Page 19 of Shadowing Her Stalker

“Like Tom.” The words slipped past her lips. She raised her hand to cover her mouth, but it was too late. She could tell by his expression he’d caught them. When he didn’t express any surprise or press her for additional information, her eyes narrowed. “Did you know?”

He shrugged. “It’s one of those open secret things. The truth is, a lot of people who go into programming or security started out trying to break into things. It’s not much different from kids who grow up to be mechanics or engineers taking stuff apart to see how it’s put back together again.”

“Except it’s illegal.”

“Right. But most don’t do anything truly harmful like hack into NORAD.”

She blinked twice. “Right,” she echoed. Then, shaking her head in disbelief, she turned back to the view. She cradled her coffee in the crook of her arm and pulled the cuffs of her sweater down over her hands. “So, they’re looking into this lead?”

He nodded. “She’ll call me as soon as they can get something solid.”

She drew on her bottom lip, biting down to quell the swirl of anxiety and anticipation pooling in her belly. Letting her gaze go soft and unfocused, she imagined pulling the lovely patchwork blanket of fall foliage up around her shoulders. The visualization helped a little but not enough. She needed to let Wyatt know what he was in for on this trip.

“You should know my parents and I have a...shaky relationship.”

She felt his glance but could tell by the shift in his posture he’d gone back to staring out over the vista. “Okay.”

“We don’t fight or anything,” she felt compelled to add, waving her coffee cup in a dismissive circle. “I’m an only child and let’s say we wanted different things—for me—and leave it there.”

“I understand.”

He shifted his weight, and Cara got the feeling he actually did.

“My dad wanted me to take over his insurance agency. They only had me and my older sister. Shelby went off to school at Ole Miss, met my brother-in-law there and never came home. When I was up at the U of A, I majored in computer science. I told my dad I could use everything I learned to bring the agency up to date, automate everything, you know...”

When he let the story trail off, she turned to face him again. “But you never went to work for him.”

Wyatt shook his head. “I met a guy who worked for the Department of Public Safety. They were recruiting on campus. Looking for people with tech skills to join the state police. I imagined myself as the guy who figured out who was sneaking around the dark web and what they were doing and stopped it all before things got too out of hand,” he said dryly.

“So you and Agent...Parker, was it?” He nodded. “You come at things from different angles.”

He shrugged, his hands buried deep in the pockets of his jeans. “I suppose you can say we do. But we work well together. Balance each other out.”

“That’s nice. Balance is good.” She sighed. “I suppose we should get moving.” Turning on her heel, she walked off in the direction of the car. She settled her coffee into the cup holder and waited for Wyatt to join her.

He took another moment to drink in the view. Which gave her the same opportunity with him. He was tall by Hollywood standards, probably just over six foot. He was lean, but not skinny. The Henley he wore with his jeans showed off broad shoulders and toned arms, but he didn’t appear to be pumped up like a gym rat. All in all, he suited the scenery. Natural and unaffected.

He dropped into the seat with a soft “Oof,” and she jumped.

“Sorry,” she said, laughing at her own skittishness.

“No worries,” he assured her.

“I just need to take a breath,” she murmured. When she inhaled deeply, he did the same.

“Okay, now let it go,” he said, parroting the words she used so often in her meditations as he started the car. “Now breathe in. Breathe in LYYF.”

His eyes crinkled as he said the last bit, and a laugh burbled out of her. She reached over and gave his arm a friendly swat. “Don’t mock me.”

“Mock you?” he repeated through a laugh. “You? The guru? Never.”

They’d strapped into their seats when the phone she’d left in the console vibrated. Beside her, Wyatt tensed. They both eyed the device warily.

“Text message,” he grumbled, giving the notification the stink eye. “Know the number?”

She shrugged. “Not off the top of my head, but I don’t memorize many numbers anymore.”

“We’ve been forwarding all calls from unknown numbers to headquarters. You should only be getting messages from people who have the new number.”

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