Submission Impossible (Masters & Mercenaries Reloaded 1)

Seemed? He’d told her time and time again the night before that he thought she was gorgeous.

She had to stop thinking about that man. He’d made it plain this morning that they were over since she wasn’t willing to drop her whole world because they’d spent a night in bed together.

The best night. A night she was never going to forget.

“I’m glad to hear it.” Pete sat down beside her. “I spent some time with the legal department.”

“I’ve got a meeting this afternoon.” It was only to be expected. She had to file paperwork about the incident with several of the departments. She’d already talked to security and then HR. She hoped Jessica herself forgot about wanting to speak to her.

“You know they’re going to want you to sign away your rights to sue,” Pete pointed out.

The legal department of Genedyne worked a lot of overtime. “I thought I did that when I hired on.”

“She’ll want more. She’ll want you to say you took the chance, and she’s not responsible for anything.”

She shrugged. “I don’t know that I can blame her for this. I don’t think we should change the gym protocols or anything. It would suck to have to key into the locker room from the gym. And honestly, whoever it was likely would have found a way. I’m not sure it was about me. I think I might have been in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

She didn’t truly think that, but she and Hutch had decided to play it this way. She didn’t want to draw more attention to herself by being the chick with all the conspiracy theories.

Especially since she was starting to believe at least one of them was true.

Whoever had been in the locker room had only looked through two lockers. Hers and Madison’s. What was the connection? She was missing something, but she couldn’t figure out what. All the pieces were there, but she couldn’t make them fit yet.

“Well, it’s definitely her responsibility that the security cameras were out,” Pete mused. “I find that very convenient.”

She did, too, but there was nothing she could do about it at this point. Hutch might be able to tell if someone deliberately turned them off or if they failed, like she was being told.

“Well, I was glad I was there to let that man of yours through,” Pete admitted. “I think he would have kicked the door in if I hadn’t. Why was his brother up in the executive offices earlier? That was his brother, right? I met him last night.”

“Kyle, yes.” She understood the story she was supposed to tell. “He’s recently out of the military and came up here to look for work. Jessica took a liking to him.”

“You mean Jessica got a look at him,” Pete corrected.

She gave him a faint smile. “Yes. I’m afraid she did.”

She couldn’t laugh about it after the stories Hutch had told her.

Except they weren’t stories. They were his life. He’d had to survive all of it. He’d survived a lot in his life, and he still seemed open and happy. Until she’d told him she was taking that class. Then he’d looked hurt, and he’d shut down to the point that they’d barely spoken again.

Would he even be there this evening? Or would he leave her with Kyle and go on about his life?

“Well, I can’t blame her. He’s hot. Have you warned him that women can be sexual harassers, too?” Pete asked.

“I think he’s going in with his eyes open,” she replied. She glanced over, and her whole staff seemed to be standing at attention. Her science geeks who usually were hunched over their laptops or peering at their ongoing experiments were standing tall.

“This the new data?” Pete looked at her screen. “Damn. That’s an excellent save ratio. That’s ten percent more than standard now.”

She nodded, her eyes on the room outside. This part of the lab was separated by floor-to ceiling glass walls. It was all very modern and allowed her to see over the whole space without being distracted by chatter. “Yes. It’s promising.”

She was about to turn her attention back to him and start the discussion of how to replicate those results with other devices when she caught sight of why her techs looked like a bunch of deer in the presence of a lion.

Lioness.

Jessica Layne strode through the lab, her chic, icy blonde bob barely moving, as though her hair knew to behave or else. She wore a designer sheath that showed off how toned she was and heels that brought her to the same height as most of the taller men around her.

She ignored all the techs gawking at her and seemed to be looking for someone.

Noelle.

And Jessica wasn’t alone. Kyle walked behind her, his shoulders straight and eyes taking in everything. He had a Bluetooth device in his ear.