around the room. It looks like a command center, and as I stare at Shane now, as he punches at a keyboard, and some of the monitors come to life, I realize that’s exactly what it is.
A command center.
“Are you James Bond?”
His fingers stop tapping, and he turns to me with a slow smile. “I’m better than him, honey. Come here.”
I join him at the desk, leaning over his shoulder as he slips the flash drive into a slot and what looks like gibberish fills a screen.
“What is that?” I wonder aloud as I stare at it. “It looks like some kind of weird hieroglyphics.”
“Whatever’s on here is encrypted.”
He’s still typing, but even I can see that he’s going about it the wrong way.
“You’re doing it wrong.”
His sexy dark brow quirks above his eye. “Excuse me?”
“May I?”
“By all means.” He scoots the chair back and tugs me into his lap, and for half a second, I’m not sure what I’m supposed to be doing. Shane’s nose nuzzles my ear.
“Well?”
“Well, what?”
He chuckles. “You asked for the control, Ivie.”
I love that he calls me Ivie. That everything I told him in the kitchen doesn’t seem to bother him in the least.
I get to work, tapping keys, trying to break the fail-safe on this thing.
“I was something of a hacker in college,” I mutter as I meet a wall, curse, and then keep going. “I was already using Ivie as my name, but I had to make it legal without people asking a bunch of questions or requesting birth certificates.”
“So you learned to hack?”
“I’m a bit of a nerd.” I shrug and try to ignore his fingers doing delicious things to my back. “There. It’s searching for it now.”
I lean back into him as the computer does its thing and turn my face up to his.
“You’re the sexiest nerd I’ve ever seen in my life.”
I grin. “I’m not sexy or beautiful. I know it, and it’s okay. I’m passable at best when I’m all gussied up.”
“Who told you that?”
“No one needed to.” My father hammered home every damn day that I was a disappointment in the looks department. “I can see myself in the mirror.”
“Then you’re looking at the wrong damn thing.” He kisses my jawline while his hands roam over my ribs. “From the minute I saw you at Annika’s wedding, I couldn’t take my eyes off you. You’re addictive, Ivie.”
I want to snort. I want to laugh. This is a joke, right? Because no one’s ever called me addictive. Pretty? Sure. You look nice? Occasionally. But never this.
However, based on the way he’s touching me, I’d say he’s not joking.
He cups my face and turns me to him. His lips are gentle on mine as they linger, tasting me, teasing the corner of my mouth until my nipples stand at attention.
He takes the kiss deeper, my fingers diving into his hair, and we’re consumed by each other when the beeping starts.
“It’s done,” I whisper against his lips.
“Damn it,” he replies, making me laugh.
When I turn back to the screen, I scowl. “This is just more gibberish.”
“It’s a language,” Shane says.
“Oh, good. We can just plug it into Google Translate and call it a day.” Shane stares at me as if I just suggested we jump into shark-infested waters. “What?”
“We absolutely can not use Google for this. Whoever’s looking for this would be here in an hour. Now it’s your turn to sit back and let me work my magic.”
“Have at it.”
I watch as he taps the keys, copies and pastes, then hits enter and waits.
“Did that just happen?”
“Fuck.”
Chapter 5
~Shane~
“Did that just erase itself?” Ivie demands, panic laced through her sexy voice.
“It seems so.”
“Damn it.” She reaches out to start working on the keyboard again, but I stop her. “Maybe I can get it back.”
“If we keep trying, it’ll corrupt itself, and we won’t get anything at all.”
“Then what are we supposed to do?”
“I’m calling a friend.” I pull my phone out of my pocket, tap the screen, and then reach out and push my fingers through Ivie’s hair as I wait for him to answer.
“Cox.”
“I need your help.” I give him a brief report on what we have going on. “The sooner, the better.”
“Yeah, I can look at it. Just send it through. I’ll get to it later today.”
“No, I need you to come here. I’m not sending this out anywhere.”
There’s a brief pause. “Are you in Colorado?”
“At the ranch,” I confirm and wink at a waiting Ivie. “The sooner you