Sexy Liar (Dirty Hacker 1)

Most times, Alex knew Ryder wasn’t serious when he threatened to take someone out, but sometimes she got the feeling that if pressed, he’d do so without hesitation.

In some weird way, that made her feel safe, even though morally, to like such a thing felt terribly wrong.

Ryder’s voice tightened. “One misstep and this is over.”

Alex rolled her eyes and sighed heavily so they both heard her. “All right, that’s enough testosterone for one morning.” She didn’t need either man telling her what she could or couldn’t do. “I’ll reach out if I need anything,” she told Ryder.

The hardness around Ryder’s mouth was indication enough that he hated the idea that he wasn’t involved. She quickly added, “I’ll be safe. Promise.”

Ryder watched her a moment, his jaw muscles clenching. “I’d like to keep eyes on you—”

“Goodbye, Ryder.” She ended the chat, hearing his curse as he faded away. Regardless of what she said, she knew Ryder would keep those eyes on her, even if she told him not to. Only he’d ensure she never found out about it. Not that she could really blame him. Hell, she’d probably do the same thing too.

“He’s protective of you,” Rowan said, offering her the danish.

She stared at the most delicious display of sugar and bread in one mouth-watering pastry. “We’ve been a team for a really long time. We’re like family.”

Rowan grabbed the chair in the corner of the room and pulled it closer to the bed before sitting down. He rested his elbows on his knees and gave her a steady look. “I won’t let you get hurt, Alex. I hope you know that.”

“For both our sakes, you better not.” She took a bite of the pastry and nearly melted as the sweetness lingered against her tongue. “Dear God, that is delicious,” she said after swallowing the bite. “Thank you.”

He smiled. “You’re welcome.” Then he sipped his coffee.

She licked her fingers then focused back onto her laptop. “While you were gone, I got us some names that stood out—names, by the way, that are not on the FBI’s suspect list.”

“How many names?” he asked, eyebrows raised.

“Two,” she answered, taking another bite of her danish. “One had direct contact with all the deceased women, plus the two other missing women and your sister.”

“How about the other name?”

“He didn’t talk directly to your sister. She ignored his message. But he’s ex-military, so it’s still good to check him out.”

Rowan nodded. “I agree. And what of their tattoos? Any hits there?”

“I scoured the internet,” she explained. “I couldn’t find a photograph of either man with their shirt off or a mention of the tattoo online.”

“All right.” Rowan hesitated, looking down at the paper cup in his hand, the sunlight from the window creating a soft glow on his face.

The silence grew daunting. “What is it?”

He glanced up through his lashes. “Do you find it odd that you easily found two suspects the FBI overlooked?”

She pondered that through a sip of her coffee then finally decided. “Sure, I’d like to think I’m just that good, but it is strange that the FBI’s cyber division didn’t pull these names. Of course, they didn’t know about the military angle, but they should have stood out.”

Rowan gave a slow nod. “Which is exactly what I’ve been bumping up against time and time again. Something about this entire case feels…off. The work seems shoddy.”

Alex stuffed another piece of danish into her mouth and murmured, “Any idea why?”

“No,” Rowan said with obvious frustration. He ran his hand across his eyes then straightened up and asked, “What comes next?”

“I’ll need your credit card.”

He arched an eyebrow. “For?”

“The first possible suspect is Brett Manning.” She explained what she’d learned before Ryder called. “He’s a pilot who owns a private airfield, which actually benefits us here because we can use him to fly us to Seattle to meet our second possible suspect, Heath Lennox. He’s a billionaire and puts on a snazzy charity masquerade ball every year that just so happens to be tonight.” She turned the laptop screen toward Rowan. “Here’s Brett’s schedule. All I need to do is rework things a bit and get us in there, and we’re a go.”

“You can do that?” he asked.