Hardwired For Ecstasy (6 page)

Chapter
Seven

During
the next two weeks, Emma worked diligently on her design, and almost every day
she spent time with Atticus. The day after she’d gone over to his apartment to
demand the truth, he moved their meetings from once a week to every other day,
starting that Tuesday afternoon.

He
sat too close to her, smelled incredible every day, and stared at her legs when
he thought she wasn’t watching. Emma was flattered. No doubt about it. But she
was also wary because she’d been flattered by the attention Leland had shown
her, too.

On
Thursday, he was looking over her shoulder as she showed him a complicated
graphic she’d been trying to build, and he remarked how one part of it looked
like a steak. She’d laughed and agreed with him.

“I
love a steak cooked the right way.” He’d given her a sideways glance. “How
about you?”

“As
long as it’s pink inside, I’m good to go.”

“Me,
too! We should go out to eat and have steak. Steak and lobster.”

“Lobsters
are pretty rare.”

“They’re
very rare, but I know a place in town that has them.”

“Must
be expensive.”

“Very,
but I’d still love to take you.”

She
didn’t say anything. Eating in expensive restaurants was the last thing she
wanted to do. It would remind her of the way Leland had showed off his wealth
all the time. She never did learn how a police captain had so much money.

“Okay,”
he said. “No expensive restaurants. Got it.”

She
laughed softly, realizing she’d never answered him. “To be honest, I’d prefer a
picnic in the park downtown over a stuffy restaurant.”

He
raised his brows. “I think that’s the first time any woman has said that to me.
Okay. Then instead I’ll grill us some perfect medium rare steaks, and we can
eat them on the roof of the building where I live. There’s a mini park up
there.”

She
rolled her eyes. “Of course there is.”

The
following day, on Friday of her first week, she was going over preliminary
plans for the construction of a prototype with members of Atticus’s engineering
team. He was supposed to be in the meeting, but he was late. When he came in,
he apologized, saying he’d been stuck in a meeting with the other Weathermen.

Once
the meeting concluded, he asked Emma to wait a moment, and when everyone else
had left the room, he asked her if she was a hockey fan.

“I
don’t know. I’ve never seen a game.”

His
eyes widened. “Are you kidding? The season starts again in a few weeks, and I
have a loge at the arena. Would you like to go to a game with me?”

Since
it was something she’d never done, she imagined it would be fun, but didn’t
want to commit. There were a hundred reasons why dating Atticus would be
amazing, but she was still wary. She knew once they started, she’d be powerless
under his spell. “Can I think about it and let you know?”

Disappointment
covered his face, but he tried to hide it by giving her a big smile. “Of
course. We have plenty of time.”

She
searched the tabloids online every single day but found no evidence that
Atticus was dating anyone. That was unusual. Was he going through a dry spell,
or had they simply not caught him out with anyone lately?

Emma
watched the other women he came in contact with at work. Most of them flirted
openly with him, but she saw nothing that led her to believe he was secretly dating
any of them. He treated everyone the same. Polite, attentive, and just
flirtatious enough that he didn’t cross any lines. Was he asking other women
out, too? She needed to know, but if she started asking them, it would get back
to him, and it was a juvenile thing to do, at any rate.

Still,
if she finally decided to take him up on one of his offers, she didn’t want to
be gossiped about, or one of dozens of women he was shuffling. Just because she
didn’t read it in the tabloids didn’t mean it wasn’t happening.

On
Friday of her second week at work, she decided to so some fishing. It was
killing her working side-by-side with him almost every day. Her hormones were
out of control, and the long, searching looks he gave her unnerved her.

He’d
given her a few suggestions on her project the day before, and she had finished
showing him the modifications she’d made that morning. She took a deep breath.

“Do
you have plans this weekend? As for me, I’ve decided it’s time to see this
city. I’m going to take long walks tomorrow and Sunday, and see if I can’t find
something interesting.”

His
face brightened. “I have no plans at all. Want me to show you around?”

“No
plans? You’re kidding. I thought the three of you Weathermen who weren’t
engaged or married were still out there, partying every night and dating as
many women as you could.”

He
narrowed his eyes slightly, and heat rose to her face. She glanced back toward
her computer screen, mentally kicking herself in the ass. Could she have been
any more obvious? For someone who had spent seven years tracking down
criminals, her skills at staying inconspicuous were sorely lacking.

“I’m
a bit gun shy myself these days.”

“What
do you mean by that?” Emma clicked around unnecessarily so she could pretend to
have something to pay attention to on the monitor.

“I
mean I can only assume you are, after your experience with Leland. I was
letting you know I am, too.”

She
snapped her gaze to his face, remembering what he’d said that first day about
having trust destroyed.

“When people we believe care about
us lie, it destroys our trust in everyone.”

“Want
to talk about it?” she asked.

A
slow, sexy grin spread over his face, and she had to bite back a moan. This had
been the most challenging two weeks of her life. She’d had erotic dreams about
this man every night, and each time she sat this close to him, she found her
gaze drifting toward those full lips. She wanted to kiss them, and then rub her
nipples across his five o’clock shadow in the worst way.

“I
will, but only if you have dinner with me.”

“Ah,
good to know you’re not opposed to blackmail.”

He
laughed, and the sound sent shivers down her spine. “It’s not blackmail. You
can refuse,
again
, and nothing will
happen to you.”

“But
you won’t stop pursuing me, will you?” Her heart raced. It was the boldest
thing she’d ever asked anyone, but it had simply slipped out before she’d had
time to think about it.

He
pushed a lock of hair off her face, and his touch was like a tiny jolt of
electricity, coursing through her body. Her pussy was soaked in seconds. “No, I
won’t.” That voice, soft but determined, had her swallowing hard against a
sudden lump in her throat.

Would
it hurt to have dinner with him?
No
.
In fact, it would be heavenly. Of that she had no doubt. She couldn’t keep this
up any longer. She wasn’t strong enough. Fuck it. She wanted this man. She
wanted him badly.

“All
right.”

He
looked surprised. “Excuse me?”

She
laughed softly. “I said all right. I’ll have dinner with you.”

****

Atticus
was more nervous about this date than any he’d had since high school. He’d
never had to pursue a woman as much as he’d done with Emma, and that was part
of the reason why. What if she wasn’t interested in seeing him, even after this
evening?

The
simple truth was that he’d never expected her to go out with him in the first
place. Forcing out the story of her and Leland’s relationship hadn’t been fun
for either of them, and he wasn’t entirely sure she’d forgiven him for being
such an ass. Until she’d agreed to have dinner with him.

He
texted his cook with a list of items to find for that evening, then left the
office early after making sure Emma didn’t want him to walk over and escort her
to his apartment.

“Don’t
be silly,” she’d said. “I know the way there, remember?”

He
didn’t tell her how that night still stood out in his consciousness as the
night he’d been so tempted to seduce her that he hadn’t slept at all after she
left. Maybe he’d tell her later? Maybe not. He’d have to see how the evening
went first.

Atticus
also loved how she’d tried to find out if he was dating anyone right now. He
wasn’t, and he’d need to tell her that for certain, because he didn’t believe
Emma was the kind of woman who could deal with being a casual fling. Not after
what she’d gone through with Leland.

And
he wanted no part of that any longer, either. Not after what he’d gone through
recently. He’d tell her about that, too. Why not, after all? She’d bared her
soul to him already. It was the least he could do in return.

Emma
was the kind of woman Atticus had always dreamed of finding. She wasn’t focused
on or overly impressed with his wealth, she had brains, and she preferred
working hard to leaving the office early to get her nails and hair done. Not
that she needed to get either done. She was so damn pretty and sexy, but he also
knew she didn’t realize that. He wanted to
make
her realize it. He wanted her to understand how perfect she was in his eyes.

But
he needed to take things slowly. She’d been burned in a bad way. From what
she’d told him about her dating life before Leland, it had been non-existent
and there had certainly been no sex. He’d never gone out with anyone who had
such a sheltered past. He’d need to keep that in mind tonight, and allow her to
set the pace.

It
wouldn’t be easy, because every second these past two weeks he’d spent with her
at work had left him horny and ready to pour ice down his damn pants. But she
was worth it. The way she talked about her design was as arousing for him as
looking into her dark eyes, or watching her luscious ass move under her jeans
when she walked. No matter what happened or not between them personally, he’d
hired the right person to design this gadget and corresponding app.

He
surveyed the table in the rooftop space one more time. Jonas had done a
wonderful job, as usual. The silverware gleamed in the candlelight. The wine
was ready, and the fake park already smelled heavenly as the scents of lobster
and steak wafted up from the kitchen below. He’d promised her a perfect steak
in the park, and she would have one. And then, if he was very lucky, he’d have
her
for dessert.

Chapter
Eight

Emma
couldn’t help but be impressed with how much fuss Atticus had obviously made
for this dinner. He did indeed have a room on the roof of the building that had
been made up to look like a park. It even had the sound of birds chirping and
squirrels chattering piped in, along with soft jazz.

An
actual picnic table sat in the center of the room, set with china and
silverware, which should have looked out of place but somehow it didn’t. He’d
lit candles everywhere, and the smell of the food made her mouth water.

She
gazed out the windows that lined all four walls. “There’s quite a view of the
city from up here.”

“The
best part is that no one can see inside.”

She
turned to face him. “Why not?”

“It’s
a special kind of glass. Even with the lights on in here, no one can see inside
the room. We have total privacy.”

She
returned his smile as images of them naked and sweaty in this very room filled
her head. Would that happen? Was she ready for a sexual relationship again? And
with her boss, yet? Or would that only lead to all kinds of complications at
work she wasn’t prepared to handle?

He
poured them each a glass of wine, and she tasted it. “This is delicious.”

“I
hope you like the food as well.”

“Did
you make it yourself?”

He
chuckled. “Tease all you want but I actually can cook. I did grill the steaks.
The rest of this meal was made by my housekeeper, who doubles as my cook.”

“You
have a household staff?”

“Only
two people. They’re married and were with me before we moved underground.”

Leland
had mentioned having a staff at his house, but she didn’t see the point in
telling Atticus that. She was, however, now more than a bit curious how Leland
could have afforded such luxuries. Odd how that had never bothered her before.

They
ate their salads, and she told him it was delicious. Then she asked when he’d
started his company.

“I
was still in grad school. It began as a project I worked on, designing a better
phone. Or, what I thought would be a better phone. The idea never took off
because there were too many flaws in it, but from there I realized that was
what I wanted to do. Design hardware, gadgets, and the apps that go into them.”

“Where
did you get the capital? And if that’s too personal a question, feel free to
tell me to mind my own business.”

He
smiled. “It’s not too personal at all. My family is very wealthy. You know who
Kane Bannerman is, right?”

She
nodded.

“His
company is over one hundred years old, and at one time, my grandfather was in
business with his. Our fathers weren’t in business together, but neither were
they rivals. In fact, my father credits his father with teaching him everything
he knows about running a business.”

“Did
your father do what you do? Design hardware and such?”

“No,
he worked in finance first, like Kane’s family, and then moved into designing
communications systems such as towers and routers. Do you remember I mentioned
finding people who can help us figure out whether or not it’s possible to
reverse the earth’s magnetic fields?”

“Yes.”

“One
of the men who worked with my father when he moved into the communications
systems field has a son who went into the same business for a while. His name
is Corbin Bertrand, and he and I met as undergrads. Corbin now is CEO of
California Systems. They keep the hothouses going so we all have food.
Obviously there’s no need for cell towers underground, so Corbin took his
knowledge of physics and applied it to something useful underground.”

“So
he’s your physics expert, then?”

“Yes.
We also have an engineer with expertise in both electrical and magnetic
fields.”

“How
is that going, by the way? I mean the work on reversing the fields.”

“We
have a long way to go before coming up with any sort of test. We might not even
be able to test it first. That’s what we have Corbin and Harold Gregory working
on. Harold is the electrical and magnetic engineer. Currently, he’s VP of
research at Air Dynamics. They built and maintain the air locks, and he’s a
friend of Viggo’s.”

She
couldn’t help but smile. “Is there anyone in any field that at least one of you
doesn’t know?”

His
grin sent wetness to her pussy again, and Emma squirmed in her seat. “We do
have a lot of connections.”

His
talk about family money and one hundred year old companies convinced her more
than ever that something wasn’t right about the amount of wealth Leland had,
but she didn’t want to spoil the evening by mentioning it to Atticus. Maybe
another time. Then again, why give a shit at all? Leland was out of her life
forever, and she wanted to keep it that way.

Their
talk had turned back to the individual businesses of the Weathermen when their
entrees were served. Emma tasted her steak, and made noises that she realized
too late were more closely associated with being in the throes of an orgasm
than with tasting fabulous food. She laughed to cover up her embarrassment.
“Sorry, but this is seriously incredible.”

“Thank
you.” He bowed his head slightly. “I’m pleased you approve of my grilling
skills.”

“It’s
perfect.” She tasted the lobster next and closed her eyes. “And this … I
haven’t had lobster in years.”

“When
all this is over and we’re back on the surface, I’ll take you to Maine and
we’ll go out on a boat and catch our own.”

She
looked into his eyes. “You believe that, don’t you? That we will be able to
return to the surface and rebuild everything.”

“I
have to believe it, Emma. Otherwise, what’s the point of all this? We might as
well go up there now and put ourselves at the mercy of the storms. Do you know
I was reading one of the blogs the Storm Troopers keep just this morning, and
it seems the blizzards and ice storms have taken over
now.
It used to be the tornadoes and floods they had to fear, but now they’re all
battling ways to keep warm.”

“Don’t
we have enough data? Can’t they come back underground?”

“Are
you kidding? These men and women live for this. There’s a lot of lightning now,
too. More than there used to be. Corbin and Harold are very excited about that
because they say it proves the magnetic fields are working like they should.”

“Does
that mean they really believe they can be reversed?”

“I
think they believe it in theory, yes, because it has happened in nature. No one
has tried to do it manually, and all at once, however.”

“I
hope it works, because I want to go to Maine now and catch lobsters with you.”

He
raised his glass, giving her one of those intense looks again that sent her
heart fluttering. “So do
I
.” He clinked his glass
against hers, and she realized that in the three years she had dated Leland,
not once had he talked about their future, or speculated what they might do
together if they could return to the surface one day.

All
the red flags had been there, but she hadn’t seen any of them. Or, perhaps she
had, but she’d purposefully ignored them? It was easy to look back now and say
should have, could have,
would
have. But at the time,
she hadn’t consciously been aware of any more than an occasional misgiving.
Those, she’d easily brushed aside each time.

“Where
did you go just now?”

“What?”

“You
look far away.”

“I’m
sorry. Dreaming of what might be one day.” A tiny lie like that wouldn’t hurt
anything. She certainly didn’t want to discuss Leland tonight, and she wished
she’d stop thinking about her time with him.

He
gave her a sideways glance. “There’s something I wanted to explain to you.”

“Okay.”

“You
were so open with me about your relationship with Leland, that I wanted to
explain a comment I made to you.”

“Was
it the one about trust being destroyed?”

There
was that sheepish grin again. If he didn’t stop doing that, they wouldn’t make
it to the end of dinner before she grew bold and horny enough to kiss him.

“Oh,
you caught that?”

“Yes.”

He
leaned back and put his hands on the bench. “Her name was Alicia Mansfield, and
you might hear her name at work because up until a couple of years ago, she
worked in the administrative assistant pool.”

Emma
put down her fork to give Atticus her full attention.

“We
dated for over six months, and although I always use condoms on general
principle, there was one time we didn’t. No special reason why. It simply
happened. She was on the pill so we both laughed it off, but a couple of weeks
after that day, she told me she was pregnant.”

He
had a child?

“Unfortunately,
I then found out she’d lied to me. She was never pregnant.”

“How
did you find out she lied?”

He
glanced away for a second, and she suddenly realized she hadn’t needed to ask.
She knew exactly what he’d done.

“You
hacked into her medical records, didn’t you?”

“Only
because I suspected she had lied.”

“Atticus,
that doesn’t make it right.” Anymore than it had been right for him to go
looking through confidential HR files at the Central Police Headquarters in
Central.

“I
know. I’m sorry I did that. But that’s why I’m telling you this now. I’m
ashamed of what I did.”

“Are
you also ashamed of snooping in my HR files, and in the HR files of my former
coworkers?”

“Yes
and no. I did that because of reasons we’ve already discussed. I looked at
Alicia’s medical records because of things she said to
others,
that were then passed along to me,
that made me believe she was trying
to trick me into getting married.”

“Wouldn’t
the truth have come out eventually?”

“We
had stopped using condoms once I thought she was pregnant, and later she
admitted she had stopped taking the pill. She was waiting to get pregnant for
real.”

“Um,
does she think you can’t count? The timeline would have been off.”

The
corners of his mouth turned up slightly. “Yeah, I know. Her plan wasn’t very
well thought out.”

“Is
that why you fired her?”

“I
didn’t fire her. She quit.”

“You
must have cared for her or you wouldn’t have made that comment about trust
being destroyed.”

“I
did care for her. I hadn’t thought about marrying her, but once I thought she
was carrying my child, I was ready to commit to her long-term for the sake of
the child. What she did hurt me a great deal, and I never want to be lied to
like that again.”

“I
can understand why something like that would make you wary of trusting anyone.”

“It’s
not only that. It made me think a great deal about marriage and children in
general. I’m not getting any younger. I want to get married one day and have
children before it’s too late to do either.”

“Did
you consider getting back together with Alicia?”

“No.
I knew I’d never trust her after that. I meant what I said about trust being
destroyed in everyone. In fact, you’re the first woman I’ve trusted this much
since she and I broke up.”

She
hadn’t expected that. “I’m flattered, Atticus. Thank you. Why do you trust me
so much?”

He
leaned forward and reached across the table to take her hands. His skin was so
warm, and his touch sent tiny shivers up and down her spine. “Because of what
you went through. You gave your complete trust, not to mention your virginity,
to a horrible man. What he did to you was the lowest of lows. And from what you
said about your dating life before that, you were humiliated for years. No one
I’ve ever known came out of experiences like that with the kind of drive and
determination you’ve shown.”

She
didn’t know what to say. He’d stunned her with his compliments. No man had ever
spoken to her the way Atticus did, or made her feel as worthy as he did.

“I
know I can trust you because I’ve seen your true character under adverse
circumstances, and under favorable ones. You haven’t lied to me, and your
comment earlier about my snooping into Alicia’s medical records not being
right, no matter what my reasons were, proves to me that you’re a person who
can be trusted to do the right thing, even when it’s hard to do.”

“Don’t
put me on a pedestal just yet. I have my flaws. We all do.”

“You’re
right. We do. But I’m trying to explain why I trust you. Emma, it’s so damn
refreshing to feel this way again. I’ve had a tough time of it with everyone
I’ve dated since Alicia.”

“I’m
sorry.”

He
shook his head. “No, you don’t need to apologize. Look, I know you were hurt
badly. I know you’re gun shy. I am, too, but I don’t want to be any longer. I
want to keep seeing you. I want to make love to you. I want to help you feel
good about yourself, and I want to show you that not all men are like Leland.
Not all men lie and cheat. Not all men use women for their own gains.”