The full force of her fury flashed upon him. “Really?”
Mayhap he’d need some support here. “Doesn’t it, David?”
David turned red, his mouth hanging open, as he looked from him to Vic, and back to him. Poor man. “Um. I…” But his eyes betrayed him, because he obviously appreciated the silk clinging to her front as much as he had the back.
Vic stared him down for a moment, her cheeks and neck turning pink, then shook her head. “Really?” she repeated. “When faced with a new multimillion dollar business falling flat on its face, you choose to focus on my ass?” She gave them both a look that suggested if one of them said the wrong thing, she’d tear him a new one.
“Love, I’m sure this’ll all blow over. Let’s not get all overreactive and panicky.”
“And now I’m overreacting? You forget, I know what it is clients want, Britt. If people don’t feel like they can come to us and have their secrets safe, then we’ve got nothing to offer them. Nothing. They can go get their rocks off any time, any place. The reason they come to us, is because we can set it up confidentially. So, yeah, when faced with the prospect of losing everything, I tend to panic. And place a little more importance on that than making jokes about somebody’s pantsuit riding up their ass.”
Ah, so she thought he’d been poking fun at her. “Vic, love.” God damn, she was a sight, all angry pink cheeks and flashing emerald eyes. “That wasn’t at all what–”
“Jesus Christ.” She stormed away. “I’m calling the tech department to see what they know.”
David’s mouth still hung open.
Brett sighed. “She’s damn beautiful when she’s angry, eh?”
“Um. I…”
Brett remembered being in David’s exact place, not a year and a half ago. Completely smitten by Vic and her passionate storms, yet wary of getting too close at the wrong time for fear he’d never again be allowed within sight of her. “She’ll calm.” But how he did love the look of her all wound up. And she’d positively heated when she’d known David was looking at her. How he’d love to see her lose all control…
David nodded and picked up his toast.
To hell with waiting. He wanted to see Vic lose it. “Would you like to fuck her?”
The toast stopped midway from the plate. David’s eyes met his. “Um?” At first he looked terrified, then he laughed. “Oh. You’re fucking with me. Funny.”
“No, I’m not fucking with you.”
“Are you going to hit me?” David put the toast down and braced his hands on the table.
“I’m not looking to fight, chap. It’s an invite. I want you to shag my wife, whilst I watch.”
“Oh, fuck this. You’re loony tunes. I am so out of here.” With the speed of youth, David stood and left, the suite door slamming behind him.
“That didn’t go quite as I’d hoped,” Brett muttered.
Vic returned, phone to her ear, her hands in the air as if to ask What the fuck just happened?
This wasn’t going to be good. He and Vic had agreed to wait ’til the end of the cruise. He’d gotten excited and made a mess of everything.
“Okay, well, thanks, Justin. Let me know if you come across anything more.” She pressed a button to turn off the phone. “Where did David storm off to, and why?”
“I’m afraid I’ve made rather a mess of things. I extended our invite, but it wasn’t received quite–”
“You did not. Tell me you did not proposition him at the breakfast table. God damn it.” Her eyes narrowed.
In times like these, best to let her rant.
“Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. What the hell else can go wrong this morning?” She fisted her hands at her sides. “Justin tells me they had one device log on just before midnight, for five minutes. There were no failed log-in attempts prior, which means the user had the password to begin with. He or she also had the admin password to get past the filters.”
“An inside job, then.” Probably a high-ranking crew member.
“Either that, or a highly skilled hacker.” She sank once more into her chair at the table and gazed across at David’s empty seat, shaking her head. “Just tell me one thing, Britt.”
He swallowed hard. “Name it.”
“Did you change your mind about this thing with David, and deliberately sabotage it?”
He shook his head. “No, and I intend to set it right.” Somehow.
She stared deep into his eyes, his soul, for what felt like an eternity.
“Okay, then. He’ll either come back, or he won’t. Que sera, sera.”