11. Connor
Chapter 1 1
Connor
Mary leads me down the shiny hallway of Wempton’s head office, navigating the maze-like corridors like a pro while keeping a noticeable distance from me. Whatever ease we shared at lunch earlier is now deleted.
“Here we are.” She stops abruptly in front of a door marked ‘IT Department’. “Let me introduce you to our head of IT.”
As she opens the door, the familiar hum of computers fills my ears. At the center of the room stands a tall man dressed in a charcoal gray suit, his thinning hair combed neatly over his scalp. The epitome of a model employee. Lifting his gaze from his work, he smiles at Mary and narrows his eyes upon seeing me.
I take it back. I don’t like him.
“Mary, what brings you here?”
Mary ?
“Richy, this is Connor Milton, our new cyber security consultant.”
Richy… extends his hand towards me. “Ah, yes. Your father had already mentioned. A pleasure to meet you. I’m Richardson, Head of IT.”
I return the gesture. “Likewise, Mr. Richardson.”
“You’re quite the expert, I heard.” He studies me.
“Her father hired me for a reason.”
“Yes. Everything you need will be provided by Richy,” Mary says.
“I’ll need full access to your systems and a tour of the IT department, server room, camera system, and anything else you think might be relevant.” Not that I already have access to everything, but I have to keep up the pretense.
“Of course.” Richardson gestures toward his computer. “I’ll get you everything and show you around, meanwhile…” He turns to a mousy woman drowning in an oversized sweater. “Beth, will you please get everything ready for Mr. Milton so he can start?”
“Of course,” Beth answers.
Mary clasps her hands together. “Perfect. That means you don’t need me anymore, Mr. Milton.”
Before she can flee, I reach out and grasp her slender wrist. She inhales sharply, and behind me, Richardson clears his throat. Her gaze darts to him.
Eyes on me, Blue.
“What are you doing?” She hisses under her breath .
“I’ll be right back, Richy.” I tug her around the corner, away from prying eyes. She stumbles in her high-heels before regaining her footing, and as soon as we’re out of sight, she rips her arm from my grip.
“What do you want?” Annoyance creeps into her tone.
I step closer, backing her against the wall. She’s all soft curves and warmth, and it takes every ounce of self-control not to crush her against me. Leaning in, I brush her hair aside and whisper into her ear. “You forgot something, Blue.”
Her breath hitches at the use of her nickname. I love her reaction to it. Slowly, I reach into my jacket and retrieve her phone, which I had confiscated yesterday. I place it in the back pocket of her jeans, letting my fingers linger on her firm ass.
Fuck. Can we stay like this forever? Though we’d just finished lunch together, I want her to be by my side 24/7.
No better, with my cock buried deep inside her?
“If you ever change your mind… and want to continue where we left off. You know where to find me.”
She gasps and shoves me away, her cheeks flaming. With one last scowl, she turns on her heel and storms down the hall.
This is far more entertaining than just watching her from afar.
I turn to head in the opposite direction. Richy. The head of IT is waiting.
“Let’s get started, shall we?” Richardson says. “I’ll introduce you to the team and give you a tour of our facilities.”
“Sounds good. ”
“You already know Beth, my secretary.”
I nod at her, and she smiles in response.
“Let me introduce the rest of the team. Right this way.”
Five people glance up as we enter a spacious office filled with desks, monitors, and an assortment of high-tech equipment.
Richardson gestures to a gangly man hunched over a keyboard, greasy hair falling into his eyes. “This is Tony. He handles most of the network infrastructure. Next is Greg. Web Developer.” He points out a man hunched over his desk, headphones on, completely absorbed in his work. He reminds me of a mole burrowing deeper.
He points to a severe-appearing woman scrutinizing lines of code on her screen. “That’s our security analyst, Nina. And those two are Jake and Ryan, our IT technicians.” Two men glance up from where they’re hunched over an open computer tower.
“Lastly, we have Axel.” Richardson motions towards a tall, lanky man who offers a friendly wave. He’s like a giraffe, his long limbs and neck giving him an awkward but endearing charm.
“Nice to meet all of you.”
“Right, then. Let me show you our setup.”
He proceeds to guide me through the rest of the office, the server room, and the security center, explaining their current systems and capabilities. I listen with half an ear, more focused on identifying vulnerabilities than the specifics of their outdated infrastructure .
It’s not like I haven’t been here before. Once to get into the system and another time because an update burned my connection, so, I had to re-root it here.
“Over here is our main server room.” Richardson swipes his ID card to grant us access. Inside, towering racks of servers blink with a symphony of multicolored lights, their fans whirring. The room is colder than the rest of the office, a necessary precaution to keep the equipment from overheating. At least one thing they excel at.
“Maintaining these servers is one of our top priorities. They store all the company’s critical data.”
“Backup protocols?” I scan the room.
“Weekly offsite backups, along with daily onsite backups. We’ve invested heavily in redundancy to minimize the risk of data loss.”
“Perfect. Let’s make that daily and hourly in the future.”
He nods, and we return to his office.
“Can I be blunt?” I ask.
“Sure.”
“Your security is full of holes. I breached your systems without breaking a sweat.”
Richardson’s face pales, his eyes widening as he processes my words. “W-what? How?”
“Your firewalls aren’t strong enough, for starters. And your password protocols need an overhaul. Mrs. Sanderson, in marketing, is very prone to cute cat pictures. There needs to be more education. ”
Shock and indignation flash across Richardson’s face before morphing into apprehension. He clears his throat. “Yes, well… I’m afraid budget constraints have limited us.”
I wave a hand. “Regardless, improvements need to be made. I think Richard will approve when I talk to him. We’ll start with the most critical vulnerabilities before expanding to a full overhaul.”
“Of course. We’ll provide whatever you need.”
This is almost too easy.
“Why don’t I give you access to our systems so you can begin assessing what needs improvement?”
“That would be excellent,” I say.
Richardson types on his computer and hands me a keycard and sticky note with login details.
“Thank you. I’ll be in the server room.”
“Let me know if there’s anything else you need.”
“Will do.” I walk back to the server room. Taking out my laptop, I set to work and dig deeper over the next few days. Their security protocols were easy to break into, so I implemented some precautions to keep everyone out—except for me, of course.
While working, I always leave a camera feed of Mary in a little window at the top right corner. I don’t know when I started this, but it calms me. She calms me.
There’s no question that she’s busy working on spreadsheets or reports. Now and then, she pauses, tapping a pen against her lips in thought before resuming her rapid-fire typing. I know from months of observation that this is her ‘in the tunnel’ mode.
I miss the lunch date we had. She looked beautiful, as usual, with those big blue eyes and that genuine smile. Her laughter rang clear and bright. But what caught me was how she told me the story about the restaurant and her family. She let me in.
Not only that, but she noticed me in college. I thought I was the only one. So, why is she so hesitant to go to dinner with me? Does she prefer someone who fits her parents’ expectations, or is it because I’m not posh enough for her?
I loosen my tie. It’s fucking killing me, and I only wore it to impress her father. If it were my choice, I would have stepped in here with my hoodie and cargos. But Elijah was right. Dress to impress.
Is it me she finds unappealing? I grit my teeth.
Not possible, considering the way she reacted to my touch.
My fingers pause mid-type. A boyfriend? She flat-out lied to me, and to top it, she used that bastard’s name. He is everything I hate rolled into one neat package. How could she prefer him over me? I am him. Even if it was just one night.
Why does she try so hard to resist me when all I want to do is get closer?
I zoom in on Mary’s office. My blue-eyed muse, backlit by the afternoon sun.
An open energy drink sits beside her. She’s already drained one. My lips turn down. Caffeine might boost her bubbly productivity, but too much frays her boundless and calm energy .
I ache to go to her, to knead the tension from her shoulders, draw her a bath, make her tea. Relieve her from all the pressures in her world so she can just be.
Her gaze turns inward, and she touches her lips, biting down on her lower one. Fuck. This tiny bit, and I’m already hard.
I take out my phone.
Connor: Easy on the caffeine, Blue. I’d say you’ve had enough.
She blinks in surprise, reading the message, then glances around as if expecting to catch me spying over her shoulder. The sight warms me more than any sun.
She types a reply but stops, deleting it. Tries again but erases that too. Still flustered by me. For now, I may maintain my distance, but I will remind her she’s mine, whether or not she knows it.
How do I get you on my side, Blue?
Finally, my phone buzzes, but instead of a text, it’s a photo of an empty mug of coffee accompanied by a fuck-you emoji.
Despite myself, I laugh aloud. My Blue.