“You, too, Jacob,” she said, that smile not fading a single iota.
“Hey, don’t you look beautiful,” I said, moving up beside my brother.
She immediately let go of Jacob’s hand and moved in to me, tipping her head back to accept a kiss. I was sure she expected just a casual peck, and that was probably what it should have been. But I couldn’t resist drawing her close and taking advantage of the knowledge that she enjoyed my kiss. I pressed my lips to hers firmly as I slid a hand around her waist, urging those gorgeous, full lips apart. She sighed as she moved in to me, her body molding to mine, accepting the kiss she knew she had no choice but to endure. She seemed more receptive to it today, less stiff than she’d been in the car last night. And, I had to admit, that made me want to push to see just how far she’d allow me to go.
She was so tiny. It was a little awkward, bending so low to pull her closer to me. But it also brought out something inside of me, made me want to wrap myself around her and hide her from the world. It was a sort of caveman idea, that mine, mine, mine sort of mentality. And, as she was mine, I so desperately wanted to possess every inch of her.
“Don’t forget that meeting, Lucien,” Jacob said, breaking through the little cloud I’d lost my head inside of.
Adrienne broke the kiss and pressed her face against the front of my shirt. I slid my hand over the back of her head as I straightened and focused on my brother.
“I won’t. But I think I’ll show Adrienne around beforehand.”
Jacob glanced back at me. “I don’t need to remind you of the rules regarding visitors, do I?”
I groaned. “It’s my company, too. You don’t always have to treat me like I’m a child.”
Jacob actually smiled at that.
“It was nice to see you again, Adrienne,” he said before slipping through the door and pulling it closed behind him.
The moment we were alone, Adrienne pulled away.
She walked around me and started checking out my office like a nosy guest at a dinner party looking through the medicine cabinet. But the serious expression on her face and the methodical way she went about it made me feel uneasy.
“What are you…?”
She held up a finger and gestured for me to be quiet. She walked behind my desk and ran her fingers under the edges, then pulled open the top two drawers, sticking her hand inside to feel the underside of the desk top. Then she pulled something out of the dainty purse she’d been carrying over her shoulder, studying it for a moment before she waved it around the room. Then she walked, pausing here and there, before she finally sighed and slid the device back into her purse.
“Okay. It’s safe to talk here.”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
“We’ve had cases like yours that were as simple as someone placing a bug in the CEO’s office so they could overhear every conversation he had. But there doesn’t appear to be anything here.”
“You’re sure?”
“As positive as the latest technology can make me.”
I was kind of impressed. She was not what I’d imagined.
“My father has some of our people checking out the people on your team. We should know soon if there are any irregularities in their bank accounts that might suggest they’ve been talking to someone about your device.”
“Do you think someone might have already made some sort of payment?”
She reached up like she was going to rub her eyes, but then she stopped and dropped her hands to her side, holding them stiffly, as if she were trying to remind herself how to behave.
“It’s possible,” she said, her eyes moving around the room like she was still looking for something off.
“If that’s true, then we could be in real trouble.”
“This thing is really important, isn’t it?”
“It is. I could make life for a child with diabetes so much easier. Diabetes is a difficult condition to live with. Adding five to seven shots a day to it is a nightmare for a child who cries when the doctor wants to give them the occasional vaccination.”
Her expression softened as the scenario I’d described registered. And that flash of deep sadness that I’d noticed twice at the bar passed through those intense eyes. Again I wanted to ask her what that was about, but then she began walking around the room again.
“Tell me about you support staff,” she said.
I glanced toward the door, an almost automatic reaction whenever I thought of Jaime.
“Jaime—you met her out at the elevators—is my personal assistant. She’s been with the company since its inception. She and Colin—Jacob’s assistant—were the first two people we hired. Even before the first team of scientists.”
“You trust them.”
“Of course.”
“Would they know about the projects you’re working on here?”