Page 48 of Pressure

He looked up at her and smiled. “I’m not sure yet. I won’t be going back to Chicago until next week at least, but Riss and I might be going to California. We’re still sorting out the details.”

She gave them a thumbs up. “I’ll see you Friday then.”

“Hey, what about your family? Are they OK?”

She grinned and nodded. “Carmen and the girls were in the process of moving to their own place and Garrett sent Daddy and Uncle Henry on a vacation that should keep them out of the way of the media while you two do your thing and Garrett does his.”

“Excellent. I’m glad you’re OK.”

She pulled the door shut and they were alone again.

“You sure you want to go to California?” he asked after a moment of silence.

“You know how his type is Lance. His ego will want to talk to you.”

Lance sighed. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

Marissa turned her chair to face him. “That doesn’t sound good.”

“I know him.”

She whistled. “And you’re just now telling me?”

“It’s complicated. You know how I called the cops on you and all that awful stuff?”

She gave a slow nod and he hoped she was catching the drift of where he was going with this.

“It turns out it was Sebastian I should have been calling the cops on. And as soon as I figured out my mistake that’s exactly what I did. Turns out he was wanted for some other cyber-crimes as well and that’s what landed him in prison. I have a feeling he blames me for it though.”

Marissa stood and paced behind him. “So, you’re saying this guy not only stole from you, but he made it look like I did it?”

Lance winced. “Yep. That’s the gist of it.”

“Well then fuck yes I want to go see him. When can we leave?”

He groaned. “I’m not sure it’s such a good idea. But we can go to California in the morning if you want.”

♦♦♦♦

Marissa woke the next morning feeling too hot. Right. She’d gone to bed with Lance again. After they finished a coding session, they’d come back upstairs to his suite and he’d reminded her once again just how much she’d missed him.

None of that changed any of their past, and they had a lot to talk about but for now it seemed like a good idea to just enjoy the ride.

She rolled out of bed, careful not to wake him, and pulled on her workout clothes. Running didn’t seem to help her lose weight, but it made her feel good, so she continued to do it. Somewhere around her senior year of high school she’d accepted that she was just a curvy girl. Being in the BDSM scene had even helped her grow to love her shape. Lance had shown her that she didn’t need to be rail thin to enjoy bondage, and the rope community had proven that she wasn’t too heavy to lift in the air for suspension play.

When she got downstairs, she realized she didn’t know how to disarm the alarm system so she could open the front door. So, she went to the conference room and pulled out her tablet and another piece of equipment that would help her decode the alarm.

She stood there tapping at her screen for several minutes as the device worked on figuring out the code.

“You always did know how to get into trouble, didn’t you Riss?”

The tablet nearly clattered to the floor as Lance spoke in her ear. She’d been so focused on her task she didn’t hear him come through the door. He reached around her and disconnected the device before typing in the code.

As he did, she heard his phone ring.

“Morning Russell,” he said as he pulled the tablet from her hands and walked it back to the conference room. “It’s all clear. Turned out to just be Marissa trying to guess the alarm code.”

When he approached her again, he pushed her against the wall and trailed his free hand down her cheek.

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