Draco (Coded for Love 2)

“I’ve had time management people in who’ve charged thousands of pounds to quote textbook stuff on how paperless offices should work—in an ideal world.” He shook his head.

“From my brief time working here,” Draco ventured, “everyone seems happy, it’s a great environment. You treat your staff well and you have great facilities. But people commute, they have families. They’re desperate to get on the Internet for five minutes to order some groceries. You could make it official, allow shopping online during the lunch break, something like that.”

“Limits on personal use of internet are difficult to instigate.”

“Unless you need a publicly acceptable reason to fire someone.”

Compton laughed. “Given.”

“You allow smokers a smoking break. Why not give them an Internet break so they can order food for their kids, you could make it part of the flexi time lunch break.”

Compton stared at him. “Okay, you’ve got my attention.”

Jeez, it that what it was about? Draco broke into a laugh, he couldn’t help it. “Mr. Compton, what is it I need to do for you to take me seriously?”

Compton smiled. It made him look so much more human. “I have a team meeting tomorrow morning, management level. I want to expose how easy it was for you to access the systems. I’d like you to prepare a short presentation, tell them how you did it so they can work on closing loopholes.”

“I can do that.”

“Work on it remotely. I’d like Lara to stay with us tonight. There are a few family changes we need to discuss.”

Draco nodded, but his mind whirred, an idea—a hope—lighting him up. “Can I bring in a friend to assist with the presentation?”

“A friend?”

“Call him an almost brother-in-law.”

“What sort of fee are we talking about?”

Draco shrugged. “A token, nothing extravagant. Some DIY vouchers would be especially useful.”

Compton’s puzzled expression was too funny.

Draco liked to undermine stereotypical expectations of him and his world. “He’s got house renovations to do. He’s good with code.”

“If you want me to take you seriously why don’t you deliver yourself?”

“I will prepare the information, the only request is Rory present it.”

“I’ve got my top management guys coming in here and you expect them to listen to someone who looks like a painter and decorator?”

“Biker, he looks like a biker.”

Compton rolled his eyes.

“There are two reasons why I suggest this. Rory looks like their expectation of a hacker. I was undercover and very few people knew, nobody figured out. Rory could have been working for you privately.”

“Why don’t you want people to know it was you? The kudos could be good for you. You could make a career out of it.”

“I guess you’re right, but I’d like to continue working for Compton Finance. If my cover is blown, people will never trust me.”

“True enough.” He held Draco’s gaze for a long moment. “You’re serious about wanting to stay on?”

“Yes, I am.”

A flash of admiration showed in his eyes. “I’m glad you like it enough to want to stay.”

“Does that mean you’ll consider it?”