Smart and perfect.
Fiona O’Shea could do so much better than me, but how the fuck do I leave her alone now? I'm hooked, like a drug. The taste of her still clings to my tongue and my memories, and now, I want everything. I want to be inside of her, showing her just how weak a man can get in the presence of a goddess.
“I knew you’d be up,” she says when I take the call. “Hey, I have a question.”
“What is it?” I ask, taking a sip of my coffee and settling back in my chair.
“Okay, so I bypassed the initial security layers of a system that uses an obscure, custom-built, encrypted algorithm, but I didn’t really get far. I wanted some tips on how I could potentially decrypt the data.”
I smirk. “So that was you who tried to hack into my system two weeks ago.”
“I don't know what you're talking about,” she says, and I can almost see the flush on her cheeks. I’m so tempted to ask for a video call so I can confirm that she is indeed blushing.
“I have set up a system that alerts me every time someone pokes into my devices,” I say, recalling the alert I got two weeks ago of an intrusion into my system, but I didn’t think much of it since they never got far enough to worry me. “Why were you poking into my system anyway?”
“I was curious about Lorenzo Rossi, the golden retriever of the Rossi family. I wanted to hack into your system to see if you were hiding any secrets.”
Fuck, that’s hot. Now, I can’t help but imagine Fiona lying in her bed with her pink walls and pink bedding, tapping frantically on her laptop as she tries to break a system I’ve worked on for years. “I find it impressive enough that you managed to peel back the first layer in such a short amount of time.”
“I didn't get far, though.”
“You got far enough,” I hum, sipping my coffee. “So, did you call me to give you tips on how to hack into a system I built five years ago?”
“Are you offering?”
I laugh, feeling some of the day’s exhaustion slide off my shoulders. “Are you saying you can’t get through the second layer without my help?” I smile when she makes a low sound, and I can almost picture her eyes lighting up with challenge. “I’ll grant a wish if you get through the second layer without setting off an intruder alert.”
“Hmm, I would rather help you out with whatever it is that’s got you stressed.”
The smile freezes on my lips, and I put the coffee down. “I’m not stressed,” I say, staring down at the stack of papers on my desk and floor. “Just busy.”
“The other night, you said you couldn’t use your aides for this project. Why don’t you let me help you?”
I consider it. In all honesty, it’s not the first time I’ve thought about asking her for help. To be fair, she was Var when I considered it, but she was a stranger then. Now that I know who she is, there is an added level of trust.
“What I am about to tell you cannot get out,” I start, thinking of the risk I am about to take right now. “Promise me this, Fiona.”
“I promise,” she whispers, her voice soft. “You can trust me, Lorenzo. I would never betray you.”
I take a few more minutes to think about what I’m about to do and realize that I’m opening not just my world to Fiona O'Shea but also my heart. I'm trusting her.
“We believe there is a leak in the Rossi organization. Someone who has been selling our information to the cops and stealing from us,” I speak, exhaling as the words come out. “Most of the people we work with are a little old-fashioned, so I have to sift through hard copies and then move to the soft copies to trace any inconsistencies.”
“And my guess is you started with the hard copies?”
I look back at the boxes and sigh. “Your guess would be right.”
There is a shuffling noise in the background before her voice comes on again. “I just grabbed my laptop. I’m here to start on anything you need me to.”
“Fiona…” I start, glancing at the load of work. “There’s a lot to be done. You don’t need to start right away.”
“We can work together,” she says. “It wouldn’t be the first time.”
No, it wouldn’t. “Alright, how about we discuss what you could help with, and you can start on it tomorrow.” I wait until she's agreed with the plan to carry on. “I'm going through employee files to narrow it all down based on who has access to the shipment schedules and business accounts. Then I will send you a list of those people, and I want you to investigate them.”
“Like hack into their bank accounts to trace funds to see if there’s an influx or something like that?”
“No,” I say. That would be too easy, but the mob doesn't deal with digital currency unless it's untraceable. Whoever has been stealing from us has been taking it in the form of cash. “I want you to hack into their computers and get me everything you can on them.”
