Page 76 of The Hacker
“You okay?” he asked between ragged breaths.
“Just missing you.” But it felt wonderful to be pressed skin to skin, trading body heat, their hearts pounding against each other.
Knowing that he cared for her. Knowing that she cared for him. She wouldn’t use the word “love,” but it hovered there.
She sighed and kissed his pectoral muscle because it was under her cheek. “Can we stay like this forever?”
“In a perfect world, we could,” he said, one of his hands stroking lazily up and down her back with an occasional detour down to her buttocks. “Unfortunately, we still have some arms dealers to reckon with. But for now, we’re golden.” His accent caressed like velvet, which meant he was relaxed.
She’d done that for him. For now that was enough.
Chapter 17
Dawn woke up to find the room in darkness and Leland gone. When she ran her hand over the pillow where his head had left an indentation, it was still warm. She pushed the covers off, pulled on a white cotton sleep shirt, and padded out of the bedroom, the wooden floor slightly chilly under her bare feet.
Leland sat at the kitchen counter, the glow of the laptop’s screen illuminating his face while his fingers pirouetted over the keyboard. The only lights he had turned on were her kitchen’s undercabinet fixtures so his black clothing faded into the dimness. He hadn’t bothered with shoes either, and one of his long, bare feet was hooked over the support bar at the bottom of the stool while the other was braced flat on the floor. She wanted to run her finger along his arch to see if he was ticklish.
“Did the data traffic change on the node?” Dawn asked as she came up to lay her body against his solid back while she ran her hands up and over the swell of his shoulders. She allowed herself to briefly bury her nose against the fabric of his T-shirt to inhale the scent of warm skin, clean cotton, and the crisp undertone of his soap. She felt like she would remember that aroma the rest of her life.
“No, it’s about the same.” He twisted his head to kiss one of her hands, his lips warm and firm.
The video monitoring laptop was dark, which meant nothing was happening with Tully. “So what are you working on”—she glanced at the microwave’s display—“at 4:07 in the morning?”
“A report for a client. I didn’t get a chance to finish it earlier today.” He continued to type as he talked.
She peeked around his shoulder to see words appearing on the screen at high speed. “Is it due tomorrow—er, today?”
“It’s due to Derek later today. He needs to incorporate it into his proposal.”
She pulled her hands back, edged around the stool, and tilted sideways to get her face between Leland and the computer. “Leland, Derek is your partner. You’re involved in a situation involving guns and drug dealers. He’s not going to expect you to hand in your report on time.”
He stopped typing to run one hand over his face. “I couldn’t sleep.”
“Why didn’t you wake me up? I’m pretty sure we could have found something more interesting to do than write a report.” He looked exhausted in the low light, not surprising given that he’d gotten about two hours of sleep so far.
He smiled and swiveled on the stool, pulling her in to stand between his thighs. “You needed to rest.” He set his hands on her hips and kissed her forehead.
“So do you.”
“Yeah, but I couldn’t, which is no excuse for keeping you awake.”
She thought of what Natalie had said about the demons driving Leland. Maybe the dead of night was when he could be persuaded to reveal what they were. She brushed her fingertips through his rumpled hair. “Why can’t you sleep, sweetheart?” Yup, she’d said “sweetheart.” It was just to lull him into confiding in her.
“Too wound up from chasing drug kingpins and arms dealers, I guess.” He gave her hips a playful squeeze.
She laid her palms on either side of his face without smiling. “Seriously, what makes you type reports in the middle of the night? I want to know.”
He skimmed his hands down to cup her butt and move her in closer as though he would kiss her. She braced her elbows against his shoulders so he had to meet her eyes. “What?” she demanded.
He closed his eyes as though weary. “Obligations.”
“To whom?”
He opened his eyes and the lines of his face tightened. “This isn’t the time for diving into my psyche. I have tasks to finish before tomorrow morning.”
“The middle of the night, when it’s quiet and dark and there’s no one but me to hear what you say, is the perfect time for diving into your psyche.”
He released his grip on her butt and moved his hands to rest on his thighs. “Did Derek and Tully put you up to this?” He gave his head a tiny shake between her palms. “Forget I said that.”
