The Dare Collection: August 2018

And the way he was staring back at me strongly suggested I was somewhere on his want list.

Maybe that was the reason I should’ve been bone-tired but felt oddly invigorated despite being awake for twenty hours straight. If I’d been coding, I’d be getting ready to crash hard by now.

My stalker’s latest “gift” arriving in my mail this morning had wiped rest from my mind.

That unwelcome reminder refocused me. “I’m fine to answer your questions.”

His brisk nod signified the switch back to fixer mode. “We’ll get to the background stuff when you’ve had some sleep. For now, tell me when you first realized you’d attracted someone’s attention?”

I didn’t need to think hard. The memory was etched in my mind. “About seven weeks ago I received a piece of what looked like my code in an email. It was a very rough copy but it got my attention. And no, I wasn’t able to find out who sent it.”

“So we could be dealing with corporate sabotage.”

The possibility shocked me. “You think one of SDM’s competitors could be behind this?”

The underhanded tactics that went on in Silicon Valley weren’t a secret, but usually they involved throwing enough money at an acquisition to secure it or throwing even more money at a problem to make it go away.

His mouth twisted. “You’d be surprised at the lengths companies would go to get an edge on the market. If your code is as revolutionary as you say it is—”

“It is,” I confirmed. The possibilities of my algorithm scared me a little but I was extremely proud of what I’d achieved. The thought of someone stealing it filled me with equal parts fury and fear.

Caleb leaned back but it didn’t release me from the raw force field of his personality. I was convinced he’d need to be in another state for that to happen.

“Then I suggest we make a list of the top twenty companies you think might benefit from this code.”

I shook my head. “That’ll be nearly impossible to investigate before the deadline.”

A fierce light blazed in his eyes. “Make the list, Lily. I’ll take care of it.”

I got the unassailable impression that he would. The depth of that belief scared me a little. But it excited me even more. Which was ludicrous and a lot disturbing considering I detested being taken care of.

Not true. You hate that no one’s cared enough without having an ulterior motive. Just like you hate that soft place inside you that wants to be taken care of.

I tightened my gut against the abrading truth. But it was no use. Lately, I hadn’t been able to suppress thoughts of my stepfather as easily as I used to. Truth was, my stalker had amplified the yawning cavern of my life. He, or they, had exposed vulnerabilities that made me feel raw and fearful and alone. It was that last sensation I especially despised. I wanted that aloneness gone, and if I had to endure Caleb Steele for a while to achieve a return to normal, then so be it.

“Okay, I’ll have it ready for you in the morning.”

“Good. Tell me when you first noticed this wasn’t just an online thing?” he whipped back, sharp eyes narrowed.

A swell of fear met quiet fury at the recollection of that first violation. “Two weeks ago I got another piece of code in the mail. It’s a long way from the one I was working on, but someone out there is taunting me with knowledge of what I’m working on.”

A muscle rippled in his jaw. “Did they make demands? Ask for money?”

“No.”

“They’re trying to scare you into changing your routine. Trip you up in some way. When was the next time?”

“He left me another code on top of my bike outside a coffee shop four blocks from my house.”

His mouth thinned. “So he knows where you work and live.”

I fought the shudder that rolled up my body. “Looks like it.”

His hands curled into loose fists but his breathing didn’t change. He carried on staring at me with a level look, then nodded for me to go on.

“The last time was yesterday morning. I received another code, but with a picture of me attached.”

“A picture?” Caleb asked.

I nodded, a sheet of ice unravelling through me at the recollection. “It was taken two days ago. I was shopping.”

“Fuck.” Caleb’s jaw rippled with tension before he leaned forward, bristling with quiet fury. “What happened to the package?”

“I have it at home.”

His expression tight, he reached for his phone and had another conversation with the unflappable Maggie, issuing terse instructions about retrieving the package and having a discreet service dust it for prints. Just as briskly, he hung up and dropped the phone on the table between us.

“Tell me about your online activities, outside of the work you do for SDM.”

“That’s a very broad question.” The plane dipped, taking a little bit of my stomach with it. “You want to know if I messed up somewhere?”

“I’m sure you didn’t but something you did triggered this.”

The logic was too sound to dismiss. I tried to suppress it but my unease grew. “You don’t think I covered my tracks?”

A smile twitched his lips. “You’re a coder. I’m sure you can clear your caches in your sleep. And I’m not talking about porn. Although I’d love to know which sites you prefer.”

A flush heated my chest and spread lower to my abdomen. “Mr. Steele—”

“Lily?” he responded with a heavy dose of snark.

I took a calming breath. “I don’t leave a trail of where I buy my lingerie or post minute-by-minute details of where I’m going to be at any given time of day. I know how to protect myself.”

“And yet he found you,” he stated with bracing finality.

After a moment, I looked at him. “What do you want to know specifically?”

“Coders make decent hackers. If you hacked your way into a job with SDM, you must be great. What’s your hacker handle?”

All of a sudden the name that sent shivers down the spines of faceless dark web hackers felt pretentious. “Cipher Q.”

His brows slowly rose. “You’re Cipher Q?”

Another emotion swept in to mingle with the cocktail swirling inside me. This time it was most definitely not unpleasant. “You know about me?”

He shrugged. “Cyber crimes are a problem for a few of my clients. Maggie and a few people on my payroll keep an eye on things like that for me. A few months back she wouldn’t shut up about some big-deal hacker contest going on. You won, if I remember correctly?”

The kick of pride warred with the need to set him straight. “Yes, but it was all aboveboard. No cyber crimes involved.”

“Who came second?”

“Nordic Razor.”

“What do you know about him? How did he take coming second?”

“You think he’s doing this?”

His shoulders rippled beneath his shirt as he shrugged again. “Not everyone likes losing to a woman.”

I shook my head. “It’s not him.”

“I’ll be the judge of that. I need the names of everyone who took part in the contest, too.”

“At this rate I’ll be spending all my time compiling lists for you. I won’t have time to work.”

He shot forward and the force of his dominant personality hit me like a tidal wave. “You won’t be working at all if this situation escalates. Did you forget already that I’m in control here?”

I’m in control.

Words I’d heard far too many times in my life. Words that had imprisoned me for far too long. My teeth met in a grinding clench. “I don’t like being ordered around, Mr. Steele.”

“Too bad. Until this bastard is in custody, you’ll not only do as you’re told, you’ll also learn to love it.”

Maybe it was something in his voice. Or the words he used with me. But my fury faded, along with that carnally needy, traitorous voice that wanted to say, Yes, Caleb. I’ll learn to love it. That tingle between my thighs still throbbed, but it was with a different sort of need.

A burning need to, for once in my life, grab and keep the upper hand. To put this man in his place once and for all.

Because, fuck that noise. My days of pretzeling myself to please others were nearly behind me.

I unclipped my seat belt and was out of my seat before I fully processed my actions.

Being pint-size had its advantages. It made crawling on top of the table a piece of cake.

I relished Caleb’s unguarded intake of breath as I leaned forward and shoved my face in his. With a couple of inches separating us, I caught every fleck of surprise in his eyes as he watched me.

“You really think you’re in control here?” I murmured softly.

A slow, assured smile widened his sexy mouth. “I know it,” he rasped.

“I see.” I scooted another inch closer, glided my tongue over my bottom lip. His demeanor changed. His ravenous gaze dropped to my mouth and his next breath wasn’t quite so steady. “You didn’t ask me how I found you to handle my problem, Mr. Steele.”

His eyes grew wary. Good. “Maggie handles background stuff.”

I nodded. “Hmm. She did ask me the right questions. But I’m afraid I told a little white lie. I don’t personally know the client I named as my reference. I found him, and your whole client list, some other way.”

A muscle ticked in his jaw. “You hacked me.”

I allowed myself a little smile. “No, I skimmed you. But you know what I could’ve done if I wanted to?”

His eyes narrowed. “What?”

“Uncovered every...single...detail about you.”

Silence throbbed. The muscle jumped faster. “What’s to stop me from bending you over this table right now, giving you the spanking you richly deserve before I dump you in Palo Alto and walk away?” he breathed through gritted teeth.

The erotic image of his palm turning my ass pink threatened to wipe off my smile. I ignored the balloon of heat dampening my panties and traced my fingers over his jaw, suppressing a gasp at how warm and vibrant he felt.

His sharply exhaled breath washed over my face.

“Because I took a little peek at your active cases. I wanted to make sure I’d be your number one priority. Your most exciting case finished two weeks ago. You’re a man of action, and you’re bored, Mr. Steele. Right now mine is the juiciest case to drop into your lap.”

My thumb skated dangerously close to his lips. He bared his teeth, and another image flashed into my mind—how those perfect whites would feel grazing my clit.

“I could always take the vacation I’ve been promising myself for a while now,” he rasped.

“You won’t. Because I also saw the way you looked at me when I walked into the room tonight. The way you’re looking at me right now.”

My fingers drifted down his solid neck to his collarbone, then over his hard chest to rest on his belt. Without breaking eye contact, I closed the gap between us and brushed my lips, whisper-light, over his, reveling in the instant clutch of lust that darkened his eyes.

“I know you’re rock-hard for me, that you’ve imagined a dozen different positions in which to fuck me.”

I drew back and pried my gaze from his to the fists clenched with white-knuckled control on the table on either side of my body. “But you won’t touch me, not until you catch my stalker. Because you don’t mix business with pleasure. I know that about you, too.”

My hand dropped to its final destination, gliding over the stiff, mouthwateringly impressive bulge behind his fly from root to tip. A strangled growl left his throat.

“So, you think you’re in charge, Mr. Steele? Dream the fuck on.”

CHAPTER FOUR

Caleb

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST.

I stared at her, torn straight down the middle between fury and pleading. Between shoving her ass out of my plane and begging her to stroke my cock again. Harder. Between admitting that yes, she and her case intrigued me, and the urge to say to hell with it.

Back in her seat, she stared at me, a saucy smile lifting her delicious mouth. A smile I promised to wipe clean the first opportunity I got.

Shit.

Women with mouths like hers shouldn’t be allowed to swear unless there was immediate, no-holds-barred fucking involved. Because between that, the almost-kiss and tortuous stroking of my dick, I was now guaranteed to walk around with a hard-on strong enough to shatter glass.

Even my fury at her invading my privacy wasn’t enough to calm the fire raging in my crotch. The knowledge burned, though, along with a need to know what else she found when she went... What did she call it? Skimming?

Did she know about my mother’s suicide? About the desperate but ultimately fruitless measures I’d used to try to save her? About that one session with the child psychologist after my meltdown? Thankfully, the nightmares that had dogged me since her death weren’t on record anywhere.

Still...she’d crossed the line.

Why?

“That was a dangerous little play you staged there, Lily. Is control really that important to you?”

The answer blazed in her eyes before she lowered them. “Isn’t it to everybody?” she fired back.

Okay. Control, or giving it up, was an issue for her. I tucked away that piece of info.

But despite her spine of steel, I didn’t need to look hard to spot her apprehension. Plus, she was on edge. Clients in that state tended to knee-jerk the hell out of situations.

I took a breath as the plane taxied to the hangar. “You went to a lot of trouble to hire me. Don’t fuck it up by digging into my life again. Trust me, I’ll know. And I won’t give you a pass next time. In return, I’ll loop you in as much as I can. Deal?”

She stared at me, the fire raging in her eyes for another second before she offered a curt nod. “Deal.”

I rose from my seat, uncaring that my erection still throbbed stiff and eager in my pants.

She’d stoked the fire. She deserved to burn a little. And from the pink staining her cheeks as her beautiful eyes dropped to my crotch, she was burning all right. Still twisting with fury and lust, I leaned down and whispered, “As for your assessment about how many ways I want to fuck you, try a few dozen times north of your calculation. And, guess what?”

Defiant eyes met mine. “What?”

“I know you want me, too, so I guess I won’t be the only one suffering, huh?”

She didn’t answer, not that I was expecting one.

We both retreated into our thoughts as we exited the plane.

The ride Maggie had organized was a sturdy SUV with darkened windows, which I appreciated. Sadly, there were a million ways for stalkers to spy on their victim these days, and a million ways for victims to respond if they felt powerless.

The thought triggered a question that helped to drag my attention off Lily’s small but perfect body and thoughts of what I wanted to do to her. “Do you own a gun?” I asked after stashing our bag and hopping into the driver’s seat.

Her eyes widened as she shut her door. “A gun? Why would I own a gun?”

“Don’t look so surprised. You’d be shocked by how many people exercise their right to carry a firearm. I don’t want to be surprised down the road.” I rolled my shoulder as unwelcome thoughts of Kirsten, my ex, and phantom pain from my bullet wound registered.

Lily caught the movement, questions filling her eyes as she replied, “No, I don’t own a gun. And I don’t intend to arm myself, regardless of this situation.”

“Good.”

She kept quiet, until curiosity got the better of her. “Were you—?”

“You’ve pried enough for one night, Lily. Let’s focus on why I’m here, okay?” The snap in my voice made her flinch, but I didn’t regret it.

I stuck to a quieter, longer route from the airport to Lily’s address in Menlo Park. She started to fidget when we turned into the tree-lined road that housed a row of impressive mansions.

“Will your guys still be there?”

I checked the time on the dashboard. “No. Maggie texted me when they left. They’ll come back tomorrow to take care of the security inside the house.”

Surprise widened her eyes. “Oh. Thanks.”

I glanced over to see her worrying the inside of her lip again. “You’re welcome. Wanna tell me why having them inside the house makes you so nervous?”

She averted her gaze. “I’m not comfortable with strangers invading my space,” she muttered.

I sensed she wasn’t being entirely truthful but let the matter drop. “Okay.”

She looked relieved as I checked out our surroundings.

Half of the properties were displayed in all their sprawling glory, but the other half were hidden behind palm and fir trees. Many places for a stalker to hide.

Lily pulled out her phone and hit a button on the screen, nodding at the property coming into view. “It opens the gates.”

The electronic gates were swinging open much too slowly. “They need to open faster. You don’t want to be a sitting duck out here while the gate takes its sweet time to let you in. I’ll get it fixed.”

She nodded. “Okay.”

When the gap widened, I drove through. Compared to the other houses on the street, hers was on a smaller scale but still impressive enough to blend comfortably into the neighborhood.

Built on two levels with a tapered roof, the tiered white European-style mansion took up several thousand square feet, with tall rectangular paned windows that drew an inward grimace. All her stalker needed was a decent set of binoculars and he could follow her every move when she was home. And that second floor tier was also a problem especially if my suspicion that one or all of the bedrooms came with a terrace overlooking the backyard was confirmed.