Rory (Coded for Love 1)

lf, she leaned into him. “Maybe I can come along and help?”

The half-smile vanished. “No, no way.”

“I’d make good back up.” She lifted her shoulders. “I can make myself look big.”

He sighed. “I want you to stay out of it. Trust me, please?”

She nodded, but her mind raced. “Okay.”

“Look, we’ll rearrange. What time do you finish making coffee for commuters tomorrow?”

“I’m on a later shift. I finish at seven.”

“I’ll be here to meet you when you’re done.” She was on her tiptoes, ready for the kiss when it came.

He cupped her face. His mouth on hers only made her crave more of him.

The way he held her head in both his hands made her want to wrap her legs around his hips. Pressing closer still, she ran her hands under his leather jacket to feel his muscled back.

“Tomorrow,” he promised as he drew away. “I’ll come back.”

She pursed her lips, wanting to say a dozen things, knowing it would be wrong to say any of them. Was he seeing someone else? Was the USB thing really what he was doing or was that a convenient excuse? She had to know. He wouldn’t answer her questions though, so there was only one way to be sure.

She mustered a smile and headed back into the wagon, glancing over her shoulder as she did so. “See you tomorrow.”

He nodded, but lingered a moment as if unconvinced she’d understood or believed him—as well he might—and then he glanced at his watch and shot off.

Even as he turned away, Sky was undoing her apron and reaching for her coat.

“Can you manage the last few minutes of the shift without me?” she said to her two workmates. “I’ll owe you an exchange, double time.”

They nodded. A double exchange was always a good deal.

She was out of there in a flash and on Rory’s tail before he left the station.

Mostly it was curiosity.

Then there was the unfulfilled desire to spend time with him.

On that account, she’d been robbed.

CHAPTER NINE

Rory couldn’t shake the feeling he was being followed.

Jackson and his cronies had him on edge.

Then there was Sky. She’d looked upset, and it hit him hard. Guilt hammered at his back when he walked away. It’d always been that way with Sky, like there was some force urging him to sort things out—to make her smile again if she was unhappy. Whenever she’d kicked off and got angry he’d wanted to reach out and soothe her. If something upset her, he wanted to remove the cause. It was worse now though, he was sure of it. His reactions to her were even more difficult to ignore. Shouldn’t have slept with her.

He hastened through the crowded city streets, looking briefly over his shoulder when he took a side street. The building site he was headed for loomed up ahead. Taking a deep breath, he pulled his collar higher and jogged the rest of the way, wanting it done.

Glancing up, he could make out the outline of the building against the darkening night sky. There were no lights visible inside or outside the shell of a building, other than what reached it from the street lights and neighboring buildings. The hotel construction had been halted mid-build when the company went bust, which meant the partial construction stood gaunt and skeletal above the hoardings, awaiting a new investor. Meanwhile, a small, like-minded community of computer hackers had moved in and set up a hub on the second floor.

Rory had vowed he’d never set foot in this place again, but there was a purpose to the visit. He skirted the advertising hoardings surrounding the site, found the loose panel that served as an entrance. It had been marked out by a graffiti letter H inside two triangles, Jackson’s sign. He eased the panel open, dropping it back into place behind him as he stepped in. A makeshift path of plywood boards ran toward the building, sunk in the churned mud and barely visible unless you knew where they were and where they led.

Once inside it was a difficult but familiar path through dark concrete corridors littered with trip hazards, including abandoned bags of plaster, building supplies and general human detritus. Rory used his phone torch as he sought corners, flicking it off in between times. Within minutes he’d mounted the treacherous concrete stairs and was on the second floor. Wind whistled through the open corridors and when he glanced to his right he could see through torn plastic sheeting to the city beyond, alive and spreading out from this eerie and silent cement sentinel in its midst.

The abandoned building was far too familiar. He’d walked through its lonely, sorry corridors many times, but it was only one of several they used, changing from site to site on an agreed timetable to avoid being tracked down by the cyber crime division. It didn’t rest easy on him, coming back here, not since he’d broken with the pack. It’d been a big mistake, one he regretted every day since.