shelving unit to steady himself.
She was kissing him as she unlocked her ankles and slid down his body, a decadent, satiated kiss that felt like thank you and you’re welcome at the same time. When Aidan had recovered enough to open his eyes, it was to find her staring up at him, sexy and triumphant.
Which he understood. He felt like a fucking conqueror just then.
Aidan leaned down and kissed her again, lingering over her mouth before he pulled away. She smiled to herself as she tugged the skirt back down her thighs and reached for her discarded clothing. Aidan took care of the condom and zipped himself back into place before donning his T-shirt.
On a whim, he grabbed his leather jacket from the ground, pulling his phone and gloves from the pocket before he draped it over her bare shoulders. Startled, she looked up from fastening her corset, and something...familiar flashed through his chest, but he couldn’t quite place it. There’d been a flash of vulnerability, a glimpse of the woman behind the vixen, but he couldn’t get the pieces to fit.
“Take the jacket,” he told her, his voice sounding gruff, even to his own ears. It was too big on her, obviously, and there was no reason he should like seeing her in it, but he did. The realization made him uneasy.
He didn’t like the sudden shift in his chest. Meaning being assigned to what was nothing more than some great fucking in a supply closet. A momentary and mutual escape into pleasure. It was just a jacket, he assured himself as he turned away from her and pulled the door open a crack to check if the coast was clear.
It was, and he let her duck under his arm and slip through, awareness prickling all over his skin as she pressed into him more than necessary on her way out. Those electric-blue eyes snagged with his for a split second, a final farewell, and then she was gone.
Aidan closed the door behind her and wrestled his body, so recently sated, back under control before he, too, ducked out of the supply closet. He didn’t look for her again, just pushed out the side door, revved up his motorcycle, and took the long way home.
AIDAN WONDERED IF Lola performed on Saturday nights.
Which was a pretty fucked up thing to wonder.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t much else to distract him from thoughts of her as he sat alone in a booth in a shitty pub, waiting for a smug prick. Classic rock and the crack of pool being played in the back corner had nothing on his X-rated memories. He tried to blame his single-mindedness on the fact that he’d broken his sex fast, reminded himself how good it could be and that this...infatuation was just the result of being horny.
Except he wasn’t just looking for a willing partner, because if he had been, any number of the flirtatious glances he’d received when he’d walked in would have enticed him.
He wasn’t thinking about sex.
He was thinking about sex with her.
His abs knotted at the memory, drawing tight beneath his T-shirt. Sure, some of it could be chalked up to newness, to the risk of being caught, but that wasn’t the part that still had him by the balls. There was something deeper, something so...trusting about the way she’d looked at him, taken his hand, followed him.
It was almost as though—
“Christ. Remind me not to let you pick future meeting locations. This place isn’t ‘under the radar.’ It’s ‘waiting to be condemned.’”
Aidan’s head shot up at the verbal attack. Liam Kearney, Cybercore’s CEO, had managed to surprise him. And that wasn’t good. He couldn’t afford to be distracted by a hot body and a butterfly tattoo right now. He stood and shook the man’s hand once, quick and hard, and if he’d gripped too tightly, it was only because his adversary had done the same.
Kearney ran an assessing gaze down Aidan’s brown leather jacket and jeans. “So nice of you to dress up for the occasion.”
The two of them slid into the booth across from one another.
“Yeah, I’m the one who looks like a fucking moron here.” Aidan rested an arm along the top of the beat-up pleather bench. Like he was going to take shit from some prick who wore a three-piece suit to a dive bar. He pulled an envelope containing their agreed-upon price out of his pocket and tossed it onto the table in front of Kearney. “Funny how your distaste for my clothes never keeps you from taking my money.”
Liam bared his teeth. It wasn’t quite a smile. “Of course I’ll take your money. You think Tom Ford suits come cheap? Besides, one of us should look good.”
Aidan caught the waitress’s eye, and with a tip of his chin she started toward them.
By the time he turned back to Kearney, the envelope was tucked away. Discreet. The prick had style; that was for damn sure. “You want a drink?”
Liam glanced at their surroundings and gave a disdainful shake of his head. “I’ve got a date with a supermodel in a couple of hours, so it’s in my best interest to avoid contracting hantavirus between now and then.”
Their server sidled up to the table. “What can I get you, hot stuff?”
“Scotch. Neat.”
“And for your handsome friend?”
“He’s not my friend. And he’s not staying.”
She sent Kearney a flirty once-over. “Too bad.”
The man placed a hand over his pocket square, which he probably wore to remind himself where his heart would be if he had one. “Sadly, I have a previous engagement.”
“Sucks to be me.” She cocked her hip, bracing the edge of her tray on the curve of her waist. “So, if you’re not friends and this one’s got ‘brooding bad boy’ on lock,” she said, thumbing in Aidan’s direction, “what’s that make you? His flashy, high-paid lawyer?”
Liam reached into his suit jacket and extracted his wallet. “If you’re asking if I think I can get you off, the answer is yes.”
She giggled as he tugged a couple of bills free and held them up between his fingers.
“Why don’t you bring my client here a double in a clean glass? And keep the change.”
She plucked the money from his hand with a wink. “You got it, counselor.”
When she was gone, Liam exchanged his wallet for a shiny silver cell phone, which he slid across the scarred wood of the table.
“This is a prototype version, but we’ve had good success in the first round of testing. You’ll have complete control of the target’s phone—location, microphone, camera, texts, whatever you want. Just open the program and get within a foot of your target’s phone to install it. Once you’re in, download at will. You can remove it remotely.”
Aidan whistled long and low. “You’ve outdone yourself, Kearney.”
“What can I say? As the enemy of my enemy, you’re practically my friend. That’s why I took the liberty of preloading this bad boy with all your stuff. Contacts, photos, apps. It’s all there.”
Son of a bitch.
“Is this where I thank you for hacking my phone?”
Liam’s smile was smug. “This is where you thank me for using my powers for good. I left your passwords the same.”
“Nobody likes a show-off.”
Which was precisely why Aidan was keeping it to himself that during a recent trip to Asia, he’d acquired a knockoff version of The Shield, Cybercore’s upcoming entry into the digital-cryptocurrency ring. At least until he proved both SecurePay and The Shield were based on his father’s