Page 49 of Surly Sheriff
“Secret phone calls. Furtive texts. Late night chat rooms on her laptop.”
“Bitch,” she snarled.
He almost smiled at the disgust in her voice.
Rae retook her seat, lifted the laptop lid, tapped on the keys, and turned the machine toward him. “If you must know, I’m hacking.” She sat back in her chair and folded her arms again, glaring at him.
His jaw slackened as he stared at the screen filled with lines and lines of code, all indecipherable. At the bottom, the cursor blinked, waiting for … a command from her, maybe?
Hell, what did he know about computer code?
But.
“Hacking?”
“Hmm.”
Beau stared at her in disbelief. “You’re ahacker?” He pulled the other chair on and sat his ass down.
“Whitehacker. Is that a problem for you? Would you prefer if I was a two-timing bitch?”
“No!” He rubbed his hand over his face. “I’m sorry. Just … seeing you hide the screen … it was a knee-jerk reaction.”
She slowly,veryslowly, nodded her head. And huffed. “A few years ago, I wrote some cybersecurity software and sold the rights. On occasion, that company hires me to do penetration testing on newer versions of the code.” She shrugged. “Ergo, hacking.”
“You hack into their system to see if you can break the security software you developed years ago?” He was still wrapping his head around Rae writing security software. That took some serious smarts.
“Uh-huh.”
“And now you’re working in a bookstore. Why?”
One shoulder lifted in a light shrug. “Bella needed the help.” The corner of her mouth quirked up. “And it was something I’d never done before. A challenge.”
“Something tells me you succeed at everything you tackle.”
The lip quirk spread into a grin. “I get by.”
He shook his head. “Modest as well as smart,” he said and nodded at the laptop. “Can your … er, work keep?”
“Yes.”
“Come back to bed,” he said and stood, stretching out his arm, palm up.
Without hesitation, she closed the lid, got to her feet, switched off the lamp, and placed her hand in his. Together, they moved across the room, Kismet padding after them. As before, he left the hallway light on.
“What woke you?” His last conscious thought before succumbing to sleep had been of Rae nestled in his arm, her back to his front.
She only replied when they entered the bedroom. “Honestly?”
He shifted to stand in front of her, keeping hold on her hand. His free arm lifted, and he smoothed his fingers tip over her cheek, marveling once more at the softness of her skin. “I always want you to be truthful with me.”
“I couldn’t fall asleep. So I got up and worked.”
“You haven’t slept? At all?”
She did her one-shoulder roll again and broke eye-contact. “I often pull all-nighters.”
Recognizing her obfuscation, he said, “Raegan. Real reason, please.”
