White-Hot Hack (Kate and Ian #2)(55)
She laughed. “There was never anything wrong with my stomach, and you know it.”
She’d saved him the hassle of removing her pajama pants by not wearing them to bed in the first place. He knelt between her legs, skimmed his hands along her hips to pull down her underwear, and then threw them on the floor. He continued the path he’d been on until all his kisses were landing between Kate’s legs.
“You do know that’s not how you make a baby, right?”
He lifted his head, his warm hand resting on the inside of Kate’s thigh. “It’s not? I guess that means I’m going to need a lot more practice.”
“Less talking, more of what you were doing,” Kate said as she twisted her fingers in his hair and moaned when he obliged. Linda had been right: the lower level was perfect for guests, especially if you didn’t want them to hear you making noise while you practiced trying to get pregnant and you’d already used up your holiday allotment of sexual escapades. After all, there was only so much she and Ian could blame on their newlywed status before they started to seem like horny teenagers who lacked any kind of self-control.
As soon as Kate cried out, Ian slid slowly and deliciously into her.
“How am I doing now?” he asked.
“Perfect. Everything’s right where it’s supposed to be.”
“I have a feeling we’re going to make beautiful babies, sweetness. And I hope Shelby looks exactly like her mother.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Kate was sitting at her desk in her office, soft music coming from the computer’s speakers. She’d tried sitting with her laptop on the couch in Ian’s office so they could work in the same room together, but he was easily distracted and often suggested other, more satisfying, uses for the couch and desk. Her output had suffered because it took very little convincing before they were using his office furniture in ways it was not intended. The only way to maintain productivity was if they remained in their respective offices.
Ian was the best kind of boss because he didn’t micromanage and he let Kate make the decisions regarding the attack vectors she wanted to use for her social engineering assignments. She’d just finished setting up a fake website the way Ian had shown her. Crossing her fingers that it would work, she sent a phishing e-mail to her target with a link to the site. When opened, it would upload malware to the target, which would allow her to leave behind a backdoor for easy, continuous access to the client’s network.
While she waited, she decided to work on their holiday cards. The list of people she could send them to would be extremely short—Phillip and Susan, Kate’s family, Jade, and Renee—but she really wanted to send them, and it would be a wonderful keepsake of their first Christmas as husband and wife. She scrolled through the photos on her computer and selected one from their wedding reception. Ian was holding her on his lap, and the look on his face—like he was the happiest man in the world—made her heart swell. She dragged it into the Christmas card template, and after selecting a font for the text, she reached for her phone.
Kate: I’m designing our Christmas card. How do you feel about Happy Holidays from the Bradshaws?
Kate: Wait. Scratch that. How about Happy Holidays from the Merricks!
Kate: Damn. Happy Holidays from the Smiths!
Kate: I’ve got it. Happy Holidays from Kate and Ian!
Kate: Shit. Happy Holidays from Will and Diane!
Kate: Happy Holidays—you’ll just have to guess who this card is from!
Ian: I’m glad you find this amusing.
Kate: I’ve embraced our anonymity. We can be anyone.
Ian: Now all I can think about is role-playing.
She heard the chime indicating a new e-mail and smiled when she opened the response from her target thanking her for sending the link and telling her he’d already clicked on it.
Kate: Phishing e-mail worked! No wonder you love going in the backdoor. The rush is incredible!
Ian: You just shattered my concentration in the best possible way. We should take a break. Seriously, like right now.
Kate: Can’t. I’m very busy. I had to beg my boss for this job and I don’t want to let him down.
Ian: Trust me. No part of your boss is “down” right now, and he’s totally cool with you taking a break.
Kate: Are you sexually harassing me?
Ian: I’M TRYING TO.
Kate: Get back to work.
Ian: Come to my office. I have something to discuss with you.
Kate: Sure you do.
Ian: It’s very important.
Kate: Maybe it can wait until lunch.
Her e-mail chimed again, but it wasn’t another message from her client. Ian had sent a meeting request via their calendar software.
SUBJECT: Lunch.
WHERE: My couch. Bent over my desk. In my chair. I’m not picky.
WHEN: As soon as you can get in here.
She clicked on Decline but added a note: It’s only 10:28 a.m. A little early for lunch, don’t you think?
She turned her attention back to her computer, but her cursor seemed frozen, so she wiggled her mouse. She turned it off and then switched it back on. Finally she pulled the batteries and replaced them. Still nothing. She was about to ask Ian to come in and take a look when she had a sudden thought.
Kate: Fix my mouse!
Her mouse started working again, but then “One Week” by the Barenaked Ladies blasted forth from her computer’s speakers and startled her so completely she almost fell off her chair.