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But now the doors to the ship were sliding open, signaling that her journey was over.
She blinked against the dazzling sunlight that greeted her.
A big, horned figure stood just outside the door, his massive form silhouetted by the light reflecting from the vast ocean behind him.
Maltaffian, her mind told her helpfully, though she knew she was on Maltaffia and shouldn’t have been surprised.
All Maltaffians had required guard training in their youth and Maltaffian professional guards were the most respected in the galaxy. Which meant that their services were the most expensive.
But maybe having a Maltaffian guard here on Maltaffia wasn’t as costly. Because she couldn’t imagine the center going to such length for a surrogate.
“Stark,” he said, offering her his hand.
“Olivia,” she replied, taking it.
She felt a funny little shiver as his big warm hand wrapped around hers. Trying to ignore it, she walked down the ramp to join him on the beach.
It was exquisitely beautiful, like something out of one of the destination holo-films she loved. The sand was almost white, the water a brilliant turquoise, shimmering in the sunlight like a vast expanse of gemstones. Farther up the beach, palm trees swayed in a warm breeze.
It was almost too perfect. But had to be real. Shecould actually smell the saltwater in the air and feel the crunch of the sand under her feet.
“Unacceptable,” Stark growled suddenly.
She glanced up at him and almost gasped.
Now that her eyes had adjusted, she could actually get a good look at him. The first thing she noticed was the beautiful green tone of his skin. Maltaffians came in all the colors of the rainbow, but Olivia had a weakness for green - especially when it was shaped like this mountain of a man, with rippling muscles that were perfectly visible beneath his crisp white dress shirt and gray trousers.
He was handsome in the traditional sense, with a strong jaw, beautiful masculine features, and a mane of raven-black hair that streamed down his back, lifting slightly in the breeze.
But it was the intense expression in his piercing blue eyes that had her transfixed. She felt like a butterfly pinned to a board, helpless and exposed as he took her in.
It wasn’t until she had stared at him for a moment that she realized he wasfamiliar.And it didn’t take her long to figure out why.
A year ago, she had been hired by a wealthy private citizen to search for holes in his home security system.
The system was probably the best private security she had ever tried to hack, but ultimately she did find a work-around that got her in. She informed the homeowner and provided a patch. She also reached out to the company that had provided the security system, as was herpractice, so they could close their hole and update user software.
She found it was best to go right to the top to get her message across, and a quick search told her the owner of Rawling Security was Stark Rawling. She had sent her usual cordial message, not expecting much, but hopeful. It wasn’t unusual for a company to offer her a generous reward for reporting a vulnerability. And in this case, she figured she might even get an offer to test out some of their other products since the company was massive and claimed to be the best.
Instead, she got a cease-and-desist letter from the firm’s legal team.
She had looked up Stark Rawling again, wondering what kind of man would do such a thing. Another quick search brought up his business photo. In the picture he was handsome in a cold, stern way.
But she wouldn’t forget that handsome, infuriating face.
And now here he was, running security for the center. He was much better looking in person, even if he had decided she wasunacceptablein about two seconds.
Though thankfully, his opinion wouldn’t matter.
In doing her research before leaving on her journey, Olivia hadn’t been able to find a fertility center on Maltaffia, but she had found a massive health spa in a prime location, isolated from much of the rest of the planet.
Some deeper digging into places where most people couldn’t see told her that the spa had just signed abillion-credit contract with Rawling Security, which was ultimately what gave it away.
But why did they need a contract like that? Was it for show?
And why was the owner of the firm here personally? She’d been expecting his company to be on site, but seeing the man himself was a genuine surprise.
“What’s unacceptable?” she asked lightly, pretending that she didn’t understand it as a direct insult.
