White-Hot Hack (Kate and Ian #2)(2)

“Too smooth,” she said, smiling and running the back of her hand along his clean-shaven cheek. He lowered his mouth to hers, and her bag slipped off her shoulder and landed on the concrete floor.

“I thought we weren’t going to break cover until we were in the car,” she said between kisses.

“I couldn’t wait that long, sweetness,” he murmured against her mouth. “You know delayed gratification isn’t really my thing.”

She pulled back and looked up at him, her expression hopeful. “How did I do?”

“You were incredible. I’m so proud of you.”

“Something came over me when the receptionist stuck that flash drive into her computer.”

“That something was the thrill of penetration. You’ll be chasing it from now on.”

“I felt like such a—”

“Bad girl?”

“I was going to say hacker.”

“I like bad girl better.”

“I bet you do. No wonder you like manipulating people so much. It’s just so…”

“The word you’re looking for is arousing.”

“Yes. That’s it exactly.”

She kissed him and ran her fingers through his hair, which he hadn’t cut since the wedding. Why bother? Kate liked it long. He hooked her leg around his hip, causing the skirt of her business suit to ride up, and deepened the kiss because there were few things he enjoyed more than kissing his wife. When he finally pulled away, he reached for her hand and led her up the stairs.

“There are so many explicit thoughts running through my head about what I’d like to do to you in this stairwell, but we should probably be going. I’ve found that after infecting a network with that much malware, it’s never a bad idea to be on your way.”



The Escalade had been swapped out for a white Lincoln Navigator on their way back from Roanoke Island, and Ian unlocked the car and opened Kate’s door.

“Now what?” she asked as he slid behind the wheel and headed for the exit.

He yanked on his tie to loosen it. “Now comes the part when I get to explain to the client that the reason the IT department is losing its mind is because my partner did, in fact, successfully breach the network.” He glanced over at Kate and grinned. “This is the part of penetration testing I really enjoy.”

She laughed. “I bet you do.”

“I’d love to tell him the beautiful woman in the lobby was my wife and that it was her very first assignment, but I’ll refrain from bragging.” As proud as he was of Kate, the last thing he wanted to do was draw attention to her, and he certainly didn’t need word getting around about a husband-and-wife hacking team.

“Did the client think we wouldn’t be able to do it?”

“He was confident their computer systems were secure, and they are. Not secure enough to keep me out, but fairly difficult for others. When I write my report, I’ll point out their vulnerabilities and show him what I’m going to do to fix them. But what so many business owners fail to recognize is that one of the biggest threats to their cybersecurity is not their technology. It’s their employees. Humans are incredibly susceptible to manipulation. There’s a reason hackers consider the USB ruse an oldie but goodie: it almost always works. That receptionist didn’t really want to stick your flash drive into her computer, but she wanted to help you, so she talked herself out of saying no. She probably rationalized that someone as nice as you, someone who was having a bad day but who’d still taken the time to compliment her grandchild, couldn’t possibly be there to do any harm.”

“How bad was the malware?”

“It’s the real thing—I designed it myself. A penetration test isn’t going to be as effective if it doesn’t mirror an attack on the network. Using live malware will send them scrambling, but it’s nothing their IT department can’t handle. It’s good practice for them because if it actually happens someday, they’ll know what to do.”

“The receptionist won’t lose her job or anything, will she? She was so nice to me.”

“No, we’re not trying to get anyone in trouble. The reason the client hired us is so we can show them the ways in which a malicious hacker might take advantage of their employees so they can better prepare them. That receptionist will be the most secure person in the whole organization after this.”

“That’s true. No one is ever getting past her again.”

Ian looked over at Kate and grinned. “Was the baby really that cute?”

“Supercute. He probably will win.”

“Good for him.”

“I got lucky today. That was pretty much the ideal scenario.”

“Don’t sell yourself short. You’re much better at this than I was when I started, and you seem to enjoy it more than I ever did.”

“I loved it, but I know it won’t always be that easy.”

“That’s why we practice.” He and Kate had rehearsed dozens of possible scenarios so she’d be prepared no matter what obstacles she encountered.

She reached over the console and laid her hand on his inner thigh. “When we get home, I am going to climb you like a tree. You know that, right?”

He pressed down slightly on the gas pedal and smiled. “Sweetness, there was a reason I told the client I wouldn’t be available until after two. And even then, I’m not totally sure we’ll be done.”