Chapter 16
Ambra entered her condo, exhilarated but tired from her long day. Running her new business with Ben was keeping them busy as they began to take on new clients that needed their services. She was glad that Ben had agreed with her regarding turning down certain questionable clients, especially the one they met, Silas. The man emanated dangerous energy, and she didn’t want that type of clientele in the business she was running with Ben.
Ben had called Silas on the phone and spoken to him. Afterward he’d entered her office, saying not to worry and that Silas would be looking elsewhere.
She slipped out of her high heels and laid her bag down on the side table near the door. She heard her phone ping and glanced down at a message from one of the women at the shelter that she taught at asking her a question about one of the functions she’d shown them this afternoon. Her sister had invited her out to lunch the other day, where Ambra had hoped to have an opportunity to talk to her about what was going on, but instead Diamond had monopolized both their lunch hour with explaining some of the new programs she was now tasked with on top of raising funds.
Diamond was working to set up learning opportunity programs at the shelters and wondered if she would volunteer her time to help teach simple computer skills to the women and men that were interested in learning new skills to reintegrate them into the workforce. She mentioned that another woman would help out at the other shelter for just women.
She knew what her sister was doing, trying to keep her busy and out of her business. Whatever her reason, she was actually glad she was doing this. She liked the fact she was teaching people a helpful resource for them to acquire knowledge and training that could help to change their lives. But she was also able to juggle multiple tasks: her work at BenAm Technologies and trying to find out what Ben was hiding on his laptop.
Ambra was frustrated but not surprised she couldn’t crack into Ben’s system yet. He put in a lot of protection just like she did on hers. But it was only a matter of time. Both of them had a knack for programming and had been at the top of their classes together. She’d created software that was searching for a weakness in the network system of Ben’s, and she knew he also knew she was trying to and was continuously fortifying his.
She made her way past the table and wearily rubbed her eyes when a delicious scent hit her nostrils. She sniffed and hummed happily. Ambra was still hurt and angry with Michael, but they were talking it out, and he was being creative in ways to make her happy and to forgive him. Tonight, she figured he was trying to win her over by feeding her a meal.
“Michael.” She called out.
“In the kitchen.” She shivered when she heard his rich baritone. She’d always found his voice to be very sexy, and if she could wrap herself around his tone and get off, she would.
She grinned at her thoughts and turned the corner into her kitchen to come up short, staring at the vision in front of her. She was faced with a naked Michael wearing only an apron, the glutes of his ass flexing as he moved back and forth over the stove and then turned it off. He leaned over, picking up a glass of red wine, and then turned toward her, his gaze running over her in appreciation, even though he’d helped her so graciously get dressed this morning, fucking her into each item of her clothing until she screamed herself almost hoarse, the aftereffects having her receiving the watchful eye of Ben this morning during their meeting. She was sure he knew what they’d been doing before she came into work.
Michael strolled over to her like a sleek panther, his silver eyes heated, and her body reacted to him whenever he was near her.
He bent over and gave her a welcome-home kiss that had her melting until he pulled away and handed her a glass of red wine.
Ambra felt like pinching herself because sometimes it felt like she was dreaming; she was finally with the man she’d always been in love with, her best friend.
“Sit, supper is ready.” Michael said huskily before moving away from her to get her plates from her cupboard and set up the table while her eyes fixated on the peaks she was getting from when his apron parted from his flesh to expose his semi-hard cock that was waiting to pleasure her later.
“How was your day?” He sat down across from her after he passed her the plate of beef tagliata.
“It was okay; Ben and I did some work for Carter for the hotel here. Then we had a conference call with a new client discussing what we were going to do to set up his network for his business before I left to go and teach at one of the shelters that Diamond runs charities for.”
He nodded his head and smiled, a pleased look crossing his face, and she paused with eating a piece of the steak, wondering what that was about.
“And you, what did you do today?”
“I was at the hotel, having a staff meeting and going over our bookings for the next couple of months. We are booked solid, except for the rooms that are blocked off for the traveling hotel sites to use.”
They ran into companionable silence as they enjoyed the meal Michael prepared. Her mind going to the time they spent in Switzerland and the chef he’d hired to cook for them. She’d been surprised to learn that Michael could cook; he was able to prepare simple but delicious meals, and he would do that for himself when he was at home instead of going out to dinner or hiring a chef.
Her thoughts swung back to the chef at the resort and what had transpired with how Michael had found her. She’d heard from Coco again, and she reassured her everything was fine and not to worry. She still wasn’t pleased with Michael over giving Conor shares to Coco’s company, but Coco said she was taking care of Conor and that she was in the process of getting her shares back. From what she knew of being a friend to Coco’s, she knew Coco could handle herself, and Ambra didn’t want to probe and had left it alone for the moment.
Ambra refocused on the meal in front of her and the appetizer sitting, looking yummy, across from her.
With each bite of the meal he’d prepared, Ambra was getting wetter and wetter, and when he stood up to get the dessert, her heart skipped a beat. He was completely hard.
“Dessert or me.” He moved close to her, his cock on level with her eyes, and she couldn’t resist taking temptation into her hand and feeling the hard, long length of it.
She heard Michael’s pleased rumble before she was snatched off the chair, and he hurried with her to the bedroom.
Ambra woke up out of a contented sleep, her body feeling languid from the lovemaking Michael and she’d had in the bed. They’d fallen asleep after having dessert. But something had woken her up, and then she heard the beeping sound. She glanced down at her watch and then turned to see that Michael was still asleep with his hands on his chest and his lips slightly parted. She was tempted to lean over and kiss his lips, but if she did, she knew she would wake him up. She silently got out of bed and padded naked toward her front door, where she’d left her laptop in her purse.
Pulling it out, she made her way to the kitchen table as she turned it on. Setting down the laptop, it came alive, and she drew in a breath. She’d successfully breached Ben’s network and had access to his computer. Her fingers flew across the keys on her laptop because she knew she didn’t have much time before he got an alert, and she didn’t want him to know she was in there.
What she found had her enraged in disbelief, and she copied what she’d discovered onto her laptop before closing it out and disabling the remote access to his computer that she’d gained.
She shut her laptop and froze when she saw Michael standing there in the light from the kitchen stove.
He moved out of the shadows and closer to her.
She opened her laptop and opened a folder that she’d copied, turning it around and pushing it toward him on the table. “Did you know about this?” She accused.
“Yes.”