Page 65 of Unspoken Promises

I laugh, but before I can say anything, I get a text.

ENZO

I’m watching the movie Fourth Citizen… don’t you hate when they show hacking as some frantic task that gets done in a few minutes?

He followed my suggestion to take a load off, and it makes me smile.

Enzo has become more communicative since he opened up to me. I was afraid he might do the opposite after talking about Ensenada. Maybe he would have thought I’d judge him or he’d retreat in some way.

But it had the opposite effect.

A goofy grin spreads over my face as I type back.

ME

Truly painful. Matrix Two uses proper SSH exploit at least. Hard to find good hacker movies.

ENZO

You’d like this one though… I know penetration testing is your thing.

Oh my good Lord… please tell me that’s a double entendre…

Pen lines the last of her stock on the shelf. “I can give you an employee discount on one of these.” She turns, and her next words are a clear response to my mile-long smile. “Unless you have Enzo to take care of your needs now?”

“What?” I slide my phone in my pocket, even though I’mdesperate to text back. My cheeks prickle. “No… he’s my boss.”

“You know how I feel about bosses.” She gazes at me from under her straight eyelashes.

My brittle laugh is full of admission.

“Tell me you weren’t having a lover’s heated argument here at the weekend? And then you two left all alone in a hurry? Come on!” She braces herself as if the answer is going to excite her so much she’ll explode. “You can tell me.”

“It was… what happened is hard to explain.”

“Ooooh… complicated, eh? I have plenty of experience with that. Shit. I was hoping you roped in the Valley’s Clark Kent. He’s been single almost all the time I’ve known him.”

My stomach drops at the wordalmost.

“Oh, yeah?” I pretend to peruse the handcuffs. “He had a girlfriend?”

“It was a long time ago, but she lived in San Francisco. Since Enzo is allergic to the city, she was here sometimes and came to town once in a while. It was like a long-distance thing, though, so I don’t think it was that serious.”

I hum a response, but it has a nervous, metallic tinkle to it. “How was San Francisco long distance? It’s really only about an hour and a bit away.”

“She was in Doctors Without Borders so was gone a lot.”

Of course Enzo would have dated a doctor or lawyer or someone insanely smart. I don’t get the impression he’d have the patience for anything less. I bet she was beautiful, too.

“Oh…” I should have stayed silent because this one syllable speaks volumes.

“Oh gosh, babe, I’m sorry I talked about her. I didn’t realize youlikehim like that.”

I make some expression that I imagine is comical because my eyes and eyebrows and mouth all seem to move in different directions since I don’t really know how I feel.

“Girl, I should have known. The pool? The tense argument in the sex shop…”

“We didn’t come in here voluntarily,youpushed us in here. And it wasn’t a sexual argument.”

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