Steal: A Bad Boy Romance (9 page)

CHAPTER 12

~ J
AMES
~

The sun hung low in the sky,
lighting lingering trails of mist with a reddish gold sheen. It was an alluring
look, as though San Francisco was a city of magic out of a fictional story.

I
pulled out my phone as I strolled along Market, firing a text to Kat. The plan
was solid, but she had to be in the office alone for it to work.

Are you still working? All by
yourself again?

The
duffel bag shifted over my shoulder, and I shrugged it higher up. It contained
everything necessary to execute the data-gathering part of the mission. Unlike
a military black ops mission, this was a whole other bag of tricks.

The
phone beeped.

Yes. Everyone left a few hours
ago. I barely noticed. Working on something big and awesome for tomorrow. Might
be here for the rest of the night.

Perfect.

A
quick turn down Fourth Street, and Kat’s office came into view. It was a newly
renovated building with a handful of
startups
as the
tenants, and the renovations had been targeted accordingly. There was a bike
room complete with repair equipment, a boutique coffee shop in the lobby, a
green wall and waterfalls in the hall leading to the elevators.

Just
like any office building, there was a security guard, and multiple checkpoints
that required a magnetic access card. The first one was on the exterior doors.

Leaning
against a wall of the building next door, I placed myself so that none of the
cameras pointed my way. Even at this time of night, there would be a few people
coming and going from the building—it was the nature of
startups
and the people who worked at them.

From
my spot hiding in plain sight, I waited until a pair of young men in jeans and
sweaters came into view through the glass doors, headed toward the exit and the
crisp evening air. Stirring from my spot, I timed my stride so that I reached
the doors a moment after the two men on the other side. They pushed the door
open, and I looked them in the eyes and nodded thanks as I entered behind them.

One down.

The
“con” in con man and con job stood for “confidence,” and there was a reason I
was one of the best in the business.

I
straightened as tall as I could and then slumped down slightly, mimicking the
posture of a man in his late twenties on an errand. Schooling my features to
match, I strolled along the hall toward the lobby and the
elevators—overseen by the guard at the security desk.

Coming
into the lobby, I gave the guard at the desk a friendly nod and a half-wave as
I walked to the elevators. I stood there for a second, looking around for floor
buttons that didn’t exist, scratching my head at the magnetic card readers
beside each elevator door.

“Can
I help you?”

I
turned to the guard. He had partially stood from his seat behind the desk,
realizing that I didn’t belong.

“Oh,
hey there. Are there no buttons for these things?”

He
stood fully. “Sir, this is a secure building. If you don’t have an access card,
then I will have to escort you off the premises.”

I
walked over to the desk and widened my eyes. “Oh, no, I’m so sorry. I didn’t
know I couldn’t come in here.” I looked down at the man’s shirt and read his
name tag. “Rob, you’ve
gotta
cut me slack, here.
My girlfriend’s up there working late tonight and I thought I could score major
brownie points if I brought her dinner, you know what I mean?”

The
guard hesitated. “What’s in the bag?”

With
quick hands I unzipped a pocket on the duffel bag and pulled out a large foil
bundle. A wisp of steam curled out from the packaging. “Just a burrito. It’s
her
favorite
.”

“Damn,
that smells good.” He eyed me. “Where does your girlfriend work?”

“ARCANE,
on the fourth floor. I know my way there, I’ve just never walked in without her
and I forgot about the card readers.”

Rob
scratched his jaw. “Okay, go ahead. She’ll have to let you into the offices. I
don’t have control over that. I’ll be watching you on the cameras to make sure
you end up where you’re supposed to.”

I
smiled wide. “Oh, thank you so much, man. I really appreciate this. If I get
lucky tonight it’s thanks to you.”

He
chuckled and waved me off. “Just go feed your girlfriend. Have a good one.”

“You
too.”

The
elevator opened for me, and I gave the guard one final wave before I slid
through the doors.

Two down.

The
final barrier should be the easiest. When the elevator stopped on the fourth
floor, I called Kat.

“Hello?
James? Did you not get my text? I’m still at work, I don’t think I’ll be able
to get together tonight.”

I
grinned. “I don’t know, it might be easier than you thought.”

“What
do you mean?” I loved when I could make her voice sound like
that—suspicious and curious at the same time.

“Just
come out to the front of your office.”

“James.
What are you talking about?”

Through
the large glass double doors that separated ARCANE’s offices from the hallway
on the fourth floor, Kat appeared from behind an office door. Her jaw dropped
as I waved to her.

“What
are you doing here? Oh, my God, James!”

Kat
hung up and ran to the door, cracking it open. She tried to ask a question, but
I interrupted with a sudden deep kiss. It caught her off guard, but within a
second she responded with equal passion. I cracked an eye open and gave a
thumbs up to the closest camera and the watching security guard. The kiss was
brief, but by the time we broke it off, we were each a little out of breath.

“Surprise,”
I said. “Thought you could use food and a break.”

Her
nose widened as she inhaled. “Is that what I think it is?”

I
nodded. “Burritos. I don’t know about you, but that would do it for me right
now.”

Kat
held the door open. “I shouldn’t be letting you in without the proper
clearance, but it’s not like you’re the type of person we’re supposed to keep
out of here.”

She has no idea.

“I
sure hope not.”

“Why
don’t I show you around?” Kat asked, and led me on a tour of the small set of
rooms. “This is the main office area where ninety percent of the employees sit.
As you can see, it’s all open concept and arranged by team, so all of my people
sit together in this section here, and those desks over there are the sales
guys. The cushy section by the windows is where the software engineers and
mathematicians sit. It’s the brain-trust—those guys are scary smart.”

From
there, we walked through the few rooms off the main office. “A couple meeting
rooms, here. The employee lounge—this is where people eat and we come to
hang out when there’s a spare moment. It’s got everything a standard
startup
needs: pool table, foosball, table tennis, and
video games.”

“Interesting.
The bank would never even consider putting a room like this in. It doesn’t
occur to the corporate types that placing a haven of distraction in the middle
of a work environment might improve employee morale and encourage harder work
when not on break.”

Kat
nodded. “
Mmhm
. It’s a different world, that’s for
sure. Now this room here is the server room, and that’s where the algorithms
and everything are held and all the magic happens.”

I
stepped up to the door and looked through the window. Rows of computers sat in
metal racks, wires bundled neatly and running in thick cables through the
walls. The handle was locked, but it didn’t look like it had any special
security on it.

“Bathrooms
are here, just your standard office affairs. There are other ones in the
building’s gym that have showers and everything.”

“Makes
sense. If you come in before work, you wouldn’t want to be sweaty all day.”

“Exactly,”
Kat nodded. “And for some people who ride their bikes in every day, they want
to take a shower after. Finally, here are the offices for the management, and
this one is mine.”

She
held the door open for me. Instead of stepping through, I dropped the duffel
bag and put my hands on her hips. I pressed her back against the door, pinning
her there.

Kat
lifted her face to mine, bringing her lips within striking distance. They were
soft as ever, waiting for me to capture them. We’d kissed enough times that the
chemistry was automatic—there was no awkward bumping of teeth or
mismatched timing of mouths. The joining of our lips was a Broadway play, the
best of the best, an all-star event.

I
loosed a low, animalistic groan and Kat responded with her own moan in return.
My hand found her neck and the other her thigh, pulling her leg up until it
wrapped around me. We pressed into each other as if we could force our bodies
together and join into one.

I
broke the kiss, hand still on Kat’s neck and controlling her head. I waited
until she opened her eyes.

“Do
you trust me?”

It
took only a shadow of a moment before she nodded. “Of course.”

“Good.”

I
recaptured her mouth and turned her around, guiding her backward until her ass
bumped into the wide meeting table that dominated a third of the room. Then I
bent over to pick something out of the duffel bag on the ground.

A
fluttering piece of black silk streamed out of the side pocket, a bare wisp of
fabric.

“What
is that?” Kat asked, her voice low with the sultry rasp it got when she was
turned on.

I
didn’t answer, but instead brought the silk to her face, wrapping it around and
tying it at the back.

“Can
you see?”

Kat
shook her head. “Can’t see a damn thing. Pitch black in here.”

“Good.”

I
traced my fingers along her arms until they arrived at her neck. Goosebumps
pebbled her skin in response, the sensations heightened by not being able to
see where I would go next. Kat wore a dress that exposed a healthy amount of
cleavage, so I drew my fingertips over the erotic skin next, barely grazing
her.

She
let me caress her, biting her lip as I kept her guessing. When my hands went to
the zip of her dress next, she spoke.

“Wait,
James, this isn’t a good idea. This is my office. We shouldn’t do this here.”

I
leaned in and hovered my lips next to her ear. “Do you trust me?”

Then
I took her earlobe delicately between my teeth and pulled slightly.

Kat
moaned and whispered, “Yes.”

With
a slow, smooth motion, I drew down the zipper that held her dress up, and
assisted gravity’s gentle pull until it puddled on the ground. Kat had to stand
up from where she leaned against the table to let the garment slide past her
voluptuous ass.

Stripping
the dress from her lithe body revealed the bra and panty set she wore
underneath. The satiny blue underwear accentuated the curves of her body. They
could stay for now.

“Lean
back,” I said as I pushed Kat gently on the chest with one hand and supported
her back with the other.

She
lay back until horizontal on the tabletop, allowing me to do with her what I
wished.

Next
from the bag were coils of rope. I pulled Kat’s arms straight overhead and used
the rope to tie them loosely in that direction. Her legs received the same
treatment, tied so that she couldn’t move too much but had some freedom to
shift around.

“James,
you’re driving me crazy,” she said. Her heart beat against her chest so hard
that I could count her pulse. Her legs and arms constantly shifted, testing the
bonds, moving around as if she couldn’t contain the way her body felt.

The
way she lay there, like a puzzle waiting to be solved, was impossible to
resist. I ran my fingers up her thighs, along her inner arm, skimming along the
skin of her jaw. Never long enough to track, always so light that she could
barely tell the difference between my touch and her imagination. If I did it
right, she would feel dozens of phantom fingers stroking her body, unable to
tell the difference between reality and her own mind.

My
mouth joined the fray, planting light kisses, small licks, tiny nibbles. Always
in different locations, never in an identifiable pattern. Kat thrashed as I
teased her, moaning loudly at each small stimulus, her senses heightened beyond
belief.

“Oh,
God,” she said. “What’s happening?”

I
didn’t respond, unwilling to break the spell for her. When I’d been at work for
over twenty minutes, I escalated the situation.