3. Chase

Istood alongside Russell and Garrett on the outer fringe of the lounge. We stood far enough back that everyone lost sight of us and resumed their conversations.

“Anything?” Russell sipped his plain black coffee and arched a brow when I snorted. “You’re the one who wanted to come down here and scope out the employees. What did you expect to find?”

“Nothing.” I settled my arms over my stomach and raised the cup of coffee to my lips. I’d hoped to find someone who didn’t belong. Someone who might be the reason behind all our problems.

Instead, I found Sabrina. She owned the room without even realizing it. Her body language said she didn’t give a fuck, even if she did have her ankles tucked under the table in a proper way that would make royalty proud.

It was in the tilt of her chin, the way she focused on the woman across from her and ignored the looks daggering her way.

“Where’s the new one?” Garrett stood on my left, his shoulder against my back.

“Center of the room. Red dress.” My cock throbbed when she opened her mouth and laughed. She’d turned me on the instant she tilted that pretty head at me upstairs. The challenge in those soulful brown eyes begged me to close the distance and take what I wanted. We’d exchanged sexually charged innuendo without hesitation. And now that I’d hired her, she was strictly forbidden. What an idiot.

Garrett shifted his weight forward and let out a low whistle. “She’s hot. She as smart as she looks?”

“Yes.” I knew it without hesitation. The way she talked about business and her college courses told me she studied hard but also had a head for the game we played here at Grady. We were the leaders in innovation for new apps. It was a title I’d give anything to keep. I couldn’t risk it on a piece of ass that would come back to bite me on mine. Fuck but I wanted to, though. I hadn’t wanted anyone this much in years. “Let’s go.” I spun on my heel and marched to the private elevators reserved for the three of us.

I entered first, followed by Russell, and then Garrett. He punched the button for the eighteenth floor and finished his coffee.

“What are we going to do about the theft?” Russell kept his voice low, but I shushed him until we were in his office. The security cameras we’d installed watched our every move, but we were able to turn them off or on at will in our own offices. Russell swept the room for bugs, a habit he’d picked up since the recent theft, then nodded when he found it clean.

“What a shitstorm.” I sank into the oversized Victorian chair Russell’s mom had gifted him from a recent estate sale and propped my head on the curve. “How many does that make now?”

Garrett took the second chair. “Four. But we know where this one ended up. Leon has it.”

I ground my teeth between curses. “How?”

Russell sat on the edge of his desk and shrugged. The casual nonchalance irritated the piss out of me. But that was Russell. He didn’t blow his fuse or get angry like me and Garrett. It was part of why I brought him on as CEO. He had a ruthless business streak and a propensity to win at whatever he tried. Those qualities helped sway me, but his perpetual calm sealed the deal. Looking at him helped me take a breath and release the surge of anger.

“Leon says he bought it.” Russell held up a hand. “Legit sale. He has the contract and everything.”

“There can’t be a contract. Not for stolen tech.” I raked a hand through my hair and sat forward. “We need to see the contract. Who was the seller?”

“Leon’s looking into it. We can’t push much further without giving ourselves away. We can pass it off as curiosity for a bit longer. Maybe offer to have our lawyers look at the contract. But he’s not going to budge any further unless we admit that it was ours.” Russell kept the same calm tone through everything, but I took note of the flickering muscle spasm in his right eye. That one tell was all I’d get from him. The only show of his growing frustration and anger.

I knew what I should do. We should come clean to Leon and tell him that the information he bought belonged to me. To us. This business was all I had that still mattered. Leon would understand. What I didn’t want was for this information to go public. “We can’t afford for people to know.”

“We’re not infallible.” Garrett stretched, placing his arms behind his head and staring up at the ceiling. “There’s no way to hide it forever.”

“If you think I’m going to let some punk ass steal from me and then tell the press, ‘Oh, sorry. Our security is trash.’ Then you can walk out that door and keep going.” My chest heaved with the hot anger rushing through me.

Russell held up a hand, stilling Garrett before he launched upright. “We’re all on edge. Now’s not the time to be at each other’s throats. We’ll never find the bastard who did this if we’re too busy shouting at each other.”

Sometimes, I hated his calm and the reason that always came out of his mouth. He was right, but that didn’t mean I liked it.

“It’s undermining our next release.” Garrett growled low in his throat, his frustration causing a vein to pop in his forehead. He shot a look at me. “But it’s whatever you say. I can keep it quiet.”

“Good.” My thoughts swirled back to Sabrina. What was I thinking to give her the job? We’d be in direct contact with each other every single fucking day.

Russell tugged on the pleat in his pants. His heavy gaze landed on me and his jaw tightened. “Is she going to be a problem?”

“Who?” I needed to shift in the chair to try and cover my semi but I didn’t bother. The movement would only draw attention, and Russell likely already spotted the problem.

He stands to his full height and looks down his nose at me. It’s a move I won’t allow from just anyone, and Russell damn well knows it. “You’re distracted. You couldn’t stop looking at her downstairs, and you have that hungry look in your eyes.”

“You sure you’re not the one who’s distracted?” I puckered my lips at him. “Have you been watching me, Russell?”

“Fuck off.” He backhanded my foot where it rested on my knee, knocking my heel to the ground with a sharp thud. “We need you focused. If you need to fuck her and get it out of your system, do it now so we can focus on what’s important.”

I considered arguing. Why bother? I trusted Russell and Garrett implicitly. It’s why they were CEOs alongside me.

“Just be discreet.” Russell arched a brow and moved around his desk to sit. He rolled the chair forward and palmed the glass table. “We might own the company, but that doesn’t excuse us from the rules.”

“Yes, Dad.” Garrett rolled his eyes and nudged me with his elbow. “Like he wouldn’t do the same thing if a woman like that wanted him. Hell, I would have knocked Chase down and asked her out myself if I thought I had a chance.”

I had an instant image of Garrett fucking Sabrina stroll through my mind and take root. It expanded into a vision of Sabrina sucking my cock while Garrett buried his cock inside her. What the hell? I shook the image away. Sleeping with Sabrina brought up all sorts of moral and work ethic problems. I could keep it to this one night and be done with it.

Once and done was a motto I’d lived by for years. No strings. No attachments. They complicated matters too much and I didn’t have time for a relationship if I wanted to keep Grady International at the top of its game.

Could Sabrina live with a one-night stand? She wasn’t an employee yet, which let me off the hook on the interoffice romance rule.

If she turned into the clingy type who tried to keep things going after tonight, well, I’d dealt with worse.

I pushed to my feet. “Keep poking around. See if Leon will give you any more information.” I buttoned my suit jacket and turned on my heel. “I’ll be back later.”

Garrett heckled me, telling me to have a good time, while Russell remained silent.

It was unlikely Sabrina was even downstairs. She’d probably left by now and I’d end up jerking myself off to the thought of her mouth on my dick.

I whistled on my ride down the elevator and glanced around the coffee lounge. No Sabrina. My stomach clenched until I raised my head and spotted her slim outline standing several feet from the door. She hugged the woman she’d been sitting with in the lounge and smiled. The sight burrowed beneath my skin, tugging at my heart in a way I’d never felt before. I hurried toward her, spinning behind a pillar to keep out of sight when her friend retreated.

Sabrina made it to the doors and outside onto the sidewalk before I caught up to her.

“Friend of yours?”

She startled and spun to face me, one hand at her throat and her eyes wide. “Yes. Why? Is that a problem?”

I shrugged. “Not to me.”

She smoothed a hand down her stomach and around her hip, almost like she felt self-conscious. “Can I help you with something?”

The husky note in her voice went straight to my cock. I shifted my weight to ease the growing tension and angled my head toward her. “I’m not sure if you’re up for what I had in mind.”

A coy smile tipped her lips upward and her eyes flashed. “When I said I wasn’t into risks, I meant the business kind. My personal life is completely different.” She tossed her hair over her shoulder and stepped closer. Her nipples peaked beneath the dress.

Inches separated us, and from all outward appearances, we were two people having a normal conversation.

Her eyes were another story. Lust and a deep hunger burned there. I didn’t doubt she saw the same in mine.

“In that case”—I fished my keys from my pocket—“can I give you a ride home?”