Page 29 of Hung Up on the Hacker

He stroked a hand down her spine, soothing. “Believe me, I’m as surprised as you are. I think he was kind of insulted that we thought he’d be angry.”

“He came very close to breaking the arm of my prom date for having a condom in his wallet.”

“As I was the one who picked said wallet from your prom date, I was kinda complicit in that one. You were definitely not going to be relieved of your virginity that night, and not by that guy.”

Hadley searched his carefully blank expression, seeing what he didn’t say. “You were following us, weren’t you?”

He shrugged. “It was as much to keep you safe as to keep your brother out of jail.”

Rolling her eyes, she stepped back. “Men. God forbid you trust my judgment about anything.”

“It was never about not trusting your judgment. It was about not trusting the guys. Because, as you have just pointed out… men.”

She could hardly argue when her life had taken such a sharp left turn not long after she’d been out from under their protection.

“So, what did he say?”

“The primary takeaway from the whole conversation was that he’s happy for us.”

Hadley let that soak in and wasn’t quite sure she believed it. “Marriage has mellowed him.”

“Seems like.”

“I still feel like I owe it to him to talk to him myself, since I’m the reason you sat on this for so long.”

Cash looked her over in that way she knew was analyzing everything. “Are you feeling up to that?”

Her level of don’t-wanna was pretty damned high. But he’d done his part. It was time to suck it up and do hers. “Putting it off isn’t gonna make it any easier.” She crouched to pull on her second bootie. “Was he headed home?”

“Yeah. They were expecting us for dinner in an hour, anyway. I’ll come with you.”

She laid her hands on his forearms, rising to her toes to brush a kiss over his lips. “No. I think I need to do this on my own. Give me a twenty- or thirty-minute lead?”

“I can do that. I have a few phone calls to return.”

“Take care of business. I’ll see you over there.”

She made it halfway to the door before he snagged her hand. “Hadley?”

“Yeah?”

He lifted her hand and pressed a kiss to her palm, brown eyes steady on hers. “I’m glad we don’t have to hide anymore.”

Heart fluttering, she smiled. “Me, too.”

The warm, gooey feeling in her chest stayed with her until she pulled into the driveway. Not allowing herself a moment to wallow in the anxiety lurking beneath the surface, Hadley shut her car door and looked at the house, dreading going inside just as much as she had been three days ago.

Stop being a chicken shit, Steele.

Squaring her shoulders, she headed up the walk. Because they were expecting her, she didn’t knock. The quiet snick of the door was lost in the clatter of dishes and pans from the kitchen. Dinner prep was clearly underway. Following the noise, she found her brother nibbling on his wife’s neck as she tried to chop some vegetables for whatever was for dinner. Maddie was ensconced at the kitchen table, surrounded by worksheets.

“You know, you really shouldn’t do that while your wife is holding a knife. Fingers are important.”

Cayla lifted her free hand to comb through the hair at his nape. “Much as I’m enjoying this, she’s not wrong, and I need to finish chopping these carrots.”

Holt shot a narrow-eyed glare in her direction, but his grin took the heat out of it. “Spoil-sport.”

Maddie abandoned her homework in favor of hitting Hadley with a tackle hug. “Play with me!”

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