My phone rang as I was muttering to myself and in a moment of panic and unclear thinking, I answered it without looking to see who it was. Laying beside me, I just swiped it open, threw it on speaker and closed my eyes, waiting for whoever it was to call an ambulance.
“Keeva?”
Oh, thank God. It was Ashlyn. She was kind and gentle and wouldn’t make me feel like a piece of dirt for wanting to drown myself in beer and ice cream. An unusual pairing, but I’d acquired a taste for it lately.
“Ash?”
“Hi sweetheart. Why are you lying on the floor?”
“Wow, you’re really good at this sister thing.”
“Yes, that and you answered my Facetime call.”
Shit, I was an idiot. “Ash?”
“Keeva.”
“Why am I such a colossal mess? Why am I destined to perpetually screw things up?”
“Am I coming up there?”
“No, I know you can’t leave those horses of yours for very long. It’s just that—” Damn, I must have been about to get my period. A lone tear was now running down my face. My siblings already thought I was horribly unstable and they didn’t need any more ammunition to try to force me to come back home and be babysat by them.
“I’m coming to get you.”
I sat up and pulled myself together. “No, no please don’t. I’ve just left from there. I’m fine.” I gave her a smile that would have scared little children and sent them screaming for their parents had they seen it. “I’m totally fine.”
“Men.”
It wasn’t a question, just a statement. She was my only sister and she knew me like no other. And she was female. She also knew what idiots men were. Put two and two together and she knew my problems had been started by a man. I dove in and told her the entire stupid story while I dug out the aforementioned beer and ice cream.
“So, there you have it. I’m crushing on my kind-of boss. He’s a liar of epic proportions. He’s the hottest geek I’ve ever met and he’s probably a billion years older than me. And did I mention, he’s my boss? What is the matter with me? I need this job. It’s going to open so many doors for me.”
“Sounds like maybe he’s hiding something.”
“Maybe. But, what?”
“I’m not sure you want to know, Keev. Refer back to point one, he’s your boss.” She sighed and I heard older sister Ashlyn coming out. Time to tag out of this conversation.
“Look, Ash. I’m fine. I just needed to vent and you happened to have that excellent sister vibe going on and called at the best time, or the worst for you possibly. I know he’s my kind of boss, I know he’s not telling me something and I know he’s an ass. So, trust me when I say, I’ve had my little hissy fit, I’m done. I’m going to get some more work done and curl up in the tub later to pretend my social life doesn’t suck so badly. Try not to worry about me.”
I could see her frowny face and eyebrows quaking with the effort it was taking her not to lecture me and I appreciated it. “Keeva, you know I’ll be there whenever you need me, so I’m going to hang up now and head out to the barn, knowing that you’ll reach out when you’re ready. I love you super much.”
I sighed. Ashlyn was the good sister. I was the problem the rest of them were all trying to fix. “Love you too.”
I FOUND MY ABILITY to predict my evening activities to be bang on, while enjoying a glass of white wine, soaking under a mountain of bubbles in my amazing bathroom. I’d tweaked some of the website requirements, created a social media audit of their current offerings and crafted a few new drafts of potential logos, all before the end of the day. I don’t know why jerk-face Mark was surprised he was dealing with an expert, but I wasn’t going to give him any chances to prove that wrong. I handled his updated requests, passed the web changes to Robert, closed up shop and tried to process the whole damn day with alcohol and a hot bath.
I sank deep into my fantastic copper tub and closed my eyes, but visions of a naked Mark kept dancing before my eyes. I giggled to myself. Naked Mark. It had a nice ring to it. I came back up to the surface and opened my eyes to reality. I wasn’t ever going to see him naked and my traitorous body had better come to terms with that.
I lifted one leg up and out to hang on the side of the tub while I ran over the next day’s activities. My bathroom had a ton of exposed brick and a killer fireplace that I had installed. When I had started these renovations, this place was a royal mess. This unit was a shell. I had it turned into a work from paradise, complete with a giant shower that could hold a dozen people-not that I’d ever tried that, but it did sound fun-a fireplace in my master bedroom, the bathroom and my main living area and a chef’s kitchen. I hadn’t as of yet turned on anything in the kitchen other than the faucet, but one day...Yes, one day I’d finally have that amazing little dream family.
I swallowed the remaining wine, sloshed myself out of the tub and flopped down in my bed, still wrapped in my towel. Scrolling through my phone, a name caught my eye and the little angel on my left shoulder, must have been on a bathroom break, cause the little devil on the other side was in full on search and destroy mode. I hammered out a completely inappropriate text to the guy I could not get off my mind. Even though I had zero intentions of sending it, it felt good to get it off my chest.
Hey jerk-face.
Amazing start to a great idea, for sure. I shifted to get more comfortable and my phone fell from my grip. My thumb hit the send button as the phone slid on by, ruining all of my pretend fun for the evening. I was yet again, royally screwed. The phone chimed an incoming text and I squeezed my eyes shut trying to delay the inevitable.
Who is this?
Shit. He’d replied and now I was just tipsy enough to become a lethal texter. Who is this. As if. I’ll show him.
It’s me. The WOMAN you tried to intimidate today and lied to all sorts of times. I just wanted you to know that you’re not all you’re cracked up to be. Nope, no siree. Nope, nothing to see here folks, move along. No train wreck in sight.
Keeva?
Oh, don’t you Keeva me! Ah, yes, you probably walk around being an arrogant ass to everyone, all day long. You think that just because you can wear the hell out of a pair of Clark Kent glasses, and sit around and create code all day with a brain the size of a watermelon that women are just going to sit back and take your brand of bullshit?
A watermelon? Well, you know what they say, big brain...
Oh, he thought he was funny now? And wanted me to think he carried a big package around for all his women? I took another healthy swallow and planned my next move.
Please. As if. You’re just a big bully and that’s the only big thing about you. And your ego. It’s pretty big too. And your body, it’s also big...but that’s it jerk face.
Well, that oughta tell him. I jumped as my phone started ringing on the bed beside me. I rarely, if ever, answered numbers I didn’t recognize, but I guess today was my day to be extra stupid. I swiped it open and put it on speaker, so I could still drink my wine, lie down and talk to whoever it was.
“I’m not a bully.” That voice. I hadn’t really paid much attention to it on its own as I’d always been talking with him live and in person. But wow, his voice floated into my ears and wound its way, like caramel candy all through my body, landing squarely in my lady bits.
“Are too.”
He barked out a laugh and you could add that to his list of delicious qualities. It was all I could do to not start sighing with virginal vocals, like ooo and ahhh. I was firmly and officially pathetic.
“Mature, Keeva. Real mature.”
“Say it again.” Oh oh. Too much wine and that voice and the image of his big watermelon had pushed me into dangerous territory.
“What?”
“My name. Say it. Don’t say Ms. Murphy, just say my name.”
“Are you drinking?”
“I’m going to pretend to be insulted by that.”
“Keeva?” Even with impatience lacing his voi
ce, he sounded like a wet dream, if I knew what a wet dream actually sounded like anyway. He waited me out, the sneaky bastard.
“Okay, yes, I’m nearly done this bottle of lovely white wine that I’ve been drinking in the tub.”
“Are you still in the bath?” His voice had just gotten deeper, if that was even possible.
“No! I’m in bed silly.”
“Jesus Christ.” I heard some muffled pounding coming from his end of the phone.
“Mark? Are you okay?”
“Yes.” Well, now his voice didn’t sound so good at all. Man, he was a weirdo. I rolled over to put my empty wine glass on my bedside table and misjudged the distance, okay it was possible I was a tiny bit tipsy, and fell off the side of my bed, slamming my head onto the extremely sharp, extremely hard, corner of my glass tabletop. And that, my friends, is that last thing I remember before everything went dark.
Chapter 7
Nixon, also known as Mark
“Keeva? Keeva? Hello?”
Nothing. Well, nothing other than a huge crash and an awfully cute high pitched squeal, then...silence. Shit, this was so not what I needed. Her cranky texts were actually entertaining, then drunk Keeva took it from entertaining to erotic, and now, just when I wasn’t sure I could stay away, nothing. A full minute later, still nothing and I was starting to get worried.
“Shit, shit, shit.” I mumbled to myself as I grabbed my keys and got in my car to go back to her house to check on her. God only knew what had happened to her and if she was suddenly lying in a pool of her own blood, unconscious and unable to help herself...If that was the case, I couldn’t just leave her there. But on the other hand, if she had just decided to hang up or mute me, this wasn’t going to end well for either of us.
I cursed the annoying Irish fog for the thousandth time since landing here and slowly made my way into Galway. Finally, fifteen anxiety inducing minutes later, pulled up to her building. I had been trying to call her back the whole time and now I had worked myself up into a panic. Something with my training and background, you would think I could get a handle on. I didn’t have any sort of label for what I felt around this woman, just that I felt...more.
I took the outer stairs to her loft two at a time and banged on the door. Crickets. She had either passed out or was truly hurt. I looked around for a spare key, knowing Keeva Murphy was the type to have one. Too trusting and naïve and bingo, the clichéd key under the mat. We were going to have to add that to the list of things I needed to lecture her on.
I opened the sliding door and took a second to appreciate the space. Exposed red brick mixed with steel accents and rustic wood making the large space feel homey and welcoming.
“Keeva!” I headed right down the only hallway to see if she was in her bedroom. “Keeva!”
I found her bedroom and finally found her. It was scenario number one, minus the bleeding out. She was naked, I was so coming back to that, but for now I crouched down over her, trying to gently rouse her and cover her with her blanket.
“Keeva,” I whispered. “Hey, wake up, little one. Come on, open those crazy Irish eyes.” It looked like she had hit her head on the glass table beside her bed, if the growing lump was any indication. Her empty wineglass had dropped to the floor harmlessly and her phone was lying upside down beside her. Her wet hair was slicked back and did I mention she was naked? The towel that must have been covering her at some point was lying in a tangled heap around her legs.
She moaned and her eyes fluttered open and landed on mine in a panic. “Shhh, little one. Don’t panic. You seemed to have passed out while trying to piss me off earlier.”
“Mark.” She blinked like she was waking from a nap and gave me an adorable half smile. “Hi.”
She blinked again, and then reality must have set it in and she tried to push up from me in vain. After flailing around for a minute, she gave up with a huge sigh. “Mark, I’m naked, come on, this is horrifying.”
I smiled at her. “I’m not finding it very horrifying. Keeva, you’ve probably got a concussion. I’m not letting you up until I call an ambulance or you let me run through my first aid training for head injuries.”
She huffed out an exasperated breath. “No, no ambulance. I’m fine, just a huge headache. Run through your concussion protocol and clear me for release. What are you doing here anyway?” She reached down and pulled the entire duvet up and around her shoulders. Damn. I was quite enjoying the view now that I knew she was okay.
“Well, let’s see. You started texting me such nice words of flattery.” Her face began to redden and I gave her my best smirk. “Then I called you, and in the middle of our conversation, I heard a scream, a crash and then nothing.”
“Yes, and so?”
“And so of course, I came to check on you. Do you really think I’m that much of an ass? Wait, don’t answer that. I’m fairly certain you do.” I shifted her in my arms and quickly inspected the lump that seemed to have stopped increasing in size. “Let me get some ice, ok? Don’t move a muscle.”
I quickly ran to her kitchen, opened her tiny fridge and slammed her ice cube tray against the counter, wrapping the pieces up in a towel. I came back to find her struggling to get up off the floor just as I had expected she’d be doing.
“Stop.” I dropped down and gently pulled her head into my lap and pressed the makeshift ice pack onto her injury. “I don’t hate you, you know.”
She looked at me dubiously with one dark eyebrow raised. “Really? Let’s review, shall we. Wait.” She held up a hand to pause the conversation. “Let’s actually forget about it all. I’m lying here, damp, pretty much naked, still slightly tipsy and you’re in my bedroom. You really need to leave.”
“I really do.”
“So, why aren’t you moving?”
I smiled. “I’m not quite sure.” I hesitated, not sure how much of myself to reveal to this girl. “Look, for what it’s worth, I regret not telling you who I was when I figured out you were you on the plane.”
She softly sighed and closed her eyes and I had a choice to make. I had enough knowledge of head injuries to know sleeping right now was a bad idea. So, either I had my first sleep over with her, or I got her to wake up and stay awake.
“Hey sleeping beauty.” I gently nudged her shoulders. “Stay awake for me, will you? I need to get you out on your couch and partially sitting up, and I’m going to have to carry you. There’s a small chance your lack of clothing will become an issue for me, so I need you to wake up and stay awake. Just until I can decide what to do here.”
Her eyes opened and she nestled into her covers. “Don’t try any funny stuff, mister,” she muttered as she drifted back off to sleep. This wasn’t good. I actually needed to get her to a doctor, but I wasn’t familiar enough with the city to know where that was and how that even worked.
I tucked her legs under my arms and got us up off the floor without exposing her to the room. She blinked and looked around as I carried her to the living room and set her down in an upright position on her couch, while still trying to keep her fully covered.
“Keeva? Okay, sweetheart, here’s what’s going to happen,” I squeezed her hands to get her attention. “I’m going to need to take you to a doctor, but I have two problems.”
She smiled and something weird flipped over in my stomach. “No doctor. Brother, doctor.”
“Your brother is a doctor. Right, should have remembered that.”
“Why?”
Shit, had she told me that on the flight? I was going with that regardless. Chances were pretty good she wouldn’t remember this night anyway.
“You told me on the plane ride, remember?”
She looked adorably confused and I felt like a dick, but that was preferable to feeling the other stuff that was buzzing around inside of me right now. “Do you have your phone? I’ll need his number.”
“Yeah.” She smiled again and pointed in the general direction of her room I was guessing. “My room, ‘member?”
>
I smiled back at her and slid her back to sitting. She was trying to lie down and I was quickly getting worried I was out of my first aid depth. “Stay awake, Ms. Murphy.” That got her eyes open and back up. I guess I needed to keep pissing her off to keep her conscious. “I’ll be right back.”
I raced to her room, grabbed her phone and sat down beside her, in between her and the end of the couch so she couldn’t lay down. “Can you open this up so I can call him?”
She gave me the evil side eye and grabbed the phone out of my hand, opening the lock screen with her thumb print and finding Aiden in her contacts.
I grabbed the phone back, returned her glare with a smile and anxiously awaited her brother’s voice. Thankfully, he picked up fairly quickly. I guess being a doctor receiving late night emergency phone calls was par for the course.
“Keev? What’s wrong?”
“Hi. It’s not Keeva, and I think she’s okay.” God, I was an idiot. How I ever got a job with the CIA was often beyond me, but I plowed through. “I’m a, ah, friend and a client of hers. She seems to have fallen and hit her head.”
At that moment, she slid down and rested her head in my lap, snuggling in like it was the most natural thing for her to do. I gently brushed the hair off her head, careful to not put any pressure on the goose egg she was sporting.
“Hit her head? How hard? Is she conscious?”
“She’s in and out, but I’m still able to wake her off and on. There’s no bleeding, some local swelling and she seems okay, but refused to go to the hospital. Told me to call you.”
“Can you put her on the phone?”
I palmed her cheek and massaged my thumb in a circle under her eye. “Keeva? I’ve got your brother on the phone and he needs to talk to you. Otherwise, I’m dragging you into the nearest emergency room, so come on, wake up and give it the old college try.”
She opened her eyes and arched a brow at me, rolling her eyes and wincing from the movement. I rested the phone against her ear and gave her my own version of a single eyebrow raise in encouragement.
Hacked Page 6