The Prince's Resistant Lover Page 0,21
he had taken no more than three steps.
“I’m going to prove that you’re not as repulsed by my touch as you continue to assert. That should go a long way towards proving that you are a liar.”
She looked around, trying to figure out how to stop him. When nothing occurred to her, she panicked. “Please Tamar! I’ll eat. I’m starving actually. I really could use some food right now and what you’ve provided smells absolutely delicious.”
Tamar stopped, looking at her pale skin and the glassy look in her eyes. She definitely needed to eat something and he found that he couldn’t seem to push himself on her, even though he knew that it would take very little effort to get her purring in his arms once more. Priorities, he told himself. She needed food, then she needed to understand that he would not tolerate her lies.
He reached out and took her hand, intending to drag her over to the table, but instead, he tucked her hand onto his arm and led her gently over to the table. He even pulled out the chair for her despite the fact that he was sorely irritated with himself for giving her any kind of consideration.
“Tell me about your past. What got you into the hacking business?” he asked, sitting down across from her and lifting the silver covers off of several bowls filled with fragrant, diced meat, a bowl of black rice and various grilled vegetables.
Wyndi contemplated ignoring him, remaining silent, but she wasn’t sure what he would do if she refused him. And perhaps she might be able to get some information out of him if she cooperated slightly.
“I learned how to write code in college,” she explained as he filled her plate high with the black rice first, then the meat and vegetables. He also handed her a sauce that smelled incredibly good. She told him about her classes in various subjects, and how none had felt “right” to her until she started creating software code. She’d even developed a video game that would help kids with their math homework.
“What happened with that?” he asked, more intrigued than he wanted to admit.
She shrugged and looked down at her plate, surprised to find that she’d eaten every morsel he’d dished out for her. “I couldn’t get anyone to look at it. They all said they would consider me for employment once I had more experience.” She laughed derisively. “It’s hard to get experience when no one will hire me.”
Her story eased something inside of him. It was astonishing because a few hours ago, he’d thought that nothing could make her crimes make sense to him. “Is that why you started hacking into companies? To earn money since no one would hire you?”
She pulled back, stunned that he would go right for that door. But why wouldn’t he? “You think you have me all figured out, don’t you?” she asked, picking up her wine glass and taking a sip. “But you’re wrong.”
He was surprised to find that he wanted to be wrong. But the possibility of that was pretty slim, not with all the evidence he had against her. Even now, his technical team was working on her computer, finding all sorts of interesting code and the stored results. The results were encrypted, but he was confident that they would find a solution to her encryption before the night was over.
“Why don’t you tell me where I’m wrong?”
She thought about it, but she simply couldn’t trust him any longer. “Let me go home and I’ll give you all the information you want.”
“Give me the information I want and I’ll contemplate letting you go home,” he countered.
She had to laugh, even though it probably wasn’t very funny. “I guess we’re at a stalemate,” she said quietly. “How long are you going to keep me here?”
“Until you tell me what I want to know. I won’t allow my companies or my country to be hurt. So I have to know what you sold and who you sold it to. I have to limit my vulnerabilities.”
She bit her lip, choosing her words carefully. “If I promise you that I didn’t create any vulnerabilities with either Surisia or your country, would you let me go?”
His finger rubbed the rim of the wine glass as he contemplated her request. “Could you prove it?”
“If you give me back my laptop, I could.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “I’m sorry, my beauty. But you are a very skilled person with