Boy Meets Nerd Part 3

Hope: Seriously, it's nothing like that. You know me. I'll always be me. Your Hope.

His Hope. The name seemed ironic now. His hope. He sighed and dropped his head in his hands. Maybe he should bug Emerson to do this faster. He wasn't sure how much more uncertainty he could take. The computer beeped and he looked up.

Hope: I adore you, Levi Morrison.

He took a deep breath and set his fingers on the keyboard. Did she know how much he cared about her? Could she feel it through these little black words on the screen? If so, she should want to meet him sooner. Maybe she thought it was a game. It was anything but a game to him. G.o.d, if they clicked as well in person as they did online, he'd marry her.

He swallowed hard and made his fingers move.

Levi: I adore you too, Hope Love.

"Whatever your name is," he said to the screen, feeling like a big dork, "I still like you."

Chapter 6.

A boy was coming to the apartment.

Em threw six nearly-empty mugs of coffee into the sink. She'd spent the last thirty minutes cleaning up the sitting area and kitchen. It was a bit of an afterthought that she'd roomed with someone as messy as she was. Not that she was in any position to be picky. It was hard to find someone who'd put up with an anti-social night owl who didn't cook, clean, or host house parties. Except for the mess, Jess was a perfect fit. She left Em alone to do her work, didn't expect a lot of small talk, and screwed at her girlfriend's place instead of theirs.

Ugh! She threw a t-s.h.i.+rt she found tucked into the couch cus.h.i.+ons into her bedroom then shut the door. Too bad they couldn't afford a maid. Cleaning was a waste of perfectly good research time. But that didn't mean she wanted the rest of the world to know she lived like a slob.

Her gaze flew to her work station. The desk was covered in notebooks, loose paper, and unopened mail probably unpaid bills. Straightening it would ruin everything. Right now, amidst the clutter, she knew exactly where everything was. Yes, it wasn't a perfect system but it worked for her. If she touched even one stack of papers, she'd lose track of everything.

With a sigh, she left it and wiped down the coffee table with Mr. Clean. Maybe the sparkling surface would distract from the clutter on her desk. A knock on the door startled her from her cleaning frenzy. She placed the spray bottle and roll of paper towels on the breakfast bar straddling the kitchen then went to the door.

Meeting clients at the apartment felt too personal but Levi had insisted on privacy to go over the details. He was already feeling guilty about invading his dream girl's life so she'd conceded out of pity. The poor guy was in for a shock tonight.

After plastering a small smile on her face, she opened the door. There stood Prince Charming, looking as lickable as ever. b.u.t.terflies took off in her belly.

Really, Em?

Now she was nervous? If she turned into a giggly school girl around this guy, she was going to quit. It wasn't a real crush anyway. She didn't like him for his personality or anything. It was purely physical. It'd been a long time since she'd been laid. And self-pleasuring wasn't exactly high on the priority list when she had research to do.

f.u.c.k. Why was she thinking about masturbating while her love-sick idiot of a client stood in her doorway, waiting for her to say something?

"Uh, come in." G.o.d, a silly boy crush was the last thing she needed right now.

Though he smiled, she could tell his nerves were getting to him. His fingers twitched at his sides and his smile seemed forced. In the coffee shop, he'd flashed her wide toothy grins that reached his eyes. Now it fizzled once he walked through the door.

"Have a seat." She gestured to the overstuffed couch they'd picked up at a thrift shop. Her grandma had given her a recliner and the old coffee table so the apartment was decently furnished. But where others would place a TV, she had four monitors, a keyboard, and a giant messy desk.

Levi's brows shot up when he spotted the desk. "Wow. That's some set up you got there." He sunk into their couch, s.h.i.+fting to sit up a little. It did tend to suck people in.

She sat on her desk chair and swiveled to face him. "Yeah. It's a little messy but..." Her cheeks heated and she shrugged. "I'm pretty busy."

Having someone a.n.a.lyze her work s.p.a.ce was surprisingly uncomfortable. They didn't have visitors in the apartment so she wasn't used to people looking at her stuff, even from a distance. It made her feel vulnerable and she fought the urge to cover it with something. But that would be silly. She had nothing to prove to him.

"I get it," he said. "You should see my bedroom slash studio. When I get in writing mode, you can't even find the floor. It gets buried in staff paper."

Staff paper? So he was a musician. No wonder he was in love with a figment. He'd probably already written her poetry. This was going to end in disaster. For the first time since she'd started hacking for people, she considered finding a way to get out of this. Was there another option that didn't include breaking this guy's heart?

"Though it's a temporary mess. I'm a bit of a neat freak otherwise. I blame my mom."

"I wish I could say this is temporary." She turned to her desk and spotted a Starbucks paper cup she'd missed when she'd been cleaning. She picked it up. "I think this is from when we first met a week ago."

He grimaced, making her chuckle. "Where I grew up, that sort of infraction would get you severely punished."

She arched a brow. "Really? Sounds strict."

"Yup. You'd get a stern lecture about what appearances mean to outsiders." He mimicked a high-pitch motherly voice. "And what will people think if they see trash littered around your house like a frat party?"

She snorted. "Sounds like my mom. But not about the house. She's more concerned with personal appearance."

His gaze swept over her then he smiled. "And how's that working out for her?"

Scowling, she pulled her sweats.h.i.+rt closed, concealing her t-s.h.i.+rt that read Sarcasm loading, please wait. Her mother so wouldn't approve.

Levi laughed.

"Shut up."

He put up his hands in a peaceful gesture. "Stand down, killer. I'm not judging. Some of the best people turn out to be the opposite of their parents. I'm pretty sure my dad's aspirations for me didn't include struggling musician."

"Ha. I can beat that. My mom wanted me to be Miss Blus.h.i.+ng Blueberry." She pointed to herself. "Do I look like pageant material to you?"

His chest rumbled in a s.e.xy laugh. "You'd certainly shake things up. It might be fun."

"Try funny. And no. Not happening."

"I'm already picturing it in my mind." He closed his eyes, exaggerating a thinking face. "Black lace, dangly sleeves, those big platform boot things."

When he opened his eyes, she arched a brow, trying to hold back a smile. "You're ridiculous."

He shrugged. "Sometimes."

"And I don't dress like that."

"I know. But it's funny in my head."

This was a different side of him. At Starbucks, he'd been demanding about eye contact and lecturing about manners. Now she was surprised to find him somewhat silly. Most guys she knew were pretty one dimensional. This Levi had layers.

"So." He leaned forward and clasped his hands together. "Do you have good news for me?"

At least he looked a little more relaxed now, though he wouldn't for long. For some reason, she felt especially sad about this situation. People paid her to give them information, not to have opinions or feel bad for them. Normally, she didn't stray from that. But there was something about this one that changed things, made her feel. And it wasn't just his hot a.s.s.

The news wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great either. She thought for a moment about where to start. With a sigh, she decided on the bad news. "Well, I planted a Trojan on her computer "

"Trojan?"

"Yes, I used your email account to send her one of those stupid cat videos so when she opened the attachment it planted a bug that gives me access to her desktop."

His face paled as he stared at her. "You used my email to plant that?"

"Well, she wasn't going to open it if it was from a stranger."

"I'm so not okay with that." He wiped his palms on his jeans. "This doesn't feel right. A cat video? And she opened it?"

She nodded. "It was a funny one. This little kitten found a fan and it kept attacking the air, like, trying to catch it with its paws "

"I betrayed her," he muttered to himself.

"Actually." She turned toward the computer and fired up one of the screens. "She betrayed you first." A picture she'd saved appeared on the monitor. "The pictures on her desktop don't match the one you gave me. Neither does the name."

"Who's that?" He stood up and moved behind Emerson.

"That's Heidi Jacobs. AKA, Hope Love." It didn't look like the sunny blonde with the perfect body he showed her a week ago. Heidi had plain brown hair, slightly crooked teeth, and an average body. Still prettier than Em but she didn't look like the cheerleader he'd fallen in love with. That had to be a bit of a shock.

She turned to see his face.

His brow creased and he frowned. His normally bright blue eyes were dull and lifeless. She wasn't prepared for his reaction. A knot formed in her throat. She had the strangest urge to hug him.

She gave her head a shake. Hugging him was the last thing she should do, no matter how s.e.xy he was. "Anyway, the good thing is she's a girl. And she looks to be around the same age as she told you. I haven't confirmed the teacher thing yet but there's a lot of teacher type doc.u.ments on her desktop so that seems hopeful."

His lips pursed together as his face morphed to a hard anger. "Is one lie better than another?"

No, but there was a time for honesty and a time for optimism. Optimism seemed like a good choice right now. "Well, it could be worse."

He backed away, his hands clenched at his sides. His eyes were hard now, not the soft teasing pools of blue they'd been. "Anything else?"

She swallowed hard and went on. "I planted a keylogger while I was there. That will record anything she types from now on. So in the next few days, I'll have more. Hopefully."

He nodded briskly, still eyeing the computer screen. Apparently he'd gotten over his guilt about the spying. Funny how a simple lie could change a whole relations.h.i.+p. Morals were thrown to the wind at the first hint of betrayal. It reminded her why she was in no rush to date again.

"I want to know where she lives."

Revenge was a risk in these situations. And by the way he looked now, it didn't seem far from his mind. "Hey, listen. If I give you certain information and you go off on a murdering spree, I can be implicated for aiding and abetting. I can't find prime numbers in prison."

Finally, he looked at her. "Murder spree? No. I just want to talk to her. Find out why she lied. Is that so wrong? I gave her four months of my life."

In some way, she could relate. The time she'd spent on Jonah had felt wasted after he'd left with nothing more than a goodbye. Four months was a decent amount of time to put into a relations.h.i.+p. Finding out it might have just been someone's sick idea of a game would p.i.s.s her off too.

His eyes widened for a moment, as if he'd just thought of something. "Is she married? Does it say it she's with anyone else?"

"Her pictures are mostly of her and what looks like other girl friends. I didn't see "

"Send them to me."

"The pictures?"

"Yes. I want to see them. All of them."

Emerson stared at him a moment. His charm had turned off like a light switch. He made a formidable force when he was angry.

"Okay." She made a zip file then emailed it to him while he paced a path behind her. "So you want me to keep going?"

Gaze on the floor, he nodded. "How long do you need? Can I come back this week?"

"It depends on her activity. I'll email you when I have new information."

He didn't say anything for a moment, just stared at the carpet, frowning. She felt compelled to do something, make him feel better. Odd. She'd never had that urge before. Especially since he, and most of her clients, had put themselves in this position in the first place. He was stupid enough to believe in an online romance. He should've known it could've ended this way.

After a deep breath, she said, "You seem like a nice guy. You must have lots of options for girlfriends."

He arched a brow. "Are you about to give me the 'there are other fish in the sea' speech?"

"No," she lied. Scratch that spiel off the list. "I was going to say she doesn't deserve you."

He snorted.

Yeah, it was cliche, but what else could she say? She thought through other sentiments she'd read on Hallmark cards and in fortune cookies, but the truth was, he was hurting. n.o.body could fix it for him.

"I'm sorry." She mentally kicked herself for not being better at this. At least she didn't have to tell him how much he owed and that she only accepted cash. That was always awkward.

After a long sigh, he nodded then seemed to brighten a little. "Like you said, it could be worse. Darren will be relieved to know she's a girl at least. She talked about being stalked before. Maybe it was worse than I thought."

Sure, she'd go with that. "Exactly. She's probably the same girl you know, just a different hair color."

Nodding, he peered around the room. She felt too unqualified to say anything else. The tension was annoying and she could probably get in a few hours of work before needing to sleep. How could she get him to leave while still being tactful about it?

"Hey." He squinted at her bookshelf beside the desk. "Is that a Nintendo?"

"Yeah."

He moved closer. "Like a real old school nineteen eighties Nintendo console?"

"Yep."

Standing in front of the shelf, he studied it. "Does it work?"

"Of course." She scooted her chair back from the desk. "I used to play it when I had a TV but we had to sell it to pay rent. Once I find a new prime number though, I'll be able to buy it back."