Risky Love (Dirty Hacker 2)

“Thank you does not seem adequate.” Rowan offered his hand to Ryder, his expression a mask of warmth and gratitude. “You need me, I’m there. Any place. Any time.”

Rowan acknowledged the sealed promise with a nod and said, “Keep Alex safe while she’s with you and that’s enough for me.” To Alex, he asked, “What is your plan going forward?”

“It’s time to go home,” she said, and then felt Rowan tense next to her. She moved closer, her hand brushing his. “I’m not saying we’re going to stop hunting this killer, whether that be Lewis or not, but we’ll be safer doing that in San Fran than here. I’d really rather not have another attempt on my life.” She had the stitches in her neck that Rowan did himself to prove it.

Ryder added, “You can use my headquarters and my team. It’s time to put an end to this.”

Alex slid her fingers in Rowan’s, drawing his intense stare to her. “And you’ll be closer to Mia while she begins her recovery.”

His mouth twitched. “You don’t need to convince me, McCoy.” She got the feeling he wasn’t only talking about working the case out of San Francisco, but just being there with her. “Whenever you go, I go.”

Her heart skipped at that loaded statement. Thick silence filled the space with a hundred questions and impossible answers. Rowan slowly grinned, like he had it all figured out as he slid an arm around her shoulder then looked at Ryder, a very possessive move that Ryder took notice of with a lift of his eyebrows. Alex’s cheeks warmed as Rowan went on. “Where do we meet you?”

“Hartlands Airfield.” Ryder studied them, then gave a firm nod, which looked a whole lot like approval. “See you both soon.”

Alex felt the ground rock a little beneath her. So much had happened in the past few days, it was impossible to keep up. She pondered that little silent man-talk they’d had. Ryder was the only family she had, and she couldn’t help the way her heart softened as she stared at Ryder’s back while he retreated down the hallway toward the double doors.

“He’s very good to you.”

That warmth spiraling through her only filled her more as she found Rowan’s expression tender, assessing. “He is.”

“Has he always been this way with you?”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Alex said with a gentle laugh, catching Ryder leaving through the doors. She turned back to Rowan as two nurses wheeled a patient by on a hospital bed, who had more tubes in her than anyone would ever want. “When we first met, it was because I hacked into his system. He wasn’t exactly happy to see me.”

At that, Rowan cocked his head, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Then how did you end up working for him?”

She paused, letting her mind return to that time in her life. Everything was different then. She’d been a punk kid with a huge ego. The CIA and FBI had already made their deal with her, but Ryder’s conversation had gone very differently. “He gave me a choice,” she explained. “Work for him with pay, which was something the government never offered me, or he’d drive me himself to the police station.” She stared at the doors Ryder left through while a couple entered with a man limping, before addressing Rowan again. “I imagine he looked into my file, saw the life I led, the wrong path I was taking, and took pity on me.”

“Ah, I bet it was more than that,” Rowan stated. He took her chin, dropped his eye level to hers. “There’s something special about you, and I’m sure that’s what Ryder saw and wanted to protect.” Before she could respond, or even think of a response to that, he closed the distance and pressed his mouth to hers. His kiss was long, slow, and intimate. All things she never had before with any man.

Something she was growing to like.

When he broke the kiss, intensity filled his gaze, as he said, “I’ll need to call in a favor to get Mia released now. The hospital is not going to want her to leave yet.”

Alex knew this from when her mother had overdosed one of the handful of times she had before she died, they’d want Mia to be evaluated by a psychologist. While some doctors were very good, not all were, and Mia’s best chance forward now would be wherever Ryder set her up. “Okay,” Alex said. “I’ll go stay with her until you get back.”

A smile tugged at Rowan’s lips. “Thank you.”

While he headed off toward the nurses’ station, Alex returned to the hospital room, finding Mia sitting up, her head bowed. Alex placed a soft, reassuring smile on her face, hoping that comforted Mia. She never dealt with trauma victims before, and the last thing she wanted to do was make this somehow worse for Rowan’s sister. Alex sat in the chair near the bed, but didn’t edge herself closer, wanting to give Mia space to breathe. She had no idea what to say, so she didn’t say anything. Mia and Rowan shared the same colored eyes, only Rowan’s were a shade darker, nearly gray, and of course, Mia didn’t have any of Rowan’s masculine features. In fact, Mia was petite and very feminine…delicately pretty.

From her hospital bed, Mia studied Alex’s face. “So, you’re the Alex McCoy, huh?”

Alex blinked. “Sorry, what Alex McCoy is that?”

“The Alex from Paris.”

Alex stopped breathing for a second. “Rowan told you about me?”

Mia gave a slow nod, dark circles beneath her eyes. “Rowan told me all about Paris. You had an effect on him.”

The room began closing in on Alex. This was not the conversation she was expecting to have. All of this with Rowan was getting so real. It was never supposed to be that. It was hot and dirty and everything in between but never real. Alex was sure most women would find it flattering that a man such as Rowan talked about her, but Alex wasn’t that woman. She didn’t grow up in love. She grew up in pain.

She’d once run from what Rowan seemed to want. What any man would want. A woman’s heart.

Now, Alex’s feet felt steadier, and she found herself more content with Rowan’s feelings, which seemed to be growing increasingly intense as the days ticked by, but the dark voice swirling in her mind reminded her: Love makes you weak. Love, and that sick need to give your all to someone else was what killed her sister. Had Lena been stronger, never met her boyfriend, she would never have walked the same path their mother had.

But another part of her heart wondered: What will happen if you trust yourself and Rowan to love right?