Say Goodbye (Romantic Suspense #25) by Karen Rose

            She wanted to frown at him for asking the question, but she supposed it was fair. She was trying to make amends for the people she hadn’t saved. “It should be enough. By July I’ll be in nursing school and can focus all that guilt on getting good grades and being a damn good nurse.”

            “The best.” He shut off the bedside light and slid back down until he was under the sheets with her. “You wake up unfairly chipper.”

            “I was a soldier,” Liza said, snuggling into him when he wrapped his arm around her. His chest was the nicest of pillows. “We learned to sleep with one eye open.”

            “I bet you’ll go right back to sleep, won’t you?”

            “Why?”

            “Because I’m awake now.” He guided her hand to his erection. “What do you say?”

            She wrapped her fingers around him and squeezed, his answering hiss like music. “Yes.”





TWENTY-SIX



ROCKLIN, CALIFORNIA

            MONDAY, MAY 29, 8:30 A.M.





Tom reached for his coffee cup, frowning when he found it empty. He’d been looking for a way into Sunnyside’s security network for the past few hours and had come up with nothing.

            Liza had gone back to sleep after he’d made love to her for the second time, but he’d been unable to quiet his mind. All he’d been able to think was that she was going into a hostile situation from which she might not return. And that he’d lose her after just finding her.

            So he’d crept from bed, kissing her forehead as she’d burrowed her cheek into his pillow, muttering for him to come back. He’d promised he was just getting a drink of water, but he’d returned to his office.

            He had nothing for his trouble except a sleepless night.

            A creak in the floorboards had him looking up a second before she appeared in the doorway, holding two cups of coffee.

            “Did you sleep at all?” Liza asked.

            “No. Is one of those for me?”

            She placed the mug next to his keyboard. “You said you were getting up for some water.”

            “I couldn’t sleep. I’m sorry.”

            She put her cup down and moved to stand at his back. “Lean forward.”

            He obeyed, then groaned when her hands did that magical thing to the muscles in his back.

            “You’re all tight.”

            He groaned again, for a much different reason. “I said that to you last night.”

            “Douchebag,” she said fondly. “What are you doing?”

            “Trying to get a toehold in Sunnyside’s security network. I still don’t have access to their cameras and alarms.”

            “I thought you did,” she said, confused. “You saw the personnel records and patient records.”

            He folded his arms on his desk, letting his head fall forward. “They’re on a different network, not connected to the rest. I got into the personnel and patient databases because one of the night nurses clicked on a link in a phishing e-mail. I honestly was shocked that it worked.”

            She worked her thumbs into the base of his neck, the way she knew that he liked. “Where did you get the e-mail address for the night nurse?”

            “Guessed, mostly. Did an info-at with a bunch of different extensions.”

            “But the security network has been harder to breach.”

            “Yeah. I’ve sent e-mails to a few others on the list, like the facility accountant and network administrator. All the e-mails have links that will let me in, but nobody’s opened them yet. Today’s a damn holiday.”

            She gentled her touch, pressing a kiss to his neck. “Always wanted to do that when I was massaging you.”

            “Any time you want.”

            “The massage or the kiss?” she asked, amused.