Page 24 of Stripping Bare

“Something illegal, which means you could go to jail for it. Haven’t you had enough threat of that within the past fewmonths?”

Yeah, things had been dicey there for a while after Micki had returned to North Carolina. He was still living with an assload of guilt over what she’d done for him. Ten years. She’d spent ten years of her life trying to protect him, trying to make sure her scum-wad of a boss wouldn’t pull a bunch of backroom strings to have Jonah locked up. That son of a bitch was the one lounging around in orange pajamas these days because Tessa had been willing to keep Jonah’s ass out of prison for a crime he hadn’tcommitted.

A crime that had been committed againsther.

She had been the victim, nothim.

He had no right to feel an ounce of mental anguish, so he’d kept his mouth shut about how a crime againstherhad impacted him so damnmuch.

But her eyes were mesmerizing, so full of concern that he wanted to step into them. Just let the past and all his mistakes be swallowedup.

Unfortunately, life didn’t work thatway.

Becoming involved with Tessa would mean she’d inevitably find out what he’d done. And she’d hate him for it, especially when she realized he’d do it all overagain.

So he sidestepped and tried not to eat up the feel of his body sliding across hers. “They would have to catch me to arrest me. Believe me, that ain’t gonna happen.” Cocky meant he was in control. Good. He was fine. On an even keel. But when he reached behind Tessa for his computer and saw the screen, he said, “Dammit.”

She whirled around, one of her hips skimming his fly. “What?”

“My GET command pullednothing.”

“Is that good orbad?”

“Both. It means the company is smart and is walking their talk. But it’s bad because it isn’t simple for someone to grab yourcredentials.”

“Which means they couldn’t log in as me and access my case files. Then what happened? Any physical notes I make during a session are transcribed and then cross-shredded. I don’t leave behind a paper trail. The information Carson shared with me about his past doesn’t exist anywhere except thatdatabase.”

Carson’s past. Carson. Maybe this didn’t have a thing to do with Tessa. “You can’t be the only person in the world who knew the guy was once busted for stalking an old girlfriend. Hell, he told me about it. So who else? Old friends?Family?”

“But why the bogus note fromme?”

“Maybe Carson told someone he was doing sessions with you and they saw an opportunity for blackmail that wouldn’t be traced back tothem.”

Tessa ran a fingertip along her bottom lip in thoughtful silence. Jonah watched it slowly slide from side to side, her pearl-painted nail a contrast against her darker skin. Even the smallest detail about this woman made a hunger blaze in his belly. “I doubt it, because two more e-mails were sent from my account.” She let out a shaky breath. “And one of them went to DaveySinchilla.”

“Fuck.”

“Prettymuch.”

“I could try to talk my way inside the company, but based on the nature of their data, it would take a long time, with my bet on exactlynever.”

“As much as I hate to say this, you’re right. I need you to get in and look around any way you can. See if you can figure out who hacked in.” She took a breath and reached for her teacup, but she didn’t drink. Just stared down into the liquid. “Because this system was so secure, I not only kept my patient files inside, but I recorded an audio diary aswell.”

“And you’re worried that was compromised,too.”

She still wouldn’t look at him. “Sometimes I documented important events. Sometimes I made observations about people who weren’t officially myclients.”

A bad feeling swarmed over Jonah, making his skin flash hot then cold. “What kind of observations and whatpeople?”

“Family, strangers, friends, evenlovers.”

“What are yousaying?”

When her head came up, an apology was swimming in her eyes. “I sort of recorded the conversation you and I had the night we hadsex.”

If the lookon Jonah’s face held any more shock, he’d probably be comatose. And while Tessa watched, that initial expression of surprise slowly transformed. The muscles around his mouth, in his cheeks, near his eyes went from slack tostone.

Yeah, she’d been pretty certain this wouldn’t go well. But if the sick, sloshy feeling in her stomach was any indication, it was even worse than she’dimagined.