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Would it matter if someone saw the video? As far as Christian knew, the general wasn’t married and hadn’t seen anyone seriously in the past year. How could a sex tape be used against him? And what exactly did this person want?

“And who is it?” Christian wondered, his mind now transfixed on the mystery.

The person he couldn’t see in the video? Looking at the properties of the video didn’t add much information, citing the date as a few days ago. That didn’t mean much when the clipwas obviously taken from a longer video and would have been created recently. Was it a former lover, spurned by something the man did and seeking revenge? Or was it just blackmail?

“What the hell are you doing?”

The general’s voice sent an icepick into Christian’s chest, and he froze. His mind flashed back to when he had chided the general for being so quiet earlier and the man’s comment about taking a brief rest. Closing his eyes, Christian turned to face the office door.

“Hi, General Winter.”

DAVID

Fighting to maintain his self-control, David repeated his question. “What the hell are you doing?”

David had read about people looking like they wanted to disappear on the spot, but he didn’t think he’d ever seen it in real life. Christian physically cringed, leaning back and hunching his shoulders until his neck almost disappeared. Guilt was written in every inch of the wince on his face.

“I…” Christian began, mouth working silently.

David’s eyes leaped back to the computer screen, and his mouth became an even thinner line. That damned video, which had haunted him ever since he’d seen it the other day, was sitting in the video player. From a few feet away, David could see the video had played through to the end and Ethan's message attached to it.

Christian recovered enough to begin speaking rapidly. “I was going through the emails and purging them. I did mine first, and when I started on yours, I saw a message in the trash. You don’t get rid of stuff, so I opened it to see what was going on.”

David cursed inwardly. He wasn’t surprised it had attracted Christian’s attention. The man was incredibly attentive to detail and naturally curious. David could remember all too well thetimes he’d found Christian looking around his office, peering at everything as if needing to absorb every detail. Then there were the times he’d found Christian reading files, albeit not classified, just because they were interesting.

The entire blackmail attempt had thrown him off, and he hadn’t deleted the email.

“And you just decided to watch the video?” David asked.

Christian’s fingers danced nervously on his armrest. “Well, I read the message, saw the attachment, clicked it, and then just?—”

David waited before asking, “Just what?”

Christian’s face reddened. “Found myself staring. I couldn’t?—”

David narrowed his eyes, darting all over Christian’s flushed features. The other man had been staring?

“Enjoy the show?” David asked curtly.

“Uh—”

It had been meant as a smart-ass comment, but now it was David’s turn to find himself unsure what to say.

Christian winced. “Uh, you look good?”

David blinked. “You...were enjoying it?”

Christian’s eyes widened, waving his hands frantically. “I wasn’t watching it because I was trying to enjoy myself. I just...wasn’t expecting what I saw. Kind of just froze and couldn’t look away.”

“But…look good?” David asked in disbelief.

Christian sputtered, hands flopping uselessly. “I have no idea what to say right now, that isn’t going to make things worse.”

As if it wasn’t bad enough that some crazed former lover was blackmailing David, now Christian had seen the evidence. What the hell was David supposed to do now? And much to his confusion, some part of him thrilled knowing Christian had not only seen it but apparently enjoyed it.

Christian looked down at his hands, fidgeting with his fingers. The pained expression on his face brought a stab of guilt to David’s angry thoughts, and he felt himself deflate. Christian was given a great deal of latitude in his job, and it wasn’t the first time he’d accidentally stumbled across something he wasn’t supposed to see. Of course, every instance before hadn’t been quite as mortifying for either of them.

David sighed. “Come into my office.”