Page 53 of Pressure

“Not a thing,” he whispered.

Lance leaned forward then. What had she shown him?

Marissa pulled the piece of paper back and slid it to Lance. At first glance, it looked like a list of random words, but Lance recognized it as a code for a variety of hacking techniques.

“You’re a fool for letting this one get away,” Sebastian said.

Lance nodded. “Believe me, I know.”

Marissa stood and tucked the paper back into her pocket. “We should be going. Thanks for your time.”

“Come back and see me sometime. Leave sourpuss over here at home.”

Marissa didn’t respond, just waited for Lance to stand with her.

When they were in the parking lot, she put her hand in his. “Sorry if I pissed you off in there,” she murmured.

“Only a few times,” he admitted, his voice tight with repressed emotion.

"We can talk about it on the plane. Do you want to get lunch while we're here or are you ready to get back?"

She gave his hand a squeeze. "Lunch sounds good."

"OK." He pulled out his phone and dialed his assistant.

"Hello, Kimberly. Find us reservations somewhere near where I’m at."

Marissa shook her head. "I'm fine with a drive-through, Lance."

He pressed a finger to her lips.

"Thank you, Kimberly. Just send the address to my driver."

They had reached the car by the time he ended his call, so he backed her against it and kissed her.

"Seriously, I'm not dressed for any place fancy."

"Shut up and get in the car, Marissa. If I had to sit there and listen to you tell him things I should have already known, you can damn well sit through lunch at some place decent."

Her demeanor shifted and he nearly grinned when she whispered, "Yes, Sir," and opened the car door to slide inside.

♦♦♦♦

The place Lance's assistant chose was not remotely fancy, much to Marissa's relief, but it was definitely a step up from a drive-through.

In the restaurant, he pulled her chair out for her and ordered them a bottle of wine and an appetizer to share.

He said nothing else as he looked over the menu, so she cleared her throat. "About the riddle."

"I said we would talk on the plane, Riss. Figure out what you want," he said, looking at her over the menu.

Yep, he was definitely upset with her. Not that she blamed him. It had been wrong to not share everything she'd figured out with him but at the time she'd thought of it as job security on her part. Not to mention the fact that Lance had access to the exact same code she did and could have figured it out just like she did, had he looked.

The server came and she ordered a tropical chicken salad to go with the wine he'd picked, and Lance ordered pasta.

"What are your plans once Eli pays you?" Lance asked when they were alone again.

"I want to open my own tech firm focused on women in tech. We'll work on apps and software made for and by women."

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