Since I Fell For You Part 4

Suzanne was crazy fast on those long legs. Roman had never found anyone who could outrun him before, but just minutes into their run, he'd realized he might finally have met his match. When she got the emergency call from her office, she all but blazed back through the park-while protectiveness blazed within Roman.

It wasn't simply because his job was to make sure nothing happened to her. After seeing her interact with both employees and business partners today, and her family the night before, he now knew for sure that she didn't deserve to be treated poorly. Not by anyone.

He'd planned to wait until she was more comfortable with him before questioning her about the email, phone, and corporate server attacks that her brothers had informed him about, but time was now of the essence. Shoving aside his heated physical reaction to the way she'd said, "You're dark, mysterious, and utterly addictive," minutes before-when it had seemed strangely like she was trying to flirt with him-he focused his full attention on the current threat.

"What's going on?"

"Our main server farm has been attacked. It's not completely taken down yet, but we've got to act fast to keep it from collapsing." Her expression was full of grim fury. "We have too many individuals, too many businesses around the world counting on our software to let it go down for even a second."

"Your staff is already on it, aren't they?"

"They are. And I need to get back in there and get into the trenches with them."

He had seen enough to understand that while Suzanne would never say it herself, one of the reasons her staff needed her in the trenches with them was because her brain worked at unmatched speeds. If anyone was going to be able to come up with a solution to this problem quickly, it was likely to be her. She was miles more intelligent than any woman-or man-he'd ever met. And yet, she never shoved her brains in your face.

But he was pretty sure she was sprinting back to her office for more reasons than that. She also seemed to be the kind of person who was determined to fix every problem all by herself. Take the way she'd rejected her brothers' attempts to help, for instance. It wasn't that she wasn't a team player. It seemed more that she might believe accepting help meant she was weak. Whereas Roman had learned a long time ago that sometimes letting someone else help you out of a rough spot was the very best choice you could make.

"How many times has this happened?"

They were running so fast neither of them should have been able to say much, but her answer was perfectly clear. "Too many." She made a little growling sound. "We put in several new safeguards for our servers. This shouldn't have happened. At least not this quickly-unless someone knew exactly where to look, exactly what to aim for."

Her statement brought his earlier thoughts about digging into her employees' backgrounds back to the forefront. "Do you think someone from inside your own company could be doing this?"

She shot him a horrified look. "No. No way. That's not what I'm saying, not at all. My employees would never betray me."

She was obviously disgusted with him for even suggesting it, but it seemed like an obvious question. At least for a guy like him, who had made the mistake of trusting the wrong person before. Honestly, he couldn't imagine what it would be like to have trust like hers, but he wouldn't press his point now. Instead, while she worked on getting the servers back to a hundred percent again, he'd start doing some digging of his own.

"I don't know who's doing this, but whoever they are, they're d.a.m.ned smart if they could unravel our systems in less than twenty-four hours. Which means we'll have to up our game."

Right alongside the anger was a compet.i.tive edge. It was almost as if she welcomed the chance to spin her game up another level. By the hour, his respect for her grew. Respect that could be dangerously close to turning into something more if he didn't lock his usual ironclad self-control back into place.

Roman was panting by the time they pushed through the front door of Suzanne's building. She was too, but that didn't stop her from sprinting up the stairs instead of taking the elevator.

Without pausing, she ran straight toward what he a.s.sumed was command central for her corporate servers. She didn't seem to remember that she was still in running clothes, nor did she seem to notice that she was dripping with sweat as she quickly conferred with her employees. To Roman, it was almost as though they were speaking a foreign language. Seconds later, she was sliding into a chair and opening the laptop her a.s.sistant had brought for her.

No break. No transition or cool-down time. She simply went straight from the hard run to her even harder job with absolute focus, and not one second of complaint. There was work to be done, and it was obvious to Roman-and to each and every one of her employees-that she would do it.

Suzanne Sullivan impressed the h.e.l.l out of him.

Despite his father raising him never to make the mistake of trusting a woman, he knew better than to underestimate women. More than once in his line of work, the threat had been female. The women he'd dated hadn't been dingbats-not all of them, anyway-so he understood that brains combined with beauty weren't an impossibility.

But he'd never met a woman like Suzanne.

It wasn't easy, and Suzanne wasn't happy that her employees' work plans for the day had been upended yet again, but that didn't make it any less satisfying to finally get all the servers back up and running. Even better, while they were at it they mapped out a new plan to make their system even more impervious to attacks.

She looked down at her watch, surprised to see that it was almost seven thirty. "I didn't mean to work everyone so late." Just because other tech companies operated around the clock, didn't mean hers did. Sure, she worked a zillion hours, but that was different. This was her company. It was her responsibility to make sure she took care of everyone, no matter what. "Please apologize to your families for me."

Everyone told her they were more than happy to work late, but she knew they must all be starved and ready to head home. Lord knew she was desperate for a long soak in the bath with a big gla.s.s of wine.

Finally pushing back her chair, she belatedly realized she was still wearing her running clothes. She could hardly remember even going for a run. Only the feel of Roman's arms around her in the park remained.

She spun around on her swivel chair and found him standing nearby. Everyone else was already gone. "Have you been there the whole time?"

"I briefly stepped away a couple of times, but you were always in my line of sight." She should have been indignant at being watched like a toddler who couldn't be trusted not to stumble into danger, but Roman was so un.o.btrusive that it was getting more and more difficult to muster up any anger at him for doing the job her brothers had hired him for.

When it came to her brothers, on the other hand, she could still be furious. And she was. One day, she'd pay them back for trying to take over her life like this. Preferably when they didn't see payback coming.

Her phone alarm went off and a message popped up on her screen: Rosa's online bullying meeting, 8 p.m.

"I have a meeting in thirty minutes."

"Another meeting?" He frowned, looking more forbidding than usual. s.e.xier too, she thought with a small sigh. She hadn't yet figured out how to stop feeling weak in the knees-and hot all over-around him. "You've had a long day already. Can you reschedule?"

"No. I really need to be there. Which means we've got to take the world's fastest shower." She blushed as she realized the way that sounded-as if she were suggesting they shower together. "In separate showers, I mean," she clarified before she belatedly remembered that letting her accidental suggestion of a co-shower linger would have been perfect for the mock seduction she was supposed to be staging.

"I knew what you meant."

Was it her imagination, or did his voice sound a little strangled? As though the thought of the two of them in the shower together had the same effect on him as it did on her-instantly heating up every cell in her body.

"I'll show you where the men's showers are on the way back to my office."

He shook his head. "I can't leave you alone in the building for that long."

She was too tired and hungry to keep herself from snapping, "So that means we really do need to shower together, don't we?"

"I'm fine like this, Suzanne."

He always said her name like that-so serious and sober, and yet warm and rumbly too. It made her blood heat up more each time he said it. Worse, no matter how much she tried to deny it, she couldn't help but want to find out exactly what it would sound like if he said her name when they were sweaty and barely dressed...and not from a run.

"If you feel anywhere near as gross as I do right now," she said, "it wouldn't be fair to make you stay this way. You can use my private shower." Before he could protest, she said, "I won't leave my office while you're in there. Scout's honor."

"Let me guess," he said as they headed toward her office. "Instead of selling Girl Scout cookies on the corner, you masterminded a computer program that did it for you."

"Sometimes the simplest way of doing something is best." She smiled, thinking back to how much she'd enjoyed working on this at school. "But that definitely doesn't apply to selling Girl Scout cookies. It was a lot of fun figuring out not only how to sell enough boxes to make lots of money for charity, but also how to win the grand prize for our local troop." They'd reached her office by then, so she said, "I need to send a couple of quick emails, so why don't you shower first?"

She'd barely finished composing her first email by the time he stepped back out of the bathroom, looking and smelling deliciously clean. Not to mention as drop-dead gorgeous as always in his white shirt and dark suit. Her jaw was going to dislocate soon if she kept letting it fall open like this.

"Your turn," he said, and even the way he turned his left wrist so he could b.u.t.ton his cuff with his right hand made her melt inside.

She tried to play it cool and unaffected as she headed into the shower, but it didn't help that the room was all steamy and smelled like Roman. Her skin felt extra sensitive as she ran the bar of soap over herself. He was right that it had been a long day already, and not just because of the back-to-back meetings and server attack. What had mixed her up the most were all those hours with his dark eyes on her, especially when she couldn't quite seem to rein in how much she liked having him so close.

The problem was, letting Roman stay would mean her brothers won. And since she absolutely couldn't allow that to happen, she needed to stick to her game plan without letting a foolish attraction derail her.

Still, she had to force herself to put the skimpy dress back on. She wasn't looking forward to having to wear another super-s.e.xy outfit tomorrow morning-if she wasn't able to convince him to kiss her and resign by then, that was all the more reason to work harder to get to her plan's finish line.

"Do you have a jacket?" he asked when she emerged from the bathroom. "The temperature outside is bound to have dropped by now."

She did, but she couldn't risk covering up now and blowing her chance to tempt him over the line. "I'll be fine."

But she hadn't counted on how hard the wind was blowing when they headed outside to catch a cab. By the time a taxi pulled over to the curb, it was impossible to hide how cold she was.

Warmth suddenly enveloped her, along with the scent of clean male, as Roman draped his jacket over her shoulders. She knew she should give it back to him, but couldn't resist wrapping it around herself like a blanket instead.

"Thank you," she murmured as he opened the taxi door and she slipped into the backseat.

She gave the driver the address, then told Roman, "Looks like we've got just enough time to get to Rosa's if traffic isn't too bad."

Her growling stomach nearly drowned out her last few words. G.o.d, she was starved. She really hoped Rosa wouldn't mind her raiding her kitchen. Suzanne felt a pang of guilt as she realized that if she was this starved, Roman must be desperate for food, given that he had to have a good fifty pounds on her. All of it muscle. Seriously s.e.xy muscle...

"You need to eat," he said, clearly expecting her to argue with him.

But even if she could go without food a little while longer, she knew he couldn't. "We both do." She got the driver's attention. "Change of plans. Can you pull over at that pizza place on the corner?" Turning to Roman, she said, "It's a hidden gem. They make this one pizza that's the best I've ever had. It's called the-"

"New York Cla.s.sic." His unexpected smile made her heart temporarily stop beating. G.o.d, he was good looking. Especially when his man-of-stone mask fell away.

"You know it?"

"I used to work there. In high school." He almost looked a little bashful as he admitted, "I came up with the toppings for that pizza."

It was one of the first personal things he'd told her about himself without her pushing him to share, and the knowledge was strangely sweet.

"Amazing," she said, not quite sure at the moment if she was talking about the fact that he'd created her favorite pizza...or about the connection that seemed to be growing between them by the second. "You grew up in the city?"

"The Bronx. But a friend's uncle owned the place, and all the free pizza I could eat was a big lure."

She couldn't quite put her finger on why it felt like there was more to his story than just a high school kid working to earn some extra money. Maybe it was the hint of emotion he hadn't quite concealed when he'd mentioned his friend's uncle. Or maybe it was the interesting mixture of antic.i.p.ation and dread on his face at the thought of getting pizza with her there tonight.

Given that she was supposed to be working on a plan to get Roman out of her life as quickly as possible, she shouldn't be so intrigued by him. Shouldn't be trying to figure out what made him tick. But she'd never been one to turn away from something that didn't quite add up.

Especially when that something looked as good in a suit as he did.

The cab stopped, and Roman gave the driver a twenty before she could take care of it. "You don't always have to pay," she said. "In fact, you never should, since technically you work for my company."

But he acted like he didn't hear her as he opened the door to the restaurant. When, she wondered, was the last time she'd been with a guy who had held the door for her to any room but a bedroom?

Not, of course, that she was with Roman. She needed to remind herself of that, because coming here almost felt like a date. None of the guys she'd been out with would have considered this little hole-in-the-wall pizza place up to their standards-not when they were all trying so hard to impress everyone with their fancy suits and expensive watches. Didn't they realize that it was guys like Roman who truly impressed, in large part because he didn't have to try at all?

Seriously. She needed to stop letting her hormones get the best of her. But it wasn't easy to stop feeling all the feelings when the guys behind the counter saw Roman and couldn't contain their excitement.

"Roman, dude, it's you!" The kid at the register yelled back to the kitchen, "Roman is here!"

A gray-haired man in a white chef's cap came out of the kitchen, his face split in a wide smile. "Mr. Huson, it's been too long."

The two men did the one-armed, shoulder-to-shoulder hug Suzanne had seen her brothers do a million times. In an instant, she could see that they were more than friends. They might not be related by blood, but they were clearly family. Again, she wondered what the full story was.

"Jerry," Roman said, taking a step to the side, "this is Suzanne." She recognized the gleam in Jerry's eyes. It was the one every matchmaker had when they thought they were looking at a happy couple. Evidently, Roman saw it too, because he quickly added, "I've recently begun working with her."

Jerry's face fell slightly at the news that Cupid hadn't struck Roman with an arrow, but his smile was still completely genuine as he shook her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Suzanne."

"I absolutely love your pizza," she said, hoping that would help take the sting out of the fact that she and Roman were most definitely not a couple. "When I was in high school, my friends and I always used to be late back from lunch because we couldn't stand to waste even a bite."

"Beautiful and with great taste." No one could have missed the look Jerry shot Roman. One so obvious that she found herself blushing.

"Suzanne has a meeting in a few minutes," Roman said in a more brusque tone than he needed to, given that everyone in the restaurant clearly thought the sun rose and set on every move he made. "Is there any way you can fast-track a New York Cla.s.sic for us?"

"Sure thing." Jerry turned back to her. "Don't let him fool you, Suzanne. All that growling is just for show. And we've renamed that pizza." He grinned. "It's the Roman Cla.s.sic now."

Suzanne was pretty sure Roman might have growled if Jerry hadn't hightailed it back to the kitchen just then. "Why don't you go say a few words to your fan club while I grab a table? I'll barely be a few feet away, right in your line of sight."

Before she even sat down, he was surrounded by a handful of teenage boys. They were all talking to him at once, and while she could tell that he was listening, she knew he was also keeping perfect track of where she was and what she was doing.

No man had ever been so aware of her-and she'd definitely never been this aware of a man. Unfortunately, while he was being paid to pay attention to her, she was simply exhibiting a serious and pathetic lack of self-control.

A few minutes later, he sat down. "Sorry about that. I've known Jerry for so long, and he's desperate for me to be hap-" He cut his sentence short. "I apologize that he thought you were my girlfriend."

Suzanne tried to ignore the twinge of longing for that to be true. "You don't have to apologize for anything. He's very sweet. He obviously wants you to find a nice girl to settle down with."

He frowned, looking even more uncomfortable than he had just seconds before. "He knows better."

"Why would you say that?"

Her too-intimate question sent Roman's impenetrable mask falling right back into place. "Trust me, you don't want to know."

Of course she wanted to know. She was dying to push. To poke. To dig until she got answers. Until she uncovered the man behind the always professional bodyguard. But she'd lived with her brothers long enough to know that a direct hit was rarely the way to get what you wanted. It would be better to try to loosen him up again before fishing for more.

"This must be a pretty boring job for you, watching a bunch of computer geeks all day, isn't it?"

He looked momentarily surprised by her change of subject. "I'm not bored at all. It's my job to deal with physical threats, but the kind of threats you're protecting people from are coming faster and darker all the time. What you're doing with your digital security software, it's important. And plenty interesting."

She was surprised that he truly did seem to find her job interesting. Most guys she'd dated outside of her industry were either bored to tears by her career or threatened by her being the CEO.

"What kind of people do you usually work with?"

"Athletes. Politicians. Actors. Musicians."

"So I'm your first nerd girl, huh?"

When he stopped in mid-sip of his water, she realized it had sounded like yet another double entendre. One she hadn't meant despite her whole seductress plan.

Or had she? Because somehow the idea of being Roman's first nerd girl didn't sound all that bad...

He recovered first. "Definitely the first who keeps calling herself a nerd and a geek. Less than that got you a black eye back when I was in school."

"In my world, nerd and geek aren't insults. As far back as I can remember, I was always the president of the computer club. And honestly, there's always been so much gossip about my family that a bunch of kids throwing those words into it wouldn't have made much difference."