Page 18 of Lukas

Chapter Seven

The next afternoonReina sat in her apartment staring down at her desk, her eyes glued to the Torres Software report she’d hacked so she could study it. As painful as that was, it was a whole lot better than looking over at the box that sat on the edge of the small space.

The box Lukas had sent this morning.

The box that once again contained the nipple clamps, and anal plug, and then some sort of flogger thing. A short handle with multiple soft leather straps.

A card too. But she hadn’t opened it.

She ignored the box and focused on the report, but the more she read, the sicker she became. These numbers weren’t right.

Peter was stealing from customers—loyal Torres Software customers who had trusted her father and his company with the ins and outs of their businesses. But what made it worse was that Peter was making it look like this had been happening for years, that her father was the one who’d been stealing, and that Peter had been spending the time he’d controlled the business figuring it out and trying to stop the damages.

There was no way in hell that was the truth, but that’s what the numbers would say if Peter went down right now. Getting into the Rinaldi’s server was more important now than ever. Two weeks. That was all it would take for her software patch to run, to collect the data. It was a feeder, not unlike a virus, so it would branch out into any other businesses the Rinaldi family was electronically connected to.

It was completely unethical, tantamount to theft, actually, since she would in fact be taking money out of certain accounts without their permission. The money wouldn’t be much, and it wouldn’t be spent, but it would still be theft.

She wasn’t so naive not to know that she would be in pretty risky territory. She’d be stealing money from the mafia and businesses associated with La Cosa Nostra. Very dangerous people, with the Rinaldi brothers at the top of that list.

But they would never know. She’d be in and out with no one the wiser.

And at the end of the two weeks, her software would allow her to prove with certainty how much Peter had been taking and for how long. It would clear her father’s name. It may be too late to save Torres Software, but if it was going down, people would know it was not because of choices her beloved papa had made.

Turning to her mother wasn’t an option. She was the one who had given up complete financial control to Peter in the first place. Reina was pretty sure she and Peter had been having an affair before her dad even died.

She would do whatever she had to do to prove her father’s innocence, to keep the good name of Torres Software alive—she glanced over at the box again—even if it meant taking on Lukas Rinaldi.

Unbidden, her fingers crept towards the box, once again moving the red tissue paper out of the way. She picked up the flogger and ran it lightly down her arm. The leather was so soft. So smooth. She slapped it against the top of her thigh to get an understanding of what it would feel like.

Not painful. Of course, if someone used more force, it would move to pain quickly enough.

How much would Lukas use?

How much did she want him to?

Was she really even considering this?

She set the flogger down and opened the card that had come in the box.

That’s twice you’ve run out on me without a proper goodbye. In my world, that can get someone punished.

I think you’d like the flogger. It’s not something to be scared of. Show up on Friday, ten pm, and I’ll show you. I promise, it will be even better than Sunday. Better than you ever dreamed sex could be.

Let me push your limits, princess.

Oh, God.

Who was she kidding? She couldn’t take on Lukas. And not just because she was about to illegally hack into his computer system.

She ran her fingers over her lips, remembering yesterday’s kiss. No, she needed to stay away from him for entirely different reasons. She couldn’t even do regular sex well, forget the kind of really intense sex he wanted, even if the thought of it had some sort of direct connection to the most feminine parts of herself. She would never be able to keep his attention, so no need to even walk down that path.

She touched the flogger once more, surprised at how sad she was at the thought that she’d never feel it against her skin at Lukas’s hand. Would she trust him enough to know what was too much and what wasn’t?

She would. There wasn’t much question in her mind about that. He would know what to do. He wouldn’t hurt her without some sort of pleasure payoff.

She was so tempted to show up tomorrow night, like he’d commanded in the notes, and just see what happened. But she couldn’t. She had to stay as far away from Lukas Rinaldi as possible.

Which was why she was going to sneak back into Deeper Threat —God, had there ever been a more perfect name for a secret sex club?—tonight. He said he didn’t work Tuesdays and Thursdays, so he wouldn’t be there. No chance of being caught by Lukas.

Of course, also no chance of being pleasured by Lukas, to see if her actually screaming while she came was a fluke like she very much expected it was.

Plus, great sex wasn’t the goal. The goal was saving Torres Software. Or if she couldn’t do that, at least save her father’s precious name and reputation.

When she didn’t show up on Friday, Lukas would leave her alone, and that would be it. Her life would go back to normal. No butt plugs, floggers, or nipple clamps. No exposing herself in a hallway while the man she’d always found insanely attractive brought her to sexual heights she hadn’t even known could exist for her.

Back to normal. Out of New Orleans and the sultry heat.

It was better that way.

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