awoke in the night, he comforted her, cuddling her tight. When his nearness conjured her need for him, he obliged her body until the first light of morning, showering her with wave upon wave of pleasure until she again resorted to sleep.
When she finally opened her eyes again, it was nearly lunchtime and Zach was gone, a note on her bedside table telling her he’d gone to meet with HERO Force. Piece by piece, she unpacked the events of the day before, allowing herself to process everything that had happened.
That was how Wyatt found her, still in bed halfway through the day. “Where’s Zach?” he asked.
“He went to work.”
“I need to show him what I found on the computer.”
She sat up, finding her cell phone plugged in on her dresser (though she had no memory of putting it there) and called him. Her cheeks heated as the phone rang and she remembered the things he’d done to her in the night.
“Hey, how are you doing?” he asked.
“I’m okay. Listen, Wyatt’s here, and he has something he wants to show you on the computer.”
“I should be back at the house in time for dinner.”
She moved the receiver to her neck. “He says he’ll be back in time for dinner.”
“Tell him I can prove those messages on Uncle Ben’s machine are fake.”
Her eyes went wide. “He says he can prove the messages on Ben’s machine are fake.”
“Seriously? Can you bring him to the hotel?”
“Sure. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” She hung up. “How did you figure it out?”
Wyatt shrugged but beamed with pride. “It was easy, really. Once I understood how it worked and how the different dates could be manipulated, I could see the answer right away.”
“You get that from your father, you know.”
“You think so?”
“I do.” She smiled, her heart full. “Now skedaddle, and let me get dressed so we can get out of here.”
28
Moto sat at the conference table in the HERO Force suite, surrounded by some of the men he respected most in this world and a boy who’d just blown his mind. Wyatt had found a way to use a malware keystroke logger that was already on Ben’s machine to pull up an exact record of the evidence being planted on the computer. He could see the system date being changed before and after the creation of each falsified file. “You figured that out from what I taught you?”
“Well, that and a bunch of YouTube videos. It was luck, really. Most people look for malware and delete it, just like viruses, but Uncle Ben’s anti-malware software was out of date.”
Moto grinned. “Carelessness finally worked for him.” He tousled Wyatt’s hair. “I’m so proud of you, kid. You just saved your uncle from going to jail.”
Razorback sat down at the head of the table. “You ever need a job, kid, you come see me. Two of our best men couldn’t figure that out.”
“Two?”
“Logan was working on it in Atlanta, too,” said Moto. “He’s not as smart as me, though.”
Razorback snorted.
Moto stood. “Come on, kid. You want to go see Uncle Ben?”
“Where is he?”
“In the hospital. He’s okay, but he got beat up pretty bad yesterday by the same thugs who were trying to put him away for murdering that federal agent. I think you should be there to tell him the good news.”
They drove to the hospital, stopping for celebratory milkshakes at a drive-through. “Are you going to leave now?” Wyatt asked. “Uncle Ben doesn’t need you anymore.”
“You know I live in New York.”
“Yeah.”
“How would you feel if I lived here some of the time, too? I have to talk to Razorback. See if I can make it work being part of HERO Force from a thousand miles away, but I think it might be doable.”
“Where would you live?”
“I’ve got some land on a river about a half hour from here. It belonged to your grandparents. I’m thinking about building a house.”
“Oh.”
Moto narrowed his eyes. “That sounds like you’re disappointed.”
For almost a mile, Wyatt didn’t answer. Moto tried to be patient, remembering Razorback’s advice. He had to prove to the boy that he would be here for him, time and time again, no matter how long it took for Wyatt to believe him.
“I thought you might marry my mom.”
The hospital came into view just a few blocks ahead, but it was too great a distance to stymie this conversation. He had feelings for Davina. He absolutely did. But marriage was leaps and bounds ahead of