Page 22 of Command and Control: GHOST Operative

But it can't be. I can't—

I just can't.

I've got to figure out another way to fix this. One that doesn't involve Julieanne. I can't see her ever again. I thought I'd be able to do this, but obviously I was as fucking wrong as it gets.

Fighting my coat off, I let it drop to the floor as I go to my desk, ready to spend the night figuring out my next move. And planning my return to Alaska. Hopefully Igor can have the plane here to get me by morning.

I wake my laptop up, intending to log into GHOST’s system so I can start sending emails, but instead of the normal screen, I'm greeted by her fucking face again. Julieanne smiles out at me, but this time the background is her office. Light still filters through the blinds so this must have been recorded earlier. She's wearing the same dress I probably just ruined and her smile is bright and warm and it hits me like a punch to the gut.

"Since I’m getting the feeling you're still not convincedI would be an asset to your team, I thought I'd try one last time to prove how valuable I can be.” She leans forward, giving me a conspiratorial wink. "Let me know what you think."

The screen goes black. Seconds later, lines of code blink across the darkness, slowly rising to fill the screen, continuing to populate so fast I can't even begin to identify what it is.

But then my cell starts to ring and I realize what she's done.

I connect Elias’s call, pressing the speaker to my ear, gritting my teeth as he tells me what I already know.

"Sir. She's shut our whole system down."

8

A CRACK IN THE FACADE

JULIEANNE

BY SOME MIRACLE, I manage to stay on my feet until Vincent disappears over the railing of my balcony. The second he’s out of sight I slowly melt to the floor, my legs finally giving out.

That was...

That was...

The hottest thing that has ever happened to me in my entire fucking life.

Have I imagined a similar scenario a time or two? Yeah. I have. I mean, a girl can dream. Did I ever think anything like that would ever actually happen?

Never in my wildest.

It took everything I had to hold my own with him. To keep from freaking out and being as terrified as he claimed he wanted me to be. But it didn't take long before I forgot all about being scared and skipped straight to being turned on.

And then I taunted him. Decided to be brave and push for what I wanted. Did I get the job offer that initiallybrought me to his digital doorstep? No, and I'm betting I never will. But what I did get was so much better. No one’s ever wanted me like that. Fucked me with a desperation I could feel from the inside out.

Speaking of inside, I think Vincent has some sort of magical dick because that was not at all what I remember a dick feeling like. It rubbed me in ways that may have ruined me for other men.

Still worth it.

I take a deep breath, blowing it back out before working my way back onto my feet. My legs are wobbly, but they manage to carry me into the bathroom. I drag down what’s left of my power panties and drop to the commode. No way am I skimping out on post-coital protocol. I can’t afford a UTI right now.

Because I absolutely plan on figuring out how to make that happen again.

I'm not sure what it will take, but I almost feel like it might not be much. Vincent is really mad at me, and I know that was part of the driving force behind the crack in his perfectly controlled facade. The thing is, it didn’t seem like his anger was entirely because I hacked into GHOST’s system. I guess I'll find out when he discovers I've done it again. And this time I locked him, and everyone else at GHOST, out of it for two hours from the time he turns his computer on.

I should probably be a little worried. If this is what happens when he’s mad at me, I'm a little excited to find out what happens when he’s enraged with me. And I'm almost positive that’s what will happen.

But Vincent stopped himself from the knee-jerk reaction that brought him halfway across the parking lotearlier, and he’ll probably do it again. That means I probably won’t see him again until tomorrow.

So, after going to the bathroom, I collect my pajamas and jump in the shower. I should probably be a little disturbed over having unprotected sex, but I've only been with one person, and I don't imagine Vincent’s the kind of guy who would do something like that if there was a chance he’d pass something on. I know he tries to be intimidating and scary, but any man who continues taking care of his dead employees’ families financially isn't a terrible human.

I wash the makeup off my face and scrub my body, taking a few extra minutes to handle any wayward hair that might need taking care of in my bikini area, since I’m hoping it will be getting more attention.

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