Hacking His Code (Beguiling a Billionaire Book 7), page 13
“But that doesn’t solve the case, and that doesn’t pay my tuition.”
“Your tuition was paid the day you were taken to my family’s estate.”
My head snaps in his direction. “Huh?”
“The check’s dated to be cashed the day before you go back to class.”
“But…why?”
“I’m not a complete asshole, but I wanted to keep you hungry. Wanting it.”
“Well…thanks.”
“Will you get back to work now?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Why?”
“There’s this saying: know when you’ve been beat. There’s no way we’re ever going to find out what happened to your aunt. The best of the best have already been on the case. There’s nothing I can find that they wouldn’t have already.”
“I don’t trust them, though.”
“You don’t trust your father?”
His mouth opens slightly, like he wants to tell me something, but no words come out.
“It’s okay to want answers, but sometimes you have to realize that you just need to move on. Sometimes there are no answers.”
“I received an email,” he says quickly, like the words burn his throat.
“An email?”
“The person who sent it says they are my aunt.”
“Your Aunt Lucy? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“She, or whoever is claiming to be her, is making demands.” He runs his fingers through his tousled hair. “I really need you, Ari.”
“Why didn’t you go to your parents with this?”
“She demanded discretion. Said that if I told anyone, she’d release information that would be damning to my family.”
“Oh…”
“My parents aren’t monsters, I can tell you that much, but every family has their secrets.”
“How do you know it’s a serious threat and not some fifteen-year-old kid, like I was?”
“They sent a string of code that Lucy wrote over two decades ago. If it’s not her, it’s someone that knew her.”
“What does she want now?”
“Some old program called ScrptX. I found remnants of it, but it’s inaccessible and I wouldn’t give it to them anyway. When I left yesterday, it was to meet up with a friend at the FBI. That didn’t pan out how I had hoped, though.”
I think back to my brunch with Ernestine and the surprising turn of our conversation. She wasn’t a sister mourning her twin. Nor was she riddled with guilt. She was positive that I would find no answers to her sister’s disappearance, and now I can’t help but wonder if there’s a reason for that. Perhaps Lucy is still alive.
But I can’t ignore the darker logic in Ernestine’s confidence, which provokes the question: what if Ernestine or Rand had a hand in Lucy’s disappearance?
It’s hard to believe a woman like Ernestine could be capable of something so dark, but if she and her family were threatened, it’s hard to say how she would react.
But the logic doesn’t check out. If they were somehow involved, they would have done a better job of cleaning up after themselves. The information found in Lucy’s apartment forever cast a shadow on the Davies’ empire as it’s never good having your technology sold to the highest bidder and even enemies of your nation.
“How did you find me?” I demand, deciding it’s finally time I knew.
“You know how my parents have had ‘round the clock security on me since my aunt disappeared?”
“Yeah.”
“About three years ago, an FBI guy started working for us part-time. We did some traveling together, chit chatted, and he told me about the cases he’d investigated. He was assigned to your case, and I swear, when he talked about you, he was filled with such admiration. He couldn’t believe that some girl attending private school on a hardship scholarship spent her free time hunting the world’s worst predators instead of finding ways to pad your family’s income. He’s a man that’s seen the worst in society, and he said that you restored his faith in humanity.”
My jaw drops in shock. “No…”
“I actually went to see him yesterday, but I guess he received an injury a year ago and has been medically retired.”
The FBI was the absolute worst, treating me like I was a hardened criminal. I’d been yelled at, lectured, and told that I had ruined their case. Never praised.
“Wait-wait-wait—all that time, they admired me?”
“Uh-huh,” Hunter says, nodding his head.
“But they yelled at me…”
“Have you ever heard of the term ‘scared straight’?”
Tears well in my eyes as heat floods my cheeks. “Oh my God…all this time I thought I was despised—loathed.”
Hunter hands me a napkin to dab my tears with. “Not even close. They wanted to approach you with a job right out of high school, but it’s standard to wait until someone has completed college. I wouldn’t have contacted you at all, except some huge twist of fate had you wandering around the dark web, and I had an alarm set to trigger if you made such ventures. You see, Davies could use smart minds like yours, and I was going to make a competing offer when the time was right.”
“You’re serious? I’ll really be offered a job with the FBI?”
“If the plan hasn’t changed, yes.”
All I can do is stare back at him, slack-jawed and confused. For so long, I felt I was adrift on a raft, waiting for someone to save me, but I was never alone. People I didn’t even know of were silently cheering me on.
Hunter takes a step towards me, his eyes locked on mine. “I hope this means you will stay on and continue to help me dig.”
As intriguing as the whole situation is, I can’t bring myself to work under such torture, and by torture, I mean so close to a man that has completely and utterly broken through all my defenses.
“I can’t.”
He snickers, turning away. “I should have known. Women are all the same. They can’t be trusted.”
“Excuse me?”
“You found out your tuition was paid, and now you’re hightailing it out of here.”
I wince at his words. “That’s not it at all.”
“Oh, really?” he says, his voice thick with sarcasm.
“It’s just that…getting close to you has…complicated things.”
He looks over to me, eyes narrowed. “How so?”
“I don’t know if it’s a good idea that we talk about this. You wouldn’t understand.”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
My hands fly dramatically into the air. “For so many reasons. I’m supposed to hate men. Despise every fiber of their being.”
“I think we’ve established that you don’t hate me.”
“Exactly, and that’s terrifying.”
“It makes me happy.”
“It’s not just that, though. You’re the Hunter Davies. You don’t develop attachments. Even your mother warned me about that. And I…and I…”
“Would you like me to share a secret with you?”
“What? That living with no attachments makes life significantly less complicated?” I roll my eyes to emphasize my distaste.
“No, it’s that I have developed an attachment as of late. One I’m not quite sure what to do with.”
My heart sinks, but I shouldn’t be surprised. It explains where he was last night.
“And who would that be with?”
“You.”
I blink, stunned, and not at all sure that I heard or interpreted him correctly.
“You’re smart, funny, insanely attractive, though I doubt you’ll believe that. You also don’t trust people; I don’t either. It’s one of the reasons I have a hard time forming attachments. For some reason, though, I trust you.”
“I’m sure you encounter women with those attributes all the damn time. You know, ones with better pedigrees that aren’t poor.”
“I have gobs of money and need none from you. Sure, I encounter beautiful women. Frequently. With my line of work, I encounter smart ones too. But I’ve never encountered the whole package before. That is, until I met you.”
“Hunter, I don’t think you understand. You hold my heart in the palm of your hands.”
He takes a step forward, his hand wrapping around my own. “As you hold mine.”
Nothing he’s saying makes sense.
“I’ll transfer the full million to your account this very minute if you just agree to stay. All I want is your aroundness. Nothing more. Just…to help me make sense of what it is I’m feeling.”
This is it. This is your time. Your opportunity to have a slice of what everyone else is talking about. Don’t fuck it up.
“I don’t want your money,” I say boldly. “But I do want something from you.”
“Anything.”
“I trust you. And…I trust you with me…”
He looks at me, a hopeful look on his face. “Oh-kay…but what does that mean, exactly?”
“Don’t make me say it…”
Hunter takes a deep breath, his chest rising dramatically. I couldn’t have made my point any more clear, which means he has reservations.
After the longest, most uncomfortable silence in the history of mankind, Hunter finally says, “This is all very new to me.”
I roll my eyes. “I’m not stupid enough to believe you’re a virgin.”
“Not the sex,” he says, taking a step forward and cupping my cheek in his hand, “the feelings.”
God, is spontaneous heart explosion a thing? Because if it is, someone get me to a doctor.
His honey eyes look deeply into mine. “I can’t promise you anything. I can’t say whether or not I’ll be interested in you tomorrow. This is all very new to me.”
“I know,” I say breathlessly.
Hunter tips my chin up, forcing me to look him in the eyes. “Do you really want this? No matter where it leads?”
“I do,” I reply back, knowing I’m ready for at least the physical aspect of our encounter.
The sex will be easy to handle. I’ve been waiting years to see what all the fuss was about, but how strongly I feel for Hunter scares me. We’re like kindred souls, both wary of outsiders, yet somehow finding each other.
His mouth ticks upwards into a grin. “Then let’s take this to the bed.”
Hunter
Seeing Arinessa climb into my bed, not only willing, but eager, has me euphoric, and I haven’t even touched her yet.
I pull my white undershirt off, flexing to display the thick chords of muscles running down the length of my arms. I go to the gym five times a week, and it shows.
Her eyes drink me in, so innocent, so full of desire.
And then it strikes me. She’s a virgin. And what I’m doing is morally wrong. I’m taking something from her and giving her nothing in return. No promise of a future, or even of tomorrow.
I pull out my phone, tapping a few buttons.
“Are you really going to do business shit while I’m on your bed waiting for you?” Arinessa chastises.
“All I’m doing is leveling the playing field,” I say without looking up at her.
“Huh?” she whispers.
“You’ve done more than enough to earn your reward, Ari. I just transferred the million into your account. You’re free to go…or…you could stay.”
She looks at me apprehensively without saying a word.
“Go check. It will be in the transfer stage, but my banks are lightning-fast with their transactions.”
“I don’t want to check.” Her eyes fixate on me with an intensity I feel in my core. “I want you.”
I take the few remaining steps to my bed and hop on, advancing toward Arinessa like a predator stalking its prey.
Her chest rises and falls in anticipation. She looks deliciously eager and a little afraid. The good kind of fear. The kind you get from riding a rollercoaster.
I continue towards her until I’m deep inside her space, forcing her body back against the bed.
My mouth crashes down onto hers, my tongue sliding between her lips. She accepts me greedily, moaning with every twist of my tongue.
“You smell like oranges,” I rasp against her.
“That’s the mimosa.”
My hand snakes to her back, locating the tiny zipper that’s keeping me from fully viewing her. I tug it down gently. If it were another woman, I might have torn the dress off, but I decide to use more caution with Ari.
But Ari has other plans. Her inexperienced hands frantically tug at the waistband of my pants, trying to undo the buckle of my belt.
I grab her wrists, bringing them above her head, nuzzling her neck.
“Patience,” I whisper into her ear, pinning her wrists with one hand.
“You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this moment,” she replies back.
I peel away the dress from her breasts, marveling at their softness. They’re lush in size and shape, topped with two perfect rose-pink nipples I’m aching to taste.
Unable to resist, I knead a breast with my free hand, taking the nipple into my mouth and sucking gently. My other hand continues to anchor her wrists to the bed. The ragged breath she releases lets me know I’m having just the effect I want.
I give her other breast the same treatment, moving slowly, drawing out her anticipation.
“Please.” Her voice quivers when she speaks.
I move my free hand down to the sash at her waist, untying it so I can reveal the rest of her gorgeous body. She lifts her hips, allowing me to slide the garment off, leaving her in a pair of skimpy lace panties.
The scent of her sex has my cock throbbing, but there’s no way I’m going to unleash it. Not yet. It would have me racing to the finish line, and this isn’t a sprint. Her knees are glued together so tightly it would take a crowbar to pry them apart. Or perhaps a few gentle words.
“You look beautiful,” I say, but it feels like a lie because the word doesn’t do her justice. “Will you allow me to see more of you?”
All hesitation leaves her eyes, and her legs gently part the tiniest bit. I trail my hand over her stomach, between her legs, and her knees fall open. She wants to share herself with me, and that’s sexy as hell.
“I’m going to release your wrists, but you’re going to do as I say, alright?”
She nods, her lower lip firmly between her teeth.
Usually, I love letting a woman explore my body, but that will have to come later lest I spend myself in her hand. Something about Arinessa is turning me into a teenage boy with no finesse, and the last thing I want is for the encounter to be over before it really begins.
I insert a knee between Ari’s legs, then the other as I release her wrists and bring my mouth to hers. Her fingers toy with my hair, trembling as she digs through the strands. As much as I love kissing her, by now, I’m eager for more. I want to be able to make a map of her body, her scent, her taste. I want to know every part of her, inside and out.
I kiss my way from her mouth down to her breasts, taking a short detour to suck on her perfect nipples. Her every squeal delights me, letting me know she’s enjoying herself.
I continue down until my mouth meets the scrap of lace covering her mons. It hardly meets the definition of underwear, already soaked through. I pull them off, casting them aside so I can fully appreciate the slick folds of her sex.
Sure enough, she’s completely bare, leaving nothing to hinder my view. Her smell is intoxicating, and all I can think about is how badly I want to consume her.
“Hunter?” she says with a shaky voice.
“Yeah?”
“You don’t have to—”
“Shhh,” I silence her.
I delve my tongue deep into her pussy, licking upward towards her clit. The guttural moan she emits makes my cock throb with urgent want.
Arinessa deserves a skillful lover, someone who knows what they’re doing, and I’m determined to be that man. I don’t rush to the nuclear button. Instead, I lick close enough to keep her escalating, allowing her orgasm to simmer just beneath the surface.
“Do you like that?” I ask as I swipe my tongue against her opening, relishing the juices that flood my mouth.
She moans her response, her hands grasping desperately at my hair, my shoulders, anywhere she can grip.
Unable to hold back any longer, I bring my tongue up in a long lick, formally introducing it to the rise of her clit. She gasps with pleasure, bucking her hips gently upward, begging for more.
After a flurry of skillful maneuvers, I give a gentle suck, increasing the pressure steadily until she’s writhing beneath me. Her body twists violently, and I have to pin her hips down with my hands in order to maintain contact.
“Oh God, yes,” she pants out, and I can tell she’s close.
I increase my tempo, her moans turning to incoherent babbles. Her body shudders as she cries out in ecstasy, arching her back upward as she comes.
My tongue continues its steady rhythm as she rides the high of her orgasm, flexing, and moaning and cursing my name.
Her body finally relaxes, twitching with sensitivity, so I pull away, kissing her inner thigh.
“That was amazing,” she mutters, still drunk from her come. “You’re amazing.”
I chuckle to myself, not wanting to embarrass her. It’s easy to do a good job when you have a sublime partner to work with, who is an absolute delight.
And she’s so fucking sensitive.
Her hand massages my shoulder. “I want you. Badly.”
I almost come from her words alone. Damn near everything she does puts me into the ‘holy fuck I’m about to prematurely ejaculate’ range.
I sit up and pull off my belt so I can take down my pants and boxers. Her eyes grow round as my member pops free.
“Wow…”
I arc a brow. “Having second thoughts?”
“Is everyone…built like you?”
“I’ve been told I’m blessed.”
“I hope I’m able to walk tomorrow.”
“Your job can be done from the bed,” I tease.
She slaps me playfully, and I cover her mouth with mine, giving her a long kiss.
“This might be uncomfortable—”
“I want it.” Her voice is as full of want and need as my cock is.
