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“Okay,” I admitted. “I kind of like her.”
Owen clapped his hands together. “Huzzah!”
“Wait a minute,” I said. “Why were you looking at the security footage?”
Owen was smoother than I was. He always had been. But he still had a tell. Any time he saidI’ll be honest, he was trying to hide something.
“I’ll be honest,” he said now. “I was looking at the footage because I wanted to make sure I wasn’t an asshole that night. Especially in front of Mr. Rossi. So I reviewed the footage to see if I could have done anything differently. You know, defusing the situation.”
I studied my friend for a moment. What was he hiding here? I didn’t want to call him out on it, because he would just find another slippery excuse. But he was definitely keeping something from me.
And I wondered what it was.
“It doesn’t matter, because she works for us,” I said. “She works forme. So all we can do is flirt.”
We did a lot more than just flirt last night, I thought as Owen left my office.And I want to do a whole lot more than that with Amber.
22
Amber
I tried to play it cool when I walked into the office. I said hi to Melinda and chatted about the interviews we had that day. When I passed Dave, I asked him if he saw the newest Steam sale had begun, and what games he was planning on buying. Nancy had her headphones on and was pounding away at her keyboard, so I only gave her a friendly nod and went upstairs.
But I was unable to play it cool when I saw Jude. He was in his office with Owen, the two of them discussing something with their laptops pushed together. The sight of his boyish face and sandy-blond hair instantly put a goofy grin on my face.
And he grinned right back at me, which filled me with warmth for the rest of the morning.
As I put my head down and got to work, I thought about the last time I’d hooked up with someone like that. It was about six months ago, right before Thanksgiving. I met him at a board game bar in San Mateo calledGame Theory.I took him home after kicking his ass atSettlers of Catan.He ended up being better at the board game than he was in bed, though, and the whole experience left me annoyed and unsatisfied.
But last night, in the office right next door? That was satisfying enough to last me another six months.
It had better not be that long. If I had my way, a sequel would take place in my office tonight.
I spent a few hours coding, then met Melinda downstairs for more candidate interviews. Of the four candidates, two of them were extremely qualified. Both were named Will, funny enough. Melinda said she would get the paperwork started for the job offers, so I grabbed a pre-made sandwich from the kitchen and went back upstairs to code.
Once again, Jude gave me a private little smile as I walked into my office.
I got into a groove with my coding, stopping only to use the restroom and get another energy drink from the kitchen. Melinda left at four because she had a doctor’s appointment. I waved goodbye and got back to work.
Shortly after that, Owen walked down the hall to speak with Jude. On his way back, he paused and gave me a sarcastic little wave. I made a face at him, which only made him grin harder.
I finished the function I was working on, then opened theRevenge on Owendocument I had created. I hadn’t forgotten about the way he had gained access to my home computer, and then destroyed my phone. Even though it had cost six hundred bucks to replace, the money wasn’t what irked me. I cared far more about the fact that a guy like Owen had gotten the better of me.
That simply would not do.
Part of me wondered why I was so obsessed with him. Our little feud had gone way beyond what happened at my sister’s birthday party.
I wanted to wipe the smug look off his face. His chiseled, charming, handsome face.
I shook my head. What was I thinking about? Okay, so he was good-looking. So much so that it was distracting every time he walked by my office. I could acknowledge that while not beingactivelyattracted to him, right?
I just want revenge,I told myself.That’s the only reason I’m obsessed with him.
Yet after another hour of hacking away, I wasn’t any closer to gaining access to his devices. Everything was locked down tight, because of course he knew I would try something. It was easy to defend a bridge if you knew the enemy was coming.
I did have an ace up my sleeve, however. When I hacked into his home network, I found some juicy data on one of his microphone relays. His personal email address and password, visible in all their unencrypted glory.
But I didn’t want to abuse that. Sure, I had already hacked into his condo network, and he had gained access to my home computer through my iPhone. But the goal in both of those cases was to mess around with the other person. It was all posturing, like gym rats flexing their biceps to show who was stronger.
