Page 19 of Don't Let Go

They weren’t the trap. My uncertainty had nothing to do with lack of faith in them. The smell of the coffee brewing filled my nostrils with its heady scent. I got down a mug and poured myself a cup as soon as it was ready.

Both hands wrapped around the hot mug, I savored the first swallow. It was almost scalding. Almost. It blazed a trail through me, lighting the torches of awareness in my system. I pictured it like it was actually happening, the animation of it amusing.

“Enough,” I ordered myself. A full computer sat waiting in the corner of the kitchen. It totally looked like my set up. It had from the first moment I saw it. But I’d been sleeping so much and I didn’t spend time out here without them.

That meant they didn’t entertain me sliding in to take a seat and booting it up to find out. I scanned the room around me one more time before carrying my precious coffee over with me.

I flicked on the power switch. I’d booted it all the way down, or someone had. I preferred to leave my equipment offline fully when I slept. It helped prevent infections from worms and other malware when I wasn’t sitting in the chair.

It also meant I could be damn certain of each task I had it running. Sure, it took more time and some of it was tedious but tedious kept me safe.

Well, until recently.

Fine, tedious kept me alive.

As soon as the password challenge displayed, I set the coffee down and then typed in the code I most typically used on my equipment.

Muscle memory was a good thing.

The screen unlocked to a basic window.

Oh, so familiar. I appreciated the elegance and launched the operating system. Then I began working my way backwards in time by the dates on files. It wasn’t hard to see that all the files dated to the window of time that was currently a blank for me.

Made sense. This was a new setup. I tried to picture my workspace at home. The locked room, the comfortable chair, the multiple monitors, and the security of doing what I loved. Was that all still there?

Presumably, whoever took me had to have taken methere. I never left the house. I hadn’t left in years, not since I’d carved out that space for myself and settled in. The disquiet sliding through me at the idea of strangers in my space left an ache behind.

“Okay,” I murmured. “Time to talk to me.” While that was directed mostly at myself, I picked up the coffee cup and took a long drink as I began to scan the file system, reacquainting myself.

Encrypting and hiding everything was second nature. It was also training. No wipe could ever be trusted to be one hundred percent full proof. Scatter the files so they need to be stitched back together and only if you had the right keystrokes and software.

I had always liked puzzles.

After firing off decryption to open one of the last files I’d saved, I’d sipped my coffee. I was done with it all too soon.Shoving back, I stood and turned only to find myself breast to chest with Remy.

A shriek of surprise locked in my throat as I dropped the now empty mug. Shock and adrenaline left me shaking as I stared up at him. I hadn’t even heard himmovemuch less walk right up behind me.

Belatedly the lack of sound following the mug’s fall had me glancing down to see the cup in Remy’s hand. He’d caught it. The light cast by the screen left his beautiful face harsh relief.

“Didn’t mean to scare you, luv.” It wasn’t quite an apology, but it worked. “Also don’t think you’re meant to be working on screens yet.”

The adrenaline slammed headlong into my irritation and left me hopped up and vibrating. “I’m tired of not knowing. You said if I asked you to go ahead and tell me anyway, you would.”

“Yes.” No denial.

“This isn’t any different.”

“Beg to differ,” he murmured, then shifted to wave me past him. The fact he hit three buttons on the keyboard and the screen went dark had me narrowing my eyes at him. “You doing it yourself is putting eye strain on you, it’s dark, that’s a lot of blue light, and you’re still recovering from a concussion.”

Rolling my eyes, I headed toward the pot and flicked his kettle on. It boiled swiftly so it wouldn’t take long. I pulled the mug he tended to favor from the drying rack and flipped open the container of tea bags on the counter as he slid my mug to me.

“Thank you,” he said, taking the tea bag from me. Though, he also caught my fingers before I could turn away. Hand locked on mine, he tugged me right to him and then wrapped an arm around me as I impacted against his chest with my hands.

“What are you doing?” The warning in my voice should be enough, but he kept one arm locked around my waist and his free hand wrapped my braid up in his grip.

One corner of his mouth curved upward as he brought his face down to mine. He moved so slowly, it telegraphed his every motion. The teasing warmth of his breath on my lips had my heart racing for a whole new reason.

“This,” he said finally when I made no move to stop him. His lips brushed mine, barely there, a whisper of a kiss that seemed to magnetize until his mouth slotted firmly over mine, drowning me in the sudden, and surprising, sensuality.

---