“Do it. Traveling in a private vehicle as a party of three would make us less noticeable. And we wouldn’t need to find a new car.”
Another person would create a welcome buffer between her and Scott too. “Or sleep in it,” she added. Definitely a bonus.
He didn’t respond.
For the next twenty minutes, Scott hovered as she worked through layers of hidden websites, clicking on a picture of a flower that took her to another site where she clicked on the head of the fifth boy in the back row of a vintage photo of a 1917 high school football team. That link launched her into one of the chat rooms where her papá’s former friend still spent a lot of time.
“How did you know how to access it?” Scott asked, leaning close enough that she could feel his heat. “I would expect them to change the process frequently.”
“I was out of the life, but never out of touch. In fact, it’s part of my job to stay on top of what’s going on in the black hat world. We use most of the same tools, I just have a different goal.”
He sat back. “Does this friend of yours know you switched sides?”
“Actually, it was his idea.” She glanced at Scott and their gazes met. Her stomach dipped. God, she hoped he couldn’t tell how much he scrambled her brain.
“How’s that?” he asked.
Valerie stretched her fingers over her keyboard and took a deep breath. If she wanted things to be easier with Scott, maybe it was time to share. “After Dad died and Papá went to jail, I lived with my aunt’s family in Four Creeks, California.”
His brows furrowed. “I thought yourdadwent to jail. Who’s Papa?”
“I figured you already knew all this. You didn’t investigate me?”
“It was a surveillance job, not a background check.”
The tightness in her chest loosened. He didn’t already know her every secret. “I grew up with two fathers. They couldn’t marry, but they used a surrogate to have me. To avoid confusion, I learned to call one of them Papá and the other Dad.”
“Ah. I’m sorry. About both of them.”
She nodded, not letting her mind go down that dark hallway.
“I’ve never met anyone with gay parents before.” Scott didn’t look disturbed by the idea, just curious. Another point in his favor. “That I know of, anyway.”
“Well, it didn’t go over well in Texas, but they tried to protect me from the backlash as much as possible.” She shrugged. “Still, kids can be cruel.”
“Yes,” he said simply, like a man who could relate. “Where’s Four Creeks?”
She waved vaguely toward the parking lot. “Inland, near Yosemite. Mostly farmland. I badly wanted to get out, but there was no money for college, and I didn’t have the grades for a scholarship.”
“Sounds familiar,” he said, something unreadable flickering across his face.
“But then Alan stepped in with the money. He claimed Papá had helped him earn it, and that I deserved a share.”
He frowned. “Generous.”
So now they were making conversation as if they hadn’t been groping each other in the dark mere hours before. As if she couldn’t still feel his lips on her neck, his hand on her breast. A little tremor moved through her.
“What did you major in?”
“Materials engineering.”
He smiled, his face relaxing into breath-stealing handsomeness. “Seriously?”
Squaring her shoulders, she said, “Yes. Why?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “I guess I just figured computer science or something like that.”
“Uh-uh. I wanted to get as far away from that world as possible. I didn’t want to be anything like Papá.” Dammit. She hadn’t meant to spillthat.
