The Mogul and the Muscle - Claire Kingsley Page 0,98
the scent of sugar and deep-fried dough.
“I just wish I didn’t have that little doubt about the video,” I said.
“What doubt?”
“That someone still has a copy and it’ll come back to bite me someday.”
“That won’t happen.”
He said it with so much assurance, I stopped and looked up at him. “How do you know?”
“I made sure.”
“Jude, what did you do?”
I could see him trying not to smile, but there was smug satisfaction in his eyes. “A guy I know took care of it. He wrote a program that detects the exact file type and size, down to the byte, and corrupts it. It’s essentially a highly targeted computer virus.”
“I didn’t know that kind of thing existed.”
“It’s not exactly legal. In most countries, at least. The law is more open to interpretation in some places.”
“But how does this not-exactly-legal program know what devices to attack?”
He looked me in the eye. “I made Aldrich tell me.”
“Do I want to know how you did that?”
“Probably not.”
“Jude.”
He casually gestured back to where Aldrich had been standing. “He’s fine. You saw him.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“I held him by the shirt and leaned him over the edge of a ten-story building,” he deadpanned.
I blinked at him. I had no idea if he was serious, or just messing with me. And I decided that maybe it was better if I didn’t know.
“We found them all,” Jude said. There was an edge to his voice. “Everyone he sent it to. Everyone they sent it to. I saw to it personally. And even if we missed one, I promise you don’t need to worry.”
“You’re a little scary when you want to be.”
“Only when necessary.”
I lifted onto my toes and pressed my lips against his. “Thank you.”
“Ready for brunch?” He smoothed down his crisp new shirt—dark blue with white hibiscus flowers. “I can’t wait to see what Lady Raquel thinks of my outfit.”
Jude held the door for me at Mordecai’s Bistro. My hair was loose around my shoulders, my outfit was fabulous, my shoes sparkled, and I had good news to share with my friends. And not just the look on Aldrich’s face when I’d bragged about Jude’s enormous cock.
Although that had felt good.
They were at our usual table, a horseshoe-shaped booth near the back. Emily, her blond hair cut in a slightly new style, her turquoise halter top making her blue eyes pop. Derek, looking smooth as satin in his button-down shirt with the collar open. Luna, wearing an adorable crown of fresh flowers circling her lush dark hair. And Daisy, gorgeous and carefree with violet-streaked blond hair—I had no idea what her natural hair color was—and a shimmery purple top that made her boobs look fantastic.
Jude and I squeezed in with them. Usually it was just us girls at DQB, but none of us minded if our men joined once in a while. We all loved Derek, and my friends loved Jude. And the way the queens gushed over our men was satisfying in an oh hell yes he’s mine kind of way.
Lady Raquel—dressed in an exquisitely gaudy red sequined gown and long blond wig—took our orders. Then we got down to business.
“All right, bitches, what’s new?” I asked and took a sip of my mimosa.
“We’re seeing incredible results with the scar treatment,” Emily said. “Things are progressing better than I hoped for.”
“That’s amazing,” Luna said. “Wild Hearts just got a new distribution deal, which is huge for the company.”
We all gushed at Luna’s awesome news.
Daisy took a sip of her bloody Mary. “I spent a glorious weekend on the Mediterranean with a Greek hottie. It was my reward for closing my latest deal.”
We raised our glasses to Daisy’s accomplishment—and her Greek indulgence.
Finally, it was my turn. “I’m in the market for a new Chief Operations Officer. Noelle Olson turned in her resignation.”
“That’s such good news,” Emily said.
“I still wish you would have fired the dumb bitch,” Daisy said.
“This is perfect because I don’t have to look like the bad guy,” I said. Noelle might not have been behind the efforts to ruin my life, but she’d been a thorn in my side for a long time. I’d been ecstatic when she’d made her announcement a few days ago.
“Where’s she going?” Emily asked.
“An electronics manufacturer. She claims she wants to get out of aerospace and take her career in a new direction. Personally, I think her little stunt with that blogger backfired. It made her look like a traitor, and no one in our industry wants to touch her.”