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His tone is suggestive, and I scowl at him before I click on the search matches button. The screen begins to populate with a list of potential females for Kai based on the made-up profile Abby and I created. I stare at him in shock. “How did you find it so quickly?”
“Basic hacker move.”
“Someone’s hacked into our system? That’s not possible.”
“Not only is it possible, it happened.” The chair squeaks as Kai leans back. “You’ve got a security problem.”
“No.” My stomach knots up, and my shoes click on the floor as I begin to pace. Who would want to break into a small dating program for a tiny coastal town? “We’re nobody! And we have one of the best computer programmers in the world.” I turn on my heel to face him. “How could this happen?”
“You don’t have the best programmer in the world.” He grins at me. “But you could.”
My friend Charlie’s werewolf husband, Ryan, is a computer programmer, too, and it occurs to me that if he and Kai worked together, it wouldn’t be hard to have Kai checked out. “Are you saying you’re the best?”
“I’m saying I can fix this.”
The edge of my desk is hard on my bottom as I lean against it, and I groan. “I insisted we hire Mallory, against what Kevin wanted. What’s he going to do when he finds out she let a hacker in? I could easily lose my job, and more importantly, the entire dating program could be ruined by some jerk in their basement with nothing better to do.” My stomach knots up. “If Mallory couldn’t find a solution, I’m not sure who I can find to fix this.”
“Really, Abby?”
“Kevin’s not going to want you to do this.”
Kai raises his eyebrows. “You think I’m afraid of Kevin? This isn’t going to go away. The door to your system has been opened, Abby.”
“I can’t pay you.”
“I’m not asking you to. I’m doing this to help you. Kevin doesn’t have to know. You’re my mate, and I’m on your side.” His gaze intensifies when he adds, “Always.”
I take a deep breath because as much as I want to ponder the fact Kai might be my type after all, I’m trying to come to terms with letting him help. But if I don’t do something, I won’t have a job anyway. “Do it.” I catch myself and add, “Please.”
Kai nods at me, and he gets up from his chair to grab the laptop. “I’ll have you set by morning.” I watch him walk toward the door, and while I enjoy the view, it hits me that he has a brain that is just as sexy. He glances over his shoulder at me and says, “There better be jelly donuts for breakfast. They’re”—he pauses for a moment to flash me a playful smile—“sticky.”
Once he’s gone, I stare down at my hand and imagine the heat of his mouth on my fingers as he works his way through them all. A shiver of desire runs through me as I let myself contemplate the fact that Kai said he was the biggest nerd I’d ever meet. Dare I believe he is the incredible kind of man that makes my body sing and who also has a mind that will challenge and satisfy my intellect?
Chapter Six
The pastry bag rustles as I carry it down the hall toward Kai’s room. I got him a breakfast sandwich and six jelly donuts in case he’s still working and doesn’t want to go out, but if he’s really fixed the security breach, I’ll buy him a lot more. I couldn’t sleep last night because I was worrying about all that could go wrong if hackers got further into the town’s system. The fact that they entered through the Life Shift program could seriously compromise or kill it.
I also spent a fair amount of time thinking about a future with Kai. He’s turned out to be much more than the feral werewolf I thought he was, and I can’t deny my attraction for him is off the charts. I’d really like to see what Life Shift’s matching would give us for a compatibility score.
When Kai opens the door, his appearance surprises me. He’s wearing gray sweatpants that have a coffee stain on the thigh, his hair is standing on end, and his eyes are puffy behind a pair of glasses that are crooked on his nose. Now he’s hot in a sexy-nerd way, and I want to tug those spectacles off his gorgeous face and kiss him. “It’s done,” he says before I have a chance to greet him.
I hold up my bakery bag. “I brought breakfast.”
His lips turn up in a small smile as he grabs me around the waist and tugs me closer. He lifts my hand and opens the sack to peer inside.
“Can I come in?”
“Oh.” Kai steps back and pulls me with him. “Sorry.”
The aroma of burned coffee wafts toward me, and on the table I notice a pile of candy bar wrappers. I guess he made a visit to the gas station for provisions last night. “Did you stay up all night working on this?” I ask as we sit down on the couch.
The day-old beard on Kai’s chin rasps as he rubs it. “Yeah. And while I have a bandage in place for now, fixing this problem is going to be more work than I expected. Hackers are smart.” He bites into a donut.
“How much more work are we talking?”
He shrugs as he chews. “Won’t know until it’s done, but you need to assign someone to this. When does Ryan start work?”
He reminds me that I was going to ask Ryan about Kai’s relationship with Kevin. I reply, “Monday.”
