Page 6 of A Not So Casual Christmas

Her face blanched. “You’re not fucking around, are you? This isn’t a joke.”

“It’s no joke, pretty girl. Let me protect you from this.”

Tessa wiped her hand over her face. “This isn’t happening. Look Brant Starrett is an egotistical, entitled rich boy who has no idea how real people live. But that doesn’t make him a traitor.”

Ben shrugged. “It might not be him.” Ben doubted it, but he admired Tessa’s loyalty to a billionaire prick that demanded she work on Christmas with only a few weeks’ notice. “I know it’s asking a lot. And I know if it had been anyone but me doing this, you would have already outed me. And I would have deserved it. I let myself get distracted by you, by us.”

“Well,” she said reluctantly. “I was right on board with it as well.

They exchanged grins and it was all he could do not to yank her back in his arms.

“That fact is I could get a subpoena or a warrant, but it might give Santos and whomever at Starrett Enterprises is doing this time to cover their tracks. I’ve got men in the Philippines waiting to seize Santos’ assets as soon as we have the proof.”

“But what if there isn’t any proof? Where does that leave me?” She frowned. “You’re asking me to violate my employer’s trust.”

“If I’m wrong—and I wouldn’t be putting you in this position if there was a doubt in my mind—I will do everything in my power to keep you clear of any backlash.”

“It’s a big risk,” she said. “My reputation is everything. No one will want to hire an IT specialist who shares proprietary information to every cute guy who comes along.”

He knew he had her then. “I’m not just any guy.”

“No, Ben. You’re not.” She drilled her finger into his chest. “Don’t make me regret this.”

“Never.”

Tessa sighed. “What the hell, it’s not like I’m going to be able to do the implementation without wondering if I’m doing something the CIA is going to get their panties in a wad about.”

Chapter Three

Tessa left the party with Ben, leaving her coat at Wilson’s. She wanted to get out of there before anyone realized that Ben wasn’t working for Vedasto Santos.

“So, is it drugs?” she asked, hesitantly. They were in his rented Crown Vic driving to Starrett’s office building. She had twenty-four hour access because of the implementation so getting in shouldn’t be an issue. What Ben was expecting to find, though, had her worried.

“I really can’t say right now,” he said. “It will all eventually come out. And when it does I’ll answer all your questions.”

Nodding, Tessa bit her lip and wrapped her arms around herself. The Christmas sweater was stitched for laughs and not for warmth.

“Cold?” Ben turned up the heat in the car and reached around into the backseat to throw her a sweater.

She put it on gratefully. It swamped her like his clothes always did and better yet, it smelled just like him. She closed her eyes and finally, it felt like Christmas. He was home to her and he always would be. Tessa wondered if he felt the same or if it was just great sex every time they got together.

“What exactly are you looking for?” she asked. “Why do you need me?”

“I want to take a look at the new structure you’re putting in for Santos.”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but would you even know what you were looking at?” Computers had never been his strong point. Ben wasn’t dumb by any stretch of the imagination, but her grandmother was more computer savvy than he was.

“I don’t need to. I just need your access into the system.”

Tessa made a frustrated noise in her throat. “I don’t like it, Ben. I trust you. I don’t trust who you’re going to give my access to.”

“Just keep trusting me, pretty girl. Have I ever given you reason not to?”

“Not in the past,” she said. “But a lot can happen in five years.”

“I haven’t changed,” he said. “Nothing important has changed in my life. Not my feelings for you. Not my commitment to you and not who I am. I just have a different employer.”

“Yeah, well your employer has a bad reputation.”

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