Read Online Breaching His Defenses (Love Hack #1) by Allyson Lindt - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Allyson Lindt
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you’re up.”
Epic. That meant no script, shoot-from-the-hip answers, on a topic she loved to discuss when she was given free reign. “Awesome. Absolutely. I’m there.” She couldn’t keep the excitement from her voice.
He gave a small laugh and shook his head. “Glad to hear it. Just do me a tiny favor.”
“Of course.”
“There will be five of you on the panel, including a representative from Skriddie. My only request is you steer clear of them outside of the discussion. No reason to bring up bad blood here, right?”
Something ticked in the back of her head. That was the second time today he’d mentioned avoiding them. He seemed more fixated on the issue than anyone at Skriddie, and considering he wasn’t the one whose network had been hacked, that seemed odd.
Maybe he’s just looking out for me. Except, she couldn’t make herself believe it. For a brief moment, she considered telling him Vivian had assured her it was all done and in the past. Instead, she just turned a smile on him. “Of course not. I’ll behave.”
“Go grab some lunch.” He nodded toward the exhibit hall doors. “Panel’s at two-thirty. Take it easy until then.”
“Right, sure.” As she wandered away, she couldn’t help the doubt gnawing at her thoughts. Vivian had been genuine. Sure, there were some things Mikki didn’t know, but she thought she could at least tell when someone was being phony. But apparently either Vivian or Hayden had lied to her. A million prickles crawled under her skin at the idea Hayden knew more about the situation than he was saying. She just wished she had a focus for her misgivings, rather than just a suspicion.
Chapter Seven
Sale is dead. They went with NSS.
Jared snarled at empty air and jammed his phone back in his slacks pocket. He didn’t need any more info from Tate to know what had happened. After the call last night, he’d expected to lose the overseas contract, but the news still infuriated him.
The first time it had happened, almost six months ago, it had been a fluke. Sometimes they lost sales. It wasn’t a big deal. He’d personally dug into the rumors. Scoured every inch of the network himself to make sure they were unfounded, and moved on. Reluctantly, but he’d done enough investigation to put his mind at ease.
The second time, two months ago, at least they’d been ready to answer the concerns about their own internal security. But their responses hadn’t been enough, and since they weren’t accustomed to clients giving such specific reasons for going with another company, he had been suspicious.
He’d dived back into the rumors. Even going so far as to spend an entire week personally checking every password and the security settings for every employee.
Money? Sure, sometimes someone balked at their pricing. But that usually happened early on in the process. Personality clash? Again, it came up. Just not often.
But to be minutes away from signing a contract and be told, “We heard a rumor you don’t even have it together internally,” and for it to have happened three times now…
It didn’t feel right to Jared. Especially since it had never been an issue before.
The flaws weren’t in his network, he was certain of that, which meant he needed answers. Since they’d lost to NSS each time, he could only think of one place to look. Even if he couldn’t leverage a new contract to make him look better for promotion, if he could tie a tourniquet around the issue before it got worse, that would still work in his favor. He made his way through the convention center crowds, cutting a straight line for the exhibit hall.
His determined footsteps slowed as he neared his destination. Mikki was at the edge of the NSS booth, back to him, tugging her messenger bag over her head. Each movement elongated her curves, and his chest tightened. He drew in a shallow breath, unable to drag his gaze away. She’d be the perfect way to get rid of some of this tension .
Too bad
Epic. That meant no script, shoot-from-the-hip answers, on a topic she loved to discuss when she was given free reign. “Awesome. Absolutely. I’m there.” She couldn’t keep the excitement from her voice.
He gave a small laugh and shook his head. “Glad to hear it. Just do me a tiny favor.”
“Of course.”
“There will be five of you on the panel, including a representative from Skriddie. My only request is you steer clear of them outside of the discussion. No reason to bring up bad blood here, right?”
Something ticked in the back of her head. That was the second time today he’d mentioned avoiding them. He seemed more fixated on the issue than anyone at Skriddie, and considering he wasn’t the one whose network had been hacked, that seemed odd.
Maybe he’s just looking out for me. Except, she couldn’t make herself believe it. For a brief moment, she considered telling him Vivian had assured her it was all done and in the past. Instead, she just turned a smile on him. “Of course not. I’ll behave.”
“Go grab some lunch.” He nodded toward the exhibit hall doors. “Panel’s at two-thirty. Take it easy until then.”
“Right, sure.” As she wandered away, she couldn’t help the doubt gnawing at her thoughts. Vivian had been genuine. Sure, there were some things Mikki didn’t know, but she thought she could at least tell when someone was being phony. But apparently either Vivian or Hayden had lied to her. A million prickles crawled under her skin at the idea Hayden knew more about the situation than he was saying. She just wished she had a focus for her misgivings, rather than just a suspicion.
Chapter Seven
Sale is dead. They went with NSS.
Jared snarled at empty air and jammed his phone back in his slacks pocket. He didn’t need any more info from Tate to know what had happened. After the call last night, he’d expected to lose the overseas contract, but the news still infuriated him.
The first time it had happened, almost six months ago, it had been a fluke. Sometimes they lost sales. It wasn’t a big deal. He’d personally dug into the rumors. Scoured every inch of the network himself to make sure they were unfounded, and moved on. Reluctantly, but he’d done enough investigation to put his mind at ease.
The second time, two months ago, at least they’d been ready to answer the concerns about their own internal security. But their responses hadn’t been enough, and since they weren’t accustomed to clients giving such specific reasons for going with another company, he had been suspicious.
He’d dived back into the rumors. Even going so far as to spend an entire week personally checking every password and the security settings for every employee.
Money? Sure, sometimes someone balked at their pricing. But that usually happened early on in the process. Personality clash? Again, it came up. Just not often.
But to be minutes away from signing a contract and be told, “We heard a rumor you don’t even have it together internally,” and for it to have happened three times now…
It didn’t feel right to Jared. Especially since it had never been an issue before.
The flaws weren’t in his network, he was certain of that, which meant he needed answers. Since they’d lost to NSS each time, he could only think of one place to look. Even if he couldn’t leverage a new contract to make him look better for promotion, if he could tie a tourniquet around the issue before it got worse, that would still work in his favor. He made his way through the convention center crowds, cutting a straight line for the exhibit hall.
His determined footsteps slowed as he neared his destination. Mikki was at the edge of the NSS booth, back to him, tugging her messenger bag over her head. Each movement elongated her curves, and his chest tightened. He drew in a shallow breath, unable to drag his gaze away. She’d be the perfect way to get rid of some of this tension .
Too bad
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