White-Hot Hack

  When Kate reached the server room, the employee monitoring it gave her a cursory glance and then turned his attention back to something on his desk. She waited until there were no other employees in the area and extended the wire in a way that wouldn’t draw attention to the fact that she’d just pulled something that resembled a bent-in-thirds coat hanger with a hand warmer taped to the end out of her folder.

  I can do this, she told herself. I have a get-out-of-jail-free letter and nothing bad will actually happen to me if I’m caught.

  But she didn’t want to get caught, because she was just as invested in gaining entry to that server room as Ian was.

  Kate walked up to the server-room door, looked around one last time to make sure no one was watching, and bent down and slid the wire under it, angling it upward.

  The tech whose cubicle was right outside the server room was in the middle of a wicked coughing attack. Ian waited until it had subsided and then materialized at his side. “You sound like you could use some water. Do you want me to keep an eye on things while you get a bottle from the break room?”

  “No thanks, man. I’m good.”

  “Have you been to the doctor?”

  “I’m going later today. Can’t get in until five thirty, so I’m stuck here for a while longer.” He started coughing again, barely covering his mouth, and Ian flinched.

  “I’m not a doctor, but that sounds like an upper respiratory tract infection. Cough, congestion, chills. Maybe a fever, although it probably won’t get too high. Of course, it could be the flu.”

  “God, I hope not. I had it last year. I was sicker than a dog.”

  Over the man’s shoulder, Ian caught a glimpse of Kate near the server-room door, and then her head ducked out of sight. He anticipated she would need five to ten seconds to slip the wire under the door and trigger the sensor.

  All he had to do was keep this guy talking.

  Nothing happened when Kate waved the hand warmer in what she thought would be the vicinity of the sensor. There was no audible click to let her know it had been tripped. She twisted her elbow, attempting to slide it farther under the door so she could get the wire up higher. The sound of voices reached her ears, and two people engrossed in conversation rounded the corner at the far end of the hall. She flung the wire under the door and listened as it skittered across the server-room floor and hit something with a thud. With her heart pounding and only moments to spare, she stood and pushed on the door handle. Maybe she hadn’t heard the click over the whirring of the machinery, but the door opened and Kate slipped inside.

  Ian sat down on the edge of the tech’s desk. “Have your symptoms worsened in the past twenty-four hours? Are you having trouble breathing?”

  “What?” He seemed irritated by the questions. “No.”

  “I never get sick. I’m impervious to germs.”

  “Good for you. That must be nice.”

  “Oh, it is.”

  “Is there something you need?”

  The server door opened and he caught a glimpse of the back of Kate’s head as she disappeared inside, pulling the door closed behind her. That’s my girl.

  “Yes. I wanted to let you know tech support will be doing a company-wide update overnight. I’m just helping to spread the word in case you didn’t get the e-mail. If you could log off before you leave, that would be great.”

  “Sure, whatever.” A sheen of sweat coated the guy’s brow.

  Ian’s heart rate quickened when two men walking side-by-side, one of whom he recognized as the assistant IT manager, stopped in front of the server room. The assistant manager swiped his badge and they went inside.

  Kate worked quickly, moving down the rows of servers, opening the glass-front doors and wedging Ian’s business cards into the corner of the racks holding the equipment. She took several pictures of herself standing in various parts of the room in front of the servers. Her mission was nearly complete when she heard the door open and the sound of people talking. Kate froze when the two men came into view. Trying to slow her galloping heart rate, she ignored them as she walked past with her head down, folder held open, pointing at invisible items as if she were going through a checklist.

  “Excuse me?” one of them said when she had almost reached the door.

  She turned around, acting as if she was surprised to see them there. “Yes?”

  “What department are you from?” He looked older than the employee who was standing next to him, and he was wearing dress pants and a shirt and tie.

  “Legal. I’m conducting an audit.”

  “My boss didn’t say anything about an audit.” He would have if he’d known about it, she thought.

  She looked at him pointedly. “I’m sure he didn’t.”

  “What kind of an audit is it?”

  She appeared thoughtful and confident. “I can’t divulge that, but you’ll be happy to know you passed with flying colors. Your boss will be so pleased. Keep up the good work.”

  Their expressions softened, and the man in the tie even smiled. The first step in manipulating people was to tell them they were doing a good job. All anyone wanted to hear was how much value they brought to an organization. If the men didn’t push back too hard, maybe their boss would have some glowing praise for them in the morning.

  Kate smiled back and walked out.

  The door to the server room opened, and Ian watched Kate emerge and walk toward the stairwell.

  “Well, hey. I hope you feel better. You should stay home tomorrow.” He had to raise his voice in order to be heard above the man’s coughing attack.

  The man waved him away. “Yeah, maybe I’ll do that.”

  She was waiting for him in the conference room, and she was on fire. She flew into his arms and said, “Holy crap, that was intense. I’m still waiting for my heart to stop ping-ponging around in my chest.”

  “Excellent job, Jeannine. You’ve earned your Spy Girl title.”

  “I took a bunch of pictures and planted the business cards, but I got stopped on the way out.”

  “That’s okay. I’ll admit to being a bit concerned when the assistant manager joined you, but the important thing is you got in.”

  “That was the assistant manager?”

  “Not just any assistant manager. The assistant IT manager.”

  “Oh my God.”

  “And no other firm has been able to penetrate that server room. They’re supposedly guarding it like a hawk and claim it can’t be done. The CIO told me that himself.”

  “And you didn’t mention this before, why?”

  “Didn’t want you to think we couldn’t do it. And see? It worked.”

  She handed him her phone, and he scrolled through the pictures she’d taken. Then he set it on the table and put his arms around her. “Sweetness, I have a question for you. If someone asked you if our life together was boring or exciting, what would you say?”

  “I’d say that so far, it’s every bit the adventure I hoped it would be.”

  “I know it’s been a long day, but I need to see you in the conference room. We have some unfinished business to take care of,” Ian said when they got home.

  She set down her purse and kicked off her shoes. “Of course. I’ll be there in five minutes.”

  He was sitting at his desk when she walked in. She’d played it so straight he wasn’t positive she’d understood, but she’d changed out of the sedate clothes she’d worn that day into a short black skirt, a white silk blouse open far enough that he could see the top of her black bra, sheer stockings, and extremely high heels. He suppressed a smile because the glasses and ponytail were back.

  This is what he’d been talking about when he said they didn’t need any extra spice.

  He’d bet money they never would.

  She sat down on the couch. He had difficulty taking his eyes off her legs and she recrossed them slowly, as if she knew that.

  “Are you ready to begin?” she asked.

  “Yes. I’d like t
o start outlining my report tonight, so we’ll need to recap the many ways in which we were successful in our penetration methods.”

  “I’ll write them down for you,” she said, opening the notepad and clicking open the pen she’d brought.

  He put on his glasses. “Technical penetration was successfully executed externally, internally, and wirelessly. Entrance to the building requires a badge, yet we circumvented the building’s physical security three times each for a total of six breaches. We were never stopped or questioned. Over the course of three days, we entered the office of the CEO, installed a keylogger, raised our profile to the extent that our presence should have raised a red flag, and penetrated the server room. Did I forget anything?”

  She finished writing down their accomplishments and looked up. “I think that’s everything.”

  “Well done, Jeannine. Especially the server room.”

  “Thank you. I look forward to doing it again.”

  He leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers. “Why don’t you come over here?”

  She walked over to his desk and perched on the corner, just out of reach. In the black stilettos and sheer stockings, her legs seemed to go on for miles.

  “That skirt is a bit short for the workplace, don’t you think?”

  Her face was flushed, not pink like when she was embarrassed, but rosy, a color he’d come to recognize as the by-product of desire, as if her core temperature had slowly been heating her from within.

  “You don’t like it?” she asked.

  He pushed in the keyboard tray and reached for her, placing his hands on her hips and dragging her over a bit so she was sitting on the desk directly in front of him. He positioned her feet so they rested on the tops of his thighs, which gave him a nice view of her stockings attached to her garter belt. “I only said it was short. I never said I didn’t like it.” He took off her shoes and they landed on the carpet with a soft thud.

  Her chest rose and fell as he stared at the buttons of her blouse and observed the increase in the tempo of her breathing. After leaning forward and pulling the hem of her blouse from the waistband of her skirt, he began unbuttoning it from the bottom. When the buttons were undone, he stood and stripped her of it. The bra was black with a purple lace overlay. He’d bought it about a month ago, and he’d tucked it into her lingerie drawer with the other pieces that made up the set. He’d been waiting patiently because part of the allure was not knowing when Kate would wear it. She often wore the lingerie he bought her under her oldest pair of jeans and her plainest T-shirts. He was always pleasantly surprised to encounter silk and lace when he’d been expecting cotton, and he swore she did it on purpose just to keep him guessing.

  “Are you aroused, Jeannine? I know what a good hack does to you.”

  “You tell me, Todd.”

  Tracing his fingers along her bra, he reached behind her and unhooked it, and it sailed onto the floor and landed next to one of her shoes. Though her skin was warm, she shivered when he skimmed his palms over her breasts.

  “You’re breathtaking.” He cupped her jaw and kissed her because he couldn’t wait any longer.

  She grabbed his biceps and squeezed, kissing him back just as heatedly. It required a bit of maneuvering to remove the skirt while she was still in a sitting position.

  “Lift,” he said once he’d reached behind her and unzipped it. When she complied, he eased it past her hips and down her legs and let it fall to the floor.

  She preferred wearing the thong under the garter belt instead of over it because she thought it looked better, but that required unfastening the stockings in order to slip it off if he wanted to leave the garter belt on, and he always did. He didn’t mind, but it did slow down the process a bit. This time, he’d circumvented the issue by choosing a thong that tied on each side. Now he yanked on the strings and pulled it right off her, leaving the garter belt in place. He smiled because he always took satisfaction in coming up with a successful work-around. Then he smiled and took a good long look at his wife sitting almost naked on his desk.

  Gently, he lowered her so she was lying flat on her back facing him, pushing his computer monitors out of the way so there was room for her head. He spread her legs and stroked her softly, gently, just the way she liked it. “I was right about the arousal. What I’m doing feels good, doesn’t it? I don’t even really need to ask, because you’ve closed your eyes and you just made one of those little sounds you always make when you’re turned on. But you have to be quiet. We don’t want anyone at this company to hear us. Can you do that? Better decide quickly, because I’m about to slide my finger inside you and we both know what that’s going to do.”

  Her breath hitched and she let out a soft moan, nodding, her breathing sounding ragged. She kept her word even when she exploded under his touch moments later, arching up off the surface of his desk.

  He loved watching her come undone like that. “Such a good girl.”

  He took off his polo and the white T-shirt he wore underneath it. After he unbuttoned his khakis and lowered the zipper, he quickly removed his shoes and socks and shrugged out of his pants and boxer briefs, kicking them toward the growing pile on the floor. Stifling a groan, he entered her, loving the view as he watched himself slide in and out. Kate wrapped her ankles around his lower back, and the sound of their breathing filled the room. From now on, getting any work done in his office would be a challenge because he would always have the memory of the way Kate looked spread out on his desk.

  He was close, but she was close again too. He could see it on her face, hear it in her whimpering and the sounds she was no longer even trying to suppress.

  “Ian. Oh God. Don’t stop. Don’t stop.”

  “I hear footsteps, Kate. They’re going to discover us if you can’t be quiet.” He slid his hand over her mouth, pressing hard and continuing to thrust, and seconds later she screamed, the sound muffled by his palm. He came hard then, and the sensations seemed to go on forever.

  Afterward they moved to the couch. Ian wrapped his arms around Kate and they kissed and cuddled, both of them spent. If he wasn’t so hungry, he could have fallen asleep.

  “Let’s go pick up a pizza,” he said. “Then let’s eat it in bed and not get up for the rest of the night.”

  “You always have the best ideas.”

  “We’ve worked hard these last three days. Time for a little rest and relaxation.”

  “I’m almost sad we’re not going back there tomorrow. Plus I’m dying to know if Tristan asked Ashley out.”

  “You know who’s going to be even sadder? Those tech support guys. They were really looking forward to my cheese dip.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  The next day when she returned home after running errands, Kate stuck her head into Ian’s office, but it was empty. He wasn’t in the kitchen or downstairs working out in their home gym, either. She finally found him in their bedroom, lying on the couch under a blanket, watching TV.

  She sat down on the edge near his head. “Hey. I didn’t expect to find you here.”

  “I felt kind of tired.” He sounded congested, and as soon as the words were out of his mouth, he started coughing.

  “Honey.” Kate felt his forehead, and his skin was warm against her fingers. “Are you feeling okay?”

  “I think that guy who sits by the server room gave me his germs. His desk was a giant hot zone.”

  “Come here,” she said, pulling gently on his arm until he rose. “You need to get in bed and let me take care of you.” She stripped off his T-shirt and helped him out of his jeans.

  “Will you rub Vicks on my chest?” he asked as she tucked him under the covers.

  “Absolutely.”

  “What will you be wearing?”

  She smiled and ruffled his hair. Clearly he wasn’t that sick. “I don’t own a nurse’s outfit, but how about a tank top and those new boy shorts you bought me?”

  “Without a bra?”

  Kate laughed. ??
?If it helps, yes.”

  “It will.”

  “Okay. I’ll be right back.”

  When she walked into the room in the appointed outfit, he raised himself on his elbows.

  “Do you want me to stroke your head?” she asked after she set a box of Kleenex, a glass of water, and a selection of pill bottles on the nightstand.

  He looked confused. “Isn’t the answer to that question always yes?”

  “This head,” she said, sitting down on the bed and tapping his temple lightly.

  “Oh. I thought you meant the other one. I bet I can still get hard.” Two seconds later he had a coughing attack, flopped back onto the pillow, and groaned. “No I can’t. Oh my God, what’s happening?”

  “Easy, lover. No need to panic. You’ll be back to normal in a few days.”

  “This is why I became a hacker.”

  “Avoiding workplace illness is the reason you became a hacker?”

  “There were a few other reasons.”

  “Okay,” Kate said soothingly. “Let’s just consider your man cold the occasional collateral damage.”

  “It’s tuberculosis. I looked it up.”

  “It’s not tuberculosis. Trust me on this.” She picked up the ear thermometer and gently inserted it. When it beeped she checked the reading. “One hundred point five. I think you’ll live. Have you taken anything yet?”

  “No.”

  She shook some cold medicine that would make him drowsy into her hand, put the capsules in his mouth, and held a glass of water to his lips. Then she opened the Vicks and began rubbing his chest. “Remember when I was sick and you took care of me?”

  He smiled. “You wouldn’t let me rub Vicks on your chest.”

  “That’s because I didn’t know you very well. Did you really think I was going to unbutton my pajama top and let you rub me?”

  “I didn’t think so, but I was still hoping.”

  She rubbed his chest until his skin had absorbed the Vicks and then slipped his T-shirt back on so the ointment wouldn’t get all over the sheets. “Are you hungry?”