“You can be very bossy when you want to be, has anyone ever told you that?”

“Why do you think I fantasized about handcuffing you to the bed?”

“You did that because you secretly longed for a lover who could take all you had to give and come back for more.”

“You think so?”

“I’m sure of it. You’re a very passionate woman and you need a man who can match that passion. It’s not easy, but I’m up to the job.”

“You might be up, but you are also on duty. Now…get…to…work.” She enunciated each word with careful clarity.

He saluted and then called Hotwire.

Ethan was grinning when Hotwire picked up the phone. He loved Beth in her feisty, take-charge mode. She got that way at the office and it always made him smile and grow hard. He was up, just like he’d said, but he could control himself. For a while.

“Hey, buddy…you got some time?”

“Sure, what’s up?”

He moved to sit in front of his laptop set up at the dining room table. Another agent was in the spare room listening to Prescott’s audibles. “I’ve got prelim access on a computer, but I’m hitting wall after wall in ICE.”

“Give me the ID code and ISP if you’ve got it.”

Ethan relayed the information he had.

He heard clicking in the background and did his own initial sequence for connection.

“You’re right, this man has serious ICE, but he’s made the terminal mistake…the only one that it’s impossible to protect against.”

“He’s got ISP connection.”

“Yes. No matter how good the ICE, it can always be cracked, but you can’t hack a computer externally that isn’t hooked up for outside connectivity.”

He didn’t know how long he’d been working when Beth started rubbing his shoulders, massaging the kinks out. He turned and kissed one hand.

She kissed the top of his head. “I’m going to make a pot of coffee.”

“That’s great, thanks.” But his mind was on Hotwire’s de-encryption program.

It was one of the best he’d seen. They’d connected about thirty minutes into their session and were working on the hack in real time together.

“If we work from three different points, rather than all of us working on each wall of ICE at the same time, we have a better chance of breaking in.” Claire had picked up an extension and joined them sometime ago. “Bennett, you stick with encryption. Ethan, you work on circumventing the firewall, I’m going to work on the password for entry. It’s a scrolling one and I recognize the pattern…I studied its creator in one of my classes.”

“Good idea, honey,” Hotwire said. “The longer we take on the hack, the bigger chance we’re going to be detected.”

They’d been careful to cover themselves, but it was taking longer because they had to be so careful to hide their fingerprints in the system. If they were backtracked, the trail would end at three different computers with ISP addresses assigned in China. Any attempt to go beyond would encounter a virus that would keep the backtracker busy if it didn’t destroy the hard drive.

Chapter 20

Beth grew fidgety as the afternoon wore on. She was keeping quiet for both Ethan’s sake and that of the agent in the other room, but she needed to breathe some air besides that in the cabin. And she wanted to go through her Poom Ses, but there was nowhere inside that she could do it without disturbing someone. The clearing about a hundred yards from the cabin would work great.

For the past two weeks, Ethan had been taking her down to the beach just after dawn each morning, where he worked out and ran while she went through her tae kwon do exercises. But they’d missed yesterday and today because of his efforts to hack into Prescott’s computer security.

She changed into clothes that would be comfortable for her workout and then tapped Ethan on the shoulder. “I’m going for a walk.”

“Wear a comm unit and stay in sight of the house.”

“Aye, aye, sir.”

He turned his green gaze on her. “Don’t be smart.”

“But I am smart.”

His lips quirked. “You’re also sassy.”

“You wouldn’t want me any other way.”

“No, I wouldn’t.”

She was smiling when she let herself out the back door of the cabin. The autumn air smelled fresh and clean, so different to what she was used to and she stopped to drag in a deep breath. They were close to the ocean and she could smell the salt in the air along with wet leaves and moist earth. Even the tree bark had its own unique fragrance that added to the ambiance in the forest.

She was tempted to walk to the beach, but she’d promised to stay in sight of the house. She headed through the forest to the clearing. In the spring and summer it would have been out of sight of the house, too, but the crimson and yellow leaves had dropped from the trees, creating a spongy layer over the ground. The evergreens blocked the view from the house a little, but not completely and she was wearing the comm unit.

It was so different here. Not just clean, but earthy. What would it be like to live someplace like this all the time?

Immediately following that thought another came unbidden. Her and Ethan sharing a small house in Virginia, close enough to D.C. to continue working for TGP, but far enough from the city to catch the flavor of the world she was standing in right now. Ethan hadn’t said anything about a future, but he had suggested she train to be an agent rather than leave TGP.

He’d also seemed relieved when she said she would consider it. He didn’t want her to go, she didn’t think. She wasn’t the queen of reading men’s feelings, but she was pretty sure Ethan didn’t want their relationship to end with the conclusion of the assignment. That didn’t mean he’d be open to sharing the kind of future she was dreaming about right that minute.

She kicked at fallen leaves. She’d learned so much about herself in the past few weeks, it was kind of scary. But she realized that if she couldn’t have the life she’d always wanted-the loving family that did normal stuff together and shared the same home more than occasionally-maybe the life of an agent would be an okay substitute. It was such a huge transition in her thinking, she was wary of her reasons for feeling this way.

Was she trying again to be acceptable to someone she loved? Did she want the life Ethan had so she could share it with him?

But being an agent didn’t necessarily mean they’d spend any more time together. Ethan did not work with a partner. Most agents for TGP didn’t. He took high-risk assignments usually, not ones that a new agent would be sent out on. In fact, becoming an agent might keep her in D.C., but it wouldn’t guarantee her one more minute of Ethan’s time.

So, why was she considering it when she’d fought the idea for so long? Was it because she’d realized that she liked the adrenaline rush? Or simply because she saw that she had an aptitude for subterfuge? Or maybe, more disturbingly because her dad would be thrilled by the prospect? Was she still seeking that elusive brass ring of parental approval?

Yet, her heart rejected all the alternatives her mind tossed up to her. It told her that despite what she’d always been so sure of…she was finally finding a life that might fit who she was. Or at least who she had become.

“Beth, I’m glad to see you here.”

Her head snapped up and she stared in shock at Arthur Prescott. She’d been so lost in her thoughts, she hadn’t heard his approach. “What are you doing here?”

“Walking in the woods.” But he wasn’t exactly dressed for the endeavor. He wore one of his many designer suits and Italian leather dress shoes that looked strange against the carpet of decaying autumn leaves. “I needed some time to myself after your boyfriend called and said you would not be working for me any longer. I’m worried about you, Beth.”