“I—”
“Are you working for someone else right now?”
She cleared her throat. “I own my own business. I do contract work.”
“So you don’t think you’re good enough to tackle this breach, then?”
Her teeth clicked together at that, the casual comment digging under her skin. “I’m one of the best at what I do, Mr. Muroya. Maybe I’m worried you can’t afford me.”
There. That last part was a lie, but at least it sounded like a good excuse. And it could be half-believable considering the party he’d seen her at last night.
He flipped the printed email over, grabbed a pen, and then scrawled something on the back. He slid it her way. “Will that hourly rate suffice?”
Cora stared down at the number. Blinked. Forced her jaw not to unhinge.
Fuuuck.
Okay, so it was almost three times what she was charging clients right now. Depending on how long the job was, it could mean actual security for a little while. And no ramen. But was it worth it?
The awkwardness scale was going to be off the charts. She’d seen him in a private moment. But beyond that, she’d revealed a glimpse of herself. There’d been a long few seconds between him looking at her in that hallway and her leaving. He’d stripped away a few layers and had continued to tug at them when he’d sat down at her table.
He’d seen more than she wanted anyone to see. In the safety of her own home, she could be Lenore. But, if he discovered it was her, she’d be seen as that strange girl who was so pitiful she’d had to build a character who looked nothing like her just to get laid in a video game. The thought made her want to fold in on herself. She liked those two spheres of her life not touching. No Venn diagram interaction.
But how the hell was she supposed to walk away from that kind of money? This had to be better than living week to week or having to take some gig at an overnight call center. And it’d look solid on her résumé. Plus, she was good at her job. If she really wanted this fixed, the best way to ensure that was to do it herself.
But even knowing all that, something made her hesitate. A warning bell. She’d been looking for clients for months.
This all felt too easy.
She pushed the paper his way again and sat back in her chair. “Why are you offering this to me? You don’t know me. You don’t even know my last name. I could be terrible at my job.”
He gave her a humorless smile. “Benning.”
“What?”
“Your last name. I checked the guest list last night after you left.”
“Oh.” She didn’t know how to feel about that. He’d probably checked it to make sure she wasn’t going to report him for a lewd act.
“And for the record, I make quick decisions but not haphazard ones. I’m making you the offer for a number of reasons.”
She gave him a skeptical look.
“Don’t believe me? Fine. Here’s what I know about you so far.” He lifted a finger to count off. “You easily broke into this guy’s account and figured out what was going on. You found me and tied me to Restless Games even though I know exactly how many layers you had to go through to get that information, so I know you’ve got skills.” He nodded toward his door. “You’re obviously determined since you got your way back here today and waited. You’re going to be more motivated than most to fix this because you’re personally involved in it. And you’re already part of the game, so I don’t have to worry about your delicate sensibilities being offended by our kinky little universe.”
The air sagged out of Cora.
“And I know that what I just offered to pay you has got you interested at least on that level.”
She looked up.
His lips twitched up at the corner. “Don’t play poker, Cora. Your nostrils flared when you saw the number and your whole body went tense.”
“I—”
“So,” he said, not giving her a chance to protest, “what’s holding you back must be because of the incident last night. So let’s just get that out on the table and clear it. Now that I know you’re kinky, I can stop worrying I freaked you out last night with that little cuckolding scene. It happened. You watched. I didn’t mind. It doesn’t have to be big deal. Just pretend we ran into each other in a club and follow the standard discretion rules. And—”
“I never said I was kinky,” she blurted.