Page 47 of Covert Vengeance

She smirked. “You just wanna see if you can catch my passwords and crack my security. But you can’t.” The best IT people in the world couldn’t. Not without ample time, and if they ever did manage to crack her security, it would be too late. She’d built Lady Ada herself, plus she changed passwords and layered different programs constantly.

“You’re too fast for me.”

“Yep. You and pretty much everyone else on the planet.” It wasn’t arrogance if it was true. The United States government had trained her to be one of the top hackers in the world. She’d done their dirty work for many years. Now it was time to use her skill set on her own terms and take what was owed to her and the others.

She hit Enter with a flourish and watched the screen with rapt anticipation.Pay up, asshole.Though if all went well, Stanislav would be paying with a lot more than just a big-ass chunk of money.

A pretty, electronic chime sounded, then the money appeared in her account. A three, followed by six, beautiful zeroes.

Transaction complete.

She smiled so wide her cheeks ached. “Yeah, baby. Three million.” She patted Ada lovingly, the laptop already burying the transaction and transferring the money to various accounts to make it impossible to trace.Atta girl.

“It’s not all yours,” Jesse admonished with a chuckle, then whipped her chair around, caging her in with his arms on either side of her body. “You gotta share.”

He had a really bad habit of getting in her space. On the one hand it annoyed her. On the other, she liked that he was pursuing her. “I don’t have much experience with sharing.”

“Gotta start somewhere,belleza.” He leaned in and pressed that delicious, sinful mouth to hers, and she all but melted into a puddle on her chair.

If any other guy had pulled this she would have slammed the heel of her hand into his chin and buried her heel in his balls for good measure. The reflex was there, but she reined it in. Because this was Jesse, and he was different from anyone else she’d ever known.

He hadn’t tried to use her. He’dhelpedher. Though the suspicious part of her wondered why in hell he was still here. Hoping for a cut of the money, maybe?

In spite of herself, she softened under the feel of his lips. She didn’t know what it was. His intent behind it, maybe.

He didn’t kiss her like it was merely an obligatory step between the batter’s box and second base, something he did out of necessity so he could get to the good stuff. He seemed to enjoy kissing for its own sake. Loved working her up with his lips and tongue. Loved making her crave more of it, made her ache for the feel of his mouth on her nipples and between her legs.

And it showed, because damn, the man was good at it.

Before she could give into the little devil on her shoulder that told her to rip his shirt off, take him to the floor and have her way with him, she planted a hand in the center of his chest and pushed him back. “We have to tell the others,” she whispered, a little breathless. A lot aroused.

His warm brown eyes held hers, full of wicked, naughty promises her entire body was clamoring to see fulfilled. “And then what?”

“I dunno, I guess that depends.” Without waiting for a response, she pushed her chair back, breaking his hold, and walked out. He was right behind her as she entered the breakfast room and announced they had the money.

“Awesome, now all we need is the meeting time and place,” Megan said, a big grin spreading across her face. “Does that mean you’re free to go riding now?”

Over at the sideboard where the china coffee pot sat, Jesse half-turned and quirked an eyebrow at her. She smothered a grin and nodded at her sister. “Guess so.”

She’d rather do a different kind of riding—naked, single-minded riding of a certain incredibly hot hitman—but having some space from Jesse right now was probably a good thing.

He was capable of making her lose her head. Right now that wouldn’t put her in immediate danger, but she still had to be careful not to let him slip past her guard. Although he’d already managed to penetrate deeper than any other man before him. She needed to shore up her defenses.

“Great!” Megan bounced out of her chair, leaving Tyler to finish eating with the others, and grabbed Amber’s hand to tow her toward the front door.

“Mind if I eat first?” Amber said dryly, enjoying her sister’s excitement.

“Oh.” Megan stopped. “Sure.”

“Here.” Tyler tossed Amber a piece of toast. “You want coffee with that?”

“I think I’ll wait, thanks,” she said dryly.

“Okay, come on. We’re almost the same size. You can borrow a pair of my riding pants.”

“I need riding pants? What’s wrong with my pants?”

“You’ll be comfier in mine.”

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