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

thing he and Mikki knew last night was a one-time thing. The thought didn’t take the edge off the realization she’d kept something as significant from him as working for the competition.
    “Speaking of, if you want to see your karaoke partner on stage in a more professional fashion, she’s running an NSS panel in the morning breakout sessions.” Tate took another sip of coffee, grimaced, and tossed the cup in a nearby trashcan.
    Jared cringed as coffee splashed in the waste bucket. So messy. Despite his irritation at being deceived, his pulse kicked up at the thought of hearing that playful voice again. He beat the reaction back with the rest of the morning’s conversation. “I was planning on it anyway.”
    He was going to see if there were any hints about the direction NSS was taking their security offerings. And hopefully uncover a detail or two as to what he was missing in these rumors that his company wasn’t worth its own press releases. Not that he expected there to be any usable information—providing as little information as possible was status quo for these demos—but there was always a chance. And he could almost convince himself Mikki wasn’t adding another layer of incentive.
    Tate’s brow furrowed, and he studied Jared for a minute. “I was joking. Vivian’s already attending. You can skip it if you want.”
    Jared shrugged. “Hayden’s been bragging they’ve got something that can put us in the dirt. I’d like to form my own opinion.”
    He didn’t want to be excited, or intrigued, or anything besides nonplussed about the thought of seeing the playful siren again, but he couldn’t swallow his growing arousal. Every inch of him hummed, his pulse racing in a way he knew wasn’t related to his abbreviated jog.
    “Almost forgot.” Tate plucked Jared’s phone from the top of his gym bag. “Check your mail.”
    Jared glanced between him and the device. “Just tell me what I’m looking for. You know I have about fifty unread messages.” His own verbal reminder set his mental compulsion on edge. He always forced himself not to check before his morning workout. Otherwise he’d be stuck in email hell before he had a chance to wake up. But he’d have to catch up on those before the morning breakout sessions.
    “That’s it? How late were you up last night?” Tate shook his head. “Anyway. Peacock announced his retirement.”
    That was almost enough to pull Jared back to the now. Larry Peacock was chief operations officer for Skriddie, and rumors of his retirement had been circulating for a while.
    Jared wanted the job, and he knew he was one of the people being considered. The kinds of changes he could make in a position like that… Excitement tingled in limbs, and he drummed his fingers against his leg. One of the reasons he loved his work was because there was always something new to learn—another way to make things perfect. And a step up the ladder would give him even more access to exactly that. “Any other news?”
    Tate tossed the phone back on the bag. “Nah. But I’m sure you’ll hear before either of us anyway.”
     
    ****
     
    Jared slipped into the conference room with a just a few minutes to spare. Vivian already stood near the back, despite the empty chairs lining the last couple of rows. She gave him a tight-lipped smile and nodded him over.
    “I didn’t expect to see you here.” Her voice was low amid the chatter of the trickling in crowd.
    “I had to sate my curiosity.” He kept his tone as cool as possible and tried to convince his rampant imagination to chill as well.
    “If everyone wants to have a seat, we’ll get started in a minute or two.” A familiar voice sliced into Jared’s thoughts, and his head snapped toward the stage.
    Before his brain finished processing what the sound meant, his body reacted. Want tugged his cock to life and tempted him with memories of the night before. Even in her company’s basic trade show uniform, she still made his