Dangerous Secrets by Moira Callahan Page B

arms around his waist.
    He liked the idea of her keeping him, period. A lot.

 
    Chapter Thirteen
     
    “We have a problem, sir.” Those were not the words
the man wanted to hear and they weren’t the words he’d expected upon answering
the call.
    “What do you mean, we have a problem?”
    “The device has been found, and not by us.”
    A cold wash of fear and dread slid down his spine.
Turning so his wife didn’t notice, he pressed a hand to his forehead. “Who?” he asked.
    “A security group by the name of
C&M Security. We’re not sure who located it exactly
or where, but C&M has it in their offices. Newton saw a man leaving Thompson’s
apartment with the drive in hand. He followed him, figuring it was the wiser
option over remaining on watch. The man went in to C&M Security. When he
came out twenty minutes later he no longer had it. Newton remained to watch the
building and called me in to watch the back doors. I got Richard doing some
digging on the company and found out that the man, Vincent Bradley, is on the
payroll as a bodyguard. We also discovered that Thompson’s boyfriend is
actually one of their bodyguards.”
    “How did this happen?” he asked in a harsh voice.
    “Unknown sir,” the man said. “We didn’t even
realize they were on the case. We do know they do a lot of work with the SFPD.
Best guess is they were called in because of manpower shortages and budget
cuts.
    “Son of a bitch,” he snapped out. Glancing around,
he checked to ensure no one had heard his outburst. He didn’t need any of these
people thinking he was on edge or losing it, even though he was. “This is a
disaster, Dave. We need it back
before they get anything off of it.”
    “Understood, sir. I have a team assembled and we’re just going over the blueprints for
C&M now. We should be in motion within the next hour. We will get it back
and eliminate anyone that may have viewed it. The hope is that we’ll be in and
out while everyone’s home in their beds.”
    “Good, do it, I don’t care what has to happen. Get
that fucking thing back and into my hands by tomorrow.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    The line went dead. Turning off his phone, he slid
it into his pocket and took a moment to calm himself. When he was sure none of
the stress that call had created showed , he went back
to schmoozing with the big boys.
    ****
    Mallory, with a bit of reluctance, left Trent to
clean up after dinner. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him, she did, completely and fully. It was that he was in her kitchen. It was very
nerve wracking for the control freak inside of her.
    But he had promised to behave and he wouldn’t put
anything away. He was just going to clean up and dry everything.
    She could live with that. Probably. Maybe. Making a face in the mirror, she turned to
watch the water filling the bathtub.
    She had plans for tonight. No matter what, she was
going to get Trent in her bed, naked and damn it she was going to see about
reigniting that fire from earlier. Which was why she was
taking a bath. She’d shaved everything in need of a shave and now it was
all about getting ready to seduce the man.
    Not that she was all that worried she couldn’t. She
was nervous though, very nervous. Mallory had never been one to initiate a
sexual encounter with a man before. She wasn’t the sort to demand what she
wanted, either. But, with Trent, she felt like she could explore that part of
her personality.
    It wasn’t like she couldn’t be commanding. She did
it every day at work, but the bedroom was a whole other scenario. Fuck. What if
she was making a huge mistake? What if all she did was embarrass herself ?
    “So be it,” she muttered. So what if she
embarrassed herself. If it got her the best night of sex she’d ever had, which
she knew it would be, then she could survive some embarrassment.
    Shaking herself out of her reverie, she dumped in
the bubbles and let the water run another couple of minutes. Slipping into the
warm water, she