Page 87 of The Hacker
He chuckled, the sound vibrating through her. “Even Tully was impressed.”
“Yeah, who knew I would ever need that particular piece of information, let alone remember it? And who knew little old Josh was the programmer behind the dark web node?” Vicky had given up Josh in about thirty seconds when the FBI questioned her. “No wonder Chad wanted the kid to have a good birthday.”
“If his claim that he had no idea what he was programming it for is true, would you mind if I hired him? He’s got real potential.”
“Go right ahead. You can be a good influence on him.”
Leland’s phone rang. “It’s Tully,” he said, swiping it onto speaker. “Hey, Gibson, Dawn’s listening too.”
“I’ve got some good news.” Tully sounded exhausted and elated at the same time. “Chad has cut a deal to give up all his arms-dealing contacts in return for going into witness protection. Turns out the ATF and a couple of other agencies are very interested in where he got his military-grade weapons. So he will disappear as though he never existed, taking your names with him to the grave.”
“What about Vicky?” Dawn asked. “She’s the crazy one.”
“She’ll likely go to jail as an accessory,” Tully said, “which means she needs to keep her mouth shut to survive. As wacko as she is, she’s figured that much out. With a few hints from her interrogators to scare her even more.”
Dawn thought of Vicky’s hard-nosed approach to the gym’s finances and decided that Tully could be right about her boss’s wife. Vicky was all about self-preservation.
“Truth is that the cartel is in major disarray,” Tully continued. “The DEA grabbed virtually all the top lieutenants when they scooped up Griselda Rodriguez. The rest of the scumbags will be scrambling to fill the power vacuum. They won’t have time to go looking for revenge.”
“Until the power vacuum gets filled,” Leland said, his arm tightening around Dawn.
“Hey, give me some credit. I kept Dawn’s name out of every piece of paperwork anyone filed, so she’s invisible. You’ve been turned into ‘an anonymous source.’ If your name is anywhere in the records, it’s buried under so many layers of confidentiality that even you wouldn’t be able to unearth it with all your hacking skills, partner.”
“I can unearth anything,” Leland said, “but in this case I will happily leave it buried. I owe you for today. Thank you.”
“For what? I just did cleanup.”
“You’re kidding, right? If you hadn’t ridden to the rescue, all Chad had to do was wait for us to come up for breath one more time.” Leland’s arm tightened around Dawn.
“Well, I did find your glasses for you,” Tully said, brushing off Leland’s gratitude. “I’ll accept your thanks for that.”
Leland called him an asshole in a tone of deep affection and disconnected before dropping his phone onto the coffee table.
“Natalie always said Vicky was smarter than I gave her credit for. I’m glad her brain finally got control of her mouth.” Her last worry laid to rest, Dawn yawned and nuzzled into Leland’s chest. “I feel too tired to move but too hyped-up to sleep.”
“I have an idea.” Leland skimmed his hand up to cup her breast, his thumb grazing her nipple through the fabric of her nice, dry, pink T-shirt.
She grabbed his wrist and moved his hand back down to its original position, even as a delicious sizzle streaked through her insides. “You’re hurt.”
“A mere flesh wound. The rest of me is in fine working order.”
She could feel his cock stirring to life under her thigh and smiled. “Oh, no, I’m not going to be responsible for making your gunshot wound bleed again. Besides, that’s just the effect of all the adrenaline in your system. You don’t actually want me.”
“The hell with the adrenaline!” Leland seemed to explode into motion, throwing off the ice pack and elbowing away the supporting pillow. He used his good arm to lever her fully onto his lap before he wrapped both arms around her. “You could have died today.”
“You could have too. You’re the one who kept acting like a human shield.” She kissed his cheek. “And I love you for it.” She tried not to jar his arm with her movement.
He went still. “Did you just say you love me?”
Shit!Shehadsaid that. “It’s a figure of speech. It means extreme gratitude.” But when she glanced up to see if her explanation had defused whatever discomfort he was feeling, she forgot to breathe. His face was lit with an emotion that looked like happiness. “Are you glad that I said ‘I love you for it’?” she asked.
His expression turned serious. “When you’re getting shot at, your brain focuses on the most important facts. What I focused on was how empty my life would be if I lost you.” He ghosted a hand over her hair. “Maybe it’s too soon to say this, but I know from my mother’s death that tomorrow could be too late.”
Her heart seemed to stop beating as his gaze skimmed over her face before he continued. “I want to see you every day and sleep beside you every night. I want to make love to you in every room in your apartment and my penthouse and anywhere else we feel like it.”
Dawn started to say she was good with that program, but he laid a finger across her lips. “I want to go back to Carmella’s and eat a whole dinner there with you. I want to take you to my favorite restaurant in Paris. I want to learn what movies and books you like, what TV shows you hate, what you like to cook. I want to wake you up in the middle of the night when I miss my mother. I want to comfort you when you feel a panic attack rising. I sure as hell want to make sure you never get shot at again.” He bent down to kiss her slow and deep.
Her heart began to dance, skipping around in a fluttery, exuberant rhythm as his lips moved over hers. He lifted his head, locking his gaze with hers before he said, “I want to love you, Dawn.”
