White-Hot Hack (Kate and Ian #2)(59)

Kate had never felt so calm or so peaceful. They began their day with breakfast on the terrace, and then she attended a Pilates class while Ian worked out in the resort’s state-of-the-art fitness center, followed by a couples’ massage. Ian went on several fishing excursions in a nearby town. Then the chef would prepare what he’d caught—tuna, mahimahi, snapper and grouper—and serve it to them in their villa. They spent hours lying on the beach and walking hand in hand along the water’s edge.

“I could live here,” Kate said one evening when they were lying together in the darkened bedroom among the twisted sheets, listening to the soothing sounds of the jungle. Ian was playing with her hands, rubbing her palms and interlocking their fingers.

“Say the word, sweetness. I’ll make it happen.”

But would he? If she looked him in the eye and said, “I want to spend the rest of our lives here, hidden away from everyone,” would he do it? And would he be happy if they did? If she’d learned anything in the preceding months, it was that he wasn’t ready for that. If she was honest with herself, she wasn’t either.

She leaned over and pressed her lips softly to his. “Maybe someday I will.”





CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

The sun wouldn’t rise for another hour, and Kate and Ian were fast asleep in the quiet darkness of their own bedroom back in Virginia when the security system shrieked out its warning. Instantly awake, Kate shot up, heart pounding as she fumbled for the switch to turn on the bedside lamp and Ian threw back the covers and leaped from the bed. Struggling into a pair of jeans that had been draped across the arm of the couch, he scooped his phone off the nightstand and shoved it into his pocket.

“Get dressed. Lock the bedroom door behind me, and then go into the bathroom and lock that door too. Stay there until I come back. Do not come out.” He had to shout over the earsplitting sound of the alarm as he ran out of the room.

As soon as she locked the door behind him, she plucked her pajamas off the floor and hurried to the bathroom, shutting and locking that door too. She dressed quickly, her body vibrating with fear. As the minutes passed, she grew more afraid until suddenly the alarm stopped shrieking. She breathed a sigh of relief when her phone rang and Ian’s number flashed on the screen.

“Where are you? Are you okay?”

“I’m back inside. The police are on their way. I’m walking toward the bedroom now.”

She came out of the bathroom, and by the time she reached the bedroom door, he was there.

“It’s okay. Everything’s okay,” he said when she gathered him into her arms.

He’d run out into the cold winter air without a shirt, and his bare skin felt ice-cold under her fingers. “You’re freezing.” She left him to grab a sweatshirt from the closet.

“Whoever it was is gone now,” he said, pulling the sweatshirt over his head.

“Maybe it was a false alarm,” she said.

“Yeah. That’s probably all it was.”

But Kate noticed he didn’t look at her when he said it.



Ian and two police officers walked the grounds, examining the perimeter of the house and checking windows and doors for any sign of attempted entry. A light snow had fallen the day before, but their search didn’t turn up any footprints that would indicate an intruder had been responsible for tripping the alarm. After the police had gone and they’d showered and eaten breakfast, Ian disappeared into his office. Kate checked on him an hour later, and he looked up when she walked into the room, worry creasing his forehead.

“I was just about to come find you,” he said. “We have a problem.”

She sat down on the couch. She’d hoped he wouldn’t find anything, but the minute he’d gone into his office, she knew he would.

“Someone hacked our security system. They tried to cover their tracks, but they didn’t do a good enough job. I modified the system after we moved in so if anyone ever hacked us, they’d leave with enough malware to make them think twice about another attempt. I don’t think they’ll be back.”

“Good.”

“They hacked the camera in the garage. They were probably trying to figure out the cars we owned to make it easier to follow us.” He rubbed his temples as if he was trying to stave off a headache building behind his eyes.

“Are you okay?” She walked over to him, and he pulled her onto his lap.

“Everything I’ve done to you. Everything I’ve already put you through was for nothing. There’s no way that someone following you and our security system being hacked aren’t related. Someone knows we’re here.”

She’d never seen him look so defeated.

“Maybe you should go home for a while,” he said.

“I am home.”

He looked at Kate. “Sometimes I feel like there’s the two of us, and then there’s the rest of the world. Do you ever feel like that?”

“All the time.”

She smiled and brushed back the hair that had fallen over one of his eyes. “You told me once nothing would ever do it for you quite like a smart, fearless woman.”

“I also said beautiful.”

“I signed on for this, and I knew exactly what I was getting into.”

“I don’t know what I did to deserve you.”