Page 32 of The Damaged Billionaire's Obsession
But why was she scared?
Will's voice pulls me out of my thoughts, but instead of responding to his query of which I didn't hear a single word, I say, “Don’t worry about Saj, Will. You just worry about getting your eyes off Ms. Russo. Is that clear enough?”
“Yes, sir. Still on the topic of Ms. Russo, though,” he says apologetically.
“What is it?”
“She needs to come in and change out your hardware and do some software updates on your computer. That’s what she's been wanting to speak to you about.”
We, or rather, everyone else, had a security scare a couple of weeks ago. Since then systems security team decided to move our communications to a more secure platform and to upgrade our existing hardware.
I have no issues with that, the only problem is with my extra layer of security it can't be done remotely. It needs to be manually updated.
“Can’t Saj do it? No need to trouble her,” I suggest.
“I asked Saj already if he could do it, but says he’s trained Ms. Russo for that reason. Besides she's done the same for the other senior executives,” Will responds.
Fuck. I don’t want her in here, touching my things. It’s bad enough that thoughts of her are driving me to distraction.
Will knows about my obsessive need to have things returned to their original state—envelopes, packages, books, everything. So do all the senior partners, although they don’t know why.
“Fine, then. Find a time I’m away, and be sure to clean up here afterward.”
“I understand, sir.” He knows I mean to get rid of fingerprints.
Chapter 8
Bonnie
I check my watchfor the tenth time wondering if I can quickly wolf down my turkey and avocado sandwich before my appointment.
It's now eight minutes past my appointment time and I'm still waiting for Will's call.
Out of all the top executives, Ethan’s system is the only one I’m yet to update because he's got some complex voodoo firewall that prevents it from being done remotely.
I want to roll my eyes again. Even we in systems security aren't as anal with our data security as Ethan is. But like many other things about him, we've come to accept he just wants his security set up in a certain way.
Apparently, whatever Zeus wants, he gets.
And I'm supposed to be the drama queen.
After I hounded Will for days, Ethan finally overrode my lunchtime slot, sending me a lovely apology message and a mouth-watering bonus for taking it.
I've since been wondering why he wanted my lunchtime slot. It's not even bookable, but he'd somehow converted it.
I finally figured out it's because the only time he doesn't work is his lunch hour. And that’s when he’s booked the update for. When he wouldn’t be in.
It makes sense to think he's so efficient that he doesn't want to lose a single minute of work, but I can't help the niggling thought that it's because he just doesn't want to see me.
That thought is like a knife to the gut. Do I now repel him on such a personal level that he's happy to send me messages and emails, but we have no physical contact?
I don't raise the issue with anyone for fear they might think I’m crushing on him, like the many other women on and off the tech floor.
And I’m certainly not crushing on him. I just had a momentary lapse in judgment that night.
God, it had felt really good standing close to him, his smell, that look in his eyes…
It's been three weeks. It should be fading from my memory, not getting more intense with each passing day.