Breaching His Defenses (Love Hack #1) by Allyson Lindt Read Free Book Online Page A

you should have said so before we left.”
    “I have to do something to make sure they give me the room again next trip.”
    Jared doubted that. For as much money as Tate dropped on high-roller tables every time they were in town, he was pretty sure the guy had a lifetime’s worth of comp in the luxury suites. Once upon a time, the way Tate went through his father’s money had been a sore spot between them. Now that Jared had his own cash—even though he still couldn’t justify twenty-five hundred dollars a hand for poker—it didn’t faze him the same way. “So really, you should be thanking me.”
    Tate laughed. “I don’t think so. And for the record, if I’d known you’d get that kind of response, I’d have gone up there myself. Next time, you’re forcing me onto stage and playing wingman.”
    “I’ve never stopped you in the past.”
    “Whatever. Speaking of your velvet-voiced siren, did she spill anything good? It would serve Hayden right after the bullshit he’s already pulling today. I ran into him in the lobby, and he spent fifteen minutes trying to get me to slip up and tell him who we were in negotiations with.”
    Spill anything good? Serve Hayden right? Wait, what? The circuits in Jared’s head collided with each other and he stumbled. He stepped on the edges of the treadmill before confusion could become a full-blown face plant, and shut the device off. She’d definitely said and done things that would stick in his head for a long time. But the tension rolling under his skin told him that wasn’t what Tate meant, and shouldn’t have anything to do with one of the senior vice presidents at NSS. “I’m missing a key point of reference, aren’t I?”
    Tate grimaced and set his coffee aside. “You don’t know.”
    Obviously not. “Know what?”
    “Vivian told me. I think she would have told you too, but figured you’d find out directly from the source. You and your karaoke partner seemed to be getting on just fine without us.”
    For the most part, he was used to Tate’s tendency to not get directly to the point. He didn’t appreciate it, but he accepted it. Just now, he needed to have details sooner rather than later. His brain was already erroring out from lack of information. “Tell me.”
    “She’s Michaela Elford.”
    So that was what Mikki was short for. Why did her full name sound familiar? From Tate’s expression, it was clear Jared should know it.
    Tate continued, “She’s the new prodigy Hayden hired. The one he stole from V six months ago.”
    Right. The weird interview that had pissed Viv off for weeks after. Apparently Michaela—Mikki?—had been just as impressive in her resume as in person when Vivian had interviewed her, and had seemed like she was ready to all but sign. Then, out of nowhere, she’d sent Vivian a very polite and apologetic thanks but no thanks letter. Something along the lines of, “I hope you’re not too angry with me. I think we can all agree the best place for me is with NetSafe Systems.”
    Viv had tried to reach her a handful of times after, but Mikki hadn’t returned her calls.
    Yup, that was exactly where he’d heard her name. He never should have misfiled information that important. Fuck. Jared stepped off the treadmill. “Got it. And no, it didn’t come up.”
    “Maybe she didn’t recognize you.”
    Except she had. Alarms clanged in the back of Jared’s thoughts. Suspecting anything was off about the situation was ridiculous. The encounter in the elevator had been random chance, and she couldn’t have known they were heading out to get wasted and sing bad music. His paranoia might be a rampant bastard sometimes, but there was no way this was like Karen.
    But Mikki working for the competition dragged up unpleasant memories he hadn’t expected to deal with on this trip. Especially if she was associated with NSS.
    Karen had taught him years ago getting involved with anyone in that company was a dangerous path to follow. Good