If she was being honest with herself, Dawn would admit that she wanted to use the code anyway, even if the Hills did nothing nefarious with her latest tech. If she could manage to smuggle it onto the conglomerate’s main servers, she’d make them regret hiring away her former boyfriend. It was a simple bit of code really. All it did was generate random numbers. And replace any number it found with a value between 1 and 10 billion. Every single number. Indiscriminately.
She would have her revenge against Brian and his employer. And it would be sweet.
Wouldn’t it?
Suddenly, Dawn felt weary.I just want to do my science in peace. Have the freedom to create without always worrying about what will become of my creations. And I want to have the freedom to trust the people I meet without having to look over my shoulder.
She’d learned the hard way with Brian. He’d seemed sweet enough. Unassuming. But he’d stabbed her in the back the first chance that he’d gotten. And now, an enigmatic stranger was moving heaven and earth—and five million credits—to worm his way inside her operation.
A stranger who’d likely been sent by the same creeps who had lured Brian away. Once again, they were using her feelings against her. Once again, a man was trying to control her with seduction.
At least this one was much more skilled than Brian. And a hell of a lot better looking.
It was like her body reacted without engaging her higher reasoning. Something in him called to her, and she was eager to respond. She was helpless, forced to endure his embrace while her body betrayed her.
Forced to succumb to kiss after delectable kiss.
Focus, she told herself, impatiently refreshing her bank account information over and over again. Suddenly, the balance changed. She was five million credits richer than she was a second ago.
Immediately, she connected to the power company, paying off her past-due balance and ensuring that they had enough energy, and air, to continue working. Dawn exhaled in relief. One worry dealt with.
Then came the knock at the door.
