“You gotta be kidding me.” I grab my phone out of my pocket and bring up one of my old web searches, one that involves Violet Fowler. Just as I thought. “That’s Violet’s ex-boyfriend.” I feel like a complete idiot for ignoring the folders saved within Pilar’s in-box, figuring they weren’t anything important. And I was in a hurry to find out any details I could to help Lily. I should have dug deeper.
“And that is … one of Forrest’s daughters.” Levi cocks a brow.
“The daughter who’s set to run Fleur one day,” I tell him.
“Yeah, well she’s not with this Zachary guy anymore, right? Because he’s chatting up your client every chance he gets, describing in lurid detail exactly what he’s going to do to her naked body the minute he gets near it. Here’s an example.” He clicks open one of the emails.
I miss the taste of your skin, the way your nipples feel between my lips, the way you scream my name and pull my hair when I make you squirt in my mouth.
Squirt? Shit. That’s not sexy. “Uh, I didn’t really need to see that,” I say with a grimace.
Levi closes out the email. “Yeah, well I thought since I had to suffer through it, you should, too. Considering you didn’t find it in the first place.”
Way to make me feel like a loser. I can beat my own self up, thank you very much. “Great. Appreciate it,” I mutter. “I’m sure her old man, Fowler, would be pissed to discover this interesting bit of information.”
“Well, this is just the tip of the iceberg.” Levi practically bounces in his chair he’s so excited. He lives for this sort of thing. Closing out of the Fleur in-box, he clicks on a few links, taps a couple of keys, and another in-box appears. “This is Pilar’s personal Gmail account. And let me tell you, this one is full of the goods.”
“Like what?” I lean in closer, peering at the screen, reading the endless list of emails that clutter up the in-box. “Doesn’t she ever clean this thing out?”
“From what I can tell, no, and that’s what makes it such a gold mine of information. I’m sure your little hacker had a field day when she discovered it.”
“And how do you know I took it from a woman?” I ask, turning to glare at Levi.
He laughs. “Give me a break. I know for a fact this laptop belongs to Lily Fowler, asshole. Forrest Fowler’s oldest daughter.”
“That obvious, huh?” We’ve run into computers in the past where Levi was never able to figure out exactly who owned it, they were that good at hiding their personal information. There are a lot of paranoid people out there.
Looks like Lily Fowler isn’t one of them.
“Yeah, there was no hiding for this chick. She’s as bold as she pleases.” Levi’s description of Lily is apt, making me miss her. It’s more than that. My entire body aches for her, and not just because of the sex, though it’s so damn good between us, I can’t deny it.
I just flat-out miss her. The sound of her voice, her sweet and sexy laugh. The way she looked at me, the things she said. How she so easily trusted me. And I screwed her over like a callous asshole.
An asshole who’s halfway in love with her, truth be told. I barely know her, but I know enough. I care for her, making what I did to her that much worse.
I felt like a shit the entire flight home, that laptop in the new backpack I purchased at the airport before the plane left sitting right at my feet. Mocking me, making me feel like the world’s biggest asshole.
I tried to sleep on that long-ass flight but I couldn’t. Was too wracked with guilt over what I did to Lily. Leaving her in her bed alone was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Taking the fucking laptop from her scored right up there as well.
She must hate me. And I can’t blame her. I wronged her. Stole from her.
She should hate me. I hate myself for what I did. But did I really steal from her? Or do her a damn favor?
“And there’s no hiding for Pilar Vasquez, either.” Levi shakes his head, a faint smile curling his lips—a rare sight. The dude is beyond intense, serious all the time. “I was blown away reading a lot of this shit, and you know me. I don’t get embarrassed easily.”
The stuff Levi has stumbled upon while thoroughly investigating someone’s hard drive has shocked even me, but he’s usually as cool as they come. Completely unruffled and always composed—that’s why I enjoy working with him so much. He gets the job done and he knows how to handle himself.
“Nasty shit or what, bro?” I ask, curiosity filling me.
“More like evil stuff. She’s mean as fuck. Like, makes me feel uneasy and afraid she’s lurking around the corner ready to jump me type shit.” Levi runs a hand through his dark hair, mussing it up further. The guy looks like he hasn’t slept or shaved for days and he probably hasn’t. He’s been too intent working on this case for me. I handed the laptop to him within a few hours of arriving back in New York after my search became stalled and he hasn’t let up since. “I’ll tell you this. I wouldn’t fuck with this chick. Lily Fowler’s got balls.”
Hell, and I’m seriously considering fucking with this chick. But I got balls, too. “So break it down for me. I need details.” We’re talking all around it and I need to know exactly what Lily did to Pilar—and what Pilar, in turn, did to Lily.
“All right, this is what I’ve come up with so far. Let’s focus on Fleur.” Levi holds out his splayed hand and starts counting down. “Let’s call your client PV. PV is a management employee at Fleur. She also happens to be fucking the CEO of Fleur. Looks to me like she has another Fleur employee on the side, but he’s in another country, so I don’t know if he really counts.”