood near the back, despite the empty chairs lining the last couple of rows. She gave him a tight-lipped smile and nodded him over.

“I didn’t expect to see you here.” Her voice was low amid the chatter of the trickling in crowd.

“I had to sate my curiosity.” He kept his tone as cool as possible and tried to convince his rampant imagination to chill as well.

“If everyone wants to have a seat, we’ll get started in a minute or two.” A familiar voice sliced into Jared’s thoughts, and his head snapped toward the stage.

Before his brain finished processing what the sound meant, his body reacted. Want tugged his cock to life and tempted him with memories of the night before. Even in her company’s basic trade show uniform, she still made his blood run hot. Not good. He needed to bring that under control.

Vivian looked between him and the podium, eyebrows rising. “Tell me you didn’t share more than a mic with her.”

Fuck. Why did she have to know him so well? When she’d been brought into the company a few years back and dropped into a high-ranking position, he’d resented her. This person didn’t know their business, especially not something as critical as day-to-day operations.

Since then, he and she had become solid friends. She understood things no one else did. And she had an odd—sometimes refreshing, occasionally irritating—way of looking into his head and helping him sort out his malfunctions when he wasn’t thinking straight.

He couldn’t pull his eyes away from Mikki as he talked to Viv. Maybe he could redirect the conversation. “Speaking of, did it occur to you to tell me who she was?”

“When would I have done that?” She dropped into a nearby seat. “While you were singing round after round of cheesy love songs? Besides, I figured she’d tell you.”

He took the spot next to her, attention still fixed up front. “It didn’t come up.” Would the knowledge would have stopped him? Of course it would have. He needed to stop that line of thinking now. If he abandoned the logic and reason he used to keep his life in line, he’d surrender the grip that order had on his sanity.

“Weird. But it was just a couple of duets. Given this entire week is about networking, the two of you were going to meet anyway, and it’s not like you screwed, right?”

“Hmm?” He’d heard the question clearly, but the sick clenching in his gut didn’t know how to respond.

“You’re pulling my leg. You did not do something that random. She’s an incredible talent, and I have nothing but respect for her. But she’s a decade younger than you.”

“You make me sound ancient. We’re both consenting adults.”

Vivian brushed a nonexistent strand of hair from her forehead. “Not that it matters, as long as she knows it was only one night.”

“Of course she does.”

“Did I ever tell you she gushed about you in her interview? Some kind of minor hero worship.”

Vivian had never told him that. And he wasn’t pleased to hear it. Or maybe I am just a little. “Doesn’t sound familiar, or relevant.”

 “Right.” She crossed her legs at the knee. “Since you’re here, tell me if you think she’s got the skills everyone says she does. I still want her.”

That made two of them. Fuck, he needed to stop that. Of course Vivian was still trying to recruit this talent. She’d never been a good loser, especially when it came to Hayden. “Sure. I need you to give me something in return, though.”

“What’s up?”

Mikki’s eyes met his, holding him captive. The corners of her mouth twitched, and then she looked away. The teasing half smile of her not-quite acknowledgement made his pulse quicken and refreshed the page file of his mind with pleasant memories.

“I need to talk to her, strictly business, and I need someone to run interference.”

 “Absolutely.”