Hawk (A Stepbrother Romance #3)(53)

Scowling, I start to protest. Alexis cuts me off.

"Fine. So what's the plan?"

"You work for him, right?" Jennifer asks, and sits on the cot again. "Work on his campaign."

"Yeah."

"You have access to his office?"

She shakes her head. "I do but only when he's in there. I can't go in there when he's not, and…"

"It's okay," Jennifer says, softly. "I have something you can use. You just need to get it into the house and get it on your wireless network-"

"We don't have Wi-Fi," I sigh. "I mean, he doesn't. He has his own Internet connection separate from the house line. It's part of his business thing."

"Shit," Jennifer barks. "Then you'd need to access his computer directly, right. Damn it. I'm not going to ask you go sneaking around when he might catch you."

"What is it you'd need me to do?"

"I'll give you a thumb drive with a little program on it. All it has to do is get on his computer and connect to ours over the internet. It would be five minutes in his office, tops."

"I can't," Alexis shudders. "As soon as I stick it in there he'll-"

"I'm not letting her do that," I say, calmly.

Jennifer gets up and paces, stopping to crouch and rub her calf.

"You okay?"

"Leg hurts, it's nothing," she sighs. "Old injury. You'd only need a couple of minutes. Is there a time you can think of when you know he'll be out of the house for a good while? Doing something important?"

"Not when I wouldn't be with him," Alexis says.

I scratch my head. "What about this rally?"

"Rally?" Jennifer looks at me, hard. "What rally?"

"He's holding a campaign event this coming weekend," Alexis says. "But we're all going to be there, even Hawk."

I nod. "Nobody can just slip off. He'll have the house sealed up tight and have his eye on all of us."

"What if he was distracted, somehow?" Jennifer says. "What can you tell me about this thing?"

"Nothing yet," Alexis says, shrugging. "I'm going to be involved in setting it up, though. He won't do things like rent the fire hall himself. I always do that. I'll call people and setup itineraries, secretary stuff."

Jennifer nods, slowly. "Do you think you can slip off and give me some information about it while he's planning it? I don't need much, we just need to know where it is and what he has planned."

Alexis scrubs her hand through her hair, and plucks at her bandage. "I can do that. By phone?"

"In person. A couple of times a week."

Alexis nods. "Usual place?"

"Take your runs when you can. We'll be watching. You," Jennifer looks at me, "Keep an eye on her. Don't let her get into more trouble."

"Me?"

"Yeah, you. Okay, time to go. You two need to get back home, and be careful."

I take Alexis' hand and we head outside. In the car, she takes a long, shaking breath, and sits back in the seat. I start it up and back around, and pull out onto the road. It's been almost three hours since we left.

"He'll be back by now," Alexis says, announcing my own thoughts. "How are we going to get back in?"

"Same way we got out. Climb up. I'll show you."

She nods, and yawns. "I feel like I've been awake for three days. All that stuff, did it happen today?"

"Yeah," I yawn, too.

Alexis curls up in the seat, turning to rest her forehead on my shoulder, and in a few minutes she's sleeping soundly, her breath tickling my arm. I shift and let her fall against me as I raise my arm and drape it over her shoulders. She murmurs something and nestles into my side as I rest my hand on her hip. I could get used to this.

When we reach Paradise Falls, Alexis sits up and yawns again, and rubs at her eyes the way she used to when she fell asleep on the bus on a field trip, smacks her lips the way she used to when she dozed off on the way to school. She could always sleep anywhere and any time, just close her eyes and pass out.

I never could, and when I was in the prime of my teenage years I'd stay awake all weekend and doze for a few hours for Monday. It never hit me until it was too late, how much I enjoy simply watching her sleep. She looks so serene and peaceful at rest, her soft lips parted as if expecting a kiss. I want to pull her to me and kiss her now, but I can see the tension quivering in her like a coiled spring, ready to pop.

"Can we make it back in?"

"Yeah. Hold on."

As I turn back on to our street, I click the lights off and slowly, very slowly, drive around behind the house and pull in to Alex's spot next to the carriage house, and step out, motioning for her to stay quiet.

Our biggest problem is that the backyard is well lit. Floodlights cast powerful beams a cross the yard. Even hiding along the fence won't matter. Alexis looks at me, and I lead her by the hand along the back of the carriage house. It means going under Lance's window, but we'll be the least exposed. I grab her hand and sprint to the porch and she follows me.

I grab her hips and boost her up as she climbs up the side of the porch, then put my hands on her backside and push her over. She turns around and kneels on the roof of the porch as I drag myself up and over, spreading out my weight by splaying out my arms and legs.