Gambling For The Virgin:A Dark Billionaire Romance(136)

Fuck, and with compassion?

"Go, do your job, Ethan," she tells me. "I'm just going to freshen up and tidy up a bit in here before I head out."

I let out a long fucking sigh and my body literally quivers in disappointment, but I know she's right.

I nod to her, and pull up my boxer briefs and pants as I walk to my desk.

I clean my cock with a towel nearby as I push the speakerphone button on my phone.

"On my way, Cheryl," I tell her and hang up as I zip up my trousers.

Brittney turns and smiles to me as she walks over to where she threw her bra.

"You're going to be okay?" I ask her.

She nods and smiles. "I'm just going to clean up a little bit," she says  with a smile. "Get less sticky before I go out into the world, you  know?"

She laughs a small laugh and I smile before I walk to the door.

Five minutes later I'm sitting next to Cheryl in the conference room still thinking of Brittney.

Fuck.

That's five minutes longer that I've ever thought of a girl after sex.

There's something going on with her here.





103





Brittney





"Brittney, can you hear me?"

I hear Walter's voice coming in through my tiny earpiece, which is  hidden underneath my long hair. The sound is low, but the quality is  good.

"Loud and clear," I say.

"Are you at Ethan's computer?"         

     



 

"Yes, but now what? I don't have the password for this machine, you know. It's locked."

"Okay, I'm going to walk you through this," Walter says. "Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be, I guess. I don't hear anyone coming, so it's now or never," I say, looking tensely over my shoulder.

"The first thing you need to do is shut the computer down."

"What? Why? Doesn't that seem counterproductive to be turning this thing off?"

"Just trust me, okay?" Walter says. "I know what I'm talking about."

"Okay, it's off."

"Good, now reboot it in Safe Mode," Walter instructs. "You need to do  this so that you can effectively login as an administrator to the  machine."

"You're speaking another language  …  but sure," I say. "Okay, done. Now what?"

"Now, you'll need to reset the password."

"The password for which account?"

"For the account that's locked," Walter says. "If we're going to gain  access to the Illicit Escape software and plans, we'll need to change  the administrator password so that we can unlock it all."

"Since when did you get so high-tech on me Walter?" I joke.

"Just here to help, darling. We've got to move quickly."

"Okay, that's done; now what?" I ask. I'm acutely aware of noise now  coming from down the hall and I wait a few extra seconds before making  any noise in case anyone walks in. After those moments are up, it seems  like the coast is clear, so we resume.

"And for the record," I say, "I've given this account a password that no  one is ever going to fucking crack. I think there's enough letters,  numbers, and symbols for it to be its own equation."

"Nice work," Walter laughs. "Okay, now we'll need to shut this machine off."

"Again?" I ask.

"Yes, shut it off and reboot," Walter says. "When you're turning it back on, you need to immediately hold the F8 key."

"Why is that?" I ask. "Is something about to melt down on me? You'd at least warn me if that was the case, right?"

"Very funny," Walter says. "No, you need to do this so that you can be taken to an advanced menu."

"And what exactly am I looking for on that menu?" I ask.

"You're looking for the advanced boot options."

"Got it!" I say. Adrenaline is coursing through my veins. It already  feels like an eternity to just get to this point, and all I want to do  is get the hell out of here.

"Okay, now insert the USB stick and start downloading all of the data from the I.E. folders."

"It's downloading," I say, clicking them all and pressing the download  option. "But it's taking forever Walter! You'd think the connection  speeds would be faster in a high-tech company like this. You even said  this was one of the most high-tech buildings you'd ever been in." I'm  tapping my feet against the floor with nervous energy. I can practically  feel the minutes going by, and with every passing minute, the  likelihood of someone finding me increases.

My thoughts go back to what Walter and Simon have both told me separately.

There's no stealing bits of data. It's either steal the physical prototype or steal all the files.

Because overtime they upgrade the software to fix bugs or whatever, all  of the old data becomes useless. They rewrite a whole new operating  system. It's a failsafe to make sure that old data doesn't get lost or  misplaced and a new product reverse engineered.

It also means I have at most 24 hours to get this to Simon once it finishes downloading.

If it finishes downloading that is.

50 percent-75 percent-92 percent-shit, it's stalled on 92 percent.

"Walter, it's frozen on 92 percent!"

"Calm down. Give it a minute."

"We don't have any extra fucking minutes!" Now I'm really stressed. If  this data doesn't load-and soon-I'm fucked. I check back at the status  bar.

"Oh good-Walter it's done; it's at 100 percent! I'm ejecting the USB stick; we did it."

I pop out the USB drive, and it slips out of my fingers and onto the  floor. Shit. I look around, trying to find it. Just great. Where the  hell is it? I get down on my knees and search for it, and I finally find  it, nestled behind the leg of a chair. As soon as I have it in my  hands, I hear the sound of footsteps approaching.

"What are you doing in here?"

It's Cheryl. Shit.

"I-uh-I just-"

Then I hear Walter in my ear. "Tell her you were looking for an earring that you lost; she'll believe that," he says.

"I was just looking for an earring that I must've dropped," I say.

Cheryl raises one skeptical eyebrow. "You dropped an earring? Here, in Ethan's office?"

"That's right," I say. "Well, I'm not sure if it was in here, per say.  It could be somewhere else, but I just wanted to make sure."

"And why would it be in here?" Cheryl asks. "Or maybe the better  question is, why would you have ever needed to be in here? To say the  earring might be here is to imply you've spent time here. Only our  developers come in here."

"Oh I-uh-I was taking a tour of the place the other day," I say.

"In here?"

"Well, Ethan and I … " I trail off.

Cheryl looks at me. "Ethan and you, what?"

I roll my eyes as if asking her if she really needs me to spell out the fact that we were fucking.

"Right," Cheryl says after a minute. "You fucked him."

"Or he fucked me, you know?" I say, giving her some sass. "It was kind of mutual."

"Do you always sleep with your clients?" Cheryl asks me.

"It's been my philosophy to get to know someone since high school," I  tell her sweetly as she raises her eyebrows at me. Fuck her.  Interrogating me and shit.

"Did you just so happen to develop that philosophy at  …  say  …  Man Chasers LLC?" she asks.

When she says this I'm floored. How did she know that? And I'm sure that shock is written all over my face.

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh come on Brittney," she says. "Do you think I don't know? I know all about your business."

"This has nothing to do with my business," I say. There's no use lying  and trying to tell her that Man Chaser's LLC doesn't exist. She  obviously knows all about it. I have to just go with it.

"I hope not," she says.

"Being an actress for Illicit Entertainment has nothing to do with my previous work," I say, confirming my stance.

"For your sake, I hope you're right," Cheryl says. Her gaze has  intensified. "Because if you try to pull something here, you'll regret  it. That much I can promise."

I've honestly never heard this tone from Cheryl before and it catches me  off guard. Our encounters, up till this point, have been cordial.

I mean, I'm now in a hard place. I'm standing here-just moments from  being caught, and I have stolen data on a USB drive hidden inside of my  thong. I hid it there right when Cheryl came in. This is an act that can  land me in jail.

"This has gotten blown way out of proportion," I say. "I was just searching for an earring. I promise."

Cheryl doesn't say anything further, and instead gives me one last icy  stare before turning on her heels and walking back out the door. I also  leave. My heart is pounding, and I need to get as far away from this  place as possible.

"Well that was close," I hear Walter say in my earpiece. He heard that entire conversation, but I nearly forgot he was there.

I whisper back, in a tone that's barely audible so that no one else can hear me, "Yeah, too fucking close for comfort."

I find my things-my change of clothes, and my purse. I pull my cell  phone from my purse to check and see if I have any messages, and as I'm  scrolling through, a new text message chimes in.