Page 37 of Dream Date With the Millionaire
Kangagirl: Have you heard anything from Bryce?
Anger surged. Granted, Dani was the one who’d joined the Web site under false pretenses, but Bryce had had no reason to set her up so she’d spill her soul to him and then have him turn on her the way he had.
Whatever they’d shared before no longer existed. She wondered if a connection ever had.
Sanfrandani: Nope. It’s been a week.
At least she’d apologized for her part in the mess. Telling her she could stay on the site didn’t count as an apology in her book.
Englishcrumpet: What about your job search?
Sanfrandani: Still nothing. It’s like my résumé disappears into a black hole every time I send one out. It’s really frustrating. James keeps asking about my dates. I’ve been putting him off, but I’m going to have to say something to him soon.
Englishcrumpet: A job will turn up.
Kangagirl: Fingers crossed.
Englishcrumpet: Are you going to contact Bryce?
Sanfrandani: There’s no need. We’re over.
Englishcrumpet: I’m sorry.
Kangagirl: Me, too. I know you liked him.
Sanfrandani: Thanks, but I’m more angry than sad. I’ll survive.
And she would.
She’d just wanted to believe there was a man out there she could trust and love. She’d wanted that man to be Bryce.
“Check this out.”
In his office, Bryce turned the monitor on his desk so his coworkers could see what he’d spent his days and nights working on this week. He’d needed something to focus his attention on so he wouldn’t think about…
Dani.
Grant stared at the HTML page displayed on the monitor. His smile widened. “That is one sweet honeypot.”
“Where?” Peering over Grant’s shoulder, Joelle adjusted her plastic-rimmed glasses. “I don’t see anything except code.”
Grant continued reading the screen. “That’s because you’re a non-techie, Joelle.”
“A non-techie who makes sure you receive a paycheck.”
“Look right here.” Bryce highlighted lines of commented-out code that gave clues of how the internals of the site were implemented. “When a hacker tries to exploit the code he’s found, he’ll think he’s hit gold, except what he’s really found is fake user info on an isolated network. We can then hunt him down. It would feel good to actually catch one of these losers trying to mess with the site.”
“And if you can’t catch them?” Joelle asked.
“The data we get can help mitigate our risk,” Grant said.
Bryce leaned back in his chair. “I just hope someone takes the bait.”
“I’m sure they will,” Joelle said. “You’re really good at setting traps, boss.”
She’d meant the words as a compliment, but they echoed Dani’s a little too closely.
I trusted you. I believed what you said. But you used my falling for you to set a trap.
And that was exactly what he’d done.
He’d misled Dani by saying one thing, then doing another.
The same way he’d built the honeypot into the code to catch hackers.
Dani hadn’t been honest about who she was. Neither had he.
His intentions had been good. Hers hadn’t.
But she’d been honest about her feelings. And he…
Bryce sighed. He owed her an apology.
The only question was, after their fight, would Dani even want to listen to one?
To: “Sanfrandani”
From: “Bigbrother”
Subject: Pot. Kettle. Black.
I’m not Colonel Brandon, but I’m not Willoughby, either. I owe you an apology for setting you up the way I did. It wasn’t intentional.
How does meeting at Crossroads before work tomorrow to discuss sound? My treat.
-b
To: “Bigbrother”
From: “Sanfrandani”
Subject: RE: Pot. Kettle. Black.
Well, no one would ever mistake me for Marianne Dashwood.
Open to discussion, but busy in the morning. Free for lunch. Anytime from 11:30 to 1:30. Let me know.
-d
To: “Sanfrandani”
From: “Bigbrother”
Subject: Lunch
See you at noon. Just look for the black pot.
-b
Uncertainty filled Dani as she sat in her lonely cubicle rereading Bryce’s e-mails. She stirred in her chair, unsure what meeting him would bring. Still a kernel of hope remained.
Hope that Bryce meant what he said about apologizing for his part in their fight.
Hope that he forgave her for her part in all this.
Hope that maybe he was different from other men and things between them might not be totally over.
