The SEAL's Surprise Son (The Admiral's Seals, #1) - Leslie North Page 0,25

the fraudulent emails back to him. Not easily, anyway.

The computer forensics sweep might, though. Dale cracked open a beer and flexed his fingers. He’d had to keep his cool in the office when that email came through. His anger had spiked when he and the other techs had gotten a notice to cooperate fully with the “expert” by handing over passwords and access codes. Dale had played along, since he’d had to make it look good, all the while plotting how to cast blame on others.

Because he knew with every click of the analyst’s mouse, his danger increased. Carolyn was getting closer to him, closer to figuring out that these setbacks weren’t accidental.

He grinned. Bring it on. He had more plans up his sleeve, starting tonight.

He opened her account, and code filled his screen, each bit making sense to him. How could he best screw with her? He tapped a couple of keys, wiping out some stored inventory files from the server. Annoying, but he could do better.

Let’s jack up payroll next. With a few swipes of his fingers, he implanted a worm that would interrupt the direct deposits. Those poor employees wouldn’t get paid next week. Too bad.

He leaned back in his chair, his eyes scanning the dingy room. He wanted something bigger. Something that would make the business collapse and bring the Evert family to their knees.

Ideas cascaded through his mind until one took shape. Ah, yes. That. He laughed.

10

“Dada?” Austin looked up at Carolyn with his bright blue eyes. The boy had been playing on the floor, stacking colorful cups on top of each other and knocking them over gleefully.

“He’ll be home soon,” she answered and watched the smile grow on her son’s face, which was exactly how she felt inside. Having a father was good for Austin. She couldn’t deny that, and the twinges of jealousy she’d felt at having to share her son were long forgotten. They seemed petty now. Zach could make the boy laugh with his silly antics, but he cared for him, too. It had been instant love between father and son.

For nearly a week, Zach had slept in her guest room. They’d shared breakfast and bedtime duty like any parents would. Neither she nor Zach had had the traditional family with a caring mom and dad in the household. She’d had her mom; never once had she doubted her mother’s love for her. But she still carried around a hole in her heart where her father’s affection should have been. For Zach it was worse: no one had cared for him or his brothers until the Admiral took them in as young teens. Carolyn and Zach’s experiences left them figuring out this co-parenting thing together, but she could feel a tight little family forming…and she liked it.

She liked the sexy, appealing man in her house, too. She’d dated no one since she broke off the engagement. She’d told herself she was too busy, with a young child and a business to run, but maybe that wasn’t the whole truth. Zach still had a claim on her, preventing her from getting over him. She could admit that, finally, which is why it had hurt so much all those months when she’d thought he was ignoring her messages and abandoning her. If she had listened to her heart, she would have known he was the last man to abandon a child or shirk his responsibilities.

She scooped Austin off the floor. “Let’s make Daddy some cookies.”

“Cookum,” her son shouted and clapped his hands.

In the kitchen, she gave him a bowl and spatula so he could pretend to mix dough as she measured ingredients for ginger cookies, a favorite of Zach’s. It was good to have history with a man. She knew what he liked and disliked. Ginger cookies were special to him, something he had shared with the Admiral.

After she flipped on the mixer, she added a little flour to Austin’s bowl. She’d end up having to sweep the floor, but she didn’t care when he was so happy to be “helping.”

“Dada?” he asked again, making her glance at the clock. Almost six.

“Soon,” she promised, giving him a kiss.

She formed the dough into balls and placed them on a cookie sheet. With the first batch in the oven and Austin still content, she took a minute to check her email messages. She was waiting to hear back from the computer forensics expert. Steve had uncovered a few things but was still at it. She