Beauty & the Geek: Hidden Depths Read online

  Mocha Memoirs Press Presents

  Beauty & the Geek:

  Hidden Depths

  Reana Malori

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright© 2011 Reana Malori

  ISBN: 978-0-9840042-0-1

  Editor: Stephanie Parent

  Cover Artist: Nancy Grayson Donahue

  Proofreader: Lacy Hill

  Published by Mocha Memoirs Press, LLC

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews. Due to copyright laws you cannot trade, sell or give any e-books away.

  Other Works by Reana Malori

  To Love a Marine

  Second Chances

  Pralines and Cream

  Weekend Fling

  Stay with Me

  Dinner for Three

  Escape to Heaven

  Salvation

  Chapter One

  Roxanne Barnes, klutz extraordinaire, had done it again. It never failed.

  Every time she was in the public eye, she fell flat on her ass…literally.

  Face flaming, she heard titters and giggling from the audience as they watched her trip, saw her attempt to catch her balance—a battle she lost in grand fashion—and her feet fly out from under her.

  Thank God she had some cushioning to soften the blow.

  Her eyes closed tight in utter embarrassment, she prayed if there was a God in Heaven, the floor would open up, swallowing her whole.

  How the hell would she recover from this in front of two hundred of the industry’s most prominent cyber security and information assurance subject-matter experts?

  Well, they would eventually be forced to interact with her and see her at her “A-Game” throughout the event, since her company was sponsoring the symposium. So there was a bright spot in this otherwise horrible situation she found herself in. Oh God, this is unbelievable. In front of not only the industry experts, but the senior technical team. She wanted to just hide away in a hole.

  In the brief seconds after she hit the floor, she was catapulted back to her high-school days when her only claim to fame was her ability to trip and fall at the most inopportune moments. Her most memorable moment was the day she fell at the feet of the varsity football team captain in the middle of the senior-class hallway. Yeah, that embarrassing event seemed to be burned into her brain, never to be forgotten.

  Quickly gaining her composure, she stood up. She reached down to straighten her skirt and blazer, tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, and got her gumption back.

  Looking to the side of the room, she caught the eye of her best friend and partner-in-crime, Lana Miller, who gave her two thumbs-up and a motion with her hands for Roxanne to get moving.

  Her gaze took in the audience, and she saw that for better or worse, all eyes were now trained on her. Some held mirth at her predicament, and some revealed embarrassment at her fall. However, all of them—well, at least the men—held that look of desire that she had come to recognize over the years.

  Hiding her beauty and sexuality was never in the cards for her. Plus, she had no desire to be anything less than she was. People accepted her for who she was, and while she would never try to flaunt her looks, she wasn’t naïve enough to think men did not notice her.

  The only downfall, and she knew some would not consider it so, was that no matter how clumsy she was or how well she held her own in an executive meeting, she was usually judged first and foremost on her outward beauty.

  Just once, she wanted to walk into a room and know that the first thing people noticed was her brain and education. Not the sway of her hips or the curve of her neck. Knowing that was something she couldn’t solve today, she forced herself to put those thoughts aside for a later time. That Pandora’s Box was staying closed for the time being.

  Roxanne turned to the matter at hand and began her opening remarks to the assembled group. For the next fifteen minutes she explained to the diverse group of industry experts the reasons for the symposium and why Hunter & Bruce, LLC felt it was important to gather this group of people in the same room for two days.

  In the big scheme of things, her love life could wait for another day.

  ****

  Adam Marshall stood in the back of the room. He looked at the woman standing at the podium in front of two hundred people with her chin held high. You would never know she had just crashed onto the stage, literally making an entrance that would be forever burned into the memory of the group assembled today.

  As he watched her graceful walk to the podium, the tightness in his stomach and chest couldn’t be ignored. Her familiar face teased and titillated him like no other woman could. His brain dared his heart to deny that standing no more than fifty feet in front of him was the woman he had dreamed about since high school.

  His mind screamed at him that it could not be her, but he knew his eyes were not deceiving him. That fall was what did it for him. In that moment, his heart knew that fate had brought him here today.

  No one else could fall in front of a crowd with such grace and recover so quickly. He had not seen anything like it since the day Roxie Barnes fell at his feet on a sunny day in October all those years ago. It was something he would never forget and an event he had relived many times over, often wishing there had been a different outcome.

  Back in high school he had noticed the shy, but extremely pretty, new girl. From day one she had caught his eye, and even when he tried to fight it, he found his gaze seeking her out as he walked around the packed high school campus to each of her classes. Although he had dreamed of the day when she would fall for him, he had never dreamed she would do it in front of almost half the starting offensive line when walking down the corridor.

  She had been looking down at something in her hand—a normal occurrence he had come to realize—and didn’t see the crowd of guys charging in her direction. By the time she looked up, they were almost on her and it was too late to make a course correction.

  Laughing at something one of the guys had said, he turned and caught her gaze. In that split second, his brain stopped functioning. He wanted to warn her, tell her to watch out, but his mouth simply refused to work.

  She just kept walking, her eyes never leaving his. Both of them were caught in a moment they hadn’t expected, but the bond was too tenuous and neither wanted to break the spell. This also meant she didn’t notice the small step that was right in front of her.

  Just that quickly, she tripped, and all of her books and papers went flying. A loud grunt escaped from her mouth as she inelegantly flailed and tried to catch her balance.

  All he could do was watch in horror as her knees crashed to the hard surface. He almost moved to grab her arm and help her gain her footing. Almost.

  Unfortunately, helping clumsy, albeit extremely cute, freshman girls was not something seniors did. So, while all of his friends kept walking past as they laughed at her awkward scrambling, he was torn with wanting to help, but also wanting to save face.

  Finally getting his mouth to move, he asked, “Hey, are you okay?”

  The sound of her shaky voice spoke to something inside his young heart as she answered, “Um, yes, I’m fine. I just have to get my stuff. Thanks.” Her voice sounded thick with unshed tears. Then she looked at him with those deep brown eyes, and he knew he had fallen hard for a girl who probably wouldn’t look at him twice
had she known the real him.

  “Okay, well, as long as you’re okay. Bye.” As soon as the words left his mouth, he wished he could take them back. Making what he felt was the biggest mistake of his young life, he had walked away, rushing to catch up with his friends, and left her there to pick up her papers all by herself.

  Turning his attention back to the podium and the classy woman speaking, he wondered if Roxie would recognize him now.

  The high-school football star had morphed into someone quite different. A certified nerd, he was proud of who he was and what he had accomplished. He was so far removed from the person he was sixteen years ago, he was sure that even he wouldn’t recognize the kid he was back then even if he were standing in front of him.

  He also could admit that he was scared out of his mind that she would reject him if he approached her.

  All those years ago, she had been a very pretty girl who had the potential to grow into a beauty. Looking at her now, he realized that nothing in his young imagination could have prepared him for the strikingly beautiful woman she had truly become.

  His instantaneous and overpowering desire for the woman on the stage conjured up visions of the two of them wrapped in each other’s arms.

  Her legs seemed to go on forever, and he ached to have them wrapped around his waist as he plunged inside of her.

  Full breasts were highlighted to perfection in her silk shirt, and they seemed to be the perfect handful. Well, perfect for him. He ached to test that theory. Fingers curled together as if cupping the mounds within his capable hands, he could almost feel her hard nipples pressing into his palm. Heart-shaped lips were glossed with red lipstick, and as she spoke, his mind dreamt of hearing her whispered voice, thick with desire, next to his ear as he brought them both to the brink of pleasure. Oh yes, those lips were something to behold. They looked like a perfect rosebud, ideal for kissing. If he had any say on the matter, they would be doing plenty of that very soon.

  Dangerous thoughts centered on his body entwined with hers were running through his mind. He had to restrain himself so that he would not charge the stage, not only embarrassing himself with his antics, but ruining Roxie’s reputation as well. One thing he knew at this moment was that all he wanted to do was throw her over his shoulder and carry her off with him.

  Caveman actions like that would definitely get the attention of this staid crowd. Plus, that wasn’t the type of man he was. More comfortable behind a computer, his brain and words were his strength, not his ability to be the toughest guy in the room. Well, not anymore.

  No, it was best that he let it go. Dredging up memories and facing the possibility of rejection wasn’t in the cards for him today.

  It wasn’t that women did not find him to be a handsome guy, because without conceit, he knew that they did. Over the years, he had focused on his career so much that his comfort level with approaching women had fallen off. Hell, his last girlfriend accused him of being married to his job. He could almost believe she had been correct.

  As one of the featured speakers for the event, he had to get his mind back in the game and focus on his upcoming remarks. He was scheduled to go on stage tomorrow, and while he knew he was more than ready, he was still a bit on edge. For this group, there could be no mistakes, so he had to get his head out of the bedroom.

  Fantasizing about being wrapped up with Roxie wearing nothing but a sheet was great for his libido, but would do nothing for his career. This speech was too important to mess up.

  His comments today were focused on Cyber Security Operations Center (CSOC) architecture, which was the core of his company’s cyber security solution suite. Everyone in the industry wanted to know how they built the framework for the capability and rolled it out across their organization, in addition to marketing the tool to their customers.

  When you thought about it, it was really a simple approach. They sold the clients on the protection aspect. TechDyne, the company he worked for, could protect its client networks by fusing cyber intelligence with CSOC operations such as threat fusion and visualization capabilities, an automated response and remediation environment, and specialized incident management workflows.

  Anyone with some experience—well, maybe with his experience—could do it. That was basically why he was here today. He was the best at what he did, and everyone knew it. Being a geek was fun. Well, maybe not always, but it definitely had its moments.

  He turned away from the beauty at the podium and made to exit the room when he heard her say that a reception and dinner would be hosted by her company that evening. Since she was the marketing lead for this event, he was positive she would be in attendance.

  He had planned to head home since the symposium was being held in Washington, DC and he lived in Fairfax, VA. Now, after hearing about the reception, he made a quick change of plans. He would make an appearance at the reception tonight after all. With a smile on his face, he left the main room as he realized things had suddenly become a lot more interesting.

  Chapter Two

  “Girl, you know that was priceless, right?” Lana was laughing as she took a sip of her lemon drop martini.

  Roxanne glared at her best friend, wishing she didn’t love her so much. If she could get away with it, her hands would be wrapped around her neck right now. After thinking about it, she didn’t think her godmother would be pleased with a felony assault charge where her daughter was the victim.

  Godmother would probably be so pissed, Roxanne wouldn’t be able to come over and eat dinner on Sundays anymore, and that right there just would not do at all.

  Plus, Jake Bradford, Lana’s hunky boyfriend, would probably get his knickers in a bunch and complain that he wasn’t around to see it. He swore they always had more fun when he wasn’t with them. That man had a seriously warped sense of humor.

  “Lana, do you enjoy torturing me? Hmm? I was humiliated on that stage.” She took a sip of her own sour apple martini and gave a deep sigh, her silk shirt stretching a bit tighter across her chest as she did.

  Unnoticed by Roxanne, practically every male gaze in the room turned to watch the motion.

  “At least I think I recovered enough that the fall will only be a conversation starter for the next day or so. I swear, you would think the fates were out to get me.” Resting her chin on one of her hands, she slowly twirled her glass, making the drink swirl around slowly.

  Roxanne glanced around the reception area, her eyes looking for anything out of place. This event had to go off without a hitch—well, without another hitch.

  “It’s not that serious, Roxanne. You slipped and fell. People trip all the time. Your opening remarks got everyone’s attention, and I don’t think anyone in that room will doubt that you know your stuff. You may not be a cyber-geek, but you don’t have to be one in order to prove that you’re damn good at what you do.”

  Lana’s phone buzzed and she paused to look down at it. The huge smile on her face told Roxanne exactly who the text message was from.

  “What does that man of yours want now?” Roxanne teased them all the time. It was fun to see Lana get flustered every once in a while. Lana and Jake had managed to make things work after a rocky start and some intense private meetings when working together on a project. They were two of Roxanne’s favorite people, and she was glad they’d finally realized how good they were together.

  Lana had tried to fight her attraction to Jake, but he had never given up on them. Eventually his patience paid off and he got the woman he wanted, and they were happier for it. Roxanne knew she wanted someone who would want her that same way. Someone who wouldn’t simply take no for an answer and walk away.

  Lana laughed as she placed her phone on the tabletop. “Girl, you know what he wants. He claims you and I tend to start trouble when we’re hanging out together. Not sure why he would ever think that.” Their laughter was contained for all of five seconds before they almost fell over in mirth.

  Tears rolled down her face at the memory of some of t
he adventures Jake had to bail them out of. Roxanne’s smile was full of mischief as she remembered the look of horror on his face when he had to fly to Hallowell, Maine, which is officially the smallest city in the entire state of Maine, and bail them out of jail.

  Unfortunately, due to the gag order in place until the year 2025, neither she nor Lana could discuss The Incident without the threat of extradition and uniforms with stripes in their future.

  “Yeah, he definitely knows us. So, when are you going to put that man out of his misery? How many times has he broached the subject of moving to the next level and moving in together?”

  “Too damn many. Roxanne, I just don’t know. I’ll have to think about what to do with him later. Tell me honestly, how would you feel about giving up your life to a man? True, he’s a fine-ass man who knows how to throw down in the bedroom and loves me with every bit of his soul. But he’s a man nonetheless.”

  Just as Roxanne was about to answer, a fresh drink was placed in front of her. It was still attached to the hand of the person standing near her arm, so she looked up, expecting to see a waiter.

  What she found was a very handsome, albeit smarmy-looking guy with a Cheshire-cat grin on his face. Although very good looking, there was something about him that turned her off almost instantly.

  Glancing at Lana, she rolled her eyes as she waited for the man to speak.

  “Hello, beautiful, I thought you might want a refill.” His voice was smooth, but she knew exactly why he approached her, and it got her hackles up.

  “Why?” At his raised eyebrow, she cocked an eyebrow at him and continued, “Tell me why you think I would accept a drink from a stranger? I don’t know you from the guy down the street. So, thanks for the offer, but I’ll pass.” She picked up her martini and took another sip, dismissing the man from her thoughts.

  “Come on, sweetheart, I just want a chance to talk to you.”