Sleeping With My Boss: A Standalone Novel (An Alpha Billionaire Romance Love Story) (A Dirty Office Romance) (72 page)

CHAPTER
TWENTY-TWO

Echo

"
How
about some breakfast?" I called
from the kitchen after I'd pulled Ryan back from yet another nightmare.

"Just
coffee," he replied through the bathroom door.
 

I wanted to press
him for details about where he'd been and why he was acting so skittish, but something
told me that if I did, it would drive him further away and I'd never figure out
what was going on. So, instead I decided to focus on Dr. Powell's emails and
try to figure out how to find the lab keys so that we could enter his lab, find
the cypher and get the research files into the hands of someone who would know
what to do with them.

I started the
coffee brewing and then stood at the counter and opened my laptop. I pulled up
the email account into which all of Dr. Powell's emails were being filtered and
saw that a new message had arrived. I clicked on it and gasped.

The message in my inbox
read:

UNAUTHORIZED
ACCESS BLOCKED. This IP address is not authorized to receive messages from the
source indicated. Your access to this information has been blocked. Please see
an Administrator for further explanation.

"Shit!"
I cursed as I slammed my fist on the counter. "They found
everything!"

"What's going
on?" Ryan asked as he emerged from the steam-filled bathroom with only a
towel wrapped around his waist. For a moment I was torn between what was going
on with my email account and the urge to pull off my nightgown and feel his
clean bare skin pressed against me. His body was a sight to behold, not only
because his muscles were lean and tight, but also because the tattoos covering
his upper torso gave him an air of danger even though I knew he was one of the
good guys. Too good, in fact.
 

"They found
the bug and the program I installed," I said as my brain won the battle.

"Wait,
what?" he said as he looked from me to the computer.

"Cece and I
broke into TriCorp two days ago and I installed a program I'd written to bypass
the server and get your father's email," I said. "They found
it."

"You went
into TriCorp without me?" he asked.

"Yes, that's
what I just said," I replied in an exasperated tone. "Your father
told me that they keys to his lab were in his office and that it was the only
way we could access his lab. I texted you all weekend trying to get your
attention, but you were too busy to reply. "

"I was trying
to gather intel," he said defensively.

"Yeah, well,
I was trying to figure out a way to follow your father's directions," I
shot back irritated that he didn't quite understand the importance of what Cece
and I had done.

"How in the
hell did you get in there?" he asked.

"Cece pulled
the fire alarm and we snuck in," I shrugged.

"What if
Julian would have caught you?" he countered. "What then?"

"We would
have dealt with it," I said angrily. "You really don't get it, do
you? I have a message from your father telling me that there is a cypher for
the files in his lab, but that I've got to get in there and get it!"

"There's a
key?" he repeated.

"God, you are
so wound up in your own issues that you can't think straight, Lieutenant,"
I sighed as I grabbed the hard drive from my bag and pulled up the message I'd
saved. I showed him the email. "Someone is going to come for the
information, but we've got to have it ready with the cypher when they do and in
order to get it we need to find the keys to the lab."

"Holy
shit," he said as he read the message again. "I have to break into
the lab and get the key."

"Slow down,
genius," I said shaking my head. "You're not going in there without
me. I'm the one who is going to know where the cypher is. Your father said
so."

"I'm not
taking you into the lab with me," he shook his head. "You have no
idea how dangerous this could be."

"Don't you
think you're being a tiny bit dramatic about all of this?" I said raising
my eyebrow as I stared at him. "I think you've been away from SEAL duties
a little too long and you're itching for a fight."

"That's
bullshit!" he shouted. "I've been trying to figure out what the hell
is going on, and you've got messages from my father that clearly warn you to
steer clear of Julian Baines!"

"Yeah, well,
I'm not afraid of him," I said with a little more confidence than I felt
as I remembered how scared Cece and I had been hiding under my desk. "We
need to get the cypher and turn over the files to someone who knows what to do
with them, Ryan. Plus, I know the building, you don't."

"I don't want
to risk your safety," he muttered. "And you're not trained in this
kind of mission, so you going along would risk the safety of the entire
team."

"Oh
please," I laughed. "You're treating this like it's a life or death
security matter."

"It might
be," he said walking over to the coffee maker and turning his back to me
while he poured two cups.

"You want to
tell me what happened while you were out on your little reconnaissance
mission?" I asked.

"Don't mock
me, lady," he said as he turned and handed me a steaming hot cup of
coffee.

"I'm not mocking
you," I replied accepting the cup. "I'm frustrated because you keep
shutting me out, and you can't do this one alone."

"I can if you
let me do my job," he said stubbornly.

"You really
are a piece of work, Powell," I said as I sipped from my cup. "Look,
I'm not trying to take over your mission or whatever you think it is I'm trying
to do, but you'd better get on board with the fact that I'm going to be going
with you because I'm not going to back down."

"Why are you
so hard headed?" he shouted as he slammed his cup down spilling hot coffee
across the counter and quickly grabbing a dishtowel to stop the flow before it
hit the laptop.

"Because I
cared about your father!" I shouted. "And I want to help figure out
how he died!"

"What the
hell are you talking about?" he said looking genuinely confused.

"C'mon, don't
tell me that it hasn't occurred to you that your father didn't just drop dead
of a heart attack," I scolded. "I can't be the only one who feels
like there's something really wrong about all of this."

"Shit,"
he muttered as he stalked into the bathroom and slammed the door.

"Ryan?"
I called, but there was no response from behind the closed door. I was
completely confused until he emerged from the bathroom, fully clothed, with his
hands raised in surrender.

"Okay, look,
there's a lot going on that I haven't told you, but I didn't want to drag you
into this mess," he said quietly.

"In case you
hadn't noticed, I'm already into it up to my eyeballs," I smiled as I
looked up into his amber eyes and tried force the memory of looking down into
them while I straddled him out of my mind. "Just tell me what you know.
I've already told you everything I know."

For the next half
hour, Ryan filled me in on his visit to Eva's and his run in with Julian at the
Manhattan Club. As I listened, I started trying to fill in the missing pieces,
but there was still too much missing for me to be able to make sense of it all.

"Where's the
corner's report?" I asked.

"That's
what's still missing," he said. "Eva said they'd have it out today or
tomorrow, but now I'm wondering if she even requested it."

"She could
have," I said trying to give her the benefit of the doubt. "It takes
a long time for those kinds of reports to work their way through the
system."

"Yeah, but Julian
could also have messed up the process if he's got someone on the inside,"
he said.

"That would
mean that he might have also gotten someone to falsify the report," I
said.

"Dammit!"
Ryan cursed as he started pacing the living room. "How in the hell are we
going to figure this out?"

"By getting
into the lab and getting the key your father left," I said simply.
"That'll give us a way into the files and then maybe we'll have a clearer
understanding of what we're dealing with."

"We're going
to have to find a way into the lab," he said.

"Already way
ahead of you," I smiled as I pulled up the layout of the building on my
computer.

"How did you
get this?" he asked as he turned the screen and started studying the map.

"I could tell
you, but then I'd have to kill you," I deadpanned. Ryan rewarded me with a
laugh before he returned his attention to the screen.

"We could go
up the back stairs," he murmured.

"Carrying the
computer and equipment we'll need to break in up seventeen flights?" I
asked.

"Yeah, what's
the problem?"

"I'm not a
trained Navy SEAL," I said. "That's one problem, and another is that
there are cameras all over the place. We'll definitely be spotted in the
stairwells."

"Then what's
your plan?" he asked.

"Cooperation
and virtual invisibility," I smiled as I began laying out the plan I'd
come up with after Cece and I had broken into TriCorp.

When I was
finished, Ryan frowned and shook his head.

"We're not
getting civilians involved in this," he said. "It's way too dangerous
to allow untrained people to do a job like this."

"Then what do
you suggest?" I said throwing up my hands. "That we gather a batch of
SEALs and go break down the doors?"

"First of
all, we're not cookies," he grinned. "We're a team, and second, no, I
don't think calling out the SEAL team is the first solution, but if it's
necessary, then I know the guys who will help me. I'm just not sure I think
your idea is safe."

"What other
choice do we have?" I asked.

"At this
point, not much," he admitted as he ran a hand through his hair and then
rubbed his jaw thoughtfully, again distracting me from the issue at hand as my
mind wandered into the fantasy of Ryan grabbing me and pushing me up against
the wall as his hands, once again, roamed my body. The sound of his voice
brought me back to reality, “Echo?"

"Huh?"

"I said; are
you going to call down and ask Cece to come up so we can see if she is willing
to do this?" he said as if speaking to a child.

"Yeah, yeah,
I'll call her," I said. "Let me shower and get dressed first."

"Hurry up,
then," he said impatiently. "We've got a lot of work to do and not a
lot of time."

"Aye, aye
captain," I said as I saluted him and headed into the bathroom.

"You need to
work on your salute, sailor," he grinned. "It's pretty sloppy."

"Yeah, well,
you get what you pay for," I shrugged as I closed the door and sank to the
floor trying my best to resist opening it and dragging him into the shower with
me.

Once under the
steaming hot water, I realized that if we were going to make this mission work,
I was going to have to stop myself from obsessing over Ryan. It was obvious
that he wasn't actually interested in me as anything more than a babysitter for
his night terrors and as the person who had a place for him to crash. I needed
to stop acting like a schoolgirl with a crush and treat him the same way he
treated me. I'd be professional and keep my distance from now on.

It was a nice
promise, but I had no idea how I was going to keep it. However, Ryan's complete
indifference seemed to be doing the job just fine.

#

Once
I'd showered and slipped into the mostly clean shorts and t-shirt I'd pulled
out of the laundry basket, I checked my phone and found another message from
Commander Donnelly asking me to call him at my earliest convenience. I joined
Ryan on the balcony, but before I could tell him about the call from the
Commander, he took the conversation in another direction.

"Call
Cece," he said as he tapped the screen of his phone in rapid succession.

"You bossing
me around, sailor?" I teased.

"Look, we
don't have a lot of time," he said. The look on his face was completely
serious, and while I found it oddly arousing, I remembered my promise and
dialed Cece's number.

"She can't
come up here because Mando is gone, but she said the place is dead right now,
so we can come down there," I said after talking with her.

"That's not
the best place to talk about this stuff," he sighed. "But I guess
it'll have to do."

I grabbed the
laptop and we headed downstairs knowing that what we were about to do had some
serious drawbacks. I tried to reassure myself that we were doing the right
thing even if our methods of doing it were highly problematic.