Hardwired Read online

  “But you wear suits to casinos?”

  “I wasn’t at work.”

  “Your wardrobe metric seems to be a bit skewed, Blake.” I turned back to my notes even though I had completely lost my train of thought. Visions of him in that gray suit propped up against my hotel door kept clouding my mind. He should wear suits more often, I thought. No. No, he shouldn’t. I shook my head at my notes, thankful Blake wasn’t tuned into my internal dialogue.

  “If I wore a suit here, there’d be a mutiny. I have a reputation to maintain after all.”

  Sid wouldn’t be caught dead in a suit, so he might be right.

  We spent the rest of the afternoon at Blake’s office. I toiled away on my presentation while he tapped at his keyboard, making magic happen between his three monitors. I had made considerable progress and felt confident I could satisfy whatever questions Max might have for me in our follow up and fill in the blanks left by my brief pitch earlier. I closed my laptop and stood to go when Blake spun around in his chair.

  “What’s the plan?” he said.

  He sized me up with a wolfish grin that looked anything but innocent.

  “I’m not your private chef. You realize that, right?”

  “Perhaps we could negotiate.” He rose and leaned against the desk in front me. “What could I do for you?”

  I shivered at the low rasp in his voice. Why did he have to be so damned sexy? Maybe we could skip dinner and go right to dessert. Chocolate mousse sounded good. Licking chocolate mousse off his rock hard abs came to mind. Every delicious ridge… all the way down. Oh God. I licked my dry lips. I hadn’t spent nearly enough time worshiping his body the last and only time I’d had him naked.

  “Do you have something in mind, Erica?” Blake left his post at the desk and stalked closer.

  I had reached the cut off for the amount of time I could safely spend alone with him. Like a drug, his presence was potent. I bit my lip at the fantasy of him being my living, breathing dessert plate.

  Get a grip, Erica.

  I snapped out of my reverie and straightened. “Do you have your fancy car here?”

  “I do. And no, you can’t drive it,” he teased.

  “I need to grab some household things for the apartment. Give me a ride, and I’ll make you chicken parm tonight.”

  “I’m ready when you are.”

  We spent the next hour in a large department store, filling the cart with kitchenware, towels, and bedding. I grabbed the cheapest sheet set I could find in a color I liked, but Blake wordlessly put them back and replaced them with a 400-thread count set at thrice the price.

  “I’m not made of money, you know.”

  The corner of his mouth turned up. “I’ll buy those. And I promise, you’ll thank me later.”

  I ignored the flush that worked its way through me at everything that promise implied. Still, I didn’t argue the point any further since I was relying on him for transportation.

  At the checkout, I was so busy organizing bags in the heaping cart that I didn’t notice Blake slide his credit card through before it was too late.

  “What the hell, Blake?” I protested.

  “Call it your housewarming present.”

  “Absolutely not. You’re being ridiculous.”

  “It’s the least I can do. I did basically force you into living next door to me.”

  “Below you,” I corrected.

  “That’s how I like you,” he murmured, his eyes darkening.

  Those few little words rendered me speechless and I heated from head to toe. My hands trembled a bit as I stuffed the receipt into my purse.

  Blake insisted I wait in the car while he loaded the bags. We rode back to the apartment in relative silence. I stared at the screen between us and remembered the call that had come in the last time I was with him here.

  “So who’s Sophia,” I asked. I feigned disinterest, looking out the window as buildings sped by us.

  “She owns a company I invest in,” he said. “Why do you ask?”

  “I was just curious.”

  I shrugged and spotted our brownstone. So far Blake hadn’t blatantly lied to me about anything, but he had a penchant for misleading me. For now I decided to believe him and put the subject out of my mind.

  Blake brought everything upstairs for me. He ascended the steps, his arms lined with about ten bags each while I hurried to unlock the door.

  Just as we started putting things away, Sid walked in. Blake straightened immediately from his task of folding towels, which he was doing all wrong but I didn’t have the heart to tell him.

  “Sid, hey. This is Blake. Blake, you remember me talking about Sid, our developer.”

  Blake visibly relaxed and the twitch in his jaw disappeared. What was with him and staking his claim in my apartment? Sid could be easily agitated, so the last thing I needed was for Blake to make him uncomfortable on day one.

  “Sure,” he said, walking over to shake Sid’s hand. “Nice to meet you.”

  Sid towered over him but his arms were about half the diameter of Blake’s. The two men could not have been more different, in physicality or temperament.

  “You too. And you are?”

  “I’m Erica’s neighbor,” Blake said quickly.

  A pang of disappointment shot through me. What had I expected him to say?

  “I guess you’re my neighbor too then.” Sid shrugged out of his enormous hiking backpack.

  The taut line of Blake’s jaw made me question my grand plan.

  “Great,” he said.

  I walked over quickly, hoping to neutralize the situation that Sid had no idea he’d just walked into. “Yeah, Sid is going to crash here until we figure out the financing thing. Dorms close this week, you know.”

  “Right,” Blake said, running his hand through his hair.

  I’d fill Sid in on Blake’s association with Angelcom later. In the meantime, I had a kitchen to organize, a meal to cook, and an awkward dinner to host.

  I showed Sid his room. All I had was the blow up mattress and bedding that would have to do until we got some real furniture. He didn’t seem to care much, so I returned to the kitchen and started prepping the meal. Before I knew it, Blake was behind me. He spun me around.

  “You never told me about the roommate.”

  His voice was low and serious enough to set my heart beating a mile a minute. Was he angry? I couldn’t really tell, but I felt like a child about to go to time-out.

  Inviting Sid to be my roommate had been a rash decision, granted. I knew how he lived, typically in a pile of pop tart wrapper rubble, and it worried me a bit. But in truth, I wasn’t ready to live solo anyway, and I could use his presence at the apartment to deter Blake’s advances, though it wasn’t working at present.

  I swallowed hard before replying. “You haven’t exactly been straightforward with me either, Blake. I don’t know what you expect.”

  “It’s a complication. I suppose we’ll have to work around it.”

  “Oh?”

  “We’ll just be spending a lot more time upstairs is all.”

  He stepped between my legs and lifted my knee over his thigh with a single fluid motion. My breath rushed out of me, and I gripped the edge of the counter as he pinned me to it. He pressed a hot kiss on my neck before taking my earlobe between his teeth.

  I gasped at the sensation and held on tight. Squeezing my eyes shut, I reminded myself of every good reason not to give in to him. There was a line with Blake. On one side of it, I wanted him desperately, but somehow I could muster the willpower to refuse him. We were on the other side of that line, where I was completely at his mercy, helpless against his determination to have me.

  His hands crept under my shirt and stroked the bare skin of my back, the contact sending me into orbit. My nipples hardened and brushed against his chest as I arched into him.

  “I need you, Erica. Tonight.” He pressed the evidence of his desire into me.

  His mouth was on mine
before I could say no, obliterating any remote ideas about putting him off again. He kissed me hard and deep, sucking and licking with an urgency I fully met. I finally released my hands and raked my fingers through his hair, urging him closer. He pulled back to catch his breath, and I gripped him tighter, willing him back to me.

  There we were, Blake’s hands on their way up my skirt, each of us on fire for the other, when Sid shuffled out of his bedroom and stopped short in the living room.

  I froze, petrified by being caught in the act. With Sid entirely out of his view, Blake slowly retreated. He gave me a little smirk, letting me know our little show had gone according to his plan. He adjusted himself before turning around and busying himself with something at the island.

  Flustered by my desire and newfound irritation, I channeled my emotions into the food, ignoring Blake’s requests to help. We were obviously playing a game, but I was already growing tired of it. The only move I could think up was to ignore him, to not give him what we both wanted even though I was ready to combust with sexual frustration. If I could get a handle on that, maybe he’d learn I wasn’t someone to toy with.

  Somehow we all made it through dinner. I ate at the counter. Both Sid and Blake devoured my mother’s chicken parmesan at the breakfast bar. We needed real furniture at some point. Buying furniture worthy of the space while on a budget would be a challenge, but not impossible. I resolved to do a little bargain shopping after I finalized my presentation notes in the morning.

  Now more than ever, I needed this to feel like home, a safe place away from the rest of the world. Right now the apartment was barren and strange. Between that, Alli being out of my immediate life, and Blake’s mission to turn my world upside down, I felt as if I were dangling precariously, hanging on for dear life to any semblance of normalcy.

  Blake must have picked up on my withdrawal, because when we finished cleaning up, he let me know he was taking off. I walked him to the door, and Sid disappeared on cue.

  “Are you okay?” Blake’s eyes, not so long ago clouded with the heat of lust, were now filled with concern.

  “I’m fine, just tired. It’s been a long day.” It was only half of the truth, but I didn’t have the energy to talk it out or bicker with him.

  “Do you want a ride to the office tomorrow?”

  “No, thanks. I’d rather just finish up here. I have some errands to run.”

  He nodded, and when he leaned in for a kiss, I turned my head, narrowly escaping his lips on my own. I closed my eyes. As much as I wanted to make a point, I dreaded the look in his eyes. When I opened them, he had disappeared up the stairs.

  I shut the door and leaned against it. My face fell into my hands. How the hell had I gotten into this mess?

  CHAPTER NINE

  I spent the morning shopping online and picked out a bedroom set, figuring I would donate my futon to Sid eventually. I also ordered a small dining room table and matching chairs, and a few other odds and ends. I scoured the classifieds and found a decent used couch that someone could deliver for an extra few bucks. Sid had already moved in his television and gaming systems, which sat in the otherwise bare living area.

  This apartment might be the closest thing to a real home that I’d had since my mother passed. Of course now I was sharing it with Sid, but who knew how long that would last? I clung to the thought of this being home, my home, giving the word new meaning with this new chapter of my life that was filled with so many unknowns.

  For the past four years, more even, I’d had everything planned out. Now I had no idea what to expect from my future. I had only my intuition to guide me. Unfortunately Blake was marching all over my intuition. I wasn’t expecting a man like him—and everything that came with him—in my life.

  Unable to concentrate on work, I slapped down the screen of my laptop. I needed some fresh air. Thanks to Blake’s chauffeuring me around and the new living situation, I’d been cooped up inside most of the day.

  I stepped outside and walked the length of the street until the grass-lined walking path ended. There I settled on an empty bench and let the sun warm my skin. The day was mild, still too cool for the beach but perfect for being outside comfortably.

  I decided to call Alli. I missed her too much already. After several rings she picked up.

  “Hello?” she answered, her voice hoarse.

  “Are you okay? You sound sick.”

  “I’m fine. Long night.”

  “Who are these friends you’re staying with?” I asked, suddenly concerned.

  “I was with Heath.”

  “Oh.”

  “What can I say? He parties like a rockstar.” She let out a weak laugh.

  “On a Thursday night? When do you start work?”

  “Monday, and you can stop worrying now. We’re just having fun. Plus I’m meeting some new people here. Making connections for us.”

  “Okay.” Though what great connection partied all night on a Thursday?

  “So how are things with you?”

  “Pretty good. The new apartment is great.”

  “Ugh, I’m so jealous. The apartments here are ridiculous. I feel like I’m shopping for closets.”

  “If it makes you feel any better, I could end up on one of those hoarder shows in a few months. I invited Sid to come stay with me. The new can collection has begun.”

  She laughed. “Oh shit. Okay, I’m not jealous anymore. At least I won’t have to share my closet, if I’m lucky.”

  I laughed and agreed.

  “What’s new with Blake?”

  I told her about the housing situation, which didn’t surprise her as much as I thought it would. Maybe Heath had already clued her in to Blake’s over-controlling tendencies. Thankfully she didn’t grill me on whether I intended to keep our one-nighter just that, because I was still trying to figure it out myself.

  “So when are you going to come visit me?” she asked.

  “I guess when we both get settled. We’ll see how things go with Max. I should be able to visit after that.”

  Alli filled me in on all the fun spots she was discovering in the city that we’d go to eventually. In the middle of our conversation, Blake beeped in. I promised to call her later and answered Blake’s call.

  “Hey, the site went offline a few minutes ago.”

  My stomach fell. “What? How do you know?” The site had gone down before, which obviously wasn’t good, but I needed everything to be perfect for my meeting with Max tomorrow.

  “I set up a program to ping me if the site went down.”

  “Why?”

  “Erica, can we focus on the issue at hand?” He sounded more irritated than I should have been, considering it was my website we were talking about. “Can you put Sid on?”

  I didn’t like being pushed to the side, but this was not my department.

  “I’m out right now, but I can be home in a few minutes.”

  “Give me his number, I’ll call him.”

  “Don’t bother. I’ll call you back in a bit.”

  Back at the apartment, I knocked quietly on Sid’s door, then louder. He was never up this early. Eventually I walked in, determined to wake him from his sleep coma. He was fully dressed and passed out face down on the sheetless air mattress.

  “Sid!” I yelled, breaking the silence of an otherwise quiet and peaceful morning.

  He groaned and rolled over. “What?”

  “The site’s down.”

  “Oh,” he said, unmoving.

  “Blake called. He wants to talk to you.”

  “I need caffeine,” he grumbled.

  I huffed, in no mood for his pissy morning routine. “I’ll be back with some energy drinks. Get up and figure out what is going on please.” I left my phone on his desk with Blake’s number up and walked down the street to the convenience store.

  A few minutes later, I returned to find Sid frowning at his computer screen, analyzing what, from past experience, looked like the server logs. These held answers
about the site’s activity that I had no idea how to interpret. I heard clicking noises coming out of my phone, which was set on speaker.

  “It looks like they’re attacking the log in script and bombarding the server with requests so the host shut us down,” Sid said.

  “Sounds like it’s just script kiddies then,” Blake’s voice said.

  “What are script kiddies?” I asked almost in a whisper, not wanting to be the ignorant one. Still, I needed to know.

  “Amateur hackers with too much free time,” Sid answered.

  “Oh.” Compared to skilled hackers on a schedule? A hacker was a hacker, as far as I was concerned. An enemy threatening my business. Hopefully Sid and Blake could craft a defense plan soon.

  “Do you have a redundant server?” Blake asked.

  “Obviously,” Sid replied flatly.

  “Get that going, and let’s see how persistent they are. Can you give me access to the server?”

  Sid looked at me for the okay, and I nodded.

  “I’ll send it over now.”

  “I can set up an IP blocker, if you want to work on patching vulnerabilities,” Blake said.

  “Sounds good.”

  “Do I need to call the host?” I asked Sid quietly.

  “No, I’ll reboot the server, and we’ll be back up in a few minutes.”

  I took a deep breath. “Do you need anything from me?”

  Sid turned his head, fixing on the bag of cans I held. I fished one out for him and put the rest in the fridge, feeling a bit useless.

  I pulled out my laptop at the island and refreshed the website repeatedly until the site came back up, while Blake and Sid continued their unintelligible tech speak in the other room.

  The fact that we had been hacked concerned me, especially since I hoped to finalize a deal with Max within a matter of weeks. Blake and Sid didn’t seem overly concerned about the nature of the threat, but I had an unsettled feeling. Why were we being targeted all of a sudden? Who hated fashion so much that they needed to take us offline? Once we were on the other side of this minor setback, I hoped to have more answers from Sid.

  I spent the rest of the day monitoring the site and testing Sid’s patches as he rolled them out. We ate leftovers and went over statistics for me to reference in the morning. As the night rolled on, I didn’t hear from Blake. At the very least, I expected him to come raid the fridge. After all, we’d seen each other every day since I moved in, and he seemed to have a growing dependency on my Italian cooking.