Moonlighter (The Company, #1)(24)

“There you go. Bedrooms are where they put bugs, anyway.”

“Who does?” I gasp.

“Breathe,” he chides. “Anyone who bugs a home hits the kitchen and bedroom first, because that’s where most serious conversations happen. Those are the places where people forget to be on their guard. My brother and father yap about this shit all the time. I could write a manual on how to invade people’s privacy.”

I laugh. “Fun times at the Bayer Family dinner table.”

“You know it. My dad taught me to hot-wire a car when I was sixteen.”

“Just for fun?” I ask, perking up a little. The distraction of hearing about Eric’s family is even better than deep breathing.

“We were out fishing at a quiet lake in the middle of New Jersey. And I dropped the keys out of the boat. Plunk. Right into the lake. So we had to hot-wire our own car just to get home.”

“Oh, man.” I laugh. “Was your father pissed off?”

“That’s putting it mildly. He made me pay for the replacement key. Fifty bucks. I had to mow three extra lawns just to cover the cost.”

“Both our dads are hard-asses,” I realize. And I’m breathing easier now. I shouldn’t stay right here, plastered to Eric as tightly as a bumper sticker, letting him console me. His role as my fake boyfriend doesn’t really extend to this.

But I like it, okay? Sue me.

And now my adrenaline rush is turning into an adrenaline crash. I’m suddenly so tired. I put my head back down on his shoulder and close my eyes. Just for a minute.

That was the idea, anyway. But the next thing I know, I hear Gunnar’s voice. My eyes fly open, and both Pieter and Gunnar are standing there in front of us.

I sit up straight just in time to hear Gunnar say that they didn’t find anything else in the suite. “He only had enough time to drop the one device. And he didn’t come out on the terrace, or we would have seen it in the video.”

“True,” I say, blinking to clear my vision.

“We’re leaving you a metal rod to secure this sliding door—” Gunnar gestures at the terrace door. “—And an alarm to hang on your hotel room door when you turn in for the night. It’s a simple device. Lock up and then hang it on the door handle before you turn it on. If it’s jostled, it screams.”

“Got it,” Eric says.

“We’ll put a tail on Tatum. You won’t notice our guy, but he’ll follow Tatum any time the man is outside his hotel room.”

“But how will you know when he leaves his room?” I try to picture a security agent standing around on Jared’s hotel floor, trying to look inconspicuous.

Gunnar grins. “Don’t ask, don’t tell.”

“Okay.”

“Do me a favor, though? Email me or Max with the list of meetings you’re taking. We need to take a second look at those business connections. Oh, and if you turned down any requests for meetings, we want those, too.”

“Sure.” Although it won’t be easy to remember who had asked me for a meeting. “I’ll check with my assistant. I’m sure we rebuffed a few suppliers who weren’t up for consideration.”

“Consideration for what?” Eric asks.

“Making the new hardware for my product launch. It’s a sophisticated home network system—both a router and a smart speaker rolled together.”

“With Bingley?” he asks.

“Exactly. We’re buying a lot of components for delivery in October. Chips. Motherboards. Housing. High-end speakers.”

“Your wallet is open,” Gunnar points out. “That makes you interesting to half the people at the conference.”

“Interesting enough for industrial espionage?” Eric asks.

“Absolutely,” Gunnar agrees cheerfully. “Industrial espionage is as common as brushing and flossing at these things.”

It’s true, but I never used to worry very much. It’s weird how my pregnancy has shifted my focus. I’m more afraid of everything right now. Although I’m more afraid of Jared than I am of corporate spies.

“Tomorrow is the cocktail party, right?” Pieter asks.

“I could skip it,” I offer.

Gunnar shakes his head. “You carry on with whatever you had planned. Nobody’s going to get into your room again. And nobody is going to hurt you. You’ll have lots of coverage, okay?”

Pieter pulls two key cards out of his pocket. There are initials written on them in Sharpie: an A and an E. “Take these. We had the lock recoded. The housekeepers’ key cards won’t work on that door any longer. The hotel won’t send anyone to your room without your express permission.”

“I don’t need housekeeping, anyway.”

“Fine. And now we’ll receive an automated text anytime your room door is opened with a key card. If it’s either of your key cards, we’ll match the location of your phones to the room. If it’s not your key card, we’ll come running.”

“Okay,” I say, feeling a little sturdier already. There are three strapping, intelligent men here to protect me, after all. “That ought to cover it.”

“We tried moving you to a different room, but the hotel is full.”

I could have told them that. “I’ll be fine. He won’t come back, right? He’ll realize that his bug failed immediately, and that we’re stepping up the security.”