The Boyfriend Project Read online

  “Will you force me to ask the obvious question, or will you just spit it out already?”

  His laugh echoed around the empty office space. “I’m not sure which question is most obvious.”

  “Throw some answers my way and I’ll tell you if you’re hot or cold.”

  “Okay.” He nodded. “We were together for about six years, off and on, but that’s not all that unusual when one half of the couple is enlisted and then goes off to California to finish school. That answer enough for you?”

  “You’re warm.”

  “We broke up about eight months ago.”

  Eight months wasn’t very long considering they were together for six years, but it was long enough for him to have gone through a few rebound women.

  And just why are you worried about his rebound ratio?

  Because being a rebound girl sucked. That’s why.

  Samiah still wasn’t sure she wanted to be his anything, but if being his rebound chick was a part of the scenario, she knew she didn’t want any part of it.

  “Am I still just warm,” Daniel asked. “Or am I hot yet?”

  Soooo fucking hot. But that’s not what he meant.

  “You’re a quick wash off in the tub kind of hot. I’m looking for a nice, long soak with a really good book kind of hot.”

  “The hot that scalds a normal human being. I don’t know how you women can sit in a tub of boiling water.”

  “Because we’re not babies,” she said. “And since you apparently can’t figure out the obvious question, I’ll just come out and ask it. Why did you and your ex-girlfriend break up?”

  He set his elbows on the table and rubbed his hands together. After a lengthy pause, he finally said, “She didn’t agree with my career choice.”

  Samiah frowned. “But you left the military for her. Or did I interpret that wrong?”

  “Nope, you got it exactly right. She asked me not to reenlist. Said she wanted me to do something safer.”

  “So what was her problem? What could she possibly find unsafe about you being a software engineer?”

  “She didn’t have a problem with that part. She had a problem with me choosing to return to Philly instead of staying out west to make the big bucks in Silicon Valley. My well-being wasn’t nearly as important to her as the well-being of my future stock portfolio.”

  “Ouch.” It couldn’t be easy to discover that someone you’d given six years of your life to was only in it for the money. “Did you consider doing what she asked? I know Silicon Valley isn’t for everyone, but it’s a pretty common dream in our industry.”

  “It wasn’t for me.” His shoulders lifted in a dismissive shrug. “As I think back on our relationship, I’ve come to the realization that Joelle and I weren’t as compatible as I thought we were. I’m now convinced that the only reason we lasted as long as we did is because I was gone most of the time.”

  Samiah tried to read between the lines, but this was a hard one. On the surface he seemed at peace with how things had turned out. Would that still be the case if she looked deeper? She wasn’t sure she wanted to.

  “I guess it’s better that you figured out it wasn’t meant to be before you did something that would be harder to walk away from,” she said. “Like marriage.”

  “In six years we never came remotely close to discussing marriage. We never really moved in together. I spent most of my time with her when I was home, but I still had my place and she refused to give hers up.” He snorted. “That was probably the biggest indication that things would eventually end. And once our relationship was over, I felt freer than I had in years. She’s a huge part of the reason I’m here in Austin now. This is all a part of my clean break.”

  “It seems as if your ex-girlfriend’s loss is Trendsetters’ gain,” Samiah said. “I think we owe her a debt of gratitude.”

  His brow lifted in a casual arch. “Is that the only good thing about me being here? That it’s a benefit for Trendsetters?”

  His voice held a silken challenge that coasted along her nerve endings, sending ripples of pleasurable awareness scampering across her skin.

  Samiah shook her head. “No. That’s not all.”

  Her eyes dropped to his lips. He pulled the bottom one between his teeth and her nipples grew tighter than fine-tuned piano strings. With his eyes still locked on hers, he released the catch on his chair and rolled it to her side of the table.

  Was this really about to happen?

  The better question was, should she let this happen? She’d already cataloged the myriad reasons she should pull away. Forget crossing the invisible line on inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace; the moment her lips touched Daniel’s, all of the rah-rah, I am woman, hear me roar, I don’t need a man to make me happy bullshit she’d fed Taylor and London wouldn’t be worth a damn thing.

  She didn’t care. Her tingling nipples told her this kiss would be worth it.

  Leaning forward, Samiah wrapped her fingers around the back of his neck and brought him in close. The moment their lips touched, her expectations were confirmed.

  So. Totally. Worth. It.

  The first few moments were as chaste as a couple of seventh graders stealing a kiss at their first junior high dance, but within seconds they’d reached horny-high-schoolers-going-at-it-underneath-the-bleachers status. His tongue pushed past her lips, advancing on her like she imagined he advanced on enemy lines back when he was a soldier. She was no match for him.

  Samiah concentrated on the feel of his soft yet firm, extremely kissable lips. And that tongue; the way it flicked and teased and moved in ways that awakened parts of her that had gone dormant. Her body’s awareness heightened with every succulent stroke of it.

  It had been way too long since she’d been kissed like this, like the other participant actually gave a damn about her enjoyment of the act. His tongue ebbed against hers, pushing inside once again, sending wave upon wave of sensation crashing through her. It seemed instinctive the way their mouths moved together, her lips demanding more just as he became more urgent.

  His enticing chest beckoned, so she pressed herself against him, frenzied excitement shooting through her as her sensitive nipples met his lean, toned muscles. Even as she mentally warned herself to slow down, Samiah abandoned her chair and straddled his lap, her skirt riding up her thighs. His worn denim jeans felt like heaven against her skin, gently abrading her inner thighs as she positioned herself on top of him.

  Pleasure surged through her, an intense knot that started deep within her belly, then fanned out like a wildfire throughout her body. She braced her hands on either side of his frame, flattening them on the table. Then she deepened their kiss, plunging her tongue in a rhythm that matched the rocking of her hips.

  He palmed her ass, squeezed and caressed it, his deft fingers kneading her with just the right amount of pressure to elicit a strangled moan from deep in her throat.

  Stop this, a warning voice rang out in her head. Not here. Not now.

  “We have to stop,” Samiah said against his open mouth.

  “I know,” he replied.

  Yet neither of them made an attempt to break apart. Daniel shoved one hand in the hair at the base of her head while he used the other to pull her even tighter to him.

  It would be so easy to take this to the next level. To pull her skirt up to her waist, draw her panties to the side, and invite him inside her aching body.

  And that’s when she finally pulled away. She could not, would not, go there.

  Ragged breaths struggled to escape her lungs, which burned with the need for oxygen. Samiah knew she looked like she’d been hit with a boulder.

  It was only fair. That’s exactly the way she felt.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Daniel pulled a pair of sweatpants over his basketball shorts and zipped up his fleece hoodie. He walked out of the bathroom, into the living room, and just shook his head. Quentin sat on the sofa in a short-sleeved T-shirt.

  “Are you s
ure you’re not going through some kind of male menopause or something?” Daniel asked.

  “I’ve always been warm-blooded.” Quentin looked over his shoulder and chuckled. “Dramatic much?”

  “Nope.” Daniel forced the zipper all the way up and pulled the hood over his head, cinching the drawstring underneath his chin. “I freeze my balls off whenever you’re here.”

  “Everyone knows I like it on the chilly side. They should have warned you before FinCEN agreed to this joint taskforce.” He held up several sheets of paper. “Did you notice how the Wi-Fi activity in most of the Uruguay properties escalated in July?”

  “Yeah, but I didn’t find it unusual,” Daniel said, lifting the sheets from Quentin’s grasp. “That’s the heat of soccer season. Die-hard fans are willing to spend money to stream their favorite teams.” He grabbed his iPad. “But it’s worth making a note. The bad guys could be thinking that same thing. It would be smart to use a time when Wi-Fi activity is up to funnel more logins.”

  “And we’ve already established that the people behind this scheme are smart,” Quentin said.

  “Too damn smart,” Daniel grunted. The iPad dinged with a notification that the department meeting with FinCEN would be starting in another five minutes. “I’ve got my weekly conference with headquarters. How long you plan on staying?”

  “I’ll be here a while.” Quentin gestured toward the kitchen. “I brewed a fresh pot of coffee while you were in the shower. Grab yourself a cup. Stay warm.”

  He snorted a laugh. “Thanks.”

  He could use a cup of coffee for both the warmth and the caffeine boost. Too many late nights of trying to find a way into Trendsetters’ security had him dog-ass tired. But a cup of coffee was no longer just a cup of coffee for him. There was an irrevocable association with a certain coworker tied to it. He doubted he’d ever be able to drink coffee again without thinking of his morning ritual with Samiah.

  Not reaching for her again last night had been the hardest fucking thing ever. In retrospect, Daniel recognized that he should be grateful she’d had the presence of mind to slow things down. But another part of him—the part that had tortured him throughout the night by mentally continuing past the point when Samiah had stopped them—that part resented the hell out of the way his night had ended.

  Moments after they’d pulled apart, Samiah had packed up her computer and hauled it out of the office. And he’d come back to this empty apartment. Alone.

  Forgoing the coffee, he went into the computer room and fell into the rolling desk chair. He shut his eyes tight, trying his best to quell the barrage of images barreling to the forefront of his mind at the very thought of her. He couldn’t do this now. He had a video conference call in two minutes. He needed to funnel all his energy into delivering a credible explanation of why things weren’t moving fast enough on this job.

  Not that anyone at FinCEN had expectations that weren’t being met. It was his own internal timeline that was pushing him to work harder and stress over the fact that he hadn’t been able to breach Trendsetters’ security.

  The lack of movement on this job—on finding even one solid lead—was driving him crazy.

  Yeah, that’s not the only thing about the job that’s driving you crazy.

  He needed to focus. Until he was able to get out of his own head and do his damn job, he wouldn’t be good for shit. He logged into the video conferencing software. Lowell Dwyer’s melon-shaped head took up the entire screen.

  “Collins,” Daniel said, letting everyone know he was there.

  “Hey, Daniel.” It was Thaddeus Mitchum. “My ex-sister-in-law said you’ve got to go to a restaurant called County Line. She said they have the best barbecue in Texas.”

  “Bold claim for such a big state,” Daniel replied.

  “Bring some back with you when you wrap up this job,” Thad tacked on.

  Dwyer cleared his throat. “Now that Collins is here, that’s everyone. Why don’t we start with you, Daniel. What do you have for us on the Austin job?”

  He fed them a short overview about the various Trendsetters employees he’d been looking into and how being put on the special project for the Leyland Group was both a help and a hindrance.

  “The plus side is that several of those we had on the initial subject list are also on this special project team, so it gives me an opportunity to get a better read on them. There are a couple who have stuck out to me by virtue of their personalities. One guy, Jake Gorge, keeps talking about his fantasy football team and how he’s hoping to win the big prize at the end of the season. I’ve heard a bit of gossip that he may have a gambling problem.”

  “One big enough that he needs to launder money to fund it?” his supervisor asked.

  Daniel shrugged. “I haven’t gone deep enough to ferret that out, but I’ve flagged him.” He adjusted his monitor so that he could be more centered in the screen shot. “Of course, the drawback to being put on this new team is that I won’t be able to make a case to join the Cybersecurity Department.”

  “That was a long shot anyway. You’ve got other mechanisms in place. Utilize those to infiltrate their system, even if it takes a little longer than you’d like. Remember, Collins, you don’t take down an operation of this size overnight. You millennials need to learn patience.”

  If his supervisor caught wind of what Daniel had been doing, he would be singing a different tune. The litany of things he should be working on could fill this entire room. He had a list of potential targets to investigate. Gigabytes of files his FinCEN colleagues had managed to access awaited his review. That’s what he should have been doing instead of seeing how far he could get his tongue down Samiah’s throat.

  He’d gotten it pretty damn far.

  Fuck. Stay focused!

  As the others gave a rundown of their current investigations, Daniel used the time to gain some control over his thoughts. He needed to get his head back in the game and stop allowing himself to get derailed from his overall goal.

  “I’m sure everyone has noticed that Stewart isn’t here.” Dwyer’s deep voice corralled his attention away from his musing. “He’s gone under. He got one of the suspects in the Kolinsky case to flip. The cooperator gave him key information on how the oligarch was able to gain access to those millions of credit reports. It may be the thing that cracks this case wide open.”

  Daniel’s muscles froze as a deep chill spread from his core throughout his entire body. While he was here in Austin doing his best imitation of the nerdy love interest in a rom-com, Bryce Stewart was kicking ass and taking names on his undercover investigation. Why not just hand the Vegas job over to him right now?

  There was more at stake than simply one-upping his office adversary. This job was his opportunity to prove that he’d chosen the right career path. If he closed his eyes, he could hear Joelle’s voice in his head, telling him that he was wasting his skills working in the public sector. Those words had affected him more than he was willing to admit. His need to show her—to show himself—that he’d made the right choice when he joined FinCEN was as important to him as getting the best of Bryce.

  And just like that, Daniel knew what he had to do.

  When he arrived at Trendsetters the next day, he was refocused and ready to tackle the tasks Lowell Dwyer had entrusted him to complete. His original game plan had been to devote 40 percent of his time to doing Trendsetters’ work and the other 60 percent to ferreting out whoever was behind this money-laundering scheme.

  Somewhere along the way, he’d lost sight of his goal. The allure of playing around in all these cool coding languages, falling into the routine of a normal tech-world job, had distracted him from his plan.

  That all stopped today.

  For the next three hours, Daniel switched between the five windows opened on his monitor, all the while surreptitiously scanning the iPad that lay flat on his desk, partially obscured by several folders and printouts. On the iPad was one of the databases he’d managed to infilt
rate. It showed him the login data for every Trendsetters employee, which allowed him to track how long they were accessing the system both at work and remotely.

  With this information he could record the IP addresses and have the guys back at FinCEN run them. If anyone sought entry into their work files from a remote address while abroad, it would give him an idea of who was possibly allowing someone else to get into their system. It wouldn’t be the smoking gun they were looking for, but it was a valuable data point.

  Daniel was so focused on work that he didn’t hear Samiah’s approach. She tapped him on the shoulder, causing him to jerk to attention.

  His body’s reaction to her touch was instantaneous, his skin growing hot and tight. He looked up and was catapulted back to last night and the exquisite feel of palming her curvy ass.

  Holy. Fuck.

  Daniel cleared the lust from his throat before answering, “Hey.” He removed his headphones and let them hang around his neck.

  “Are you actually doing the impossible?” Samiah asked. He frowned, not following. “Working without coffee,” she clarified with a laugh. “You didn’t get any this morning.”

  “Um, yeah.” His chuckle held a lot less amusement than hers had. “I came in extra early. Got my cup before you even got here.”

  “Oh.” Her head reared back slightly. “Okay. Well, what do you feel like eating for lunch? I’m in the mood for a burger. Maybe we can grab sliders at that pub around the corner?”

  Daniel removed the headphones from around his neck and set them on the desk. He’d rather strut down the hallway in nothing but combat boots than do what he was about to do, but it was necessary. He’d succumbed to too many distractions already, this preoccupation with Samiah being the most intrusive.

  “I know it was my idea to have the standing lunch date, but I’m not sure that’s the best thing anymore,” he said. “This new project is going to have all of us busy. I think it’s better if I just grab a quick bite here at my desk and work through lunch these next few days.”

  He immediately felt like a steaming pile of elephant shit.