Hide and Seek - Lara Adrian Page 0,69

gave her a mock-chiding look. “I’m a guy. We invented remotes.”

Shaking her head, Michelle disappeared down the hallway. Moments later, he heard the water running in the shower.

Nick jumped up, pressed the TV power button and turned up the volume, not even looking what channel was on. He gathered his clothes and dressed in fifteen seconds. Now he was ready.

He quickly scanned the living room, knowing instinctively he’d find nothing of importance here. Nevertheless he did a cursory search of the few drawers and surfaces anyway. It turned up nothing. His next stop was Michelle’s bedroom. The door was opposite the bathroom door, which thankfully Michelle had shut. Nick now eased the door to the bedroom open and entered.

There wasn’t much: a queen-sized bed, a dresser, night tables, a few boxes along one wall. The built-in closet was small and jam-packed with clothes, no files, no electronic equipment. Continuously listening to the sounds from the bathroom, Nick continued his search, opening the drawer of one nightstand. It was full of underwear. He rummaged through it, but only lingerie turned up.

He rounded the bed and searched the other nightstand. Several loose condom packages greeted him, together with tissues and lubricant. Nick grinned involuntarily. Good to know that Michelle had some extra supplies, just in case they burned through the few condoms he’d brought.

A quick perusal of the boxes turned up nothing but books and old photos. He checked his watch: Michelle had entered the bathroom three minutes earlier. He should have plenty of time to go through the rest of the apartment. He left the bedroom and stepped into the hallway. There, below the side table, lay her computer bag. He crouched down and opened it, tossing a quick glance to the bathroom door, listening intently. The water was still running.

The bag held a laptop, several cables, as well as notepads, pens, and the product tag for the bag itself. He pulled the laptop from its compartment and opened it. Though he was almost certain that Michelle wouldn’t leave her computer unprotected, he had to find out if she’d, by some lucky chance, not password-protected it.

He booted up the machine, drumming his fingers on his thigh while he waited impatiently for the wheel to stop spinning. When the screen filled with color and presented him with the request to enter a password, he wasn’t surprised. It would have been too easy. He quickly initiated the shut down and set the computer aside, looking through the bag once more. There had to be something.

He flipped through the notepad, but apart from some scribbles that looked like a shopping list, he didn’t find anything. The moment the computer powered down, he slid it back into the bag. It didn’t want to go in all the way, so he pulled it out again and checked. He found a piece of paper on the bottom of the compartment and looked at it. It was a manufacturer’s warranty for a flash drive.

But where was it?

Shoving the computer back into the bag and closing it, Nick stood up. His eyes fell on the side table, where Michelle had tossed her keys when they’d entered her apartment. He picked the key ring up. Not only did it hold several keys, but a USB flash drive dangled from it.

“Gotcha,” he murmured.

The sudden echo of his voice startled him. That’s when he realized that the water wasn’t running anymore. Michelle was done with her shower. He’d never met a woman who was that quick.

Shit!

9

Michelle wrapped the large bath towel around her still damp body and tucked in one end to hold it in place. Her hair was still wet, but she’d combed it. Considering the heat in D.C., it would dry in no time. With a last glance in the mirror, she turned the doorknob and opened the door.

She found Nick sitting on the couch—fully dressed now—staring into the TV. He turned his head.

“Hey,” he greeted her with an easy smile.

“I’ll be just a minute more,” she told him. Her gaze fell on the TV and she had to do a double-take. “You’re watching the Hallmark Channel?” What guy did that? Was Nick a true romantic at heart with whom she could actually watch sappy romances on TV? This was too good to be true.

Nick hastily reached for the remote. “Uh, no, ah, actually, I was just channel-surfing, trying to find ESPN.” He pressed a button, and the channel changed. Then he moved to the next one in the lineup