Page 7 of Indecent Demands

“Sounds like they both have an amazing woman at their side.”

“They do. I’m really happy for them.”

She placed her napkin on her plate and leaned back in her chair. “What about you?”

I snorted. “I haven’t had time for a bar hookup much less a relationship. You?” It didn’t escape my notice that talking to her, even about personal things, was incredibly easy.

Ariana looked into the distance and for the first time she seemed… pained. “I… I was never sure that I would meet someone who I could really let into my life.”

That piqued my interest. “How so?”

She cleared her throat. “I—well I work in a very demanding environment. My work is everything to me. I’m not sure someone would understand that.”

It was a problem I’d heard a lot of the women in my field complain about. I was sure it was the same in other professions too. “Well, anyone who doesn’t understand your dedication is an idiot.”

Ariana smiled, and I told myself that I didn’t feel that small kick in my stomach, or that stirring of desire that was getting more and more difficult to ignore.

I had a job to focus on and a thief to find, and I couldn’t afford to get distracted. It was just the loneliness getting to me. It would be fine in a bit. It would pass. It always did.

Chapter4

Ariana

Oh no. I reallylikedSeth.

I wasn’t supposed to crush on the guy who was at Smirtech to investigate our network, and potentially,me.

Oh, sure, he was still half-heartedly keeping up the act that he was only looking into the general security of the system and finding improvements, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out he was here for another reason. He was looking for something specific and he seemed to suspect someone on the C-level, perhaps a board member.

That had to be why he wanted level four clearance. Why else would he need it? All the tech stuff to check actual security would be handled through his level three clearance. No, he wanted access to the documents that only C-level executives could obtain, and for that he needed level four clearance to get into those documents without the individual password the executive who owned the document had put on it.

That also could mean he was investigating something that had nothing to do with me. It was possible there was another crime of some kind going on here that I didn’t know about. But it was just as likely that he was onto me—or onto what I was doing, rather—and thought that someone at the top was responsible.

It was a natural assumption. When people stole from a company it wasn’t usually someone like me. It was the men in power who skimmed from the top. Unless we were talking about something like a bartender or a retail worker taking from the cash register, it was almost always someone who had unfettered access to the accounts, and that was people like the CEO, the board members, the men who could just gift themselves whatever money they wanted and most people wouldn’t think anything of it, or couldn’t say anything against it.

That assumption would give me time while Seth went after the various men at the top, but it wouldn’t protect me forever. I would have to start cleaning up my footprints.

I couldn’t just quit, though. That would be suspicious. And too much obvious fiddling with the computer software or system would be sure to put Seth on alert.

What was I supposed to do?

I couldn’t just keep going business as usual. If he found my network, and he would if he was actually any good at his job, then he’d trace it back to me in time.

What was that saying? Keep your friends close and your enemies closer?

If I could keep Seth close and help him on his investigation, or at least pretend that I was, then I could know what he was doing and I could counteract him before he found my trail. I could work right under his nose, but to do that I had to know what his plans were.

And you’d get to keep spending time with him, a coy little voice in the back of my head noted.

Okay, maybe that voice was right, but that didn’t mean I was going to let myself get careless. Seth was handsome, yes, but there were plenty of handsome men out there, right? I shouldn’t let his good looks—or his charm—throw me off balance.

It was just that our lunch had been really nice, that’s all. He listened,really listened, to me when I complained about the struggles of being a woman working in a STEM field, especially computers. So few men actually took the time to listen to me. I could always tell when they were just sitting there waiting for their turn to speak or making smug comments in their heads in response to everything I said, dismissing me.

And Seth was undeniably charming. Not how I’d imagine a former military man and security expert to be. If you’d told me Seth’s credentials I would’ve expected someone like that to be taciturn and serious. Seth smiled, he was engaging and a little flirty—or at least he seemed flirty. Maybe I was reading it wrong? It wouldn’t be the first time.

But if he was flirting… I could use that to my advantage, too. It would be a way to keep him preoccupied and keep him close. I might be able to get away with asking questions I might not otherwise.

We finished lunch and headed back to the office where Seth resumed his work alone in the conference room on our floor. I tried not to look over at him too often and focused on my own work. I had to make a roadmap for disabling my network without Seth catching on to the fact that something had changed.

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