Page 34 of Everything She Wanted

I turn around, pulling my hair that’s flowing down my back to the side. He steps closer so he’s right behind me. My breath hitches as his fingers skim my skin.

Breathe, remember to breathe.

“It’s where the blouse attaches to this long piece here.” I hold the end of my silver saree to show him what I mean. Somehow, my hands don’t shake and my voice is steady.

“Got it.”

His fingers reach inside my fitted blouse, just barely touching the clasp of my bra and the pin just off to the side of it, and I’m hyper aware of everywhere his fingers stroke my skin. His touch featherlight.

He struggles to undo the large safety pin, and I don’t care because it means that he’ll have his hands on me for longer. He manages to take the pin out after a couple more attempts. My saree now hangs loosely at my side, the delicate embroidery sparkling with an ombre pastel pink and green shimmer in the dim light. I have to be careful not to let it completely unravel.

I force myself to turn around instead of leaning back into him, and he gently places the pin in my palm, keeping his eyes on mine the entire time. “Here you go,” he says. He’s so close that his musky pine and sandalwood scent wraps itself around me, calling me closer with every breath.

“Thank you.”

I look up at him, and he looks down at me, and I forget why we’re here. The soft glow of the lamp makes everything feel surreal, and I don’t want to wake up from whatever this is. He slowly drags his teeth over his lower lip, and I watch the movement, mesmerized.

I imagine putting my hands on his chest and then pushing him back against the desk. I imagine him wrapping his arms around me as he softly bites my neck with those teeth, then grazes my ear with his lips. I imagine reaching under his shirt and feeling his sculpted abs and then dragging my hands lower to his fitted jeans, undoing the top button. I imagine things I shouldn’t even be thinking about, and he looks at me like he sees my every fantasy. I’m probably imagining that he’s feeling something too, but I can’t help myself.

Both our phones start beeping at the same time, pulling us out of this reverie. Neither of us checks the notifications.

“I’ll meet you in the boardroom,” I say hastily. I force my feet to move away from him.

“Sounds good, I’ll let them know you’re here.” His voice is a sensual rasp instead of his usual professional tone.

I walk into my office and hear him walk down the hallway. I slide the door closed and unpin the rest of my saree. It’s not like Nick’s out there, but my heart races still.

I change into a white satiny button-up blouse with tight black cigarette pants. Then I pull my hair up into a bun and remove my earrings, necklace, bangles, and tikka, placing them carefully on my desk. I have way too much makeup on, but there’s nothing I can do about that. I give myself one final look, leaving my saree in a messy bundle on my chair and head to the boardroom, laptop in hand. I try to erase the desire stirring within me.

Stop thinking about him.

Tom nods at me as he sees me walking in, and I take an empty chair in the crowded room. I see there’s a rep from almost every department here.

“We don’t know what’s been accessed, but Nisha, we need you to draft statements for stakeholders, employees, customers, and the media. We’ll need to have different variations for the different scenarios.”

Adrenaline courses through me with the excitement of everything going on—including my encounter with Nick, which I try to compartmentalize.

“I’m on it.” I open my laptop, log in, and start drafting the statements based on templates the communications team has already created for us.

The IT team is trying to determine whether the data breach was external or internal, meaning it could be the result of a hacker from the outside or someone who has violated their access within. Nick has a background in ethical hacking, which is why he was called in to lock down the system and prevent further unauthorized access. Still, there is no way for us to know yet what they were able to take. He’ll review my releases, and then they’ll be sent for approval. This way, they will be ready to send out as soon as we get confirmation of what’s going on.

I dive in, a charge rushing through me—whether it’s from the breach, or from something else, I don’t know.

12. Hotline Bling

A few hours later, I’ve drafted several releases covering every conceivable scenario I can think of. Nick gave me his seal of approval, and I sent them off to the VP of Communications. She had a few edits and then asked me to send the releases to Legal, the CIO, and the CEO.

Legal might take a while, so I make my way to the coffee station where I’m hoping to run into Nick. I make an Americano and lean against the counter, my shoulders slumped, and I close my eyes for just a moment.

“There you are.” I startle at the sound of Nick’s voice. I must have drifted off. I check the clock: It’s 1:30 a.m. Seriously, how did thirty minutes pass?

“Is everything okay?”

“We found out what happened. It was an employee who was fired a couple of weeks ago. He still had access even though his card showed it was deactivated.”

“Do they know what he accessed?”

“No data, but he was trying to install malware to affect all the systems.”