Forbidden Pleasure. Taryn Taylor Leigh

      The slit wasn’t quite to her navel, but the frayed material made her think its fate lay with a trash can, not a seamstress. As it stood, she was going to need a couple of safety pins to finish off the workday without getting charged with indecent exposure.

      Sherri’s voice flooded the room. “Kaylee’s here to see you. She says it’s urgent. And I have Jesse Hastings on the line for your ten o’clock.”

      “Tell them both to wait. We’re almost done here.”

      He hit the disconnect button and put his hands on his hips, but he didn’t say anything.

      “So...” Emma glanced over at the opaque glass wall. “What do you suppose Sherri thinks is happening in here right now?”

      “I pay her not to speculate.” And just like that, Max was all business again. “Who knows that you quit?”

      Emma sighed and pushed away from the window, walking toward the front of Max’s desk. By the time she’d secured her position at Whitfield Industries, the need for overtime pay and her mother’s worsening condition had taken up any time she’d have used to cultivate coworkers into friends. Somehow, it had seemed easier not to bother. “If that’s all you’re worried about, then we’re done here. I didn’t tell anyone I was leaving except for you.”

      “Good. Let’s keep it that way. If we’re going to catch whoever is behind this, discretion is key.”

      The words snapped her like a rubber band. “What? I thought I was your suspect.”

      Max’s amber eyes roved her face, looking for something, some answer. It felt...personal. Not like business at all.

      She swallowed against the buzz of attraction that charged the air.

      After what felt like an eternity, Max turned his attention to the files on his desk. “You’ve been cleared.”

      The gruff announcement blindsided her.

      “What are you talking about? If you’re not investigating me, why did you come to my place with that contract? Why am I here?”

      When Max looked at her again, his impassive mask was back in place. “As I said, the SecurePay launch needs to go off without a hitch. And in order to unearth the mole before the release date, we need our traitor to feel confident that we are still unaware of the leak.”

      Hope crept through her veins. Maybe there was still a chance for her to get out of this mess with minimal damage. To Max. To herself. She just needed to keep a cool head. “So, I’m supposed to jump back into my job like nothing happened this weekend?”

      She’d been expecting access restrictions, at the very least.

      “Exactly like nothing happened this weekend,” he confirmed.

      Despite the absolution, something kept her senses on high alert, like her body was reacting to the distant clang of a warning bell that was just beyond her hearing. Something about this didn’t feel right.

      Emma tempered her frown at this new development and grabbed her bag from the visitor’s chair. She hooked it over her forearm, positioning it strategically in front of her ruined skirt so she didn’t flash anyone on the way out, pulling her suitcase with her other hand.

      She was almost at the door when Max’s voice stopped her.

      “And Emma?”

      She glanced over her shoulder, eyebrows raised in question.

      “Wear a fucking bra tomorrow.”

      He needn’t have worried. She wouldn’t make that mistake again, but she kept her voice tart when she answered. “I’ll wear whatever I want.”

      Max scrubbed a hand down his face and hit the button that summoned Sherri’s voice like a high-tech genie.

      “Yes, sir?”

      “Tell Kaylee I don’t have time to see her right now. And find out who I need to talk to about getting the dress code amended before tomorrow.”

      “The dress code?”

      “That’s what I said. Let Hastings know I’ll be with him in five minutes.”

      Emma made sure to flash him a victorious smile as she walked out of his office, but it faded long before she reached her desk. The flare of hope she’d experienced in his office sputtered and died.

      The whole point of seducing Max had been that she’d never see him again. And the whole point of quitting her job was to escape the reckoning that seemed almost inevitable now. Whitfield Industries had one of the top cyber security firms in the nation on retainer. It was only a matter of time before Max discovered what she had done.

      * * *

      Max dropped into the chair behind his desk, legs spread wide to accommodate the results of his earlier lack of willpower with Emma. He hit the button beneath his desk that unfrosted the wall of his office with more force than was necessary.

      He was drowning in a security breach that could derail SecurePay, and here he was, acting like a horny teenager with the top suspect, about to conduct a meeting with raging erection.

      “What was that all about?”

      The sudden intrusion snapped his head up, and Max didn’t bother to smooth the annoyance from his features as his unwanted visitor stormed in without knocking. Not that he expected such civilities from her. He might be known for his poker face, but no one taxed it quite as much as his sister.