Heart-Shaped Hack(36)

“Don’t you mean devastatingly beautiful?”

“That too.”

Ian ordered Chinese while they were still in bed, and when it arrived they ate dinner in front of a roaring fire.

“What do you want for Christmas?” Kate asked.

“I want you to accept my offer of another charitable donation,” he said, taking a bite of his egg roll.

“How is that a gift for you?”

“Giving makes me feel good and so does helping you. Therefore, if you let me give you money, which will benefit those in need, I’ll be happy. It’s the only thing I want. Are you really going to deny me this request on our first Christmas together?”

“How about a nice sweater?”

“I have plenty of sweaters. I’d freeze to death if I didn’t.”

“I’m still wrestling with the idea,” she said.

“Let me know when you’ve decided. But don’t wait too long.”



Kate was sitting at her desk organizing client files when Ian breezed through the front door of the food pantry to take her to lunch.

“Hi, Helena,” he said, pausing in front of her desk on his way to Kate’s.

“Hello, Ian,” she said. “How are you?”

“Fine, thanks. How are you?”

“Busy. Christmas will be here before we know it.”

He glanced over at Kate. “I keep telling Kate the same thing.”

“I’m so happy to hear that the two of you are officially dating.”

“So Kate told you?” He leaned against the edge of Helena’s desk and crossed his arms.

“Oh yes. She tells me everything. The other day she spent fifteen minutes telling me about all the underthings you’ve bought her.”

Kate wanted the ground to open up and swallow her.

“It sounds like you’re quite sweet on our Kate,” Helena added.

“Oh, I am. I am very sweet on our Kate. I mean, just look at her.”

Kate’s face was on fire, and her expression was somewhere between uncomfortable and mortified.

“Ready?” Ian asked brightly.

She put on her coat and grabbed her purse. “We talked about this,” she hissed on her way past Helena’s desk. Helena smiled and pretended she hadn’t heard her.

Ian held open the door, and they stepped outside. “Bet this frigid air feels good on those flaming cheeks.”

“Oh, be quiet,” Kate said as he laughed and reached for her hand.

“Does Helena know what an excellent lover I am?” he asked as they walked down the street. “You did tell her about the underthings.”

“I might have mentioned your Victoria’s Secret shopping habit, but I do not share intimate details with her even though she’d probably enjoy hearing them. She’s a very curious person. When I told her you were taking me to lunch, she wanted to know where you worked. I think she was worried you didn’t have a job. I showed her your website.”

After Ian told her the name of his company, Kate had googled Privasa but hadn’t learned much about it. There were no rates listed or testimonials given. No explanation of services. On the contact page she’d found only a simple form to request more information. It reminded Kate of those nightclubs that were so exclusive they didn’t need a sign. If you were allowed entrance, you’d know where to find it.

“Your website is quite stark,” she said once they’d arrived at Mattie’s on Main and been seated.

“That’s because my clients come to me by referral. I used to advertise when I started out ten years ago, but now I don’t need to. My reputation is legendary.”

“As a hacker and a lover,” she teased.

He winked at her and she melted. “I did struggle for a few years. I’m referring to getting the company off the ground, not my bedroom skills.”

“Well, you did start honing them at fourteen.”

“How old were you?”

“Seventeen. Prom night my junior year. He threw up on me later.”

He grimaced. “I promise I will never do that, sweetness.”

“So were you one of those computer geniuses who started their company in a dorm room?”

“Not exactly. In college I was all about seeing what I could hack into for my own amusement, regardless of how risky or stupid it was. But I knew before I graduated that the corporate track wouldn’t be a good fit, so I came up with a way to channel my superior hacking skills into a revenue stream. It took hard work and some extremely long hours, but I have a one hundred percent success rate in penetrating any system I attempt to hack into. If a company needs a white-hat security firm, my name is always at the top of the list.”

“And what name would that be?” she asked, leaning toward him with interest.

“Ian Merrick.”

“Your last name is Merrick?” Well, that was easy.

“No. But Ian Merrick is the name I use for my business. I got tired of trying to convince clients they didn’t need to know my full name. So I made one up.”

“Oh.” She looked down at her menu, flipping through the pages to hide the disappointment on her face.

He reached across the table for her hand. “It’s not that I’m not telling you my last name. I don’t tell anyone.”