Draco (Coded for Love 2)

“No regrets about…us?”

Wow, he really was concerned for her well-being. It was rather gentlemanly and old-fashioned, and completely unexpected. “No regrets. You?”

“Of course not.” He grinned, looking at her as if she’d asked a really silly question.

She had, she supposed, but she wasn’t building too much into it, even though she wanted to trust him. It was really getting to her, the trust issue. Why? Because they’d slept together, or because he’d joked about accessing the family code vault the night before? “You won’t take advantage of your access will you?”

His expression darkened instantly. “Is that why you slept with me, as an added incentive to stay on the straight and narrow? Perk of the job?”

“No! Bloody hell, Draco!” How dare he think that?

Fuming, she rushed off and grabbed her shoes and bag, then phoned for a cab. Tears pricked at the back of her eyes, but she wasn’t going to give into them.

They traveled to work without further comment, each of them silently looking out opposite windows.

Once they got out of the car he grabbed her hand, and drew it to his mouth to kiss it. “Hey, friends?”

Melting, she nodded. “If you get me a large, strong coffee, yes.”

As they walked inside he kept hold of her hand. Lara enjoyed his touch, but it had been a good reminder of what her priorities should be.

Later that day, Harry called by.

“How are you into doing?” His hands were locked firmly over the low wall of their cube, and he peered at them both in turn. “Anything to report?”

Harry wanted this done and over with as quickly as possible, and she had agreed, before she got involved with Draco. Now she wanted to string it out for as long as possible. That was wrong though. She had to get the prize before her brother’s. Feeling conflicted, she offered him a smile. “Everything’s under control. Thank you.”

“We’re concentrating on the first task,” Draco chipped in, steering his office chair nearer to hers to get into the conversation without the risk of being overheard.

It meant his knees brushed along the side of her thighs, sending her into a spin. How was it possible that the mere touch of him through layers of clothing could muddle her thoughts even more than they already were?

She reached out and grabbed her keyboard, rearranging it on the desk.

Harry watched her, his eyebrows drawing together.

“I want to be sure the database is well in hand and we can show good progress across the time the other task will take us.”

Lara could only thank goodness Draco was responding to Harry.

“Did Compton Senior seem suspicious at all when you met him?”

“I didn’t think so,” Lara said.

“I don’t know the guy, obviously, but I didn’t think so.”

Harry nodded. “Let’s hope to God you’re able to keep it that way.”

“Chill,” Draco responded. “If I get found out, I’ll take full responsibility. Lara will not be implicated. I can easily say I tricked her into asking for a placement here.” He looked directly into her eyes. “You’ll be protected, don’t worry, I thought about it.”

Astonished, she studied him silently for a moment and had to remind himself of Harry’s presence by glancing at him. “That’s not in the contract.”

“Should have been,” Harry said gruffly under his breath.

Harry’d been the one who wanted to include all the points on the contract, he took on the task for her protection. But she was ready to take responsibility for her actions. It was the honorable thing to do. Besides, if this didn’t impress her father, nothing would. If it went belly up, she’d be little girl lost on the outside of the family forever. Which was pretty well what she was, given he was throwing her crumbs from the table with this placement offering the first place.

“It doesn’t matter whether it was in the contract or not,” Draco shrugged. “I thought about it and I’ve got a cover story ready. If any mistakes are made on my part, you stay out of it.”

Harry ducked his head closer. “What about the other project?”