The Hacker - Nancy Herkness
Chapter 1
“Five more reps,” Dawn Galioto commanded her friend Alice Thurber, who was lying on her back on a weight bench.
“I think I hate you,” Alice gasped out as she struggled to lift two ten-pound dumbbells into the air above her chest.
“You want to look good for your wedding, don’t you?” Dawn gave Alice her best encouraging but no-nonsense smile. Six years of being a personal trainer had allowed her to perfect it.
“Low blow. Only for Derek would I let you torture me like this,” Alice said, shoving the dumbbells upward with renewed determination.
“He’s pretty good motivation, I gotta say,” Dawn agreed with a nod that made her straight, dark-brown ponytail swing over her shoulder as she knelt to spot her friend. Alice’s fiancé looked like a movie star.
“You know,” Alice said, “I can always have my dress made with long sleeves.”
Dawn smirked. “That would be cheating.”
Alice pushed out the final few reps, and Dawn relieved her of the dumbbells. “My arms feel like rubber bands,” Alice said, sitting up and shaking out her abused limbs.
“Yeah, but flex them, and then check out how amazing your back looks in the mirror.”
Alice flicked her long braid to the side and craned her neck to see her reflection in the mirror. “Oh my God, I have actual muscles!”
“Because I am very good at my job.” Dawn slotted the weights back onto their stand and tugged down the electric-blue tank top all the trainers at the Work It Out gym wore over their black leggings. “Now head for the mat. It’s time to stretch.”
“And it’s going to hurt so good,” Alice said with a grin as she quoted Dawn’s favorite saying.
“Admit it. Stretching feels great.” In fact, Dawn wished she could have someone stretch her the way she did her clients. But having anyone looming over her while she lay on the floor freaked her out. It yanked her back to a bad time.
“Depends on the day.” Alice grabbed her phone. “Just let me show you the headpiece for the veil I’m considering and see what you think.” After she tapped at her phone, she looked up. “You haven’t forgotten about coming to my house next Sunday to help me with the wedding dress design?”
Dawn sighed inwardly. She spent all her time in workout clothes or jeans. What did she know about designing a wedding gown? But she was a maid of honor so she had to support her friend. “I’ll be there with bells on.” Luckily, the other maid of honor, their friend Natalie, had serious fashion sense.
Despite her worry about advising Alice, a warm, fuzzy feeling spread through Dawn’s chest. She was still amazed that Alice wanted her to have such an important role in her wedding. She wasn’t used to having close friends anymore. Her kind of baggage was more likely to scare them away. “Okay, I’ll take a look at the veil thingie.”
Alice stared at her phone in exasperation. “What is wrong with the gym’s internet service these days? It’s about as speedy as a teenage snail on its way to school.”
“I didn’t know snails went to school.” Dawn grabbed a paper towel to wipe down the weight bench.
“You know what I mean.” Alice checked her phone and blew out an exasperated breath. “Are they ever going to fix the problem here? No one’s been able to stream TV on the treadmills for the last two weeks, at least.”
“Yeah, the customers are pretty grumpy about it.” Dawn shrugged. “Vicky’s brought in a bunch of different tech geeks to try to get it back to normal but none of them can find the problem. My personal suspicion is that they’re all relatives of hers and she’s giving them the work as a favor.” Vicky was the wife of the gym’s owner, Ramón Vazquez, the man whom Dawn owed her present career to.
“You know who could fix it? Leland Rockwell. In about five seconds with one hand tied behind his back.”
A little jolt of awareness zinged through Dawn. She had met Leland Rockwell a couple of times at parties Alice and Derek had thrown in their spectacular Manhattan penthouse apartment.
Leland was the computer genius at KRG Consulting, the firm Derek, Leland, and their third partner, Tully Gibson, had founded. Dawn had never said much to him because he was scary smart, and she felt intimidated since she was a college dropout. Although she loved listening to his honey-smooth Georgia drawl when he talked to other people. It seemed to wash through her