Page 14 of Undercover Hacker

“Sure you have.” He winked.

I couldn’t take my eyes off him. When he found the clothes he wanted, he gave me another wink and left the room. The man knew what he was doing.

A shirt and a pair of sweats were waiting for me on the bed. Even though they were too big, it felt marvelous to change into some clean clothes.

When I went into the living room, Zane was sitting on the couch, watching TV. I sat next to him and fell asleep almost immediately.

The piercing noise of an alarm woke me. It must have also woken Zane. He leaped from the couch, bent down, and grabbed two guns from under the coffee table.

“Here. The safety is off. Shoot first. I will announce myself when I come back.”

“Wait. You're going out alone? And who keeps guns under the coffee table?” A storm must have moved in after I had fallen asleep, because. I could hear the steady pounding of water hitting the log cabin.

“Yes, and I do. Stay.”

Zane left through the front door, leaving me to wonder if he would be back or if was I going to die.

6

Sophie

Ten minutes and thirty-six seconds. That was how long it had been since Zane walked out the door. All I could hear was the rain that pummeled the roof and the thunder that shook the cabin. Trying to keep my mind off Zane getting killed by the intruder, I counted the seconds between the flash of lightning and the bang of the thunder. The lighting was close. I started to worry that Zane might get taken out by lightning or that the bad guy would make his way in. Zane might need help, and I was standing here with a gun pointed at a door that hasn’t moved in ten minutes and fifty seconds. The thought of Zane getting killed made my stomach turn.

Between the ticking of the clock and the cracks of thunder, I knew Zane needed my help. I had never fired a gun before, but it couldn’t be that hard to point and shoot. Not wanting to waste another second, I reached for the door handle and swung the door open. I had the gun in my other hand pointed forward. Outside, a shadowy figure stepped up the first stair to the house.

“Stop, or I’ll shoot.” My voice and hands were shaking, and I was having a hard time focusing on the target in front of me.

“Jesus, Sophie, what are you doing?” At the sound of Zane’s voice, I dropped the gun and ran into his arms. “Well, if I knew this was all I had to do to get you in my arms, I would have sounded the alarm myself earlier.”

Ever since losing my family, I was not good at showing emotion. Most of my life, I let the feelingsbuild up inside me, and kept them there. I was feeling embarrassed by my reaction. I was so thrilled to see that he wasn't killed by an intruder. I peeled myself away from him and shifted toward the house. Zane grabbed my wrist and yanked me into his chest.

“It’s okay to be frightened, Sophie. My stomach curled at the prospect of something happening to you. Let's move inside. I want to change out of my wet clothes.”

Did someone find us? Did we need to move again?“What happened?”

Zane grabbed a towel from the cabinet in the entryway. “One of the perimeter sensors was tripped. I found deer tracks near the sensor. I need to reduce its sensitivity.”

“How can we be assured that it was the deer that caused the alarm to go off?”

Zane pulled out a gadget with the same proportions as a smartphone. On the screen, it showed all the sensors and cameras.

“You going to explain why you left the house?I could have mistook you for an invader?” Anger dripped from his statement.

I could deal with his irritation. The knowledge of someone creeping up on me was another story.

“How long did you expect me to wait for you to come back? You left over ten minutes ago.”

“Next time, pick up the phone, and call Antonio. I realize you worked for the CIA, but it was behind a computer. I served in the field. You don’t have to worry about me.”

It was difficult tohear the words coming out of Zane's mouth. While he was reprimanding me for going outside—which is what I think he was yelling about—he was slowlyremovinghis wet shirt. The rain had been coming down in sheets, and water was running down his bare chest. All I could think about was running my tongue over his muscles.

Zane cocked his head to the side and gave me a knowing glance. “Are you listening, Sophie?”

“Yes. I can listen and watch at the same time. Continue, please.” I had no shame. The man was drop-dead gorgeous. I wasn’t looking for marriage. I just wanted to sleep with the man. Any woman would.

Zane was about to retort, but the buzz of the burner phone brought us out of our discussion. Zane walked over to his go-bag and snatched the phone.

“What?” A couple of clicks later, he had it on speaker phone.

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