Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
Hunter
O ur phones both began to ring at the same time. At first, we both ignored it, but the amount of racket in the room eventually pulled us both awake.
“I’ll get that,” she said, however, she didn't quite move away from me. Smiling, I pulled away and headed over to the table by the window to find mine. The fact that it was ringing by this time told me one thing, and that was that there was trouble in New York. I wasn’t surprised. It had been too quiet the past few days, but now it was time to really get back to work. My only hope was that it wouldn’t be something so severe that the few days in Phuket weren’t affected as well.
“Hello?” I answered.
“Hello, Sir,” Meredith Shaw, my Chief Technical Officer, answered. “I'm sorry for bothering you. I know it's almost midnight there, but there's a situation.”
“What happened?” I sighed as I stared out of the window.
“Data Breach.”
The moment she said this, my heart dropped into my stomach.
“Fuck. Do I have to come back?”
“No, Sir,” she replied. “We’re handling it. We're sure we can handle it, I just wanted to keep you in the loop.”
“We’ve only had one data breach so far,” I reminded her, “and it was a small one, so I’m not exactly sure you can handle it. I'll let you be in charge, though, but I want to be involved.”
“Yes, Sir,” she replied. “I tried to reach Madison, but I think she might be asleep. I have to liaise with her, so that she's aware. This throws off your schedule?”
I turned then to look at the gorgeous woman who was now wide awake and sitting on the bed, staring at me. Her hair was all over the place, and although she had the sheets over her chest, it wasn’t too difficult for me to picture just how gorgeous she was stark naked.
“Sir?” Meredith called, and I returned my attention to the issue at hand.
“Alright, um, we’re prepared for this, so I need a meeting with senior management right now, as well as the legal and Public Relations teams, so I can be briefed on what is happening, the actions taken thus far, and our public relations strategy. When did this breach happen?”
“About half an hour ago, Sir,” she replied, and I shut my eyes.
“Is it under control?” I asked.
“We’re working on it, Sir.”
“Alright,” I replied and turned once again to look at Madison.
“Try to reach Madison so she can handle all of this. I’m ready when you are.”
“Yes, Sir,” she replied, and the call came to an end.
I returned the phone to the table, and by the time I looked up again, she was on her feet.
“What happened, Sir?” she asked.
This made me smile because of course, she was back in work mode. I, on the other hand, was in an incredibly good mood, because I could still smile when something so detrimental had happened. But after the way I had come so hard inside her, I didn’t think anything could upset me for a while unless the building was on fire.
“Data breach,” I replied, aching to go over to her but needing to maintain some element of distance for my sanity. Going over to her would make all of this seem too romantic, and I didn’t want that just yet. I was already crossing the line by falling asleep with her, but there was no way that I was going to come and then have the energy to kick her out of bed. If she wanted to leave on her own accord, then she could, but I wasn’t going to kick her out. Plus, there was something so restful about having her warmth and scent around me. It was so freaking wonderful, and it made me sleep better. I didn’t want to let go of that, at least not yet.
“They were trying to call me as well,” she said. “I think my phone was ringing from the other room. I'll go check it.”
She started to hurry away toward the front door, but she remembered that she was practically naked and stopped midway. Then she turned around and returned. I shook my head at her, and as our eyes met, she seemed a bit startled at the smile on my face. Her expression was one of confusion for a second, and then she was on her way. But I needed to understand what that had been about, so I stepped out.
“Wait,” I said, and she tried. “Come over here.”
She stared nervously at the door, but then ultimately, she came to lie next to me. I was completely naked, so I ensured she was pressed up against me so she could feel how excited I was beginning to get just at the mere sight of her. Leaning down, I kissed her and wove my tongue with hers. She melted into it, grabbing my arms to stabilize herself.
By the time we parted, she was once again calm, and perhaps even a little disoriented.
“What was your expression about?” I asked.
“What expression?” she replied.
“Before you headed out the door. You seemed surprised and confused.”
She stared into my eyes, and then she replied.
“I was a bit surprised that you seemed so calm. Data breaches are code red, aren’t they? It's extremely serious, or… maybe they already have it under control.”
“Barely,” I replied, and her eyes widened even further. “Don’t worry,” I smiled. “We’ll handle it, plus I was somewhat amused because of how comical you looked when disoriented.”
Her eyes widened then as her hand went to her hair.
“Holy shit,” she swore. “I look a mess, don't I?”
Before I could even respond, she was out the door and scrambling into her room.
Shaking my head, I picked up my phone once again and stared out of the window in thought. I deeply suspected who was behind this breach, and now, so focused on it, I realized that I was slowly becoming upset.
I picked up the phone once again and called the head of our IT department, Marcus Leigh.