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Chapter One
Utah
She let out a low whistle as she made the right turn the GPS voice directed and approached the guard gate. Next to her in the passenger seat stood a blonde cocker spaniel staring out the window. The pup’s ears were perked up and pointed forward, like she was on high alert and ready to kick some ass.
“It looks like you hit the jackpot, Phoebs.”
At the sound of her name, the dog gave an obligatory wag of her stubby tail, but her attention was firmly on the uniformed man outside the brick guardhouse as he talked to the woman in the gold Lexus ahead of them.
The driver’s answers must not have been to the guard’s satisfaction, because instead of being let through the gate, she was directed left to the exit.
Utah hoped Liam had remembered to put her name on the visitors list. She’d be pissed if she came all this way for nothing.
Although, when they’d chatted on the phone yesterday, he hadn’t seemed like the kind of guy who’d flake. She’d called him to schedule a time for her to deliver Phoebe, the cocker spaniel he’d adopted at the annual Animal Rescue Foundation (ARF) Gala, and they ended up talking for a good twenty minutes when the conversation could have been accomplished in three.
There might have been some flirting going on.
When her sister, Dakota, had recruited Utah’s help to do a home inspection for ARF and bring Phoebe to her new owner, Utah had suspected something was up and questioned her about it. Dakota had a gift for seeing things that hadn’t happened yet. She easily ‘fessed up and told Utah, “The minute I met him, I just felt like the two of you are connected somehow. You should at least meet him and see if I’m right.”
Utah hadn’t had anything pressing going on, so she agreed. Plus, she’d been curious—her sister’s visions were rarely wrong, not to mention Utah was so single that she might be eligible to reclaim her virginity status.
Wasn’t that a “use it or lose it” kind of thing?
If so, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d “used” hers.
It wasn’t that she hadn’t had offers, just no one lately had been a decent enough candidate to get naked with.
Then she talked with Liam and spent the entire conversation laughing and smiling. When they ended the call, she was eager to meet him in person and decide if he was worthy of seeing her in nothing but her birthday suit.
Utah had felt an instant connection the minute she’d heard his deep voice on the other end of the line. They’d shared a light-hearted, yet sexy, banter. It was as if they’d known each other for years.
Her imagination had run wild ever since hanging up with him. She had an idea in her head of what he looked like—tall, athletic build with a broad chest, dark hair, hazel eyes, full kissable lips, and a classic Greek nose. And once they met in person, it was going to be even more magical than their instant connection on the phone, and her vajayjay would finally get some much-needed attention.
“Hate to rain on your parade, babe,” her BFF, Amy, had said over breakfast earlier that day after she’d told her friend the PG-rated version of her fantasy, “but you’d be better off expecting a receding hairline, beer gut, and bad teeth—that way if he’s even semi-attractive, you’ll be pleasantly surprised. If he really looks like you’re hoping, I doubt very much that he’s single. Especially with his bougie Beacon Hill address. Or if he is single, there’s a reason.”
Utah sighed as she dragged a piece of pancake through the dollop of syrup on her plate. “You’re probably right.” She popped the bite in her mouth with a wry grin. “It’s just as well. Then I’d have to worry about getting in better shape and cleaning up my act.”
Amy rolled her eyes. “You’re in great shape, and I thought you already had cleaned up your act after your big stunt last month.”
“Okay, I meant, I’d have to work out more. And no, I never said anything about cleaning up my act. I said I was laying low for a while—there’s a difference.”
Amy looked around before leaning forward and lowering her voice. “You’re playing with fire if you do another hack. You’ve been lucky so far.”
Her friend wasn’t wrong. Until last month, her hacks had all been calculated. She’d kept them small enough that the companies affected would chalk it up to the cost of doing business, and the authorities would have bigger fish to fry. But she’d pushed the envelope with this one. It’d been the biggest data breach she’d ever done, and she knew it had been too expensive for the authorities not to investigate.
But after seeing that cute couple and their sweet family’s story on the news, she felt compelled to do something. But then she took it too far, and she knew it.
She’d been offline and looking over her shoulder ever since. It was reminiscent of her very first hack in San Francisco over a decade ago. That was the darkest point in her life and she didn’t like the feeling.
So, daydreaming about Liam had been a nice alternative to reality TV last night, but now that she was going to meet him in person, she needed to brace herself for her bubble to be burst.
Utah hoped he was at least a good candidate to leave Phoebe with. She’d snuck the dog into her “no pets allowed” apartment at dusk and had left in the morning before anyone from the management team had shown up. Thankfully, it was Sunday, so they didn’t open the office until noon.
Although the pup hadn’t made a peep, Utah couldn’t risk keeping her another night. Being caught with an animal was grounds for immediate eviction. Which was a shame, because in the short time Phoebe had been with her, the cocker spaniel had stolen her heart.
Maybe when her lease was up, she’d move into a pet-friendly place and adopt her own dog from ARF.
She rolled down her window as she pulled up next to the uniformed security guard.
