Driving Maura home was a bizarre experience for the hardened Pine. He'd called off her surveillance, not wanting photos of him kissing her goodbye surfacing. Despite her shy protests, James insisted on walking her to the door of her little houseboat, giving her a long and delicious kiss.
"If you don't feel better tomorrow, you will call Dr. Kennedy and see him immediately." He watched as she flushed and lowered her head. Pushing her gaze back up with a thumb on her chin, James persisted, "Do you understand?" He watched with amusement as his tech genius tried to give him a world-weary expression.
"Of course. But I'm fine," Maura answered.
"I'm fine...?" James relentlessly prompted, enjoying the helpless blush spread over her pale skin.
"I'm fine. Sir," she whispered.
***
Maura walked inside her houseboat's cabin, sitting gracelessly on her sofa, dropping her head in her hands.
What the fuck have I done?she thought despairingly. This was a terrible development, and she was too honest to deny it. If Yagura and their senior agent discovered what had happened, they would insist she continue as “James’ whore.” Intelligence from lips loosened from an orgasm could be invaluable. Conversely, if her Sir - Mr. Pine, she corrected angrily - wanted to continue seeing her for sex, he'd take an unhealthy interest in everything she did. Maura knew he was too possessive to not make sure she was faithful to him. This would leave her open to dangerous slip-ups under his scrutiny.
Her advantage in her intelligence work had always been flying under the radar in whatever role she played: either too beautiful and stupid, or too smart and nerdy to draw suspicion. “Maybe,” she murmured, trying to comfort herself, “maybe this was a one-time thing. Bang the computer geek and move on?” Ignoring the punch to her gut the thought gave her, Maura tried to see this as the best outcome. Sighing as she limped back to bed, she shook her head. This was going to end horribly. This was a fact.
***
Driving home from dropping off Maura, James found himself actually having to fight his instinct to turn around and bring her back home with him. He wasn't a sadist- he knew she was sore and uncomfortable after a night of the roughest sex he'd wager she'd ever had.
In the past with a lover he'd worked too hard, James still had them service him orally if they couldn't accommodate him otherwise. But this morning, seeing the bruises and bites littering her porcelain skin, he instead cared for her, soothing the worst of the injuries before taking her home to heal.
"Fuck!" he growled to himself, "She's an employee!" Not that he hadn't sampled a large portion of the female workforce at the Corporation, but they were usually operatives or whores and knew exactly what he was after. Hand trailing down to absently rub at his dick, James heard her whisper of "Yes, Sir," again. And again, as he groaned with pleasure.
Chapter 6: I'll Protect You from Everything but Me
In which we meet Maura's second senior agent and a visit to the houseboat.
The start of the work week lulled Maura into what she was certain was a false sense of security. James was rarely around, and when he was, he spoke to her with the same detached indifference he'd always used. That's what made Thursday's sudden invasion into their computer lab even more alarming. Nicholas was training some of their support staff in another room, so she was alone when her boss slammed the door open. James stormed into the room; it was clear he was furious. "MacLaren," he hissed, "open everything you have on the financials from the Masoud group."
Maura's fingers danced on her keyboard. He didn't have the tendency to throw things as Kingston did, but she wasn't taking any chances. Pulling the vast numbers up on her screen, she started scrolling through them. "Tell me what I'm looking for, Sir."
"A funds transfer, at least twenty million pounds, sometime within the last month. I have to know the recipient." She jumped a little as he slammed his palm on her desk. He watched as her eyes darted back and forth.
"I've isolated three possible transactions, Sir. All blind recipients."
"That won't do!" he hissed, "Do some of your magic, but get the recipients."
"Yes, Sir..." Maura answered, distracted. He leaned over her shoulder, his intent gaze trying to find the answer in the lines of code.
Reaching into her drawer and pulling out a flash drive, Maura inserted it into a USB port. "First name. Azzar Industries. Eighteen point three million dollars..." Her voice trailed off and she leaned into the code, making an alteration. "I don't think this is what you're looking for. The shipment came from Afghanistan- I'm betting on drugs."
"Continue, MacLaren." She was relieved to hear his voice resume his calm, low tones.
"This one's promising, twenty-two million pounds. Shipment delivered to Morocco..."
"The name, MacLaren," he ordered. She glanced up quickly, realizing he was looking down the neckline of her loose sweater and could see the swell of her soft breasts, where he'd spent so much time last weekend. Flushing, she tried to refocus, biting her lower lip.
"That doesn't make sense..." she drifted off again, backing out of that screen and opening another.
"What doesn't make sense?" James put his face next to hers, and Maura cursed him silently. His warmth and soft exhalations of his breath were distracting, along with that damnably beautiful voice in her ear.
She shook her head, astonished. "Unless I've made an utterly insane mistake, the buyer is the French Government." Looking to her right, she watched as a slow smile spread across James's face.
"Are you certain, MacLaren?"
"See the sequential numbers here," she pointed at the screen, "and here? Those are the Euro codes for the French treasury, converted to pounds sterling... but this makes no sense. I must have made a mistake."
