Steal: A Bad Boy Romance (7 page)

The
soft fabric tugged away from the skin it protected and hid, revealing her
treasure.

“Well?”

Not
until Kat spoke did I realize I was staring at her crotch. I looked up at her
and smiled to assuage the concern narrowing her eyes. “It’s perfect. Gorgeous.”

When
she smiled in return, it brightened her face. “I’m glad you like it.”

“I
hope you don’t mind if I get better acquainted,” I said as I leaned forward and
kissed her inner hip crease.

Kat’s
eyes fluttered, and she leaned back further into the couch’s embrace. “You can
do whatever you like down there if it all feels like that.”

With
a wide mouth, I left large, wet kisses on her inner thighs and nibbled the soft
skin to contrast the sensations. Edging closer, I ran my tongue up in a long
lick alongside her labia. Kat squirmed, trying to get my mouth on her.

Finally,
I acquiesced. I spread my tongue wide and pressed it against her flat, holding
it for a second before drawing it up to her clit.

“Fuck.
Finally. That feels so good.”

Her
taste flowered on my tongue as I repeated the motion. Then I got to work,
exploring her and testing her, watching her face to see which movements
garnered the biggest reactions. I squeezed her thighs as I dove into my work,
playing to her preferences like a musician holding an audience in thrall.

I
built Kat higher and higher, reading her expressions and the quickening of her
breath, deciphering the moans to lead her along the path of her arousal to its
inevitable conclusion. When she got close, I gently sucked her clit into my
mouth and swirled my tongue around the sensitive bud.

“James…”
Kat grabbed fistfuls of my hair. “Right there. Don’t stop doing that.”

I
hadn’t intended to. Pushing her higher, I kept my lips locked where they were.
Subtly, I brought a finger to her pussy and wetted it in her juices before
sliding it inside of her and curling the tip forward.

“Oh,
fuck!”

As
if I had pressed a button, Kat’s thighs clamped around my ears as she
writhed on the couch. Her inner muscles contracted around my finger, and her
moans disappeared—caught in the throes of her climax, she lost
her ability to make sounds.

I
rode out her orgasm, providing steady and consistent pressure both inside and
outside of her to help build her pleasure, staying with her even as she bucked
her hips.

When
her hands switched from pulling me closer to pushing away, I eased off and slid
up to kiss her.

“Oh,
my God.” Kat panted, trying to catch her breath. “That was incredible.”

I
mirrored her comment from earlier. “I’m glad you liked it.”

She
grabbed my shoulders to kiss me, tongue venturing deep and sliding around my
own.

I
broke off the kiss, needing to take things to the next step. “Let’s go to the
bedroom. I can’t wait to feel you wrapped around my cock.”

Kat
bit her lip and put her hand on my chest as she looked up at me. “James… that
felt amazing. So good. But I don’t know if I want to take things any further
tonight. I know that’s not fair to you, but I’ve been in a haze all night,
and that orgasm finally cleared my mind and let me come to my senses. I
don’t think this is a good idea right now.”

I
squeezed her thigh and her eyes closed, accompanied by a slight moan.

“It’s
a great idea.”

She
pushed on my chest harder. “James, stop. I don’t want to be drunk the
first time with you. Let’s wait.”

Damnit
.

If
I went back to kissing her, I could change her mind. I knew it. She’d be
overcome by the same lust and emotion that had led to me between her legs, bare
pussy exposed and her juices on my cheeks.

That’s
not how I wanted it to happen. I didn’t want to convince her, like she was
doing me a
favor
.

“Is
that okay?” Kat asked.

I
growled, but pushed away. “Yes.”

“You
don’t mind?”

“Of
course I mind. I want you right now. But I also want you to want me. You’ll be
begging for it when I finally fuck you.”

CHAPTER
9

~ K
AT
~

You’ll be begging for it when I finally fuck you.

James’
words seared into my consciousness. For the next few days, no matter where I
was or what I did, his promise hung in the front of my mind.

I
knew it was a promise. A guarantee.

Somehow
I still had to get work done even though every time I closed my eyes I could
see the intensity of his stare and feel his breath hot on my skin.

Should I have slept with him?

My
body knew what it wanted, but if I always let it have what it wanted then I
would down a pint of ice cream every night. I felt bad for letting James go
down on me and not returning the
favor
—but if I
had, then I wouldn’t have been able to stop going further.

I
shook my head. Thinking about James wouldn’t help me come up with a way to keep
my job and rub Nick’s face in my success. Somehow the next three months had to
be the best in company history, and the quarter had not started in the most
auspicious manner.

The
marketing strategy in place when I’d arrived had been basic—strategic ads
placed in information technology forums and communities where those responsible
for corporate IT strategies would see them and hopefully investigate further.
It hadn’t been a poor start, but was the kind of marketing spend that was
overly broad and optimistic, as well as expensive.

There
were several areas to which I’d directed the team to investigate. Targeted
campaigns in relevant social media and a booth in data security conferences
were the first waves, but I needed something bigger, grander.

James’
comment about charities stuck with me. Large corporations—ARCANE’s
preferred clientele—were already invested in large-scale enterprise
security solutions. Charities may not be as advanced in that area, but many of
them oversaw vast funds. They might be the perfect clients for ARCANE.

There
was one way to find out.

“Kat?
How are you? I haven’t heard from you in months!”

I
smiled. Beth’s voice was always bubbly and optimistic. Turning down the offer
that would have let us work together was one of the toughest decisions I’d ever
made.

“Hi,
Beth, it’s great to hear from you! I’m doing well, just taking things day by
day, you know? What about you? Last we spoke, you were thinking about trying to
get pregnant with Steve.”

“That
mission was a huge success. Based on what the doctor said about the age of the
baby, we must have gotten it the first time we tried.” Beth’s voice
was wistful. “I wouldn’t have minded if it took longer. The sex those
first couple of weeks was insane! I swear every time we were alone in the room
together it was like we were teenagers who just discovered how our bodies fit
together and were determined to practice at every opportunity.”

The
visual made me laugh. “That sounds fun, Beth. I’m a little jealous. Great sex
all the time would be a dream come true.”

“Still
single?” Beth and I hadn’t spoken in a couple months, but we were old friends
who knew each other very well.

I
hadn’t stopped to think about what was going on between James and me and
whether it was enough to justify a label. “Um. Yes? I think so. I’ve seen this
guy a couple times, and things are definitely heating up, but I don’t know if I
should let it.”

“Why
not? You need sugar in your life, Kat. A workaholic like you should hold
on to any man crazy enough to tangle with that.”

She kind of has a point.

“I
don’t know, Beth. You know my history with dating. I’ve always picked the guys
who end up being just the worst for me.”

“You
never could resist a bad boy,” she agreed. “But even if he’s not a good fit
long-term, there’s nothing saying you can’t mess around with him and see where
it goes, right? Maybe he’ll turn out to be a good guy, and until you’re sure,
just don’t put yourself into it one hundred percent.”

I
chewed my lip. Entertaining a relationship without putting my all into it felt
wrong. Still, it wasn’t the worst idea.

Better than being celibate until
I find a knight in shining
armor
.

James
was more like a conquering dark prince.

“That’s
a good point, Beth. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing, does it? And I know
the sex is going to be out of this world. He went down on me the other night
and I swear I’m still seeing stars. It rocked my world.”

Beth
whistled. “Forget everything I said, Kat. Hold on to a man who knows how to
work his tongue like that. Hell, can I have his number? I want to send Steve to
take lessons.”

“I’ll
see if James will start up a school to teach ignorant men how to lick—for
the benefit of women everywhere.”

We
shared a laugh.

“So,
was there something else you called for? I love catching up, but I have a
feeling you wouldn’t call during work hours unless it was something a bit more
important.”

“Yes,
there is.” I hesitated to think of the best way of broaching the subject. “I
need your insight on something. I’m at a new job now as the head of marketing
for a company called ARCANE. It’s a data security and encryption company, and
we focus on ensuring that our clients’ data is
unhackable
.
We have proprietary algorithms that have proven to be impossible to exploit.”

“That’s
not possible, is it?” Beth asked. “I thought any encryption could be broken if
you had long enough and a powerful enough computer.”

“I’m
not sure what the exact details are—I’m a business major, not a software
engineer—but from what I understand, the encryption uses a new class of
algorithm. The company’s name stands for Advanced Relativistic Cryptography
Algorithms and Novel Encryptions. But it’s a mouthful, so everyone only ever
says ARCANE.”

“Huh.
Okay, so where do you need my help?”

“I
have to find new markets to expand to that could use our services, and I
thought of you and those types of charities. Seed to Grow connects lenders and
donors with entrepreneurs in the third world, right?”

“Yes,
that’s right. We act as a marketplace to allow charitable investors to finance
aspiring businessmen and women in small villages with micro loans to get their
ideas off the ground.”

“So
you are handling hundreds of financial transactions per day, and store the
sensitive banking information of lots of people, right?”

“That’s
right. Are you trying to say your services would be a good fit for us?”

I
winced. I didn’t want to come across as only calling Beth because I wanted
something from her.

“It’s
obvious that you’re the type of client we’re aiming for. I want to get your
insights and thoughts about whether charities like yours could be a fertile
ground for us.”

“I
mean… of course more and better security is always a good thing. But
we’re locked in with the security software used by the banks. We have to
deal with them anyway, so it makes sense to use the software that talks to
their systems the best. Plus it’s all integrated and cheaper this way.
Something tells me that switching to ARCANE would be expensive.”

The
service wasn’t cheap. It was part of the reason it was so hard to sell. Nick
insisted that top tier technology deserved to be paid at the top level.

“It
is expensive,” I acknowledged. “We feel the added cost is worth it for most
organizations, but like I said, we haven’t focused on charities before.”

“To
be honest, I can’t see us switching, Kat. More expensive, more of a hassle, and
it’s not like we’re getting hacked all the time. Plus that’s what we have
insurance for, and I doubt we could just drop the insurance if we switched,
even if your system is more secure than what we’re currently using.”

I
frowned. Everything Beth said made total sense, and it was a variation of the
same thing I’d gotten used to hearing every day. There were already so many
encryption methods out there, and the vast majority were “good enough.” So what
if ARCANE was more secure—if it cost so much more, not many people would
want to pay for little additional benefit.

“Thanks
for the insight, Beth. That does help a lot, gives me some things to think
over. We might have to change our tactics to achieve any market
penetration.”

“Anything
I could do to help, Kat. We need to get together for a girls’ night soon.
Although with this little one growing inside my belly, it might have to be more
popcorn and movie than drinks and dancing like we used to.”

I
smiled, even though Beth couldn't see it. “That sounds lovely, Beth. I’ll
get in touch and set something up! I can’t wait to meet your little
munchkin
when he or she shows up.”

“Talk
to you later.”

“Bye.”

Crap.

The
conversation hadn’t gone the way I’d hoped. Instead, it had been a rude wake-up
call from the echo chamber of the ARCANE office. Inside these walls, it was so
clear that ARCANE encryption was the future and it was only a matter of time
before the world saw the light. It was jarring to speak to a member of the
public who had no connection to the company and couldn’t see a use for it.

Are we doomed?

If
I couldn’t persuade a good friend to even consider bringing her organization
over to our services, what hopes did I have of reaching dozens of new clients
to keep my job?

I
slumped onto the desk and rested my head on my forearms. There had to be
something I could do. The main problem was lack of awareness—nobody has
heard of ARCANE or why it’s better than every other service or method out
there. The secondary problem was the value proposition—whether ARCANE was
better enough to justify the switch and extra cost.

Ugh.

As
the head of marketing, the lack of awareness was under my purview. I had
to figure out a way to put ARCANE on the map.

My
phone beeped from its place on the desk right beside my head. I lifted my head
to check the message—it was from James.

My
heart sped up and tingles raced down my spine to gather between my legs. Just
the sight of his name was enough to rev my body's engines.

Hey Kat, have you eaten yet?
Grabbing lunch in the city near you, want to meet up?

My
stomach grumbled. That wasn’t the only part of me that felt needy at the
thought of meeting up with James.

Lunch is fine. You won’t be able
to have sex with him over lunch. It’ll be a nice, safe way to talk with him
more.

Sure! There’s a vegan Mexican
place nearby that I’ve been dying to try. Does that work for you?

I
couldn’t focus on work until he responded. Every time I turned to my computer,
my eyes unfocused and thought of the other night. That turned into day dreams
about James bending me over the table in the restaurant for everyone to see.

I
shivered, and it wasn’t from cold.

That works. Want to do noon?

Only
an hour away. Somehow I’d have to cool off by then or else I’d risk not being
able to even make civilized conversation with the man.