“I don’t know yet,” he said. “But I intend to find out.”
I squeezed his hand, and he looked at me for a minute. We just stared at each other, drawing comfort from each other’s presence. He looked so tired, downtrodden, and overwhelmed that I couldn’t stop myself from leaning over and kissing him.
The moment my lips touched his, he grabbed hold of me, kissing me back intensely. His lips melted against mine, his arms gently holding me, taking care to avoid my bruises. His lips were so comforting and yet so exciting at the same time. I felt like I was home and yet the thrill of being with him engulfed me. I felt my heart start to race with desire, and the monitor began to beep faster.
We both ignored it, too lost in each other to care. My skin was alight with sensations, my lips responding to the movement of his. I was filled with desire, and I pressed my body against him.
“We have a cardiac emergency!” I heard a nurse shouting outside my room. “Accelerated heartbeat! Bring the cart and have the defibrillator on standby.”
Within seconds, a team burst in, holding a cart and ready with electric paddles in their hands. As Gale and I pulled away, we found the entire team staring at us.
“Uhm,” the nurse said. “We got an alert that the patient’s heartbeat had crossed the normal range. We thought she might be…”
She trailed off as I blushed, and Gale looked away awkwardly.
“But I see that everything is fine,” she said. “I’ll just detach your monitor. Right then, carry on.”
The team walked out and for a second, silence reigned in the room, and then we both burst out laughing.
“I don’t believe this,” he roared.
“Oh, my God,” I said. “That was so awkward!”
“They thought you were dying.” He laughed, and I shook my head as I continued to giggle.
“This is horrible,” I said even as I laughed. “We shouldn’t laugh at this.”
“Well,” he said, “it’s good to know I have such an effect on you.”
“Oh, don’t get a big head,” I said with a grin.
“Oh, really?” he asked. “Maybe we should get that monitor back in here.”
We both burst out laughing, and suddenly I didn’t really feel all that afraid anymore. I felt safe, secure, and most of all, far away from the dingy, dark room. I felt at home.
Chapter 5
Unwanted Guest
Gale Fears
Ilooked out the window, happy that Hillary was finally back at work. She looked up, our eyes met, and I grinned at her. She smiled back and returned to her work, and I sighed. I was tempted to make some excuse and have her come to the office, but there was too much on my shoulders. The hacker had done more damage than I thought. We had already lost a few clients because of it, and I was lucky that they hadn’t decided to sue me.
The situation was somewhat under control. We had all the current cases handled, but we still needed to recover the data of our long-term clients. There was another problem. If the hacker had copied the data before deleting it, the privacy of every client was at risk. And if this ever got out, it could create havoc no one could deal with. I could just imagine the damage it might do, and I shuddered at the thought of it.
Nevertheless, some damage control had been done. Now, as long as we could keep this under wraps, we should be fine. John was tracking the hacker’s trail, and he said that he would know if anything had been copied. Honestly, the situation couldn’t be worse. Everyone at the firm was working overtime. Some employees had even been sleeping at the office, as we tried to make up for years’ worth of work within weeks.
I finished typing in my closing argument for the case the following day and sent it to Seth for a review. It was always good to get a second opinion, and Seth was a good lawyer. I looked up from my work and gazed towards Hillary, but the sight that met me sent me panicking.
Stella stood at her desk, smirking. I could see the tense expression on Hillary’s face, and I immediately walked out of my office.
“Stella,” I said, “what are you doing here?”
“I need to have a word with you, Gale,” she said. “Privately.”
“I told her you were busy,” Hillary said. “But—”
“You can say whatever you want here,” I said to Stella.
