Naked Sushi (6 page)

Nothing.

I kept my hands to myself. Had to. I was on a mission to clear my name and if hacking—I mean looking for a security hole in the company’s computer, Steve’s words, not mine—got the job done, then I was up for it.

Lucky for us, the guard was on foot patrol on the other side of the building. Most likely smoking his favorite blend by the smell of it.

Giving us time to get inside.

“Be careful,” I warned Steve, bending low. “We might not be alone.” I was fearful he might trample a plump, happy cat, snoozing near the door, with his heavy black boots. To my surprise, the kitty was nowhere to be seen except for a series of paw prints tracked inside the house. My heart skipped a beat, hoping nothing had happened to her. The tawny feline was the only one I could trust at my old job.

Steve cut through the narrow passage opposite from the phony window where we’d entered. “Where does that lead?” he asked.

“To the main reception area.”

“Then what? I need to get into Briggs’s computer.”

“Not his computer. His office manager’s.” I told him about the companies I’d spotted in a file on her computer and the offshore locations of the bank transactions associated with them.

“How did you secure the password?” he wanted to know.

“CTI,” I said without missing a beat. “Creative techno intervention.”

“You mean hacking.”

“I call it saving my butt.”

He shook his head, grinning. “You wait here, Pepper, out of danger. You could get hurt if Briggs and the men he’s working for show up.”

“What could be more dangerous than being cornered in a room with you with my pants down?” I asked, following him. I caught a brief glimpse of the copy room with its big machine and cold platen glass. My pubes sent out a text alert. I squeezed my thighs, remembering Steve’s hands on my waist, his hot breath on the back of my neck.

“You never fail to amaze me, Pepper,” he said, making me wonder if that was a good thing or a bad thing. After all, what did I know about the art of seduction? I was new at this. I worked two jobs in college and missed spring break when all the girls went au naturel and let the guys lick tequila body shots off their breasts and crotch.

I just smiled and went all computer geek, creeping into Ms. Sims’s office like I was following the yellow brick road. Sitting down at her desk, I slid my fingers over the mouse, squeamish about leaving fingerprints, and turned on her computer. I entered the password and double-clicked on a file, then another. And another.

“Holy shit.”

“What is it, Pepper?”

“There’s not just one file, but two more listing companies I don’t recognize, along with their shipping schedules and banking info. PacWest Comix, Tech-More Digital, Blue Seahorse Software.” I read more names off the computer screen, digging my fingers deep into the pocket of my red plaid flannel shirt.

“So?” Steve asked, leaning over my shoulder. I wished he would cup my breasts, but my FBI hottie wanted answers more than he wanted to cop a feel.

“When I first spotted them, I figured the company was outsourcing work. Now I have my doubts.” I kept digging through the files. “We’d have to write a new video game every week to keep up with the work demand from this many companies. Even I’m not that good.”

Steve chuckled. “Don’t underestimate yourself, Pepper.”

I smiled to myself, secretly pleased at his remark. “I doubt if they’re new customers, either. All our clients are informed on a regular basis about next year’s video games and upcoming marketing strategies.” I opened another file outlining the latest advertising campaign. “I was right. None of these companies are listed here.”

“Most likely they’re shell companies used to transfer funds back and forth.” Steve stood behind me, his hot breath hitting the back of my neck and sending a shiver up and down my spine as he shined his flashlight on the computer screen.

I sat up straighter, enjoying the closeness between us. Pushing my breasts out, hoping he’d get the message. He didn’t. Damn.

“I can’t believe my ex-boss is a crime lord.”

“Most likely he fell in with a syndicate who promised him bigger profits if he played ball with them. Like using his company as a front for illegal money laundering. I’ve no doubt Briggs got in over his head when he started using call girls to transport dirty money to offshore accounts.” He snickered. “Not to mention getting some action on the side.”

I wrinkled my nose. Somehow I couldn’t picture Mr. Briggs getting it on with a cardboard-face bimbo.

“Why would he do it?” I asked, leaning in closer. Steve pretended not to notice. “The company is doing well, our sales figures are up—”

“When a CO starts thinking with his dick instead of his brain,” he said, “chaos follows.”

I couldn’t resist adding, “Do you always think with your brain?”

“I wouldn’t be here if I did.” He rubbed the back of my neck and the cool night air seeped through my flannel shirt. “Transfer these files for me, Pepper,” he said, leaning over me, his face so close to mine the stubble on his chin scraped my skin in a pleasant, sexy way. “I don’t want to get caught in here when the sun comes up.”

“You mean we’re not going to finish what we started over the copier?”

“And have you set off the alarm again?” he said, pinching my butt. “Don’t tempt me.”

“I’m curious,” I asked, trying to change the subject to cover my disappointment. “What do spies do when they finish a job?” I inserted a thumb drive into the computer. “Go to Disneyland?”

He laughed. “Sorry, Pepper, you’ll have to play Sleeping Beauty and lay low while I wrap up the case against Briggs.”

“Any suggestions where I can...lay low?” I burned the files onto the thumb drives and then safely removed them from the computer. I was about to stuff them into my pocket when Steve grabbed them, but not before his hand brushed against my breasts, making me moan.

Thank you, God.

He said, “We’ll discuss that
after
we get these files into the right hands.”

“Speaking of hands...” I rubbed up against him and ran my hand up and down his thigh. His hard muscle flexed under my fingers, telling me my superman was human after all.

“Do all computer programmers think about sex 24/7?” He kissed the nape of my neck, nuzzling my ear, and then ran his fingers up and down my shoulders. I wanted to fall into his arms with joy when he wrapped his hands around my breasts. My nipples peaked like two peas under a hard mattress. I closed my eyes and then let go with a sigh of unbearable pleasure. I tingled when he unbuttoned my shirt, sliding the flannel off my shoulder and caressing my bare skin.

“I can’t help it,” I whispered, closing my eyes, my whole being alive to the sensation of his lips trailing kisses on the back of my neck. “I work with hard drives all day.”

“Lucky for me,” he said, digging his fingers under my soft, foamy bra cups and working his way up toward my hard nipples. Pinching and twisting my buds and then pulling on them like they were knotted rubber bands. I groaned.

God, I couldn’t stand it. I wanted his fingers in me. Not one, two. Yes, two.

Steve slid his hand down my jeans, making me shiver with delicious anticipation. Yes, closer...closer...oh, yes.

I was floating in a la-la land of happy contractions when I heard angry voices coming from downstairs. I pushed away from him, every nerve in my body alert.

Who the hell was that?

Steve flipped off his flashlight and gestured for me to stay put, but I followed him anyway. I was so not letting him out of my sight. Not with those fingers.

Racing on tiptoe across the corridor, we peeked over the railing and looked down the winding stairway. There below I saw Mr. Briggs and his office manager, Ms. Sims, arguing in the foyer. Then he pushed the button on the creaky, old elevator.

Jesus fricking Christ. We didn’t have much time.

Steve grabbed my hand and pulled me back into the office. Without a word, I turned off the computer. Steve wiped it clean along with the mouse and then we headed for the stairway.

We were too late. The elevator was slow, but not slow enough. The door was opening.

They’d see us.

I freaked.

Chapter Five

“We have to hide,” I whispered, instinctively taking his arm.

“Where?” he asked. “I can’t blow my cover with Briggs.”

I saw the supply room door open halfway. “In here.”

We barely had time to squeeze inside the dark room and close the door when Mr. Briggs and Ms. Sims swept past our hiding place. A whiff of her tart perfume sent a wave of nausea through me. Yuk. I cracked open the door and heard my ex-boss ordering her to check her computer files. The overhead light went on, and a familiar whir filled the silence. The cascade of blue windows coming up on the monitor cast an eerie glow on their faces.

Zombies
best described them.

I cringed. What if they saw us?

Could Mr. Briggs fire me twice?

I pulled back out of sight, the sound of my breathing loud in my ears. Or was that Steve breathing down my neck? Nice. I couldn’t stop a shiver wiggling down my spine. Damn, this was no time to rev up my libido. We had to bail out of here and slip through the hidden entrance unseen.

Still, I wasn’t complaining about the delay in our getaway. What girl would? Crushed up against his hard body in the small dark room, I couldn’t get enough of him pressed up against me, his hands caressing my back. Up and down. Slowly. His lips brushing the bare skin on my neck. Every nerve alert.

I rubbed that special spot between my legs where my jeans cut into me. Damn, it burned. I wouldn’t be able to control my pent-up passion much longer. Not when it felt this good. A slow fire simmered in my belly, evoking a pleasant ache that set me on edge.

Until I heard Mr. Briggs say, “I thought you erased that girl from your computer.”

“I’m
sure
I deleted her,” said Ms. Sims, tapping her long black nails on her keyboard like a freak show organist. “Yes, her files are gone.”

“I still can’t figure out how she knew I was going to be at that sushi restaurant.”

The office manager stopped typing on her keyboard. The silence was so acute it made me want to grind my teeth to assure myself time hadn’t stopped. “I can,” she said.

“What do you mean?” Mr. Briggs asked, clearing his throat.

“She’s been poking around in here.”

“
What?
”

“See for yourself. I entered the luncheon information on your calendar. She must have hacked in here and found it.” She raked her nails across the wooden desk, straining my nerves even further. “I
told
you she was too smart for her jeans.”

I let out my breath, pleasantly surprised. A compliment from this woman was akin to scoring a date with a
Cosmo
hottie.

Mr. Briggs snorted loudly. “Then she had access to all my files, the little bitch.”

Ouch!
That hurt
,
Mr.
Briggs
, I wanted to shout. I saved this company from going into the toilet when a rival software firm tried to steal our code. I stayed up two days straight patching up the holes. And
this
was the thanks I got?

I exhaled. Loudly. I was ready to bust outta there and tell him to go fuck himself when Steve pulled me back. His hands gripped my butt. Hard.

“Cool it, Pepper.”

“I’m not going to let him get away with calling me names,” I whispered, squirming. I opened the door wider and saw my ex-boss pacing up and down and wiping his sweaty face with a paper towel.

“This isn’t the time to get personal.” Steve held me in a tight grip. I couldn’t move. “There’s more at stake here than your pride. A good agent wouldn’t let that bother her.”

“What are you saying?” I asked.

“Think about it, Pepper” was all he said.

I let it go, seeing how Mr. Briggs was fit to be tied. Smacking his palms on the desk like a hungry walrus. “I want you to back up everything on that computer,” he told his office manager, “and then erase it.”

Ms. Sims lifted her crooked brow. “That could take hours.”

“I don’t care.
Do it.
”

“This wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t insisted on hiring her,” she mumbled, rubbing it in. Mr. Briggs ignored her and left.

His footsteps faded away and then the elevator bell dinged as the door closed. The upstairs was quiet again except for the office manager tapping away like the Mad Hatter on speed.

“What are we going to do?” I whispered to Steve, leaning my head back against his shoulder. The air in the small room was stuffy and made me sweat. “We can’t leave without her seeing us.”

“Looks like we’re stuck in here for the rest of the night,” he said in a low, dreamy voice that turned my legs into warm, gooey caramel.

“You don’t sound disappointed.”

“Are you?”

I heard an excited murmur from him as he pushed his groin into my ass, asserting his maleness with an undeniable show of power. I couldn’t deny I loved it. His unrelenting bulge pushing into my butt crack made me hover on the verge of a climax. Feeling all hot and sticky, I contracted my pubes just a little. Okay, more than a little. I enjoyed the surge of pleasure racing through me.

Yes, yes.

“I’m sure that’s hard on you,” I said, reaching behind me and grabbing the bulge in his pants to demonstrate my point.

He stifled a groan. “I know how to fix that.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” he said in a low, sexy voice.

My nipples tightened and a flutter of anticipation settled low in my belly. He lifted up my T-shirt and unhooked my bra. I nudged up against him and closed my eyes. I was just settling into the heat of the moment when—

“
Me-ow.
”

“What the hell is that?” Steve asked in a loud whisper.

“It sounded like a cat.” I felt something furry crawl up my jeans leg, tickling me. A shudder went through me.

What if it wasn’t a cat—

Gathering up my courage, I bent down and wrapped my hands around a wiggling creature, then a second one. I held the tiny bundles of fur up to the light peeking through the door.

I smiled.

“Kittens. So that’s why the cat was fat and sassy,” I said, hugging the little creatures with the Hello Kitty cuteness. “She must have followed me inside the house and then sneaked in here to have her babies.”

“They’ll be safe here,” Steve said, opening the door wider. “But we have to make a run for it.”

“We
can’t
leave the mother and her kittens,” I protested, holding two in my hand and putting a third one into my shirt pocket.

“We have to, Pepper. It’s against Bureau policy to put witnesses in the line of fire,” Steve said, wearing his FBI hat, “including furry ones.”

“So was making love to me,” I reminded him, both of us keeping our voices to a whisper. “But that didn’t stop you.”

His eyes focused on me for a minute and then he grabbed the mother cat. “Let’s go.”

Hugging the wall, we slipped out of the room without the office manager spotting us and made our way down the hallway. I swore my shoes squeaked. We were nearly at the stairway when a milk-hungry kitten scratched my hand.

“Ye-ow!” I cried out and bumped my hip against the railing. I lost my balance and—

“Oh, shit!” I said under my breath. The room whirled around me and I saw the marble entryway looming in my face. I was dizzy, but all I could think about were the kittens. I’d never forgive myself if—

“Steve, the kittens!” I called out in a harsh whisper.

“It’s
you
I’m worried about, Pepper,” Steve said, hauling my ass up by my jeans waistband before I went over the railing. “The kittens have nine lives. You don’t.”

I fell into his arms, still hugging the tiny felines. I couldn’t help but stifle a cry. No one ever worried about me before.

God, it felt good.

I didn’t have time to enjoy the moment. Ms. Sims was acting like a diva behaving badly.

“Who’s there?” yelled the office manager.

She rushed out of the office and scanned the hallway but didn’t see us. She looked disheveled and bleary-eyed, every hair out of place. Catching my breath, I could see her black pencil-slim pants and high-heeled pointy shoes, her skinny butt swaying back and forth like two pomegranates.

“Be ready to move out,” Steve said, holding the wriggling mother cat. He let her go and, with a loud
me-ow
, she scampered across the polished floor, sending the office manager into a tirade of expletives. Who knew the woman had such a sexist vocabulary? She slammed the office door shut and went back to erasing the files from her computer.

“
Go!
” Steve whispered, grabbing the feline. We left the same way we came in. No guard in sight. Ms. Sims must have sent him on an errand to keep him out of her way. She didn’t trust anybody, even her own nephew. It wasn’t until we were speeding away in Steve’s old Buick, the mother cat and her kittens snuggled in my lap, that I could breathe again.

“Thanks for not abandoning them,” I told him, hugging the little furry angels close to my heart and cuddling them. Their tiny tongues licked my fingers. I closed my eyes and leaned back against the seat. I couldn’t believe my maternal instinct was so strong. And this from a girl who never knew her own mother. That thought tugged at my heart.

“All in the line of duty.” Steve squeezed my knee. “Don’t worry, Pepper,” he said, grinning. “They’ll be put into witness protection with plenty of milk and cat food.”

I put my hand on top of his and squeezed back. Nothing more needed to be said. I knew he’d find them a good home. Though Steve tried to play hardball with me, I saw the look in his eyes when he spied the defenseless cat and her brood. Tender, caring. Here was a man who’d never turn his back on the underdog.

I never doubted he’d save the mother cat and her kittens.

Not once.

What surprised me more was that he’d let it slip that he was worried about me. This coming from a street-tough, straight-talking G-man.

Oh, my.

Be still, my heart.

He didn’t mean it.

Really.

Did he?

* * *

“You and your damn doughnuts are ruining my figure, Steven.” Jordan grabbed a glazed special out of the box on his desk and bit into it.

Nice and slow.

Teasing him. A trait of hers with her male agents when they were on her “naughty boy” list. Steve had worked with her long enough to know she had something on her mind and it wasn’t doughnuts.

Or sex.

“What do you want, Jordan?” he asked, putting down his cell. He had a man keeping the eyeball on Pepper. He’d been so tied down with the Briggs case, he couldn’t do the job himself. He was worried about her. The field agent had just called in to tell him she was headed out this morning in a hurry. What she was up to now, he could only guess. She jumped into situations faster than a bunny banging on his drum. Steve ordered him not to lose her.

“Nothing except a sugar high,” she said between bites.

“Don’t tell me you’re PMS-ing,” he said, knowing she hated that. She’d been on him for days to file his report on Briggs. He couldn’t. The file was still wide-open, like a pole dancer’s legs doing a split. “This has to do with Pepper, doesn’t it?”

She paced up and down, her smart, metal-gray stilettos tapping on the warped wooden floor. Gray slacks. Black turtleneck. She maintained a professional image at all times. At least, on the surface. Underneath she simmered with a slow burn and, man, could she kick ass.

“I see you’re on a first-name basis with the mark,” Jordan said. “How’d you manage that?”

“Tradecraft.”

“Don’t lie to me, Steven. I didn’t need to see her polygraph exam to know the girl was lying to us.” She slam-dunked the half-eaten doughnut into the trash can by his desk. “You made quite an impression on her, didn’t you? Enough for her to jeopardize her freedom by hacking into her ex-company’s computer.”

“I insisted.”

“
That
I don’t doubt.”

“You have to admit, Jordan, the girl is a whiz kid with computers. She can decode
anything
and get into the most sophisticated software.” Steve explained how she’d cracked the password on the office manager’s computer. “I’ve never seen anyone with such a knack for bypassing antivirus software and finding the holes in the system.”

“Isn’t finding holes
your
job?” Jordan smirked. She poured herself a cup of coffee. Into
his
cup. Black.

He ignored her barb. “Pepper knows her way around a hard drive better than the most seasoned spymaster. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“You wouldn’t be trying to recruit her, Steven, would you?”

“Why not?” Steve said. “The Bureau could use her talents. We’re dragging our asses when it comes to corporate security. You know as well as I do, Jordan, the hackers are beating us.”

“Same old Steven. Always thinking of the Bureau first.”

She squeezed his balls through his jeans. He gritted his teeth, but he didn’t flinch. Pepper would be a good fit for the FBI if she could just get past her fears. Not let them cripple her mind. He’d seen that happen to his brother. Never felt good about himself, always had to prove something. Tom fell into a rabbit hole and never climbed out.

He didn’t want to see Pepper take her smart skills down the wrong road and end up lost and abandoned.

“You succeeded in a man’s world, Jordan,” Steve said, complimenting her. The Princeton grad had overcome a childhood with an alcoholic parent and a house with little to eat but stale cereal.

She exhaled. “It’s not easy being a female in this business. You have to work ten times harder than the men, and when you do, they call you a troublemaking bitch.” She leaned back against the doorjamb and licked her lips. “But I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Where else would I find myself surrounded by handsome men like you?”

“So why not add a little sugar to your coffee?” Steve said, sliding his chair across the floor and taking his cup back.

“I admit Pepper O’Malley fits the profile of a good agent. She’s smart, creative, adventurous. But that’s not everything, Steven. Under pressure, even the best candidate can crack.” Jordan shoved the metal trash can across the floor with the heel of her stiletto. “What makes you think she’s got what it takes?”