Beneath Her Bastard Boss

Chapter 112

Sutton stood in the development team’s kitchen on Monday morning, waiting for the kettle to boil. She needed a cup of tea. Saturday had been Blair and Roman’s wedding. She had done her best to keep her distance from Luca. He had hurt her so badly the first time around, and the wasn’t sure she could deal with that kind of hurt again.

She had loved… No, she needed to be honest with herself. She loved him… as in still did. That was the problem with love. Your couldn’t turn it off like a tap. So she needed to protect herself and her baby.

And tonight she had agreed to have dinner with him. He had said to discuss the baby. But there were other questions he was still waiting for answere on… One being the car service and the second his proposal of marriage. She was thinking of accepting one, but the other… his proposal. That wasn’t something she could even think about.

She pressed a hand to her lower back. Her balance was off. Having a soccer ball strapped to your belly all the time had really thrown off her center of gravity. She couldn’t do a model walk if her life depended on it.

The baby had been restless all morning, probably picking up on her tension about Blair’s wedding this weekend. Luca hadn’t done anything, but his being there and watching her had increased her internal tension… That’s what the baby had picked up on.

“Need help with that?” Luca’s voice behind her made her jump, nearly knocking over her mug.

“Shit.” She hadn’t heard him approach.

It felt like her thoughts had manifested him before her. She wondered if she could think about him leaving. Would that work just as well? She didn’t need any gossip at the office.

“I’ve got it,” she said, not turning around.

He moved beside her anyway, close enough that she could feel his heat, smell him. His arm brushed hers as he reached past her for the coffee. Why was he having coffee here?

“How’s the Kingston security proposal coming?” he asked, his voice low.

Sutton focused on breathing. “Good. I’ve identified several vulnerabilities in their financial systems that made the embezzlement possible.*

“Jake says you’re making impressive progress.”

“Jake talks too much. He is a sweetie.”

Luca chuckled, the sound sliding down her spine like warm honey. “He’s impressed. So am I.”

She risked a glance up at him. Mistake. His eyes were dark, intense, fixed on her face.

“Are we still on for dinner tonight?” he asked quietly. “To discuss the baby?”

Sutton looked outside the room to make sure no one was listening to them.

“Shh… Yes,” she said, keeping her voice low so no one would hear them. “It’s just about the baby, right?”

“Of course.” His eyes dropped briefly to her lips. “Unless you want to talk about or do something else.”

“Luca.” Sutton cleared her throat. “I can’t…” She trailed off because she could very easily, but that was her body talking, not her brain.

Want to at least focus on the baby… yes, I want more, Sutton. I’d be lying if I said otherwise,” Luca said.

Before she could respond, her phone chimed with an alert. She checked it, grateful for the interruption.

“Shit,” she muttered, scanning the notification.

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Chapter 112

“What is it?”

database at Kingston’s” she

“Virus?”

early to tell. But the pattern’s

of the kitchen, her tea forgotten, where several

got?” Sutton asked,

Elliott said.

minutes ago.”

see.” She leaned forward, scanning the logs scrolling across

at all things tech, but he was the business mind, and he didn’t have their level of computer skills. So

looks like the early stage of a worm. Replicating through network protocols, building backdoors, I wonder if they set this up to cover their tracks.” Sutton was thinking maybe Dan had done this, so if it went to court, there would be no proof of what he had done. He must have got someone internally to activate the virus by opening a file or following a link. Was it someone else he was

“From where?” Luca asked.

opened a malicious file.” She straightened, moving to her own workstation with Luca right

“What do we do?”

pulling up her virus detection system. “It’s not fully tested, but it’s the best shot we have. I will not

as her fingers flew across the keyboard. Nicole appeared at

going on?” she

security breach at Kingstons,” Luca answered without looking at

one of the seasoned techs

focusing on deploying her code. Luca stood close. She ignored

It’ll isolate the malicious code and contain it before

as her program ran, identifying

Elliott said, sounding

already established some backdoors. I

long will that

need to trace every possible access

need anything?” he said

eyes met for a moment

to her station.

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Chapter 112

have time for this. Let the rest of the team support he?? Nicole cuf in. “You have a

back to look at

without

into a thin line. “That’s not possible. This isn’t some Teams meeting.

Cyber10 or any of my businesses would like to know that during a crisis, I’m helping to fix it. Not just sitting calmly in a

ignore the tension crackling in the air. “I can

interfering. This is for support. What sort of boss

had emptied, the other developers gone home, leaving them alone in the

the stiffness. “Almost done. Just need

her work. He’d removed his jacket hours ago, rolled up his sleeves. The sight of his forearms,

mind

her cheeks. “It’s

moved closer, his hand coming to rest on the back of her chair. “You saved Kingston’s

typed the final command, watching as her program

breath away. The office was silent except for the

he said, just her

needing to put distance between them, but her pregnant belly bumped against him in the confined space. His hands came up to steady her, gripping her

His thumbs moved in small circles against her sides, soothing and arousing at