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He edged away from her and slipped out of the bed.
The first light of dawn bled through the curtain. He glanced at Sierra, sound asleep on the rumpled sheets of his bed. He desperately wanted to climb back in with her, but instead he threw on his clothes. Grabbed his computer and stepped out of the room. When he glanced over his shoulder, Sierra was still sleeping. Thank God.
She’d been exhausted before they’d gone to bed, but he’d listened to her toss and turn for an hour before she’d fallen asleep. Every subtle shift of the crisp sheets, every sigh, had tormented him as he tried to fall asleep himself.
He’d wanted to think she was awake because she was hyper aware of him, wishing she were in the bed with him.
Just as he’d desperately wanted her in his bed.
Forcing himself to look away from Sierra, sprawled in his bed, he closed the door and moved into the living area. One glance told him Jack wasn’t there. The other bedroom door was closed, so Cody assumed he was asleep.
After finding the kitchen and the fancy coffee-maker on the counter, Cody located a mug and made himself a coffee. Then, cupping the mug between his palms, he headed back into the main living area.
Skirting Jack’s desk, he eased the drapes aside and stared down at the side of the building. Lush landscaping, carefully tended. Too small to hide a watcher.
As his gaze drifted over the larger area of bushes, trees and flowers surrounding the building, he saw nothing that rang any alarm bells.
The smaller window in the living room looked out on a courtyard. Flowering trees with only a few blossoms left surrounded a small koi pond. Cody raised an eyebrow. Fancy.
But there were no hiding spots in the courtyard. And it was secured by a tall wrought iron fence.
Confident there were no threats outside right now, Cody settled on the couch and set his mug on a granite coaster. A sticky note stuck to an end table had the wifi name and password written on it. Huh. Apparently both Sierra and Jack thought ahead.
Settling in, he booted up his computer, connected with the internet and opened his work email account.
A new email from Mel was waiting.
Ignoring emails from other team members, he opened the one from Mel. Read it twice, memorizing the name. Studied the three attached pictures and committed them to memory, too. Sighed and leaned against the back of the couch, still staring at the photos.
Damn it.
Cody closed the lid a little too hard, then stood up, grabbed his coffee and paced the room. Damn good thing they’d come back to Evanston. Jack’s intruder had left before he’d gotten into the apartment, but what about next time? Taking a sip of now-lukewarm coffee, Cody studied the bank of dark monitors on Jack’s desk. Had Jack’s intruder been after the computers and Jack’s research?
Or had he been after Jack personally?
He resumed pacing, trying to figure out what he’d say to Jack, when the bedroom door opened and Sierra stepped into the living area. “Hey,” she said, her face flushed and her morning voice a little hoarse. “I was, ah, in your bed when I woke up. What was that about?”
Cody drew a deep breath. “You tell me, Sierra. You were there when I woke up.”
She frowned. “Are you saying thatIgot intoyourbed last night?”
“I didn’t carry you there.” Her blush deepened, and he needed to ease her awkwardness. “You were probably sleepwalking,” he offered. “You’ve had an emotional, unsettling week.”
She pressed her fingers to her cheeks. “I didn’t do it on purpose,” she said.
“I didn’t think you had, Sierra.” He smiled, trying to lighten things up. “If you had, I’d hope you’d be a little more aggressive about it. Wake me up, at the very least.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “It wasn’t deliberate.”
“I know,” he said, taking a deep breath. They had to let this go. He didn’t want the awkwardness to follow them all day. He patted the couch. “Come sit down.”
She approached him warily. “Why were you pacing like a caged tiger just now?”
He sighed. “Mel got back to me about your brother’s intruder.”
Sierra eased onto the couch, then spotted the mug in his hand. “Wait. I need coffee first.”
She returned a couple minutes later with what looked like a cappuccino and sat down, leaving plenty of space between them. “What did Mel find out?”
