Heart-Shaped Hack (19 page)

When Kate returned, Ian was semi-reclined on the couch, holding the bourbon glass loosely in his hand. He stared, eyes half-lidded, lips parted. “Come closer.”

Maybe it was the way he was looking at her or maybe it was the wine, because at that moment Kate suddenly found herself with very few inhibitions. Slowly she approached him and then turned in a circle so he could see her from every angle.

“Beautiful,” he said, his voice heavy with desire. “Now take it off.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

When Ian came out of the bathroom on Christmas Day, Kate did a double take and clutched her chest as if she were having a heart attack. “You’re killing me. You know that, right?”

He grabbed her hand and dragged the back of it along his clean-shaven cheeks.

“No, no, no,” she said. “Way too smooth.”

“Respectable,” he countered.

Kate watched as he pulled a suit out of her closet and got dressed. “One minute you’re a free-spirited hacker, and the next you’re suiting up to meet the parents,” she said. “I never know what I’m going to get.”

He tightened his tie. “That’s because being with me is never boring. I believe I promised you that, Katie.”

“That it would not be boring was a bit of an understatement. You might have downplayed a few things.”

Kate stood in front of the dresser mirror and ran a brush through her long curls, loosening them slightly. Then she applied her lipstick and spritzed on some perfume.

“You look gorgeous,” Ian said. He watched as she stepped into a modest pencil skirt and pulled on a sweater. “What about the dress I gave you?”

“That one’s a bit short for Christmas Day.” She paused. “And my dad. Plus I’m saving it for New Year’s Eve. It’s perfect for downtown.” Paige had invited Kate and Ian to join her and her husband at a party at the W Hotel. Audrey and her fiancé would be there too. Kate stepped into her shoes, grabbed her purse, and said, “Okay. Let’s go.”

They were meeting Kate’s parents for dinner at Nicollet Island Inn. She had no worries regarding any questions that might arise over dinner about Ian’s occupation, but it had been a long time since she’d introduced them to someone new, and she took a deep breath to calm her nerves as they got out of the car.

Ian seemed relaxed, smiling at Kate and holding her hand as they walked into the restaurant. Diane and Steve were waiting for them by the door. Her mother looked elegant in a wrap dress and silver hoop earrings, her hair blown out in a sleek bob that reached her shoulders. Kate thought if she looked half as good at fifty-five as her mother did, she’d be very happy. Like Ian, her dad had worn a suit, and after seeing his face light up when he spotted her, Kate realized how happy she was to be seeing her parents again.

After she hugged them, she turned around. “Mom, Dad, this is Ian.”

Ian shook her mother’s hand and Diane held it warmly in hers. “It’s nice to meet you, Ian.”

Kate’s dad and Ian shook hands. Steve smiled, but Kate knew he was going through the mental checklist he’d been using to measure Kate’s boyfriends since she’d been old enough to have them.

“It’s nice to meet you both,” Ian said. “Kate speaks of you often.”

Diane couldn’t stop smiling at Ian, and it was adorable. Her mother had always been close to Stuart and had been genuinely fond of him, but Kate didn’t think it would be long before Diane pledged her allegiance to Ian.

They placed their drink orders once they were seated in the dining room: wine for Diane and Kate and single malt whiskey for Steve and Ian. Kate felt herself relaxing as they made small talk and looked at their menus.

“Have you heard from Chad?” Kate asked. Her brother was spending Christmas with Kristin’s family in Ohio.

“Yes,” Diane said. “He called this morning to wish us Merry Christmas. He and Kristin are flying back tomorrow.”

Kate had worried that her parents might ask Ian why he wasn’t spending the holiday with his own family, so she’d told her mom about Ian’s upbringing one day when they’d talked on the phone. She didn’t go into detail, but she’d told Diane about Ian’s dad and that he didn’t have much contact with his mom.

“That’s heartbreaking,” Diane had said.

“I know. He and his dad were really close. But he’s handled it well, and he’s doing fine on his own. Honestly, I couldn’t be more impressed by what he’s accomplished. I just don’t want you to say anything about his parents at dinner.” Diane had promised that she wouldn’t.

Their drinks arrived and Diane took a sip of her wine. “How did last night go?”

“We didn’t have to turn anyone away, so I’d say it was a success,” Kate said. “We served meals for about three hours. The kids were so excited to receive their presents.”

“Were you there too?” Diane asked Ian.

“Yes. Kate did a wonderful job organizing everything.”

“Ian’s being very modest. His contribution helped bring it all together.”

“Kate told me you two met when you made a donation to the food pantry,” Diane said.

“Yes. I saw her on TV and wanted to help.”

“Ian is very philanthropically inclined,” Kate said.

He smiled at Kate. “It balances out my shortcomings.”

“What shortcomings?” she said, smiling back.

Diane looked at the two of them and beamed.

Ian had once teased Kate that the apple hadn’t fallen far from the tree when she’d mentioned having a glass of wine with her mother. But Kate thought the tree she’d fallen from was more likely her father’s. He had the same need for excitement that Kate did, and he’d satisfied it in a courtroom. Maybe that was one of reasons Kate’s defection from the practice of law had bewildered him so.

Steve had always been kind to Stuart, but during the five years they’d been together, she’d noticed a slight dismissal in the way her dad spoke to him, as if he knew as well as Kate that there wasn’t much under Stuart’s surface that needed excavating. Ian would be a more stimulating conversational partner for her father. She envisioned Ian sharing only what he wanted to and Steve always being aware that there was more.

“Kate tells me you went to MIT,” Steve said.

“Yes.”

“And I hear you own your own company.”

“For about ten years now. I specialize in computer security.”

Kate’s dad asked several questions, and Ian gave him examples of the work he’d done for some of his clients. She was impressed when her dad seemed to grasp it so quickly. Steve Watts was a highly intelligent man, but he was definitely out of his comfort zone when it came to technology.

“Sounds like you’re very good at what you do,” Steve said.

“I genuinely enjoy it, which helps,” Ian said.

“Do you think it’s true what they say about the next terrorist attack being launched by computers?” Steve asked.

“Yes. We’ve only just begun to see the impact hackers will have on national security.”

“What are the implications?”

“It’s our infrastructure that’s most vulnerable. Electricity, gas, oil, water. Bringing those to a standstill would cripple us.”

Kate had never seen Ian look so serious.

Or so worried.

After they finished eating, Kate and Diane excused themselves to go to the restroom.

“He’s wonderful, Kate,” Diane said when they were washing their hands. “He looks at you like all he wants is to have you by his side.”

Kate knew exactly what her mother was talking about. “I haven’t told him yet, but I love him. And I love him in a way I never loved Stuart. I can’t describe it.”

Diane smiled and took Kate’s hands in her own. “One of the things I admire most about you is that you follow your head
and
your heart. Keep trusting your instincts. This is your life. Make the choices that will bring you the most happiness.”

Kate hugged her mom. “I will.” She started to laugh. “You would not
believe
how much I didn’t like him at first. Someday when we’re alone and have time, I’ll tell you the whole story.”

When they sat back down at the table, they ordered dessert and coffee. Kate and Diane made plans to meet for brunch and to go shopping the next day, and then Kate would spend some more time with her parents before they headed home the day after that. Kate hoped that next year Ian could come home with her for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Kate wanted Chad and Kristin to meet him too.

When the check came, Ian didn’t challenge Steve about who would pay it, and Kate was relieved. There was a clear hierarchy about who picked up the tab for the first dinner, and Steve held the top spot.

They walked to the door of the restaurant and said their good-byes. Kate hugged her parents and Ian shook their hands. Diane couldn’t resist giving Ian a hug too.

“It was wonderful to meet you,” Ian said. “Thank you for dinner.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Mom,” Kate said, giving her mom another hug.

Kate’s parents watched as Ian opened the passenger door for Kate, and she waved to them as they walked to their own car. Ian slid behind the wheel and pulled out of the parking lot.

“Well?” she asked.

“I think your mom approves. She didn’t stop smiling at me the entire time. Your dad might enjoy cross-examining me under oath or administering a lie detector test, but I’m guessing that’s standard operating procedure for any man you’ve ever introduced to him.”

Kate nodded, laughing. “He’d love to do those things, but my mom won’t let him.”

“I liked them. I’m not just saying that either.”

“I was a little nervous. I haven’t introduced them to anyone since Stuart.”

“I could tell. But I’m pretty sure I passed.”

“After watching you use your impeccable manners to charm the pants off my parents—my mother’s almost literally—I would have to agree.”

Ian flipped on his turn signal. “When we get home, I’m going to build a fire and have some more of that bourbon Santa brought me. Then I’m going to take off all your clothes and lay you down on the rug in front of the fire. After that I’m going to make my way down your body until my face is between your legs. Then I’d like to hear what you think about my smooth cheeks.”

Kate smiled and looked at him affectionately. “I was thinking just the other day about how I kind of miss that cocky, over the top, wildly inappropriate man I first met. But then you go and say something like that and I think,
Oh… there he is
.”

When they got home, Ian helped Kate off with her coat and built a fire. Then he poured the drinks, and when they’d finished them, he did exactly what he’d promised in the car.

And Kate decided his smooth cheeks felt very fine indeed.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Loud electronic beeping roused Kate from a deep sleep. At first she thought it was her alarm clock, which was set to wake her at 8:00 a.m. But the bedroom was pitch-dark, and Ian would not have thrown back the covers and bolted out of bed if the noise had come from her alarm. A quick glance at the clock showed the time as 2:11.

He moved fast for someone who had only moments before been curled around Kate, asleep, and by the time she pulled on her robe and caught up to him, he was already sitting on the couch, fingers flying across the keyboard of his laptop. He’d silenced the alarm, which she now realized had come from the computer.

“Grab our phones and pull out the batteries as quickly as you can.” He spoke calmly, but there was an undercurrent of urgency in his tone.

That woke Kate up in a hurry.

Trying not to panic, she went into the bedroom and retrieved his phone from the nightstand, already prying off the cover as she walked back into the room. She reached into her purse for the phone he’d given her and sat down beside him as they worked, each of them silently absorbed in their tasks.

When both batteries were lying on the coffee table, she said, “What about the SIM cards?” In a regular cell phone, the SIM card contained the identity of the mobile subscriber, but Ian bought prepaid cards and when the minutes were up, he replaced them.

“I already wiped the phones, and I’ll swap out the cards tomorrow.” As he typed, he muttered a string of curse words, which did nothing to soothe her nerves or slow the galloping of her heart.

Kate went back into the bedroom and retrieved Ian’s glasses from the nightstand. After cleaning the lenses, she sat down on the couch and handed them to him.

“There’s that quickness I like so much,” he said, putting them on with one hand and taking the other off the keyboard just long enough to give hers a brief squeeze. “Don’t worry. I’ve got this. Go back to bed.”

Kate didn’t want to go back to bed. She was wide-awake and wanted to ask a stream of frantic questions about what had triggered the alarm and what it meant for him and for them. But Ian had entered a hyperfocused zone and he kept his eyes on the screen, pounding the keys and typing faster than she’d ever seen anyone type before.

Not wanting to impede whatever it was he was doing, she let him be and went back to bed.

But sleep would not come, and Kate stared at the clock, watching the minutes tick by as different scenarios played out in her head. An alarm had to be a bad thing, and an alarm that woke you in the middle of the night seemed even worse. And asking her to pull the batteries from their phones. Kate knew what that meant and half expected him to rush into the bedroom and start gathering up his things.

He’d said he’d tell her if he ever had to leave, but the promise did nothing to lessen the impact of how she’d feel if he actually did.

At 3:48, she got out of bed. Silently she stood in the doorway and watched him. He was still typing, but at a much slower speed. Then he took off his glasses, laid them on the coffee table, and rubbed his eyes. When he looked up and spotted her, he smiled, held out his hand, and beckoned her. She went to him, and he pulled her down onto his lap.

“Why aren’t you sleeping?” He scanned her face, and his smile faded as he registered the worry etched in her expression.

“Will you have to leave? I’ll understand if you do, but I don’t want you to.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“No?” she asked, relieved.

“No.” His voice was soft, soothing.

“Then what was that all about?”