Page 8 of Georgia Guy
“Already? You’re even better than I imagined,” Alex weighs in.
It’s all I can do to refrain from puffing up my chest at her praise. But I know that what I have to tell her next is going to displease her.
“It looks like someone already beat us to it,” I admit.
“What do you mean?”
The desperate, pleading look in Alex’s eyes makes me wish I had a different answer. Opting to rip off the bandage quickly, I say, “Someone recently pulled some data and deleted it from this highly protected file.”
Alex’s gaze turns hopeful. “If they deleted it, then perhaps they aren’t planning to do anything nefarious with it. Maybe it was someone looking out for our interests.”
I hate to burst her bubble, but decide that honesty is best. “I’m afraid not, since they made a copy before deleting it.”
“Can you undelete it just long enough to see what they know?” she asks.
She and Brinkley are both gazing at me as if I am their personal savior. “Perhaps, but it will take a while.”
“That’s okay,” Alex starts.
Knowing that I have a better plan, I say, “It will likely be quicker and easier to go straight to the source who found the information and find out what she plans to do with it.”
“She?” Alex asks, instantly picking up on the hint I shared.
I nod my head. “The person who stole the information has a digital signature that I would recognize anywhere because I’m the one who trained her.”
Alex’s eyes flare with anger. “You trained the person who is likely getting ready to make our lives a living hell…again?!?”
“I did,” I admit quietly.
“Do you run a hackers training academy, or something?” she asks.
I chuckle at the mental image of an official school teaching people the ins and outs of computer hacking. “No, it was nothing like that.”
“What was it like?” Brinkley asks.
“Harlow was my girlfriend,” I answer.
Alex lets out a huff of breath before saying, “Well, start packing because we’re going to visit your ex.”
I nod solemnly before warning her, “Just so you know… My relationship with Harlow didn’t end well. She absolutely hates me.”
Brinkley claps his hands as he practically squeals, “Oh-wee, I do love drama. I’ll go have the private jet fired up.”
7
ALEXANDRA
It almost looked like Brinkley might burst into tears when he found out that he wasn’t coming with us on the private jet to track down Joe’s data-hacking ex-girlfriend, Harlow.
My assistant has been on numerous luxurious vacations with me, so I’m sure his crushed feelings were more about not getting to spend time with Joe than about missing out on the cushy plane ride.
I would have probably caved and let him come along, if I didn’t secretly want to spend some quality alone-time with Joe. The man is a bit of an enigma––a dazzling, magnetic enigma.
On the one hand, the information Joe sold about my family and the potential for copycat leaks is wreaking havoc on our lives. The private information he found started a chain reaction that has my grandfather looking wan and truly worried for the first time that I can ever remember. That stoic man is normally able to calmly handle anything that life throws his way. Whatever this additional secret is has him truly rattled. And none of this would be happening if Joe hadn’t started this mess.
On the other hand, I’m attracted to Joe in a way that I haven’t experienced in a very long time––too long. He’s strong, smart, and so damn sexy.
His Henley shirt is a size too small, which allows me to see his muscles ripple whenever he moves his arms. And those blue jeans… Suffice it to say, they hug him tight in all the right places. It’s all I can do not to stare and drool.
