“I’m fully and completely rehabilitated.” I toss my head and give him a sidelong glance. “You won’t find a devious bone in my body.”
“Oh, I’ll find plenty to interest me.” Only a corner of his mouth turns up in a grin. “Now that you trust me, tell me where you want to go. What you want to do. I gather you called Mitch because you wanted to speak to him.”
“Not really.” I shut the passenger door and fasten my shoulder belt. “I only called because he owes me. I don’t know how much he told you, but I’m the reason he’s scot-free.”
“Do tell.” He puts the car in gear and drives smoothly over the dips and curves of the rippled earth. I heard in prison that the terrain is caused by the abundance of earthquake faults.
“I don’t tell secrets to strangers, but if you tell me one of yours, maybe I’ll spill one of mine.” My eyelids flutter on their own accord, and the atmosphere inside the Mercedes is suddenly saturated, thick, and electric.
“I told my family I’m in law enforcement, but…” He doesn’t take his eyes off the road, but all the same, I feel as if his gaze is piercing my soul, skewering me like a sacrificial lamb.
Is he, or is he not, in law enforcement?
And wouldn’t it be my dumb luck that Mitch sent someone to nail me for another one of his crimes, or as he puts it, mishaps?
“He can’t nail me on anything, because while on the inside, as you know, if you’re in law enforcement, I don’t have access to computers, phones, or anything hackable.”
“Don’t be so defensive,” he says. “I told you I’m not in law enforcement.”
“So your secret is that your family believes you’re one of the good guys, but you’re really black ops?”
He shoots me a “what do you think?” roll of an eye. “Your turn. Tell me a secret. It can be anything. A desire. Something you did that you wish you hadn’t. Or what you want for Christmas.”
I notice he snuck in the regret part, as if I’m so stupid to fall for it. Mitch is definitely trying to entrap me, and he sent a muscle-bound minion to get me to trip up.
I sit back in the passenger seat and watch the stream of headlights and taillights roll by as we get close to the interstate.
“Still thinking?” he asks in that deep, hoarse voice that drags desire through my veins. “Going through all the stuff you did and wondering which one is most innocent?”
As if. Nope. I’ll give him a wild goose fantasy instead.
“Actually, what I want for Christmas is not my two front teeth, because as you can see, I have all of them.” I tap my two front teeth. “My secret wish is to have a perfect white Christmas with snow, sleigh rides, a big tree, presents, a fireplace, chestnuts, candy canes, peppermint tea, and a Yule log, oh, and Santa coming down the chimney, and most of all, a large, happy family gathered around a Christmas feast, full of jolly merriment and love.”
He’s silent, and I watch him as the miles roll by.
“You know my family, don’t you?” I ask when it’s apparent he’s not going to respond because he didn’t get what he wanted—a juicy tidbit of a hack that’ll send me right back to prison.
“Since you’ve gone all mum, I’ll tell you about them,” I continue. “My mother is ashamed of me, but I don’t get why, since she had me out of wedlock. My father’s a rich guy who has another family or two or three. My half-brother, Jordan, is off somewhere sailing around the world, and my cousins, who own a Christmas tree farm, hate me because I was the careless idiot who let the hackers into their company’s network.”
“I don’t see you being careless,” Braden says. “You’re too smart to be tricked or social engineered into committing a crime.”
“You got that right.” I cross my arms smugly. “Like I said. I’m completely rehabilitated. It’s nothing but the straight and narrow for me.”
“We’ll see about that,” he says enigmatically and merges onto the interstate, heading for San Francisco.
