Page 70 of Hard Wired

Chapter Twenty-One

They snuck down the dark hallway to a set of double doors. Dominic held one open. “Go ahead.”

Sylvie walked inside. He followed and switched on a lamp at his bedside, filling the room with a soft glow. “This used to be my parents’ room, but I gutted it and redid the whole thing when I moved in here.”

All the furniture was constructed of pale wood in a modern, Scandinavian style. The walls were white, with gauzy curtains hanging over the patio doors that led out to a balcony. Black and white photographs hung in frames on every wall, many of them of tropical ocean landscapes and snowy mountain peaks. Two different kinds of extremes.

He went back to the doors and flipped the lock. “What do you think?”

Sylvie sat on his California king bed. A pale blue comforter was folded up at the end of it, and his white cotton sheets were tangled, like he didn’t often bother to make them. “I was expecting a sex dungeon draped with black silk.”

He snorted. “That’s totally my usual vibe, but Maureen complained laundry day was hell.”

The room was beautiful, almost austere in its simple coloring and clean lines. A dramatic contrast to the decorating style she’d seen in the rest of the house. But this room was also a place she could imagine curling up. A place she could relax and just be.

“I don’t see how you ever leave this spot.”

He sat beside her on the bed, folding his legs beneath him. “So you like it?”

She gave him a quick kiss on the lips. “Are you really asking if I like you?”

He gave her that soft, sweet smile that she was starting to enjoy even more than his wicked one.

“I do,” she whispered. “I like you.”

She couldn’t describe her relief at knowing he hadn’t lied. And knowing she hadn’t betrayed him.

Sylvie glanced at her bag, which she’d dropped just inside the entrance to the room. It now held the two flash drives. She’d told him she trusted him, and she really wanted that to be true. Her heart was ready to take the risk, even though her rational mind was still a step or two behind.

There was no way this alliance would work if they couldn’t be honest with one another. Thank goodness she hadn’t done anything irreparable, and neither had he.

She still felt wary about the fact that he’d been working against Bennett Security. But he hadn’t actually gone through with it. Wasn’t that what counted?

“I like you, too,” he said.

“You’ve mentioned that.”

“But now, I like you even more.”

“For saying nice things to you instead of being mean?”

He shrugged one shoulder. “I’m easy that way.”

She wished they’d been open with each other from the start. The man she’d been getting to know the past few days was the real Dominic Crane, and she wished she’d never doubted him.

But she still needed to inspect that program on Dominic’s flash drive and find out exactly what it contained. She would need to send this latest info to her hacker friends to see what they made of it.

She already had several ideas to turn this around on the Syndicate and make their latest attempt work in her favor. But it would have to be creative and subtle. If the Syndicate’s Russian hackers-for-hire were anywhere near as good as they seemed so far, anything less would raise their suspicions in no time.

Normally, the late hour wouldn’t have stopped her from getting started on a project, especially one as important at this. Sylvie had a reputation for working through the night. But she couldn’t safely inspect the program here, and she couldn’t just take off in the middle of the night. The Syndicate would wonder why she’d left Dominic’s house.

So her work should wait until the morning, right?

Or maybe those were all excuses. Maybe she just wanted this time with Dominic, and she was willing to set everything else aside for a little while to get it.

Over the past week, she’d been at war with herself, trying not to get in too deep with a man she couldn’t trust. But now, it was like she’d opened the floodgates on her emotions. Her schoolgirl crush had multiplied by about a thousand. She had it really bad for this man, and the suddenness of these feelings scared her. She had no idea where this thing between them was headed. If it could possibly last longer than a fling.

But this was the second time she’d chosen Dominic over Bennett Security tonight.

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