Page 21 of Crossing Paths
The word was basically a grunt, which made Norah want to smile again. Even though John, Henry, and now Bennett had been around the house a lot recently, she wasn’t used to spending much time with men, especially such an oversize and utterly masculine example as Dash was proving to be. It was a little like studying an alien species, discovering the similarities and differences. She was intrigued but still a little uncertain asto how to act, especially now that they weren’t punching each other.
“Tell me about the hacker.”
Norah frowned slightly, confused. “I already did.”
“You said he was harassing you again last night. What exactly did he say?”
She paused, mentally debating whether she should share. Since he already knew about Leifsen, she decided it wouldn’t hurt to give him more details. “I was working on Cara’s laptop last night, and the same type of text box popped up. He asked if I was trying to avoid him. So I asked where he was, and he said it wouldn’t be fun if he just told me. Then he asked if I was scared—”
A low sound from Dash interrupted her. When she paused and raised her eyebrows, he just gestured for her to continue.
“I asked why he thought I’d be scared of a guy hiding behind his computer—”
This time, Dash’s interruption was a short laugh.
“He asked if that meant I wanted to meet him and said a bunch of nonsense about us being super geniuses while everyone else is a cockroach, and then I told him to stop hacking my computer and shut it down.”
Dash’s sharply cold gaze had returned, and he was frowning so severely that his mouth had turned white at the corners. “Don’t like that.”
Unbidden, her smile came again. It seemed like an odd time to be amused, but there was something about the way Dash so calmly understated things, even while his true emotions wereevident, that both reassured and entertained her. “Me either. Especially because I think he helped the people who kidnapped my sister.”
Nothing changed in his face except for a small tic beneath his left eye, but Norah could somehowfeelthe fury pouring off him. “Explain.” It sounded as if his teeth were locked together.
“We don’t have any proof,” she felt compelled to say in order to be completely honest, “but Leifsen’s been charged with deactivating alarm systems in a number of burglaries. When Cara was taken…” She had to pause for a moment to swallow against a suddenly tight throat. It had been too recent and too terrible, and the memories threatened to overwhelm her. Dash’s hand settling over hers brought her back to the moment, away from those torturous hours when they didn’t know if Cara was alive or dead. He squeezed her fingers gently before withdrawing, and she had to stop herself before she caught his hand again.
The server arrived with their soup, and she was grateful for the time to get herself together. She took a few spoonfuls before looking up at Dash again. “The alarm was disabled at our house right before Cara was taken. It’s only supposition, but there’s a chance that Leifsen was involved.”
His fingers tightened around the handle of his spoon, and she found his white knuckles strangely appealing. His shared outrage that Leifsen was running around town, harassing her and committing who knows what other crimes, made Norah feel as if she wasn’t alone. She and her sisters had pretty much raised themselves, and it had been the Pax sisters against theworld for her entire life. There was something so tempting and wonderful about them having actual help.
Despite his obvious outrage, he deliberately ate a mouthful of soup before speaking. “Got any ideas where this…guy might be holing up?” The way he paused before saying “guy” made her think he had swallowed a much harsher term.
“Actually, I do.” The thought of actively looking for Leifsen rather than waiting passively to see if he’d come after her was surprisingly satisfying. She smiled as she reached for her bag. She dug out her notebook and placed it on the table. “I haven’t written up a formal report yet, but all my notes are in here.”
Cocking a brow at her, he allowed one side of his mouth to curl up in a way that had her beaming back at him. “Want to go hunting?”
If anyone else had asked, her response would’ve been an enthusiasticno, but the thought of joining forces with Dash and dragging creepy Devon Leifsen out of whatever hole he was hiding in wasn’t as terrible as it could be. Leifsen thought he’d left her cowering in her bedroom. She might be scared, but she wasn’t helpless, not anymore. Besides, being with Dash made her feel both protected and powerful. He’d keep her safe until she felt ready to step away from his solid bulk to throw a couple of unexpected punches…and maybe a knee to the groin. This washerstalker after all, the guy who helped kidnap her sister. She knew she couldn’t go after Leifsen alone, and she’d accepted that, but here was Dash, offering his services as coach, moral support, and bodyguard. How could she pass up the opportunity?
“I guess?” she said, making Dash bark out a laugh. “Oneof his associates is in a band that’ll be playing at Dutch’s on Saturday night. I was going to tell Molly so she could check if he shows up, but we could go instead?” Her nerve broke, turning her last statement into a question.
“Saturday night then. We’ll track him down.”
His eyes gleamed, and she felt her stomach jump in response—either in nervousness or excitement for the upcoming chase. Her first instinct was to analyze the new sensations she was experiencing, but then she mentally cut herself off. She was going to roll with it, allow herself to do something without examining everything that could go wrong.
After all, if she got into trouble this time, she’d be with Dash, and she’d bet he could keep them both safe. She felt her smile grow, stretching across her face until she knew she was beaming as she flipped open her notebook.
“Here’s what I’ve learned about Leifsen so far.”
***
As Norah cautiously got out of Cara’s car, she wondered for the fiftieth time whether she’d entered the address Dash had sent her into the GPS wrong. The directions had taken her out of Langston and into the foothills, telling her she’d arrived at the Devil’s Thumb trailhead. Even when Dash rounded his parked SUV and walked toward her, she still felt off-kilter, like she was in the wrong place.
“Why are we here?” she asked, eyeing the trees bordering the small parking lot suspiciously. Mountain peaks poked up over the tops of the evergreens, looking beautiful and majesticbut also making the location feel extra…wild. She wasn’t very comfortable withwild. She did much better with places that’d been domesticated and tamed, like Dash’s gym or her bedroom.
“Training.” Before she could ask why they couldn’t have stayed in civilization to train, he was already walking toward the start of the hiking trail. She hurried to catch up, looking around suspiciously for bears or moose or, even worse, ticks. There was a reason she didn’t hike unless Felicity was in drill-sergeant mode. Even though Norah lived right next to a national forest, she still felt ill at ease in trees or open fields or mountains or…well, anywherenature-ybasically.
“What’s wrong with training in the gym?” she asked, watching her feet as she scrambled up a rocky incline.
“Too controlled.” He didn’t sound winded in the slightest as he strode along the uneven, uphill trail as if he were walking on a paved sidewalk. “You need to be able to defend yourself in real-life situations.”
