Obession by Design (4 page)

“That
pretty much sums it up.”

“Why
do they call themselves the Weathermen?”

“Because
they control the funding for the Storm Troopers, and they each have people at
work on special teams, looking for ways to take back The Madeline Project, or
find the hackers, or both.”

Liane
nodded.
“Ruthless
men who are out to save the world.”

Stacie
smiled. “Between you and me, I think they just like everyone to believe they’re
ruthless.”

Liane
hoped that Stacie was right.
“Thank you for showing me all this, and for all your help.”

“That’s
why I’m here.” Stacie pointed toward a door on the far left wall “My new office
is being set up right through there. Just let me know if you need anything
else.”

Once
Stacie left,
Liane
clicked off the website and
started work on the database that Emmett wanted. She’d already had several
ideas in mind, so she began working on a preliminary outline using each one,
until she found the one she thought would work best. She saved the others, just
in case, and then she was about to call her apartment manager to check on the
progress of the move, when he called her.

“You’re
all moved in.”

“Thank
you. That was easy.” He explained where she could pick up her keys, and once
Liane
disconnected the call, she wondered if Emmett had
been serious about allowing her to go home and take care of this. She sent him
an email, attaching the databases she had in mind as well so he didn’t think
she’d been sitting here all morning doing nothing. He replied in under five
minutes.

I trust your judgment. Use
whichever database you feel will be best. I’ve attached a sample of the kinds
of information we will need to enter into it. Now go home and get your
apartment in order. Take your laptop with you and work from home tomorrow if
you need to. Be at my apartment with your laptop to show me your progress by
six tomorrow evening, and dress for dinner. We’re having shrimp scampi. Don’t
even ask me how I obtained them. Well, all right. You may ask, but I’ll want
something very special in return for divulging such classified information.

Liane
read the email
twice,
just to be sure she wasn’t misinterpreting any of it.
Everyplace else she’d worked, an email like this would have earned the person
who sent it a trip to HR, at the very least. Then again, he was part owner of
the entire organization. He could send anything he wanted by email.

Dress for dinner
. She hadn’t planned on that.
She’d assumed she’d show up, go over the progress with him, and then leave.
We’re having shrimp scampi.
She hadn’t
had that since before moving underground, and she imagined he’d obtained them
the same way Stacie showed her earlier this morning. At least they’d have
something to talk about at dinner.

Well, all right. You may ask, but
I’ll want something very special in return for divulging such classified
information.

What
the hell did that mean?
What do you think
it
means,
genius?
Emmett Radcliffe intended to
seduce her.

Liane
read the email one more time,
taking note of the intimate tone. She’d just met the man. He knew most of her
past, and she knew his reputation. This was the perfect job for her, but she
didn’t want to become another notch in his belt. Why couldn’t he simply let her
do her job and bother some other woman? Surely he had no trouble filling his
bed.

She
pulled up the article once more on the Weathermen and studied the faces of each
man. There was no doubt they were all handsome and charming. They used their
wealth and power for good, but did that make them saints? Was that a reason she
should let one of them fuck her for sport?

Liane
slammed her hands on the desk
and then closed her laptop. It was time to go home and organize her apartment. She
had over twenty-four hours to figure out how to handle Mr. Emmett Radcliffe,
her new boss.

Chapter
Four

Emmett
had just finished pouring the wine when his valet, Jeremy Underwood, poked his
head into the dining room to let Emmett know that
Liane
had arrived. “Show her in here.”

She
walked into the room, and Emmett told Jeremy he’d ring if he needed anything.
Then he surveyed
Liane
from head to toe. She’d pinned
up one side of her hair with a comb that looked to be made of mother-of-pearl.
He hadn’t seen that in a long time, and he wondered if she’d been able to save
it when her town was destroyed.

Her
dress flattered her curves, hugging her body in soft lime green folds. On
anyone else the color would be all wrong, but on her it was perfect. Her
toenails and fingernails matched, and she wore sandals that matched her
earrings. He grinned. “You look amazing.”

A
soft blush crept up her neck and face. “Thank you. So do you.”

He
was still in the same suit he’d worn to the office, but had changed his shirt
and tie. Emmett pulled out her chair. “Have a seat. I’ll put your laptop case
over here for now.” She handed him the bag and then sat in the chair he’d
indicated. Emmett placed the case on the sideboard. “We’ll work later. The
smell of this food is making my stomach growl.”

“You
didn’t have to go to all this trouble.”

“It’s
no trouble.” Emmett took his seat across from her and raised his wine glass.
“To what I hope will be a mutually satisfying relationship.”

She
looked a bit unsure as she raised her glass and drank a toast with him, but
that was okay for now. Surely she knew how attractive she was, and it couldn’t
be a secret that this was more than his wanting to see the progress on her
project. He’d made sure his intentions were clear in the email he’d sent her
yesterday afternoon.

Then
he remembered she’d lost both her husband and daughter in a storm, six years
earlier. Her entire town had been wiped out. Had all her relatives died or were
some still alive? The news stories were sketchy at best from events like that
all over the planet, because the storms had begun occurring simultaneously.
Many records were lost in the confusion, and some stories had never made it
into electronic or print form.

He
knew plenty about her already, but not enough. Emmett liked to get to know his
women very well. “Did you get your apartment all settled?”

“Yes,
thank you. Working from home yesterday helped a great deal.”

He
filled a plate with salad and passed it to her. “Kim makes this dressing. She’s
my housekeeper and cook.”

“Thank
you.” She tasted it. “It’s delicious.”

“I
do my own cooking most of the time when I’m home, but since this is a special
occasion, I didn’t want to screw anything up.”

She
put down her fork, and her gaze grew wary. “Why is it a special occasion? You
told me you don’t hire anyone to get them into bed, yet this feels like a
seduction.”

His
pulse raced, but not because what she’d just said angered him or was untrue. It
was the challenge he loved. That spark in their eyes that told him they were
interested but far from easy.

When
he didn’t answer right away, a look of horror crept into her eyes. “If I’m
wrong, please tell me so, and please accept my apology.”

Was
she kidding? What man wouldn’t want to seduce her? “You’re not wrong.” He
didn’t want the women who threw themselves at him. If
Liane
had flirted with him yesterday or had answered his email with anything other
than a non-committal assurance she’d be here tonight, his interest in her would
have collapsed.

“So
why did you tell me otherwise?”

“I
didn’t,” he said quietly. “I told you I didn’t hire you just to get you into
bed, not that I wasn’t going to try.”

Several
emotions crossed her face, and he resisted the urge to pump his fist in the air
when not one of them was anger or disgust. She wanted him, too. He could feel
it coming off her in waves.

“You
said dinner.”

He
moved his hand in a sweeping gesture over the food between them on the table. “Here
it is, but yet you wore that dress, and you have a new
mani
and
pedi
.” He knew it
was new because her nails had been bare yesterday.

Emmett
had sensed an undercurrent of trepidation in
Liane
from the moment she’d walked into his office. He wasn’t sure if it stemmed from
her tragic past, or if there was something she’d experienced that he hadn’t yet
discovered. And that’s what had excited him. She wouldn’t be an easy conquest,
but then, he didn’t want one. He wanted a woman he could seduce. He loved to
watch their excitement build, and he loved to discover how far he could push
before they begged him to fuck them.

“I
meant you said
dress
for dinner.” Her
voice came out breathy now, and he knew at that moment he had her.

He
didn’t consider what he did disrespectful to women.
Far from
it.
Emmett adored women. He loved everything about them. The way they
smelled,
the softness of their skin, and the sweet surrender
that came when they gave their bodies to him in complete submission. “Yes, I
did, and you seem to have gone out of your way to look nice tonight. Where did
you get that comb, by the way?”

A
slight smile played at her lips as she reached up to touch it. “I found it in a
shop in
CentralEast
.”

“I
see. I thought perhaps you’d salvaged it from your belongings.”

Her
entire aura changed, just like that. So she was still grieving. He could
totally understand that, and it meant he’d need to work extra hard to get past
those barriers. Emmett didn’t mind. It was the chase he loved.

“There
was nothing to salvage. I only saved what I wore that day.”

He
lifted the top off the serving dish with the shrimp scampi and wild rice, then
filled a plate and passed it to her. “If you can’t talk about it, I
understand.”

She
tasted the food. “This is amazing. Thank you.”

He
waited, savoring his own dinner slowly so he could study her face and body
language.

“I
haven’t talked about that day in a long time.”

“
Liane
, I’m here to listen.”

She
met his gaze. Her own was less wary now, but curious. “Why do you care so
much?”

“Because
you’re a human being who has suffered in the same way we all did.”

“What
about you? Did you leave family behind or lose anyone in a storm?” She wasn’t
asking to challenge him. He could hear that in her voice. She was asking to
avoid having to tell him her own story.

He
grinned. “I asked you about your past life first.”

That
did it. The smile that had played close to her mouth earlier slipped through.
“Fair enough, but it’s not a pretty story.”

Emmett’s
heart went out to this beautiful girl with the big green eyes. He couldn’t imagine
having gotten a girlfriend pregnant at such a young age. Then again, perhaps
Keith hadn’t been unhappy about it? But surely they both had wanted to finish
their degrees and knew it would be a challenge with a baby. Maybe she’d talk
about that, too.

He
reached across the table and covered her free hand. Her skin was warm, and he
loved the tiny jolt that touching it sent up his arm. He could only imagine the
heaven it would be once they were skin to skin. “Pretty story or not, you look
like you need to get the rest of it out.” She’d told him only the surface
details. He realized that now.

She
put down her fork and sighed out loud. “It’s not usual for me to trust someone
this quickly.”

“It’s
not usual for me, either, but there’s something about you that tells me I can
put my faith in you. I have very good instincts about people,
Liane
. I know we just met, but I assure you I will not
betray any trust you place in me.”

He
watched the emotions cross her face, from fear all the way through to
acceptance, and then he waited again. He wanted this woman.
All
of her.
And that included
whatever was in her past.

****

Liane
wasn’t sure why this felt so
right, but she was certain of two things. She’d held all this in long enough,
and she was desperate for someone to talk to. Why shouldn’t that person be
Emmett? He was handsome, charming, and he had no reason to hurt her. She wasn’t
worried about her job. She knew she was good at what she did and he would be
pleased with what she’d come up with so far.

She
wasn’t really worried about anything. She’d lived her life for the past six
years in hiding.
Hiding from friends, coworkers, and anything
even resembling a relationship.
She could do no more for her father and
grandmother than she’d already done, and there was no one left to find or care
for. Wasn’t it time she took care of herself for a change? Her own needs had
taken a backseat since that fateful day, and she was ready to pay attention to
them again.

Liane
drained her wine glass, and
Emmett refilled it for her. Then she attacked her dinner, not because she was
that hungry, but because he’d gone to all this trouble and she wasn’t going to
waste the food. She could talk and eat at the same time. “You know about my
marriage and daughter. I was at school the day of the storm, and Keith was at
the pediatrician’s office with Molly for a check-up.”

“How
old were you when you got married?”

“I
was twenty-one, and so was Keith. Molly was born six months later.”

“That
must have been difficult for you both.”

“It
was, but we were determined to finish our degrees. Our parents were very
supportive and understanding. Both sets helped us as much as they could.”

“So
Molly was young when she died.” His voice was gentle, and she was grateful for
that.

“Yes. She had just turned a year
old.”

“I can’t imagine what that was
like.”

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“Wasn’t
the university hit, too?”

His
voice was so calm and soothing, and she marveled at how sensitive he could be.
She had trouble picturing him as a ruthless business owner, and remembered what
Stacie had said about suspecting the Weathermen only wanted people to think
they were ruthless. “Yes, it was hit.”
You
can do this.
“We had to evacuate to a shelter. I was gone for nearly two
weeks with no word. I didn’t know if my family had survived, and I couldn’t get
in touch with anyone. None of us could.”

Emmett’s
face registered shock and empathy, and
Liane
was so
grateful for that she nearly started to cry. “I didn’t realize you’d had no
word for so long.”

“The
entire town was gone. By the time we were allowed to leave the shelter, several
government agencies had been set up with lists, and everyone except my father
and maternal grandmother were on them. They were the only two still alive, but
they were badly hurt. It took a long time to get them moved to a place in the
same city underground with me.”

His
gaze was sharp. He hadn’t missed the hesitation in her voice or the change she
was certain showed on her face. “What do you mean by that?”

Could
she tell him this? She had to. She’d come this far, and she might as well get
the whole truth out. “There was a lot of red tape to deal with. I made plans to
move underground and wanted my father and grandmother with me, but I had to
hire an attorney to help me do that.”

“Go
on.” The way he said it made the hair on the back of her neck prickle. Was he
also a mind reader in addition to his many other talents?

“The
guy did help, but there were a lot of people who needed the same kinds of help
in those days. Everything was in chaos. I was twenty-two years old by then and
had lost my entire extended family, plus Keith’s family. They had all left
wills and life insurance policies, but I was clueless where to turn first.
There were so many of them to try to find and bury, and I didn’t have anyone to
help me. I had no choice but to trust all of it to a stranger.”

Emmett
rose and sat next to her. Simply having him this close was a comfort, but her
emotions were all mixed up now. She hadn’t trusted anyone for six years. He
stroked her arm gently, and that helped a bit. His touch conveyed understanding
and a sincere desire to help, not take advantage of her situation. This man
wasn’t Connor, and he wasn’t using her. Seducing a woman you found attractive
wasn’t the same thing as forcing a young woman into your bed in exchange for
helping her bury her entire family, and her dead husband’s family.

“What
happened,
Liane
?”

“An
attorney named Connor Fargo offered to help me, but the cost was enormous since
there were so many deceased people involved. I had already tried to contact too
many others, and he was the first one who wasn’t too busy or greedy to start
right away. Like I said, the town was in chaos, and I wasn’t going to move
underground and simply leave my father and grandmother in a hospital. We all
knew what was going on with the storms by then, and we also knew we barely had
weeks to get below ground, let alone months or years.”