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?”

anomalies, Multiple instances, Clustered in the financial database at Kingston’s” she moved quickly to the door, Luca right

“Virus?”

early to tell. But the

forgotten, where several team members were already gathered around

Sutton asked, stepping into

Elliott said. “Memory usage

minutes ago.”

see.” She leaned forward, scanning

but he was the business mind, and he didn’t have their level of computer skills. So he stood

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

“From where?” Luca asked.

straightened,

“What do we do?”

tested, but it’s the best shot we have. I will

her fingers flew across the keyboard. Nicole

on?” she

Luca answered without looking at

one of the seasoned techs handle it? This

Luca stood close. She ignored everyone. She

finally, hitting enter. “The system’s scanning now. It’ll

all watched as her program ran, identifying the virus

working,” Elliott said,

virus has already established some backdoors. I need

will that

to trace every

you need anything?” he said

for a moment as

to her station.

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Chapter 112

team support he?? Nicole cuf in. “You have a

back to look at

without breaking

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

said, his tone making it clear the discussion was over. “Think any company wanting to use Cyber10 or any of my businesses would like to know that during a crisis, I’m helping to fix it. Not just

her screen, trying to ignore the tension crackling in the air. “I can

“I’m not interfering. This is for support. What sort of boss

still working. The office had emptied, the other developers

trying to ease the stiffness. “Almost done.

stood behind her, watching her work. He’d removed his jacket hours ago, rolled up his sleeves. The sight of his forearms, tanned and muscular, had been distracting her all

your mind works. How you see patterns no one else

in her cheeks. “It’s just

hand coming to

watching as her program completed its cleanup. “There. That should

away. The office was silent except for the hum of computers and

said, just her

to put distance between them, but her pregnant belly bumped against him

thumbs moved in small circles against her sides, soothing and arousing at once. She should pull