Page 26 of Hard Wired

Chapter Nine

Dominic was merciless, all right. The way he was staring at her, his breath on her neck… She was so aware of him that she struggled to concentrate on the code in front of her.

She tried to keep herself from wiggling around. But her clit throbbed with need, demanding some kind of contact. Had she ever wanted anyone’s hands on her so desperately as she wanted Dominic’s?

She knew he was just trying to get back at her for the violin. But she didn’t have the same stamina he did for fucking with somebody’s head. This tension was unbearable. She’d done a decent job of pretending in the music room that she didn’t want him, but her willpower was cracking. Any minute, and she’d give herself away.

He should just get it over with. Either leave her alone or pull her into his arms and kiss her. Yet she couldn’t bring herself to stop playing his game, either.

Sylvie’s fingers were getting sweaty on her keyboard.

“Is there a table I could set my computer on? I want to run some more diagnostics and antivirus software.” She had some special programs she’d written that might identify if Dominic had sophisticated malware on his network.

She still couldn’t explain how it would’ve affected the Bennett Security system in the way he’d described, but she wasn’t going to stop looking until she solved the problem. Maybe she couldn’t figure out her own personal issues, but damned if she wouldn’t get this security system in proper working order.

“How about upstairs? There’s a workspace you could use that’s close to the other panel. It’s nice and quiet. I can show you.” His tone was full of innuendo. Yet there was something boyish about him, too. Like he half expected her to say no and was holding his breath, hoping she wouldn’t. Like his feelings might actually be on the line.

Sylvie swallowed around the dry lump in her throat.

“Sure. Upstairs is fine.” Did her voice sound squeaky? If it did, she hoped Dominic hadn’t noticed.

She grabbed her bag and the laptop and headed toward the staircase. He gestured for her to go first, as if she had any idea where they were going. As Dominic followed, she felt his eyes all over her, and she wished she didn’t like it so much.

Sylvie went to the upstairs security panel she’d installed the last time. There shouldn’t have been any differences from the one downstairs, since they worked together in a unified system, but she went through the motions of plugging in her laptop once again. She was just stalling at this point.

“Do you need to leave it plugged in?” he asked.

“Not really. I could just use the Wi-Fi.”

Dominic pointed at a doorway. She unplugged the laptop and joined him.

They went into a game room. There was a round table with four armchairs circling it, probably for playing cards. A foosball table stood in a corner, plus a gigantic TV and several video gaming systems that looked untouched.

A couch dominated the center of the room. Another oversized sectional, with plenty of space for someone as tall as Dominic to lie down comfortably and still allow a second person beside him. Which she should not be thinking about, because her heart rate had just spiked once again.

Dominic shut the door, then sat on the couch and stretched his arms along the back.

She set her computer on the table. “You don’t have to stay here.”

“I know. But I keep hoping you’ll answer my questions from earlier. Don’t think I forgot.”

It probably wouldn’t hurt to tell him more about herself. She just needed to get her mind off the overpowering physicality of him. She always found it easier to deal with a situation when she was fully inside her head. It was one of her strengths, and likely the source of her pleasure problem.

Whenever she felt insecure or didn’t know what to do, she retreated to her mind. That was part of why playing an instrument was so good for her. It forced her mental talents to work with her body, instead of separating the two.

But she didn’t practice anywhere near as much as she should as an adult. She was usually far too busy with work.

Her finger tapped a key, and a new window opened on her screen. “I started violin lessons in elementary school. My third-grade teacher knew how to play and had some instruments of her own, so she offered private lessons. I lived in a small town. There weren’t a lot of opportunities for musical training otherwise.”

“A small town? Where is it?”

“Central Texas. I grew up on a cattle ranch.”

Dominic grinned wide, but she didn’t get the sense that he was laughing at her. “I wonder what they think of you, with your tattoos and attitude?”

“They don’t think much of me at all.” Whichever way he interpreted that sentence, he probably had it right. “See? I’m really not very interesting.”

“Oh, I disagree. Tell me more. How’d you end up stuck as Max Bennett’s underling?”

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