The Billionaire's Impulsive Lover (The Sisterhood) (5 page)

She looked at her outfit, and shrugged. “ And?”

“And….” He said as he pointed to her purse, “your purse is too sophisticated.”

“What’s wrong with my purse?” she demanded.

“Nothing is wrong with it, but it proves that you don’t work in this area.”

She looked around and noticed that there weren’t any large businesses. Only small store fronts with antiques and restaurants, the occasional jewelry store. “Maybe I own one of the stores.”

“You don’t.” And he took another bite of his sandwich.

“What makes you so sure?”

“If you worked around here, you wouldn’t have been trying to rush off to get back to work, you wouldn’t have parked behind the restaurant and the engine of your car wouldn’t still be warm, indicating you’d been driving for a significant amount of time before parking. Owning a store in this area would mean you’d have your own parking space behind your shop and no need to move it during the day since this section of the city is pretty small and isolated. Instead of driving, you would have simply walked back to your store.” He took a sip of tea and watched her carefully. “So are you going to tell me where you work?”

She burst out laughing, genuinely impressed with his logic. “And my outfit? How does that fit into your deductions?”

His eyes moved down, then slowly up her figure once again, obviously enjoying the view and her squirm as she tried to sit still during his perusal since she’d prompted it with her curiosity. “This is more of a hippy, grunge area. The store owners in this section of the city go out of their way to wear earthy, toned down clothes and artsy kinds of jewelry. You definitely don’t fit that image.”

If she hadn’t been dating Gary, she might even be attracted to this man.

That thought stunned her so much she broke off the laugh and leaned back, embarrassed when his sharp eyes caught the movement and sharpened. To hide the heat flaring up her neck and cheeks, she took another bite of her burger.

“You’re not going to tell me what you do, are you?”

She swallowed painfully, then looked up at him. “Why do you want to know so badly?”

He watched her as he said, “Before we sat down for lunch, I was contemplating having you investigated you for criminal hacking, breaking into my company’s databases for some reason, the answer for which I haven’t yet discovered but soon will know the whole truth. But now that we’ve been talking, I have other plans for you.”

Claire almost dropped her glass of ice water. Instead, she carefully placed it on the table and put her now shaking hands under the table where he couldn’t see them. “Why in the world would you think I was a hacker?” she asked and cleared her throat since it sounded like she’d just swallowed a frog. “And what makes you think you can make any plans for me, no matter what you think of me?”

He finished off his sandwich and washed it down with ice tea, her fascinated gaze watching the muscles of his neck move while he swallowed. After he’d put his now empty glass down, those penetrating grey eyes moved right back to watch her, making her squirm as she waited for his answer. Then he said simply, “You’re going to come work for me. The code you wrote was exceptionally good. I want you working on my team.”

She stared back at him as if he’d grown a second head. Of all the things she’d anticipated him saying, that was not even on the list of possibilities. “I’m not sure I understand.”

He shrugged and signaled to the waitress for the check. “It’s simple. You’re going to tender your resignation today at whatever computer company you’re currently employed with. And then you’ll come work for me but you’ll be working in an area that will be a bit more challenging than what you’ve currently been doing.”

“What makes you think my work isn’t challenging?”

“Because if you were challenged, you wouldn’t be hacking into my personnel files.”

Claire’s entire body when hot, then cold with the realization that he’d accurately zinged her. “You don’t have any proof.”

He smiled slowly. “Are you sure? Should I track that last hack back to….maybe the café across the street? The same place you bought a cup of coffee and some internet time? Probably with your personal credit card? I’m guessing you have the data in your purse somewhere, probably on a flash drive?” At the telltale biting of her lower lip, he continued, “There was some hidden code in the last batch. Are you challenging me?”

She only stared back at him, unsure what to say.

“I thought not.” He tossed some bills down on the table and stood up, reaching for her hand and tucking it into his arm as he pulled her out of the restaurant. “Give your boss your resignation, with one week notice and meet me in my office next Monday morning at eight o’clock sharp.”

They were walking back to her car, her fingers numbly holding onto a business card he’d handed to her. She was too terrified to read the words, sunshine and fear were making her eyes blurry.

When they reached her car, he stopped her, turned her around to face him. “Are you okay to drive?”

She automatically nodded her head but she wasn’t sure of anything.

He watched her and then shook her head. “No you’re not.” He took her keys and led her to the passenger side. “Come along. I’ll drive you to your office. I actually think there’s a way to make your transition even faster.”

“Why in the world would you want to do that?”

He handed her into the car and leaned down. “Because I suspect that, working for me is the only way to keep you out of trouble.” And he slammed the door closed.

A few seconds later, he slipped into the driver’s side and revved her engine. “Where do you work?” he asked, waiting patiently for her answer.

Claire looked at him in the tiny confines of her tiny car, a Mini Cooper wasn’t the best choice for a man of his size, but he actually fit, amazingly. He didn’t look particularly comfortable, but nor were his knees up around his ears.

Twenty minutes later, Mitch was coming out of the CEO’s office, both men were laughing and shaking hands as they departed.

Mitch was smiling as he waved for Claire to follow him. She considered ignoring his unspoken command but she was simply too curious to find out what had been said behind closed doors to wait. When they got into the elevator, she looked up at him expectantly but when he just watched the numbers descend on the elevator indicator. “So?” she demanded. “What did he say? What did you say?”

“You start working for me tomorrow morning. You’ll receive your full vacation pay, by the way.”

Claire watched his face, waiting for more but he just ignored her curiosity, she became angry. “You’re not going to tell me anything, are you?”

Mitch chuckled at the fury shooting at him in her lovely brown eyes. “That need-to-know-everything trait got you into this. I’m counting on it when you come to work for me. I’m pretty sure it’s an asset, as long as it’s appropriately channeled.”

Claire glared at him with her arms crossed over his chest. “You’re a real pain in the neck, do you know that?”

They walked out of the building and were standing by his gorgeous sleek car, the sun shining down on them, making Claire squint as she looked up at his face. “But you’re attracted to me, aren’t you?”

She huffed and took a step back. “Absolutely not! I prefer kind and considerate men to obnoxious-take-charge-under-all-circumstances men.”

His mouth smiled slightly and he shook his head. “Liar. We’re going to have to work on that part of your personality. It’s going to hinder progress on the relationship we’re going to have.”

Claire turned away. “I’ll see you tomorrow at work. But I can guarantee that there will be no relationship between us.”

“I accept that challenge.” He admired her butt as she walked away, every part of her body was the sexiest thing he’d ever seen. Her hips swayed as she walked away and he liked her shapely legs. She was shorter than the women he’d dated in the past. But as she pulled the door open to her old company’s office, he saw her look back once again and knew that there was just as much interest on her part as there was on his.

Chapter 6

Claire almost laughed at herself in the mirror. Turning to the left and right, she thought she looked like a female James Bond. “Go get ‘em girl!” she told her reflection.

Tossing her backpack over her shoulder, she swished out the door, excitement making her footsteps lighter and faster. She felt as if she had a purpose in her life now and she loved it. She was going to find Gary no matter what and she was still convinced that he was working for Titus Securities, she just didn’t know in what capacity. But if she didn’t hear something from him in the next few days, she was going back to the police.

Tonight was all about finding something that would give her the evidence so the police would take her seriously this time. Being asked out for a dinner date was definitely not ranking in the “serious” code of conduct. She was determined to make sure this worked tonight.

If she couldn’t get in through the back door, she told herself as she locked her apartment door and almost danced down the stairs to the parking lot, she would get in through the front door.

As she got into the car, her mind mentally went over all the different things she’d need for the night. She’d worked out a program that would get her through the house security system, she had the lock picking set and she’d been practicing on the different door knobs she’d bought at the hardware store. Only a couple had been a challenge so she was confident that she could pick any of the locks she ran into. She had her computer access code program and she was fairly certain that she could access any computer and download the hard drive relatively quickly. Ten minutes, in and out and she’d hopefully have the information she needed and Mitch would never be the wiser.

Claire was set, she told herself as her Mini engine turned over. It was only a thirty minute drive from her apartment complex to the small road she’d been accessing this past week. The road had served her pretty well each time she’d come so she felt okay about driving down one more time. Biting her lip, something told her that the road wasn’t as safe as she’d thought previously. But as she peered down the dark lane, she convinced herself she was being silly. Nothing was different, no leaves out of place, the boulders were exactly as they had been on her previous visits. And most importantly, the shadows didn’t move. Moving shadows were scary and dangerous, she said, chuckling to herself as she tried to prime herself up for the night’s adventure.

Getting out of her car, the back of her neck tingled but she ignored the feeling and locked her car. She didn’t miss the irony of locking her car with an ordinary key when she was about to break into a highly secured private residence, maintained by a security specialist.

Tossing her backpack over her shoulder, she made her way through the tall, silent trees, along the small, rugged pathway that led to the house. She’d done this several times over the past week so she was starting to feel like she knew the trail pretty well.

When she reached the opening where she could view the house, she crouched down, carefully watching the scene. It was about ten o’clock at night, which was the normal time for Mitch to go for his run with his huge dog. It was odd though because usually she got here just in time to watch him leave. He must have already gone she assumed, since there was no movement in the house. The lights were dark and everything looked too quiet.

What if he was asleep already? The man worked long hours, at some point he’d have to finally take a break. But what if he was still at the office? That would mean the dog was still at home alone. She didn’t relish the idea of running into that beast but she had a contingency plan for that as well. Taking the plastic bag out of her pack, she opened it up, her stomach growling at the smell of the freshly cooked steak she’d brought to distract the dog. She wouldn’t eat this one though. The sleeping pill she’d stuffed into the side might be an issue if she wanted to actually finish her mission tonight versus tomorrow morning, or finding herself in a jail cell. Claire almost smiled at the idea of Mitch coming back and finding her asleep on the floor of his family room after she got too hungry and ate the steak.

“Time to move in,” she whispered into the darkness. Looking to her left and right, she carefully moved closer to the fence. Crouching low, she pulled the alligator clips from her back and connected each to one of the fence posts. The small spark of electricity told her exactly what she’d expected. The fence was hot. Chuckling, she turned the dial and waited three second. A moment later, the clips stopped sparking and the amp meter showed that the fence was now neutralized.

Climbing the fence, she tossed her backpack over, then climbed up herself, following down the other side but a bit slower since she had to actually climb. As she turned to face the house once again, she contemplated the possibilities of the space between herself and the house. She wasn’t sure about the area in front of her. There was a large yard and anything could be hidden among the trees and landscaping closer into the building. Listening carefully, she tried to concentrate to see if she heard anything. Mainly the angry growl of a protective German shepherd watching out for his turf, but there was nothing. Only silence. Too much silence?