Page 41 of Gin & Trouble

There she is. I knew the women I loved was in there somewhere.

A smile tugged at the corners of her lips. “Should we go back downstairs?”

“You can use one of my computers.” I stood and walked to my desk. “Login as yourself.”

Julia went through the same procedure to access the network as any other employee, but after she was connected to the server, she worked some sort of voodoo magic that had my head spinning.

“Whoa there, speedy. Slow down so I can follow.”

Grinning, she made a show of typing with only her index fingers. “Better?”

“Much.” I leaned over her shoulder to get a better look at her process and caught a whiff of her hair. Ginger and citrus and honey had never smelled so damned good. “I’m thankful for your brilliant mind and mad hacking skills.”

“What would you like to banish?”

“Everything that has ever hurt you.” I rested my hand on her shoulder.

Her breath hitched and she mistyped a key or two. “Pay attention, Dante. This is the weak spot.”

I had a weak spot, all right, but it has nothing to do with my program. Edging closer to her ear, I whispered, “I’m watching.”

Julia surprised the hell of me by tilting her head toward me. “I discovered a flaw while penetration testing.”

Between her brilliant mind and sexy voice, my self-control hung by a single optical fiber. “Tell me more about yourpenetrationtesting.”

“You’re talented, but I can break down your defenses with one hand behind my back.” She reached behind her and squeezed my thigh without missing a beat.

This woman is killing me.

“A few more strokes and I’m in.” Her hand moved higher as she added the final line of code and hacked into my supposedly secure program.

Shocked, and incredibly aroused, I didn’t quite know how to respond. “I’ll be damned.”

“I can fix it for you if you’d like.” She turned to face me and licked her lips. “Wouldn’t want you to get a backdoor Trojan…unless you’re into that sort of thing.”

“I much prefer to plug into main ports.” I brushed her hair from her eyes. “We’ll work on the code together. On the clock.”

“Good thinking. It’s dangerous to mix business with pleasure.” Julia nuzzled against my palm.

I’d never wanted to kiss a woman more than I wanted to kiss her, and still, I hesitated. She was definitely flirting, but that wasn’t exactly new. We’d spent hours online dropping double entendres and teasing each other to the point of insanity. Of course, she hadn’t grabbed my thigh over the computer.

Before I could make up my mind how to proceed, the doorbell rang.

Julia startled as if the noise had snapped her back to reality. Wide-eyed, she leaped to her feet and backed away.

The fear in her eyes broke my freaking heart. “You’re safe here. It’s probably the dinner I ordered earlier.”

She glanced around and sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologize for.” I cracked a grin to ease the tension. “Other than denting my ego by hacking my system.”

“I shouldn’t have led you on.” Her chin quivered. “It’s just… It felt like the old us. I miss the way things were before we met.”

“Me too, babe. Me, too.”

But I know how to get us back to normal.

13

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