Ruthless Temptation (4 page)

Chapter
Four

Madison
wore jeans and her favorite sweater, which was neither
red
nor royal blue. It was bright yellow with black trim, and she loved it because
one of her former coworkers had given it to her as a birthday present two years
ago.

Madison
had been talking about how much she missed hearing bees buzz, and the conversation
had evolved into the black and yellow stripes on some of them. Madison had told
her coworker how much she’d always loved the contrast of those colors.

She
wore matching earrings and a necklace she’d bought with her employee discount
when she’d worked at the mall, and paired the ensemble with short black boots.
Screw him and his red or royal blue clothing. She even wore black underwear,
not that she intended for him to see it.

Right. Just keep telling yourself
that.

She
arrived ten minutes after six.
He
was waiting for her when she got off the elevator, and laughed when he saw how
she was dressed. “You look like a bumblebee.”

“
That’s the idea.”

“
Care to help me make some honey?”

Oh, fuck a duck
. He would give her a sexy grin and
make a sexual joke about it. Her damn traitorous body responded by sending a
gush of wetness to her pussy. She averted her gaze and brushed past him into
the apartment, where he collided with the back of her as she stopped dead in
her tracks to gawk.

“
Sorry. You stopped so suddenly I couldn’t.”

Why were you following me so
closely?
She
mumbled something about it being fine.
Good
lord
.
This place looks like a palace
.
Crystal chandeliers, marble tables, and gold tiles on the ceiling. Actual gold
inlaid tiles. How much freaking money did this guy waste on shit?

“
What do you think?” The pride was evident in his
voice.

“
I think you have a lot of cash to throw away.”

She’d
said it without thinking, and when he didn’t respond, she turned around to face
him. She’d already pissed him off. Why was she throwing more fuel on the fire?
“I’m sorry. That was rude.”

His
quick smile seemed genuine.
“
I suppose I do have a lot of cash to throw away, but I
don’t actually do that with it.”

She
swallowed hard, unsure how to respond.

“
Even though you’re late, dinner will be about fifteen
minutes yet, so we have time for a quick tour if you’d like one.”

“
Sorry about that, too. I had wardrobe issues.” This
was insane. She was the one apologizing for everything, when clearly he was
trying to blackmail her! “Why am I here?”

“
I told you already.”

“
I know what you said, but why am I
really
here? You don’t mess with women
like me.”

“
What does that mean, exactly?”

“
It means I’m not tall, thin, or dressed like I stepped
off the runway in Milan.”

He
gave her a look she couldn’t quite interpret, then sighed. “Okay. Can’t argue
with your height, but that doesn’t matter to me. As for your weight, it’s
perfect in my eyes.”

His
gaze roamed slowly over her sweater, down her jeans to her boots, and back up
again. Shivers ran down her spine, and she tried to keep her face neutral. What
was it about this man that turned her on so much? He was an arrogant jerk. She
should
hate him.

When
his eyes met hers again, he smiled knowingly, as if he knew how aroused she
was. “And as for the clothing, although it’s not what I asked you to wear, you
look too damn adorable.”He looked pretty damn fucking adorable, too, dressed in
a suit and tie, but she wasn’t here to flatter his ego. Still, it seemed rude
not to at least acknowledge his compliments. They sounded sincere, and there
was nothing on his face to suggest he was bullshitting her. This man had the
power to get her fired. He probably had the power to get Ralph fired, too.
Either way, it would still mean a job loss and she didn’t want that.

“
Thank you,
Viggo
. You look
very nice, too. And you smell great.” That last bit had slipped out before she
could stop it, but it was true. Whatever cologne he wore was sultry and heady.
Cologne was rare in these cities, but he had money. He could get anything he
wanted.

He
grabbed her hand, startling her, but at the same time another jolt of
electricity like the one she’d felt earlier shot up her arm. The effect was not
unpleasant. Not at all.

“
Come on. I’ll give you that tour before we eat.”

Her
mind reeled with the sheer size of this place. There was a home office, an
indoor pool, a media room that could easily seat twenty people comfortably, a
cozy living room,
a
great room with another big-ass
video screen on one wall, staff quarters, a laundry room, and a kitchen the
size of
Colma
, where she’d grown up. And that was
just on the main floor.

“
You must entertain a lot.”

“
I used to. Not so much these days.”

“
Why not?”

He
shrugged. “We’ve all been pretty busy the past year.”

As
he led her up the stairs, she decided his answer was the perfect segue into the
multitude of questions she still had. “Is that because you really do have the
hackers?”

He
gave her a grin. “You know I can’t tell you any of that. Company secrets.”

“
But I work for HCS. These are cyber crimes. It’s our
territory.”

“
We’ve been over that before. The cyber crimes angle
with HCS, I mean.”

The
stairs opened into a loft that looked down over the great room. A gallery
flanked the remainder of the perimeter, with doors along three sides of it. He
pointed toward them as they walked. “These are all guest rooms. Each one has
its own bathroom.”

“
How many guest rooms do you have?”

“
Four.”

Who
the hell needs four guest suites in one apartment? “What did you mean by saying
you’ve been over all that before?”

“
I mean the other Weathermen and I have reached an
agreement with key people at HCS in Central, and that’s all I can say.”

“
Does that mean us lowly satellite staff have no
say-so?”

He
stopped walking and eyed her, the grin gone now. “I would think if you or Ralph
had a need to know, you would have been told.”

“
Then why did it sound like Ralph knew?”

“
I’m hoping you can tell me that.”

She
narrowed her eyes as she detected the slight change in his voice. “Why is it so
important you know?”

He
averted his gaze. “Come on. We have time to see my bedroom suite before
dinner.”

He
began to walk again but she didn’t, so he stopped once more.

“
You didn’t know that Ralph knew all this, did you? Not
before I came to your office this morning. It bothers you. Why?”

“
You have no right to be asking the questions, Madison.
You barged into my office pretending to be someone you’re not. You don’t hold
the upper hand here, or haven’t you figured that out yet?”

“
I’ve figured it out, but here’s the thing. If you try
to get me fired, I’m calling Ralph’s supervisor and telling him the things
Ralph does all day when he’s supposed to be working, as well as what I heard on
the phone. So that’s fine. Call your friend Ralph and tell him what I did, but
he’ll go down with me. I can assure you they do not know in Central what little
he does all day long, but once I get finished, they will.”

“
Ralph is not my friend.”

“
Then why are you doing this? Why do you care that I
overheard a conversation and wanted to find out what was going on?”

“
It’s not quite that straightforward. You also wanted
to play superhero and uncover a scandal. For all I know, your next move would
have been to demand money to keep quiet about what I told you.
”

“
Excuse me?” She pulled her hand out of his grasp and
took a step back. “I would have done no such thing. Let me tell you why I was
in your office this morning. I was eighteen when the world imploded. My entire
family died in that massive earthquake that struck the Bay area. Were you
living in this area before you moved underground? Do you remember that?”

“
Yes.”

“
Okay. Well I wasn’t here when the big earthquake hit.
I was visiting friends in Colorado with three other girls I graduated high
school with. It took me two weeks to get home, and when I finally did, everything
was gone.
Gone
,
Viggo
.
My home, my family, everything. If I’d been here I probably have died, too.”

He
gave her such a tender look she almost stopped talking, but the floodgates had
been opened and she had to get this out now.

“
I was told to move underground. I had no one to turn
to for help. I lived in a shelter for six months even after I found a job.
That’s how long it took to wade through the paperwork that would allow me to
rent the apartment where I still live. I couldn’t even bury my family members.
I had no time to grieve, and no one who gave a shit whether I did. I served
burgers and fries to people just like me, searching for their loved ones, for
over a year before I finally was able to start college.”

“
I’m sorry. I really am. We all went through horrible
things. That’s why my friends and I are trying to stop this.”

“
Then why keep it such a damn secret? Do you know the
rumors that are floating around about the twelve of you?”

She
could see the internal struggle on his face, but that wasn’t her problem.

“
I’ve worked retail and at fast food places for almost
eight years. I pushed on, earning first my undergrad and then my MBA, because I
wanted a
life
. I wanted a
career
. Something where I could use my
skills and pursue my interests. And what did I end up with? A boss who watches
old television shows all day and gossips more than he investigates anything.”

“
I’m sorry about that, too.”

“I
thought I could make a difference at HCS. I thought they were the good guys.
But now I don’t know who the hell the good guys are, or even if there
are
good guys. At first, all of you
seemed to be the good guys, but not lately. Not if you believe some of the
rumors out there. That’s why I acted on what I overheard. I needed to know the
truth
,
Viggo
.”

“
It was a rash decision. You should have done your own
investigation
first.”

He
was right. “Agreed. I see that now. I told you that in your office, and I
apologized for what I did. It was very stupid.
But
if I lose this job, as disappointing as it is, that will be the end of my
professional career because who the hell will hire me once they find out I
couldn’t hack it at HCS for more than a month?”

“
I won’t let that happen.”

“
What?”

“
I said I won’t let that happen.”

This
guy changed his mind as often as most people changed socks. “So now you’re not
going to blackmail me?”

“
It was never meant to be blackmail. You have access to
information I need.”

“
You mean why Ralph knows about the warehouse and the
hackers.”

“
Yes.”

Had
he meant to tip his hand? “So it’s true.”

“
Partly.”

“
You want me to spy on my boss for you?”

“
Not exactly.”

She
wasn’t convinced this about-face was altruistic in nature. “But if I refuse,
you’ll tell him what I did this morning.”

“
I’m not sure about that either.”

Now
she was really confused. She was about to ask him another question, but the
sound of footsteps behind them stopped her.

“
Dinner is ready.”

Madison
turned around to find a man in livery standing there. She almost laughed. It
was like watching an old movie. Who the hell had staff in their homes these
days? Who was this guy?

“
Thanks,” said
Viggo
. He
glanced down at her with amusement in his eyes. “Hungry?”

Madison
nodded, then followed him toward the stairs, wondering whether he’d meant
hungry for dinner, or hungry for him. Judging by his tone of voice, and that
sexy look on his face, she was sure it was the latter.