3

JO

B

ob stands up and taps his pen on the polished table. "Okay, guys. Let me introduce you to Jo from Williams Security . He gives me a half-smile. "She will give us a brief introduction to her business, then we will discuss how she could help us. Jo, we talked a little on the phone about the people here. This is Matt, our head of internal security.

I look at the mop of blond hair, the ever-present band T-shirt and ripped jeans, and he winks at me as he leans back in his chair, clasping his hands behind his head. I do an internal eye roll.

"And this is Delia, Systems Management Manager."

"Hi, Delia."

I give him a small wave, then hastily place my hand on the wood of the conference table. Ugh . I'm not making things better. Delia has a hipster messy blonde thing. As she examines the clothes I'm wearing from head to toe, it's clear she doesn't think I bear any of the characteristics of someone who works in technology, let alone my ability to understand business issues. complex security. The way her mouth twists makes me think she's decided to put me in the box of trivial idiots – a box I'm starting to think I deserve you. Great. Between her and Janus, that will be two votes against me. At least Bob will be in my favor, and maybe Matt, the mophead. I turn to the third person at the table, a beautiful brunette woman.

"This is Amanda, who runs our legal department."

"Hi, Amanda. Delighted to meet you. I smile enthusiastically. She smiles back at me, with that discreet look that some stuck-up people have, and slides me a document. Jesus.

"I need you to sign the non-disclosure agreement before we begin."

"No problem." I nod. This is standard fare for security issues that no one can fix and are afraid of. Nobody wants the media to hear about it. Silence settles in the room as I scan the document for any unusual clauses - like harassment of the CEO, I think as my stomach tightens - before signing in grand style.

"Great," I said, smiling while trying to get my plummeting confidence back up from the floor. "Should I start?"

A loud voice rings outside the door and silence falls as all eyes turn to her.

"Yes, Pete, I know , it's a fucking disaster. I want everyone to work on it 24 hours a day." This is followed by a loud "Damn!", and the door swings heavily on its hinges, the wood hits the wall with a bounce, and a clearly agitated Janus Phillips strides in.

"Sorry, everyone." His eyes dart across the table, running a hand through his hair. "This is such a messed up situation..."

His words stop as his eyes land on me. A small frown appears between his brows, and I'm drawn in by his unsmiling face and the straight line of his lips. I'm hanging on the edge of a cliff, waiting for the earth to collapse beneath my hands, breath cemented in my chest, trying to soothe the burning blush that wants to rise to my face. He opens his mouth, closes it, reopens it.

"Um..." And then his expression starts to be replaced with something that looks a lot like amusement.

"Hi," he says, as his face transforms into this breathtakingly lopsided smile, and he extends his hand towards me. "You must be Jo Williams?"

"Nice to meet you," I said, taking a calming breath and awkwardly struggling to get up from my seat to reach across the table. His eyes dance over me, and the way they sparkle and crinkle at the sides catches me deep inside. My God, it's beautiful.

" The Jo Williams, huh?" he said, nodding. "Nice to meet you properly." His lips curl slightly as he turns his attention to the room. "Where are you?" And in the blink of an eye, his fun and joviality transform into lively dynamism.

"Jo was going to tell us a little bit about her story, and then we were going to talk about the issue at hand," Bob said slowly, his warm calm clearly adding salt to Janus's good humor.

"Yeah yeah." Janus runs his hand through his already unruly mop of hair. "We understand what a fucking genius she is: we've all seen her resume and know what she's done to fix Caltech. Bunch of idiots. Let's move on to the sorting part, shall we?

Someone coughs in the silence. Everyone studies their laptops while I stare at them wide-eyed. What CV? The one where I managed to get into college by the skin of my teeth? And Caltech . Phew. Six months ago, they called on us to look into security issues with their poorly designed network. We fixed the problem, but it was a huge headache.

And he doesn't seem angry with me at all – just very amused and terribly impatient. As if things couldn't happen fast enough for him. I snort internally. I don't know how he's going to deal with me, I'm the most methodical person on the planet.

"Okay," Bob said, breaking the silence. "Matt, do you want to start telling Jo a little history about our systems and how they evolved into the current architecture?"

Here we go. I take out my notepad and colored pens and, while they answer my questions, occasionally chatting about structure, I draw a diagram of their system. The network begins to take shape as I make connections, highlighting in red and green where I think it's okay, where it's weak, and where it needs further investigation. After three hours, my little map is quite detailed. Time passed quickly.

"Do we know how they got into the system? » I ask.

Matt cleared his throat. "Still unknown. We're going through all this data now. It could be particular hardware, software, or something that got through our defenses, like malware or a phishing email.

As Matt reviews the data he has and what he's looking at, Janus stands up to glance out the window, then comes to stand behind me, leaning slightly over my shoulder and looking at me. add notes to the map. He watched what I did throughout the meeting, and my writing faltered as he moved to place his hand on the table near my wrist. I look sideways at the strong muscles running down to the long, expressive fingers, the curl of dark hair on his arms. I try to look at him and heat begins to rise in my chest. He looks at the pad, his face serious as his eyes scan the paper. Then his unsmiling gaze lands on mine and I'm treated to his warm brown eyes scanning my face, dipping to the redness of my neck, and my tongue sneaks out to wet my bottom lip as his eyes dart to She. What will everyone think if they catch him doing this? I return my eyes to my map. Maybe he does it all the time. Maybe he doesn't even realize he's doing it. Maybe I'm flirting unintentionally too.

"I've heard a lot about your security technique," he said suddenly, a long finger stretching out to tap the side of my keyboard. And his tone is tinged with sarcasm.

I look at my diagram and suddenly I'm hot all over. This is a billion dollar company that operates worldwide, and all I have for a global network like this is a piece of paper and some colored pens? And mess around in the elevator? Really ? What am I thinking ? Janus Phillips is... is... like THE person in tech right now. Janus Industries could solidify our reputation in the field of security. My blush rises higher, and I blink once, twice, then take a deep breath. This is a client. He has the right to ask questions.

"I take notes this way," I say, but I can't get the stiffness out of my voice.

As I turn to look at his face, I realize two things: first, he didn't miss my mortification, and second, I completely misinterpreted his comment. He doesn't judge me. His face is open and relaxed; he is really interested. I groaned internally. This is professional attire. Presumably Bob told him about me before the meeting and he just wants to understand how I work. A small frown appears between his eyebrows, a cold distance crosses his face, and I curse the terrible chip on my shoulder that is doing me no favors. He probably thinks I'm a real idiot now. I'm desperate for something to save the day.

"You know what they say, it's never that remarkable for the one who does it." I turn my head towards him, my eyes widening. I hope he understands.