He turned to go, but Tess put her hand on his arm, stopping him. “Thank you, Brian. For everything.”
“No thanks necessary.” His voice was lower and more sensual than it’d been just a moment ago, and Tess felt it deep within her core. “It was my pleasure.”
They eyed each other for a moment, and she could swear the air around them crackled with electricity. Whether Brian noticed it or not, she didn’t know, because either way, he broke the spell by stepping toward the door. “I'd better go help your brother before he complains he has to do it all by himself.”
When he disappeared outside, Tess let go of the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. “Handsome, kind, understanding, compassionate, generous, has a good job, and just downright sexy. Unfortunately, Tess, old girl, this is not the time in your life for a relationship. Maybe in a few years, if he’s still single...” Not finishing the mumbled sentence, Tess spun around slowly, getting a feel for the room, and then headed forthe kitchen. “Okay. Let’s see what we can have for dinner later.”
Andy flopped down on the queen-size bed in the spare bedroom while frowning at the crib and other baby stuff that were in there, apparently for Malone’s niece. Just what Andy fucking needed. Not for the first time, his life had been turned upside down in the blink of an eye. At least this incident hadn’t resulted in anyone being killed.
His mind flashed to the last night he spent with his parents. It’d just been the three of them for dinner—Tess had been attending an evening class at school—and they had his mom’s homemade pizza.
Damn, he missed her cooking. Tess wasn’t bad at it, but his mom had been a culinary expert in the kitchen. In fact, she’d been thinking about writing a cookbook right before her death. Owning a restaurant or catering business had never been on her radar because of all the time she would’ve been away from her family, but self-publishing a cookbook was something she could’ve done easily. She’d only worked part-time at the local elementary school as the office secretary. It’d been the perfect job when her children were little because she had the same days off as they did and drove them to and from school. The only thing Andy hadn’t liked about it back then was if he did anything wrong, hismother found out almost immediately—not that it had happened often in elementary school. High school, though, was a different matter altogether.
He didn’t mean to get into trouble—it just happened. One couldn’t get through their teen years without screwing up every now and then, right?
When it came to his classes, some interested him far more than others. Math and computer science were great. Even chemistry, economics, and history weren’t bad. But English, Spanish, and physical education bored him to tears. He’d rather spend that time in the computer lab or hanging out with members of the technology club, talking about the latest gadgets and programs. But he knew how important it was for him to get good grades in all his subjects. Tess put her own education on hold for him, and he didn’t want to let her down by not scoring at least a few scholarships.
Andy knew more about computers than his sister realized. In junior high, he learned how to hack into other systems and now challenged himself by hacking into different ones. Once he was in, he didn’t do anything illegal, like steal information or appropriate funds, as some hackers did. He just looked around a bit before covering his tracks as he backed out. It was for fun—that was all—to challenge himself and other members of the tech club to hack into systems that supposedly had the best firewalls and other security measures. He knew one or two other club members did illegal stuff when they got into systems, butAndy’s conscience had always stopped him from doing anything that could get him arrested. His sister didn’t need him getting into deep trouble like that—she had enough to deal with—and he could kiss any scholarship goodbye if he ended up with a record, juvenile or not.
While Tess had never come out and said anything in front of him, Andy knew she’d given up a lot to finish raising him after their parents died. In addition to sidelining her higher education to get a job in order to be granted guardianship of him, she rarely went out with her friends anymore, and Andy had no clue when she’d last gone on a date. He hoped now that he’d be going into his senior year of school, she could get out more. She deserved to have some fun.
He thought about Agent Malone. Andy hadn’t missed how the lawman had eyed Tess when he’d thought no one was watching. The guy had the hots for her, and Andy wasn’t happy about it one bit. Yeah, he wanted his sister to find someone nice, who treated her right, but not a cop, and definitely not one who’d hauled Andy’s ass into the police station like a common criminal.
A knock resounded on the closed bedroom door, and he lifted his gaze from his cell phone, where he’d been scrolling through his social media accounts. “Yeah?”
“It’s Brian. Can I come in for a minute?”
Andy narrowed his eyes. The guy had left half an hour ago.
What the hell does he want?
Getting to his feet, he strode across the room and opened the door. Malone was standing there with a long folding table and a desk chair on wheels. “Thought you could use this to set up your computer and stuff, so you don’t have to take up the dining room table.”
He glanced around. “Where are you going to put it? There’s no room.”
“Well, we can move the crib into the bigger bedroom and rearrange a few things to make the table fit.” He shrugged. “If you want. I just thought you’d be more comfortable setting up your computer in here.”
Andy paused for a moment, then opened the door wider. He still didn’t like the guy, but he was right. Having his computer in the bedroom would be much better than having it in the dining area. At least he wouldn’t have to worry about his sister catching him hacking into anything. “Sure. Thanks.”
Ten minutes later, the crib and a few other things were gone, and Andy’s entire computer system was now in his borrowed bedroom. Brian had helped carry everything in, then left Andy to finish plugging it all in and setting it up the way he wanted to.
“That was nice of Agent Malone, don’t you think?” Tess asked from the doorway a little while later.
“I guess.” He typed the Wi-fi password he’d been given on his computer’s keyboard.
“Well, to thank him, I’ve invited him to havedinner with us. His sister-in-law left some food in the fridge, instead of freezing it all, so we’ll eat in about fifteen minutes, okay?”
“I’m not hungry,” he lied. Actually, he was starving—being a growing teenage boy and all—but he didn’t want to eat with the guy. “I’ll reheat it later.”
When Tess didn’t answer him, he glanced at her over his shoulder. “What?”
Her pinched expression told him she didn’t believe he wasn’t hungry. “Nothing. I’ll bring your dinner in here so you can eat while studying for your finals.”
He shrugged as he turned back toward the monitor. “Whatever... thanks.”
A few seconds passed before he heard his sister leave. With a few clicks of his mouse, he was in a hacking chat room and looking for a new challenge. It didn’t take long to find one. Settling into the chair, Andy got ready to do his thing.
Chapter 8
