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I pulled on some lounge pants and a tank top and padded barefoot after him as he was going back to the kitchen. He grabbed another beer, some sports drinks, water, and he filled his arms up with snacks. He gave me a lopsided grin, seeing me standing in the doorway. “You look super sexy right now.” He came over, saying, “I need to hack this guy. Save my ass, and then you and me, I’m going to show you the Tour of Europe.”
“What?” I almost squeaked, my insides clenching at just what that could be.
He gave my forehead a kiss before dropping to my mouth, and giving me another long and lingering one, one that had me a little short of breath. “Tour of Europe. You’ll see. I get inventive.”
Okay. Ignoring the sudden pitter-patter in the middle of my chest, I followed him to his office, where he was putting everything around his computer.
I frowned, seeing he was committed to this plan. “Zeke.”
He glanced back, frowning right before he turned his computer on. “Yeah, babe?”
Babe.
I’d never been someone’s babe. Not even my ex had called me that, but looking at him, my mouth going dry at how good he looked, how earnest he was in breaking the law and seeing no problem in informing me that he was about to do what he was about to do, and now him calling me babe.
I was his babe. I washis.
“Did you used to come to Manny’s back in high school and sit in my section because it was my section?” I’d forgotten all about those times until Heather brought it up. Now, it was suddenly real important for me to know.
He frowned a little but jerked his head in a nod. “Yeah. I told you that I used to see you too.”
I remembered a time in Roussou. “I thought you were laughing at me.”
He went still, quieting his voice. “When?”
“When you and Blaise came to the pizza place in Roussou, to pick up a pizza for Aspen. You laughed at me.”
“I wasn’t laughing at you.”
I frowned. “You weren’t?”
“I was laughing at Blaise. You asked if he was Aspen’s boyfriend, and I thought that was the funniest thing ever because no one asked Blaise random questions like that.”
“They didn’t?”
“Most were scared of that hothead. I liked that you were asking about Aspen. It made him feel off-balance, just a bit. I wanted you to ask him more questions.”
“Right.” I was remembering the rest. “He got into a fight.”
“Yep.” The pride coming from him was…well, that was just Zeke by now. “That’s my boy. I miss that piece of hothead shit. Wish he’d decide to play over here in the US.” He took a deep breath, sat down behind his desk, and began by pulling up the internet. “The way I see it, you have three choices right now.”
“What are they?”
He looked at me, and there was no cockiness, no smart joke, no teasing, no sexual innuendo. Nothing like that. It was just Zeke looking back at me. “I’m going to do this, so you can either pretend you don’t know what I’m doing, and I’d suggest heading out for the night so you can claim you didn’t know. The second option, call and report me. I know it’s wrong, but I’m going to do it anyways.”
My mouth was dry again, and my heart was beating hard. “What’s the third option?”
“Pull up a chair and keep me company.”
I was wrong. It wasn’t just Zeke looking at me. It was my Zeke looking at me. Mine.
I was his babe, and he was just mine.
I went over to him and laid a kiss on him. “Kick some ass.”
He wasadorable when he hacked.
He was quiet the whole time, but hunched over, and squinting. Randomly he’d reach for something to drink or eat, and he kept going. I knew the basics from college. Computers weren’t my forte. If I ever decided to pursue a more specialized degree, I’d need to learn, but so far, I enjoyed doing things with my hands. Zeke seemed in a whole different league, and I knew this wasn’t the first time I’d thought it. But it was the first time I wasn’t scared about it or felt small because of it. I was proud of it. I wasn’t proud of what he was doing, but in this day and age, it kinda felt nice knowing he had these skills.
