Page 61 of Pressure

When she finished messing with his tie, he settled his hands on her hips and pulled her to him.

"I never thought I would have you in my arms in this office again," he murmured, kissing her nose.

"I'm sorry it's under such stressful circumstances," she said. "But I'm happy to be here."

"I hate to kick you out, love, but I need to meet with my executive team and my PR head before this client gets here. Just let Kimberly know if you need anything at all."

She smiled. "I will. I don't believe she has two kids, by the way."

Lance laughed. "She claims having kids helped her get in shape because she chases them around the entire time she's home."

He shrugged. The concept of kids was strange to him. He wasn't sure how Marissa felt about them either now that he thought about it.

She leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed him gently. "See ya later," she said, when she pulled away from him.

♦♦♦♦

Marissa walked to the other end of the hall to her temporary office where she'd already set her tech up and asked Kimberly to bring her a couple of other computers.

When the lead app developer came to say hello, he was stiff, and Marissa could tell he wasn't happy with her being here.

"Look," she said when he sat down. "I know you would rather handle this in house and I totally get that. But I've been hired to do a job and I'm going to do it. However, I'm giving you mirror screen access so you can see what I'm doing whenever you want. You won't be able to halt my progress or kick me out of the system, but you can at least look over my shoulder and if you have questions, the door is staying open so poke your head in and ask. I'd like to see whoever coded this thing so I can talk through the code while I work. Normally I would just sort it all myself, but this is urgent, and I can use all the insight possible. I've already brought in two extra computers so if you can send two of the coders in to work with me that would be even better."

Rich raised an eyebrow. "OK, Miss Sullivan. I get why Lance brought you in. I'll send you some staff right away. And you can close the mirror screen access. I won't be needing it. If Lance trusts you, so do I."

Marissa smiled and gave him an appreciative nod. "Come see me around dinner time. I'll have something brought in and we can discuss my progress."

"You ever think about coming back to work here? You would be a brilliant head of your own team."

Marissa smiled. "I appreciate the vote of confidence. It has crossed my mind, but for now I'd just like to get through the job I've been hired for."

Rich backed out of the room with a nod and a wave. When he was gone, Marissa blew out a long breath. She knew she had what it took to lead her own team but coming in and essentially taking over someone else's team was unsettling, and she'd been shaking beneath her desk, despite her authoritative tone.

A half hour later, two staffers knocked on her door. She was pleased to see they were both women.

"You the coders I asked for?"

"Yes, ma'am. You must be Miss Sullivan." They both stuck their hands out, offering handshakes, which Marissa accepted.

"Please, don't call me ma'am. Miss Sullivan, if you must, but I prefer Marissa. Let's get to work, shall we?"

Both women eagerly nodded and sat at the stations she'd set up for them.

Four hours later, they were still hard at work and Marissa had already discovered similarities between this hack and the one at Solitaire, though she didn't divulge that to the coders.

"Ladies," a familiar voice said from the doorway. "I hate to interrupt productivity, but I need to borrow Miss Sullivan for a little bit."

Marissa noticed the women sat up just a little straighter at the sound of Lance's voice.

"Hi," Marissa said when she saw him in the doorway. "We're almost done with this section. Can I meet you in your office in ten minutes?"

He nodded and stepped away from the door. "See you soon."

Marissa quickly finished the task she was on and set the other two up with a new section to start on.

"I may not be back tonight. Just document everything you do, and we'll regroup tomorrow."

Though she wasn't totally sure she would be here tomorrow.

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