Night Hack: A forced proximity alpha hero hacker romantic suspense (Nightshade Book 4)

Chapter 18

Jana

When my alarm went off,I simply wanted to bash the stupid thing until it lay on the floor in a heap of plastic and electronic components. My face felt puffy, eyes gritty as if a sandstorm had forced the tiny grains under my eyelids while I slept. That and my churning stomach served to prove that although I’d slept, I’d received little rest last night.

Dragging my sorry ass out of bed, ready to apologize for using Brycen as a crying cushion, I decided putting on any airs would be useless. One look in the bathroom vanity mirror proved no amount of concealer would cover the dark bags under my eyes. It might tone down the redness in my face, especially the tip of my nose, but what was the use?

Grabbing the throw I’d used last night, I covered up and sauntered toward the kitchen, the wonderful aroma of melted butter, eggs, bacon…and coffee adding a little urgency to my stride.

My steps halted when I spotted Brycen sitting at the kitchenette table, a pinched look to his face as he flexed his hand, a discarded ice pack sitting next to a steaming cup of coffee, and Bailey lay at his feet.

I caused that. And my heart wanted to do anything to take his pain away—to take the inconvenience of having me to worry about out of this man’s daily equation.

Bailey whined, lifting his head to greet me. The dog’s golden eyes seemed to beg that I do something, anything, to help his master.

Before I knew it, I was crouched down in front of Brycen, taking his injured hand in mine to examine it. A few scrapes, one nasty gash that looked angry red, and some bruising marred his skin. “Did you ice it last night?” I demanded.

“Uhm,” was all that came out, but the guilty look in his eyes told me all I had to know.

“Right,” I huffed, propping his hand on the table’s edge, and went to fetch the first aid kit we’d used last night.

Walking by the stove, I noticed he’d completed his cooking duties, everything must have been in the oven, keeping warm for when I woke up as I spotted the telltale light letting me know the device was working its magic.

Good. It gave me time to doctor the man up. Stupid fool! Sweet fool, my subconscious amended.

Taking to my knees with the kit in hand, I spread the bag open, revealing everything I’d need, and more.

“What’d I do?” he asked. My brows furrowed in askance. “You called me a fool. What’d I do?”

“I noticed you didn’t keep the bandage on,” I stated. “It’s my fault you’re hurt, and if this gash gets infected, then that’ll be my fault too,” I growled, then shoved the edge of an alcohol swab packet in my mouth, tearing it with a single hand. “This is gonna sting,” I warned.

“How’s it your fault?”

“Since I can’t seem to hold it together, you flew off the handle.” I paused long enough to meet his gaze. “See? My fault.”

“The hell it is,” he growled.

Next thing I knew, he’d hefted me from under my arms, and up so I straddled his lap, sitting reverse on the chair, our chests colliding.

“Brycen, no!” I scolded him, pushing back, but his arms were firmly wrapped around me, thwarting my escape. “Let me clean your hand.”

“I can clean my own damn hand,” he grouched. “Let’s get one thing straight here.” Keeping a single hand at my back to prevent my retreat, his injured hand reached for my chin and held it firmly between his fingers so I couldn’t look away.

“I swore I’d protect you, and I haven’t been doing a great job of it, Jana.”

“But—”

“I should have checked your fucking phone after he’d had that package delivered to your office,” he explained. “Should have covered all the bases, and that meant looking for any kind of tracker.”

“But, Bryce?—”

“When you came out of that room…” His expression was one of regret—guilt. “Fuck, baby.” He shook his head on a disgusted huff. “I was ready to rage on someone, something.”

“That’s not your fault. Even Devolin blamed herself for not thinking of it,” I told him. “She told me as much when she found it. Honestly, I don’t think anyone would have been the wiser had he not called.”

His jaw grew tight, tension surrounded his mouth. “Should have known better,” he argued. “It’s the fact you have an almost inexistent cyber footprint that distracted me from thinking about your phone.”

Acknowledging this was a great opportunity to give him some comfort in return for all he’d done for me thus far, I leaned in, touching my forehead to his, offering a small smile.

“It’s over now. Dev figured it out, we have a plan in place, and everyone’s safe, Brycen,” I whispered, the man having closed his eyes to hear me out. “Now, can I please clean and bandage your hand? I’d like to get to that breakfast you so nicely cooked for us.”

Those dark chocolaty pools of his opened and captured my gaze. “My hand can wait a minute,” he whispered, his fingers shifting so his hand could hold the side of my neck. “I just have to?—”

“Bryce—” I tried to be the rational one.

But he cut me off with his lips.

Brycen

It wasn’t a heated kiss per se, more one that conveyed my gratitude for her worry about my stupidity that led to my sore hand. It was a kiss that reassured me she was indeed here, in my home, my sanctuary. That she trusted me, and the guys at NSI, to do our thing and catch the sicko who was after her. It also went a long way, with how she responded, that this attraction between us wasn’t fading anytime soon.

Pulling away, Jana’s hand came up, touching my lips with her fingers, and I couldn’t help but kiss them.

With a shy smile, she made to get to her feet, and I allowed it, reminding myself that slow and steady might be just what it took me to win this proverbial race.

I’d left Jana to her devices, with Bailey looking after her in my large backyard as they chased each other around the yard and played fetch. With the breakfast dishes done and stowed away at Jana’s insistence that she clean after I’d cooked, I’d ensured that she was settled before retreating to my basement office.

Checking in with Devolin, she’d managed to make a dent into things, leaving me with little to do, aside from looking after a new phone and number be issued for my current roommate. Turns out, the unsub—or unknown subject—we were chasing was knowledgeable about technology, just not as well-versed as we were.

The fucker had hacked into Jason’s computer with the aid of a worm. Looked like Jana’s brother wasn’t as concerned about leaving digital crumbs everywhere he went online. Where his sister had little to no internet presence, the same couldn’t be said about her brother. I’d have to have a talk with him about beefing up his web security, especially what with the sites he was quite prolific in visiting. Between those habits along with another, where he’d opened some unsolicited emails, it had been more than enough for our man to infiltrate Jana’s phone.

Turned out Jana had opened a video attachment in a text her brother had sent her. The rest was history.

“So, this is where you’ve been hiding.” She had me jumping in my seat, swiveling my desk chair around to face my interloper. “Gotta say…wow!” The look on Jana’s face told me she was more than impressed as she stepped inside the large room and took everything in. “That’s quite the setup you’ve got here. And I thought having four monitors at work was a challenge in adjustment to your typical nine-to-five desk jockey job.”

I grinned and shrugged. “Same kind of setup I have at the office, as a matter of fact, except slightly on a smaller scale. Devolin has her own corner in our techno hub too. Everything I do there I can do here, though,” I explained.

Jana’s eyes froze on one of the TV monitors up on my wall, nearest to me. “You were watching?” she asked, not so much as accused. When her eyes met mine, they held nothing but warmth and acceptance.

“This whole place is wired, inside and out,” I said. “I’m sorry, I should have said something earlier, but?—”

Her smile had some of my remaining apprehension faltering. “No, it’s okay,” she sighed and shrugged. “Kind of makes me feel safe if you’re not close by.”

To break the silence that had momentarily fallen between us, I asked, “So, what’s up?”

“I was gonna ask if you’d planned to spend your entire Saturday in this mecca of yours and starve, or if you wanted to join me for an early dinner and a movie or a dozen.”

“Mecca, huh?” I got to my feet, and stretched, not missing the dip of her interested gaze to my midsection, where my shirt bisected away from the top of my jeans while my arms were above my head.

“Uhm.” Her eyes trailed from my stomach, down to my crotch. In seconds, most likely once she’d realized what she’d done and shaken herself of whatever thoughts were running through that pretty head of hers, her eyes skyrocketed to meet mine. A light blush suffused her face as she bit her bottom lip, then said, “Uh, yeah.”

Caught in her ogling, I grinned, studying her long enough as I ran a hand over the scruff on my chin. She squirmed subtly due to my direct attention. “I could do food…and a movie, but that depends on what you have in mind to watch.”

Her eyes narrowed on me. “No chick flicks, if that’s what you thought.”

On a short laugh, I held my hands up in a peacekeeping gesture and smirked. “Just saying I’d be okay with it if it was really what you wanted to watch, but I’m more of a psychological thriller kind of guy.”

“Thought I’d figured you for some sort of military fanatic about SEALs, Green Berets, or some kind of World War movie buff.” Her smile matched mine as she self-assuredly crossed her arms over her chest. “How do you feel about horror?” The look I gave her must have belied my disbelief, because her smile turned into a full-out grin as she shrugged. “Figured, with October around the corner, might as well take this downtime of mine and indulge in some Wes Craven, Stephen King, and maybe a few Rob Zombie flicks. Might get me out of my head today since reading isn’t helping me any.”

“Found the AMC or Shudder channels on my Prime account, have you?” I chuckled.

That subtle blush from earlier pinkened her cheeks once more. “Might have.” Clearing her throat, she proceeded. “I ordered some Chinese since it’s slim pickings in your kitchen. There’s probably going to be enough to last us a week because I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I ordered a variety, and paid cash in case you were worried about someone monitoring my cards.”

Taking a step toward her so we stood toe to toe, my hand seemed to have a mind of its own as it cupped her cheek and tilted her face so I could really look at her. As beautiful as she was, I could make out the lines of stress and strain marring her features, and the bags beneath her eyes that proved she’d gotten little if any sleep last night, much like I hadn’t, after the storm had passed. Despite those temporary flaws, she was still the most beautiful creature in my book—and a smart one—color me impressed that she’d taken it upon herself to minimize being tracked by whomever we were chasing.

“I’ll make sure NSI reimburses you for that, and I’ll place an order for groceries before the end of the day,” I promised, sealing my words with a quick peck to her lips. When I pulled away, shocked at my forwardness, I was struck by the humored smile slowly making itself known on Jana’s mouth. Instead of overanalyzing things, I opted to act aloof, sidestepping her, then led the way back upstairs. When she didn’t follow immediately, I added a, “Coming?” never pausing to wait. When the telltale sound of scurrying footsteps trying to catch up with me came, the wide grin that spread on my face held encouragement. I wasn’t the only one who felt off-kilter every time we were in close proximity.