Loving You Easy. Roni Loren
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going to call Shari from HR. She’ll meet you up front and get everything she needs from you. Unless you hear from me, plan to be here Monday morning to start. In the meantime, I’ll get an alert email sent out and I’ll have the game taken offline until we get this fixed. If you have any questions before then, call me.”
She took the offered card and pulled out one of her own to hand to him. Grace would’ve been proud. She’d finally handed out a business card. “Thanks. Here’s mine.”
He tucked the card in the inside pocket of his sport coat. “And my offer for the hotel stands. I don’t want you feeling unsafe.”
She tried not to notice how close he was now and that he smelled like some combination of minty shampoo and expensive coffee. “That’s okay. I live in a duplex and the two guys next door are already on alert. Plus, I’m not going to be caught with my Taser at the bottom of my purse again.”
Ren’s expression turned grim. “I hate that our game is part of this. I know you don’t know me, but this isn’t the kind of thing I take lightly. One of the main reasons I developed Hayven was to provide a safe place for people to explore that private side of themselves without having to deal with the risks involved in trying to find real-life kink partners. That’s why I require my gamemasters to be relentless when policing harassers or trolls. I never wanted anyone to feel anything but protected. It truly is supposed to be a haven. That’s always been my goal.”
Cora blew out a breath. She knew that much to be true. She’d seen issues crop up in the game and promptly knocked down. One guy who constantly made disgusting comments to women in the game was struck by lightning and burnt to a crisp, never to be seen again. Another who always interrupted other people’s play was swept away by a velociraptor. That one had made her laugh. “I’ve seen your gamemasters get pretty creative with deactivating accounts.”
The corner of Ren’s mouth kicked up. “They’re two very sadistic, very creative women with sick senses of humor. The job fits them perfectly.”
She slid his card in the front pocket of her purse. “I appreciate that you recognize how serious this is. I promise I’ll do everything I can to get it fixed and get your system better protected. There’s nothing more dangerous than information in the wrong hands.”
“Agreed.” He put his hand on her lower back. “Come on. I’ll walk you out and get you set up with Shari.”
The touch was just as electric as the first, but this time it seemed even more intimate—those long fingers gently pressed against the dip in her spine. She imagined that hand sliding farther down, gripping her flesh like he’d gripped that woman’s hair. No.
A shuddery breath went through her, but she fought hard not to show any reaction otherwise. She reminded herself that she would be working with this man, that he had shown no interest in her anyway, and that she was only reacting like this because he was unfairly good-looking and she had too much pent-up sexual energy. He was cheesecake and she was the girl on a diet. This would pass.
Ren led her out of his office and toward the hallway. His hand remained parked on her back as they turned the corner and he chatted with her about the company. But before they could make it to the lobby, a door opened on the left ahead of them and a massive roadblock filled the space.
A man with Greek-god arms stepped into the hallway. His face was hidden by the stack of boxes he was carrying, but there was no missing the size of the guy when he turned his back to them and started down the hallway.
Oh my. Cora couldn’t help but take in the view. As tall as Ren, if not taller, with Atlas shoulders and an ass that did things to the worn pair of jeans that were bordering on obscene. He bent over to set down the boxes at the end of the hallway, and she had to bite her lip to keep from groaning aloud.
Ren made a sound under his breath.
She quickly turned her head. “What?”
He gave a smug smile as they continued walking. “Nothing.”
Shit. Had she made some sort of noise? She hoped to hell she hadn’t.
“Hey, Fox,” Ren called out when they got within a few steps of the man.
“Yeah?” The guy straightened the boxes so that they wouldn’t tip over and turned their way, his gaze landing first on Ren and then sliding to Cora.
The front view was even better than the back. Green eyes, gold-brown hair that would probably be curly if grown out, and a stubbled jaw that should’ve made him look harsh but only fired up her long-standing Indiana Jones fantasies. He looked like he should be chasing bad guys through the jungle instead of in some tech office.
Cora smoothed a hair away from her face and tried for a polite smile, but she wasn’t sure the expression made it all the way there. And he didn’t return any warmth if it did. If anything he looked wary.
Ren nodded toward her. “I wanted to introduce you to Cora Benning. I’ve just hired her to fix some security issues in one of the games. She’ll start Monday.”
Fox frowned. “Security issues?”
“Yeah. I’ll go over it with you in a few minutes. I’m just walking Cora out to take care of details with HR.”
Fox put his hand out. “Hayes Fox.”
His voice was a rumble, that growing thunder right before a storm reached you. She took the offered hand, and the minute his fingers wrapped around hers in a firm hold, all intelligent thought emptied from her brain.
Ren clapped Hayes on the shoulder. “Hayes is the co-owner and our CFO. He’s been working remotely as of late, but he’s moving back into his office today. So you’ll be seeing him around.”
Hayes was unapologetically holding her gaze, evaluating her, reading her. She didn’t know if she was passing whatever test he was giving her, but she couldn’t seem to look away. Or act like a normal human being. Use your words, Cora. She swallowed past the knot in her throat and pushed down the ridiculous reaction. “Nice to meet you.”
His eyes narrowed for a second, like he’d noticed some chink in her armor, and she shifted uncomfortably in her Converse, but then he released her hand. “Well, I’ve got to get the rest of this stuff out of the office. I’ll leave you to it.”
He stepped past them without waiting for a response. She couldn’t help but turn to watch him go. When he was out of sight, she let out a nervous laugh. “Well, that went great.”
Ren gave a dismissive shrug. “Nah, don’t worry. That was Fox’s version of a warm welcome. You’re good. Come on.”
Cora followed him down the hallway, but when she peered back one last time, she saw Hayes leaning against his doorjamb—watching them with a deep frown.
That same odd, crackling awareness moved over her. Danger. She turned forward and rubbed the goose bumps from her arms.
Maybe she should’ve stuck with helping out at Marv’s Auto Parts.
Hayes stood in the doorway of Ren’s office, two cups of fresh coffee in his hands. The windows were dark at this hour, and Ren had his back to him as he sat in front of his triumvirate of monitors. His hand gripped the back of his head and his legs were splayed out in front of him like he’d just run a marathon and collapsed in the chair.
“That bad?” Hayes walked over and set the coffee on the corner of Ren’s messy desk. Ren had briefed him this morning on the security breach, but then had told him not to worry about it, that he’d handle things. Hayes hated that Ren still felt like he had to kid-glove him with work stuff. So he’d insisted on taking on the logistical tasks while Ren dug into the game to see what he could find.
Ren had relented and Hayes had introduced himself to the team, even though that’d been the last thing