Wire (Pierce Securities Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

for all he was worth like a Don Johnson wannabe. The Miami Vice throw-back wore a white linen suit—which Evan’s mother would have said was gauche after Labor Day—with a hot pink shirt underneath. His spray-on tan and bottled streaks in his hair added to the nouveau riche effect.
    The man smirked as he watched Evan watch him, and Evan made a mental note as Don Johnson followed Paige into her office before he went into his own. He needed to find out who that guy was, telling himself he could be a suspect, but knowing the weird lump in his gut was pure jealousy. He was startled to see a young woman was sitting in one of his chairs, waiting for him. She looked familiar, and Evan assumed he’d seen her in the staff meeting, but couldn’t remember a name.
    “Hi, Mr. Rocco. It’s so nice to finally meet you.” She stretched out her hand, and he shook it, her hand lingering in his longer than was polite.
    “Evan, please. I don’t get the impression we stand on formalities here.” He sat behind his desk, still immaculate as he hadn’t unpacked anything, choosing to carry his satchel into the meetings with him. “You are?”
    “Terry. I work in Development. I’m in charge of the characters, and your research into AI has been crucial to my work. I just wanted to come in and gush to you a little.” Her voice was a little breathy, and Evan couldn’t help but wonder if it was nerves or if she was hitting on him. Then her words sank in. Great. Everyone knew his history.
    Feeling the heat rise to his face, Evan countered, “Does everyone here know my past?” He didn’t know if that would help him or hurt him in his endeavors to solve this mystery.
    Terry nodded, “Yeah, but most of them think you’re a living legend.”
    “Who doesn’t?” Realizing how arrogant that sounded, he backtracked, “What I mean is, am I going to have any problems out of anybody here?” Until he could do some digging, everyone at PSL was a person of interest. He needed somebody to stand out from the crowd.
    She shrugged. “Probably. But there are assholes everywhere, right? And since you’re new, so to speak, like not specifically Team Paige or anything, I think you’ll be okay.” She leaned back and crossed her shapely legs.
    “Team Paige?”
    “Oh, you didn’t know about the takeover?” He nodded. “Well, she didn’t fire all the tech people, she let most of them keep their jobs, and some of them haven’t been exactly appreciative.” He knew Paige hadn’t fired most of Patton’s employees and made a mental note to ask her about that.
    “I see.” Her take on it was interesting. “So you think I’m okay?”
    Her gaze dropped to his lips, and he smiled at her, needing an ally. “Definitely. I totally think you’re okay.” She eye-fucked him until it got uncomfortable. The thought crossed his mind that she might be available to use to his advantage. All of her actions seemed deliberate, from the crossing of her legs to the way she licked her lips.
    Paige’s office down the hallway, and Simon’s understandable credo about sleeping with women on the job, surfaced in his mind. He’d need to find a different way. Maybe just being friends would work.
    “Well, I should go. Call me if you need anything. I’ll be happy to help you get settled in.” It didn’t look to him like she wanted to go the friend angle, though. Not the way she licked her lips, eyeballed his chest, and then winked at him. Damn.
    “Thanks, Terry.” She stood to leave, and he called out, “Can you leave my door open on your way out? Thanks.” He tried to ignore the swagger of her hips as she left.
    Opening his company laptop on his desk, he inserted his own drive and downloaded the cloaking software that would keep curious lookie-loos from hacking in and seeing what he was up to. Then he started transferring files from HR to his drive so he could take them home and comb through them.
    After an hour, Evan’s list of people with motives for