Close To The Edge

“I have it at home.”

His expression tight, he reached for his phone and had another conversation with the unflappable Maggie, issuing terse instructions about retrieving the package and having a discreet service dust it for prints. Just as briskly, he hung up and dropped the phone on the table between us.

“Tell me about your online activities, outside of the work you do for SDM.”

“That’s a very broad question.” The plane dipped, taking a little bit of my stomach with it. “You want to know if I messed up somewhere?”

“I’m sure you didn’t but something you did triggered this.”

The logic was too sound to dismiss. I tried to suppress it but my unease grew. “You don’t think I covered my tracks?”

A smile twitched his lips. “You’re a coder. I’m sure you can clear your caches in your sleep. And I’m not talking about porn. Although I’d love to know which sites you prefer.”

A flush heated my chest and spread lower to my abdomen. “Mr. Steele—”

“Lily?” he responded with a heavy dose of snark.

I took a calming breath. “I don’t leave a trail of where I buy my lingerie or post minute-by-minute details of where I’m going to be at any given time of day. I know how to protect myself.”

“And yet he found you,” he stated with bracing finality.

After a moment, I looked at him. “What do you want to know specifically?”

“Coders make decent hackers. If you hacked your way into a job with SDM, you must be great. What’s your hacker handle?”

All of a sudden the name that sent shivers down the spines of faceless dark web hackers felt pretentious. “Cipher Q.”

His brows slowly rose. “You’re Cipher Q?”

Another emotion swept in to mingle with the cocktail swirling inside me. This time it was most definitely not unpleasant. “You know about me?”

He shrugged. “Cyber crimes are a problem for a few of my clients. Maggie and a few people on my payroll keep an eye on things like that for me. A few months back she wouldn’t shut up about some big-deal hacker contest going on. You won, if I remember correctly?”

The kick of pride warred with the need to set him straight. “Yes, but it was all aboveboard. No cyber crimes involved.”

“Who came second?”

“Nordic Razor.”

“What do you know about him? How did he take coming second?”

“You think he’s doing this?”

His shoulders rippled beneath his shirt as he shrugged again. “Not everyone likes losing to a woman.”

I shook my head. “It’s not him.”

“I’ll be the judge of that. I need the names of everyone who took part in the contest, too.”

“At this rate I’ll be spending all my time compiling lists for you. I won’t have time to work.”

He shot forward and the force of his dominant personality hit me like a tidal wave. “You won’t be working at all if this situation escalates. Did you forget already that I’m in control here?”

I’m in control.

Words I’d heard far too many times in my life. Words that had imprisoned me for far too long. My teeth met in a grinding clench. “I don’t like being ordered around, Mr. Steele.”

“Too bad. Until this bastard is in custody, you’ll not only do as you’re told, you’ll also learn to love it.”

Maybe it was something in his voice. Or the words he used with me. But my fury faded, along with that carnally needy, traitorous voice that wanted to say, Yes, Caleb. I’ll learn to love it. That tingle between my thighs still throbbed, but it was with a different sort of need.

A burning need to, for once in my life, grab and keep the upper hand. To put this man in his place once and for all.

Because, fuck that noise. My days of pretzeling myself to please others were nearly behind me.

I unclipped my seat belt and was out of my seat before I fully processed my actions.

Being pint-size had its advantages. It made crawling on top of the table a piece of cake.

I relished Caleb’s unguarded intake of breath as I leaned forward and shoved my face in his. With a couple of inches separating us, I caught every fleck of surprise in his eyes as he watched me.

“You really think you’re in control here?” I murmured softly.

A slow, assured smile widened his sexy mouth. “I know it,” he rasped.

“I see.” I scooted another inch closer, glided my tongue over my bottom lip. His demeanor changed. His ravenous gaze dropped to my mouth and his next breath wasn’t quite so steady. “You didn’t ask me how I found you to handle my problem, Mr. Steele.”

His eyes grew wary. Good. “Maggie handles background stuff.”

I nodded. “Hmm. She did ask me the right questions. But I’m afraid I told a little white lie. I don’t personally know the client I named as my reference. I found him, and your whole client list, some other way.”

A muscle ticked in his jaw. “You hacked me.”

I allowed myself a little smile. “No, I skimmed you. But you know what I could’ve done if I wanted to?”

His eyes narrowed. “What?”

“Uncovered every...single...detail about you.”

Silence throbbed. The muscle jumped faster. “What’s to stop me from bending you over this table right now, giving you the spanking you richly deserve before I dump you in Palo Alto and walk away?” he breathed through gritted teeth.

The erotic image of his palm turning my ass pink threatened to wipe off my smile. I ignored the balloon of heat dampening my panties and traced my fingers over his jaw, suppressing a gasp at how warm and vibrant he felt.

His sharply exhaled breath washed over my face.

“Because I took a little peek at your active cases. I wanted to make sure I’d be your number one priority. Your most exciting case finished two weeks ago. You’re a man of action, and you’re bored, Mr. Steele. Right now mine is the juiciest case to drop into your lap.”

My thumb skated dangerously close to his lips. He bared his teeth, and another image flashed into my mind—how those perfect whites would feel grazing my clit.