Ren’s chair squeaked as he stretched. “I didn’t have time to ask, but we can pick her brain on Monday. I was hoping to figure out if she was the only one affected or if it’s more widespread. That would answer some questions and give us a place to start.”
Hayes looked up. “If it’s more widespread, we’re fucked. No one’s going to play a game like Hayven if they think their information isn’t protected.”
Ren groaned. “I don’t even want to consider that possibility. We finally get solid investors backing us and our most profitable product could go up in flames.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’ll wait until Monday before I panic. Hopefully, Cora will be able to find the clues and trails I don’t know how to see and we can stop this before it goes any further. I was hoping I could do something to help tonight, but this is above my pay grade.”
Hayes perched on the edge of the credenza. “You know for a fact that she’s skilled enough for this job?”
Ren lowered his hand from his face and gave him a what-the-fuck look. “Of course. Why else would I hire her?”
Hayes sniffed. “Don’t forget how well I know you. You feel guilty because she was attacked. Plus, I saw how close to her you were standing.”
“Dude, I feel like absolute shit that she was attacked. It could’ve been so . . . I can’t even think about it.” A haunted look flashed through his eyes. “But that’s not why I hired her. I went with my gut. And based on what I found on the résumé she sent me, I was spot on. She went to a good school and has worked for two top-tier companies. The only ding was that she apparently quit her last job with Braecom without notice. But there’s a story there. She’s not the flighty type.”
“Oh, so you already know her type, huh?”
Ren shrugged. “I’m good at reading people. I know flighty. I’m flighty. She’s definitely not. She’s the type that probably has some itemized life plan written down with little checkboxes next to each task. Something went down at the last job to make her leave.”
“And the reason you were standing so close?” Hayes pressed.
The corner of his mouth twitched—Ren’s mischief mode. “I was doing that for the same reason you were giving her the shakedown.”
Hayes grabbed his coffee and sipped. “There was no shakedown. I barely said a word to her.”
“Bullshit. She caught your attention just like she caught mine. There’s something about her that’s just . . . I don’t know. Interesting. Like she’s got good secrets.”
He wasn’t going to honor that with a reaction, but Ren was right. Something about Cora had made him want to keep looking, to extend the conversation. He didn’t quite understand the reaction. She was far from his usual type. When it came to women, he was typically attracted to ones with more in-your-face sex appeal, ones who embraced that ultra-feminine look. But Cora had been rocking some female Clark Kent vibe with her dark-rimmed glasses, skinny jeans, and a vintage Mystery Machine T-shirt that hugged her body just enough to reveal her barely-there curves. That tomboy look worked on her. Plus, a woman with a mind sharp enough to do high-level computer security and who hadn’t retreated when he’d held her gaze? That was all too intriguing. Which meant he needed to steer clear. “I don’t see it.”
Ren snorted. “Oh, come on. You eye-fucked her in that way you used to do before we put a submissive through a scene. I’m surprised you didn’t ask her for a safe word and make her call you sir.”
Hayes winced.
“And she stared right back—all bold and shit.” Ren’s smile was far too amused. “I almost got a semi just watching the two of you. She’d be a challenge. A quiet one with all those hard-to-crack layers? Hot.”
“Ren.” His tone held warning.
He held up a hand. “Don’t get your feathers fluffed, Fox. I’m just calling it like I see it. And it was nice to see you give that look, to know that you’re still capable. It’s been a long time.”
Hayes rubbed his brow and closed his eyes, a headache brewing. “It was just a look. And even if it was what you’re saying, she’s going to be an employee. And she’s young.”
“She’s twenty-six. And we’re contracting her services. I’m not her boss. And neither are you.”
Hayes’s head lifted at that. “Uh-uh. Don’t go looking for loopholes, Muroya. The woman just got attacked because of our game. She’s going to be working with us. Plus, you don’t know anything about her. She probably already has a boyfriend or a girlfriend. She—”
“Watched me get a blow job from Naomi last night at the party and liked it.”
“What?”
Ren looked all too pleased at Hayes’s shock. He rocked back in his chair. “I did a scene last night. Chris Jenkins has a cuckolding kink and asked for my help. We were going to try it at The Ranch, but when we ran into each other at the party, I figured, why not? So Naomi and I snuck off into a hallway. I thought we were alone, but then I looked up and there was this woman in the dark, watching us.”
“You’ve got to be shitting me. Cora?”
“Yep. Apparently, she’d been in the hallway already when we arrived. And, man, it was intense. She looked so . . . entranced. I could tell she wanted to stay. But I spooked her and she bailed. I found her at the party afterward, thinking maybe she was new to The Ranch since there were a lot of members at the party. But she was freaked out, and obviously shocked by what she’d seen. We didn’t even exchange names.” He shrugged. “I thought it was done. Then, boom, here she was today. She had no idea she was coming to see me. You should’ve seen her face when she realized who I was. I almost felt bad for her. Until she checked me out. Then I just felt other things. So, obviously, it’s fate.”
Hayes ran a hand over the back of his head. “Fate is bullshit.”
Was it fate that had locked him in a cage for three years? Fuck fate.
And he didn’t want to think about blow jobs in dark hallways, of watching or being watched, of the woman