Free Breaching His Defenses (Love Hack #1) by Allyson Lindt

anymore. Without solid answers, Jared would just have to cover as many bases as he could. He needed to get his own internal team on things, reaffirm internal operations were solid, and then put a plan in place to tie off the flow of bad press before it got worse.
    He already had his phone out as he headed in the direction of the hotel, sending texts to Tate and Vivian to join him as soon as possible, and another back to the office to get the internal investigation started.
    Five minute later, he’d secured a large booth in the back corner of a restaurant built to look like an old English pub. The setting hadn’t been as important to him as the fact that it was mostly empty.
    He flipped his tablet open and started making lists. Writing notes. Getting every thought written down, regardless of how small it seemed.
    By the time Tate and Vivian joined him, a plate of cheese fries sat untouched in the middle of the table, and he had a rough plan mocked up. He’d sifted through everything they’d already heard from lost clients—including the details of last night’s call—and had his top person investigating back at the home office.
    “What’s up?” Vivian grabbed a fry, nibbled, and then grimaced and set it aside. “Cold.”
    “Order more.” Jared wasn’t eating. He spun his tablet toward his colleagues, pointing to different sections of his notes as he talked. “We need to stop this before it gets worse. Distribute talking points to anyone who’s client facing, remind people about internal procedures. I’ll email you both. We need to start this sooner rather than later.”
    Tate pulled his attention from the waitress after sending her away with a smile. “Is this overkill?”
    Jared frowned. “You tell me. Do you want another sale like last night’s?”
    Tate exhaled loudly. “Then is this enough?”
    That was the problem. The one question Jared couldn’t stop asking, regardless of steps on a page. It should be plenty. And Tate was right. Under normal circumstances, it would be overkill. But obviously they were missing something, and they needed to make sure the situation didn’t get worse.
     
    ****
     
    Mikki crossed her legs at the ankles and kicked them beneath her chair. Fortunately, the drape covering the front of the table she sat at should hide the movement from the room full of people. She sat on a raised stage, along with five other people—one a moderator standing at the podium separating the two tables.
    Jared was on the other side, and she was doing her best to pretend he was just another person. Her racing pulse and vivid imagination disagreed, but she beat them back with moderate success. She needed full control of her sensibilities for this conversation.
    Someone in the crowd asked an opened-ended question, directed at anyone. Mikki’s answer rose to tip of her tongue but stuck there. She wasn’t sure she liked this new internal filter that cared what people thought, even if that person was Jared Tippins. Everyone else was exchanging looks, but no one seemed to want to delve into a response.
    Before she could force out her thoughts, Jared leaned forward, and in some of the most measured words she’d ever heard, handed out a nicely wrapped answer about internet security and industry standardization.
    He was sexy, but not very outside the box as far as she could tell. Was this the man she’d been taught had revolutionized network security? A tiny snort slipped from her throat before she could stop it. Heat flooded her cheeks when several pairs of eyes swiveled in her direction.
    Like most the people in the room, Jared locked his gaze on hers. His voice was smooth and confident. “I think Ms. Elford has a different opinion.”
    She shook her head. “I’m fine.” It didn’t matter if she disagreed with him or not. It wasn’t even because she hadn’t stopped thinking about him for more than a couple of minutes at a time all day. If she pretended hard enough, it didn’t even have to do