Waves of ecstasy pounded her. Ross’s mouth snatched her cries.
She drew him close, and his strong arms held her through her final shudders.
With her body wrapped tight in his hold, he rolled them so she lay on top of him. Spent and breathing fast.
His rough hand stroking long swaths down her spine reinforced all the emotions whirling through her and made her know, without a doubt, they were real.
He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I need to have a look at your laptop.”
The last thing she expected to hear after mind-blowing sex—that came with a newfound feeling of love and topped off with a pregnancy risk—was about her laptop. It proved how far apart her mind was from Ross’s.
Nodding, she disentangled herself from him and rolled off. His juices wet her inner thighs as the warmth of his body left her.
With a stiff spine, he walked completely naked to her bag. He set it on the table and unzipped it as if the faux leather contained a bomb.
She climbed off the bed, grabbed the closest garment—his shirt—and pulled it on. “You’ll need my thumbprint.”
“Let me get Silas on the phone. He’s in charge of our cybersecurity division.” He retrieved his phone and pulled his jeans on without underwear.
“It’s me. I need you to hack Pippa’s laptop.”
She heard a low hoot coming from the phone. Ross’s lips twitched but came short of forming a full smile at the obvious excitement projecting from his coworker at the prospect of hacking something.
Ross turned his attention to her. His gaze dropped over her front and his shirt she wore. “Okay, he says to open it and let him get a bead on the signals it’s putting out.”
“How can he do that?”
“I don’t ask Silas about his magic. He wouldn’t tell me if I did.”
A bark of laughter projected from Ross’s phone.
He held out his device toward the laptop.
“Sign in, he says,” Ross instructed Pippa.
She threw a look at him and then entered the system using her thumbprint.
“There’s more. Enter your password,” Ross said.
When she angled her body to protect her code, he grabbed her shoulder and whipped her aside. “I’m not going to steal your secrets, Pippa. I almost got my ass shot off because of this fucking laptop.”
“I thought you said they tracked me through my phone? And I don’t like swiss cheese or relish having the same holes it does. Besides, I already have one gunshot wound, remember?” Ignoring the clawing urge to protect her passcode at all costs, she typed it in.
As the computer came to life, Ross listened to Silas speaking on the other end of the line. His lips grew grimmer as seconds ticked on.
“Well?” she burst out, unable to hold it in any longer.
He held up a finger for her to wait. She tapped her foot on the old motel carpet and studied his face. He drew the laptop closer to him and pressed a combination of keys. Immediately, the screen went black. Then numbers began to flash rapid-fire, blinking on and on while she stared in fear and amazement.
“I fucking knew it,” Ross ground out.
She snapped her head around to stare at him.
“Disable it and trace it.” A beat of silence. Then Ross said, “You got it? Good. Send me the report and get Landon and Mathias on it.”
The Wyntons’ cousins, who she’d met at a summer picnic or two over the years. They were cousins on his mother’s side and were just as heartbreakingly handsome as the Wynton men, minus the dimples. She hadn’t thought about them in years, but knowing they were working on something concerning her safety left her feeling protected from all sides.
“Thanks, Shanie. I’ll be in touch.” Ross hung up with Silas.
For a moment, he bowed his head over the laptop screen, which had gone back to its sign-in page. Her nerves pinged as she waited for him to speak.
When she couldn’t take it another second, she said, “Well?”
“It’s full of spyware. And worse.” He raised his head and looked straight at her. “You didn’t know your secure files are at risk?”
Ice-cold panic swept her. She sputtered, “Of course I didn’t!”
“You’re so smart, Pippa. How did you not know?”
“I’m smart in my field. And okay, some others like math. But I don’t know computers. I just run what people set up for me.”
“That’s the issue. Someone is watching you.”
“Have they breached my files?” She had passwords and fingerprint protection on each and every one, all different and more complex than the last.
“Not yet, but I’m sure they’re trying to unlock them. We’re going to remove the spies starting now.” A dark red mottled his throat and climbed into his face.
She took in the banked fury in his eyes too. “You’re going to have a stroke if you don’t calm down. Your blood pressure is sky high.”
He slanted a glance at her.
“I’m serious. We’re going to…” Going down on him right now would only make his system more haywire. Inspiration struck. “We’re going to meditate.”
He widened his stance. “What?”
“Meditate.”
“I don’t buy into that mumbo-jumbo.”
“It’s not mumbo-jumbo. It actually helps calm people down, and right now, you and I can both use it. Come on.” She grabbed the sheet off the bed and spread it on the floor with one shake. Then she pointed at it. “Sit.”
He reluctantly took a step onto the sheet. She led by example, sitting cross-legged on the floor. Drawing in a deep breath, she tried to find her center. When she realized Ross wasn’t sitting, she looked up at him.
He heaved a sigh and sat next to her, copying her pose. “This is the last thing I should be doing right now,” he muttered.
“Self-care is important. Now fold your hands in your lap.” She showed him, and he imitated her. “Close your eyes and breathe in through your nose to three counts. Good. Now exhale to three.”
Five breaths in she got that prickle on her skin that told her that he was staring at her. She opened her eyes and sure enough, he wasn’t meditating, only staring.
“You can’t relax if you don’t try, Ross.”
“Who says looking at you isn’t relaxing? Where did you learn this anyway?”
“Tibet. I spent some time there as well.”
“Of course you did.” He lowered his gaze to her bare thighs.
Her stomach leaped with awareness. They’d just had insanely hot sex—twice. And she sat inches from the man she wanted, wearing nothing but his shirt.
“Hell, don’t give me that look,” he said.
“What look?”
“The one that says you want me buried in your pussy again.”
She shivered.
The monks would scold her for her meditation breathing.
Chapter Ten
Everything about Pippa called to Ross to drop his jeans and claim her again. But he needed to focus first, and he couldn’t do that with her nearby.
“Why don’t you take a shower? I’m going to make some phone calls.” He was changing the subject from sex because if he didn’t, they’d never leave this room. And eventually, the people after her would catch up with them.