The Love Hack

Chapter 12

"Ugh, pick up!" Lexi jammed her index finger against the red button on her phone when her parents didn't answer for the third time. She was nearing the computer labs and her heart was now banging against her rib cage, seemingly ready to jump out of her chest.

"Okay, Lex. You got this! Just act normal," she said under her breath as the Uber driver neared the building. She quickly clicked through to the Eagle Eye monitoring application. She let out a groan when she saw the suspicious activity had ended five minutes prior.

Without wasting another second, she unbuckled her belt, jumped out of the car, and sprinted into the building. It was eerily silent which seemed reasonable for a late Saturday night. She glanced at the hours on the wall as she approached the lab and saw that it had closed only two minutes ago. Trying the door proved to be of no use. She peered through the small rectangular glass opening on the light brown wood and didn't see any person inside.

Shit. I'm too late. She looked around at the barren hallway that had only just a couple of fluorescent lights and sighed. What if Dash was here?

She shook her head before texting her parents that it was a false alarm. As she moved to turn out of the building, a movement in her peripherals forced her to yelp and throw a hand to her chest.

"Shit! I'm so sorry Hannah. I didn't mean to scare you!" Tom was walking down the hall toward her with his light brown messenger bag hanging by his side.

When her mind registered that it was him, her stomach involuntarily somersaulted. He came to stand in front of her and Lexi shifted on her feet. "I wasn't sure if it was you, so didn't want to call out until I was sure," he said.

Lexi set her hand down that had been still against her chest and laughed. "Oh, no. No worries. I just didn't expect to see anyone here this late."

"I'm surprised you're here too," Tom said before he scanned Lexi's figure. She shifted her mini skirt and let out a nervous laugh. "Do you always dress up this much to go study?"

"No. I, um, I was at a party. Well, technically, it's a party I'm co-hosting. And, um, I thought I forgot something in the computer labs, so I sprinted over here." Lexi prayed that she sounded more believable than what she heard. She quickly crossed her arms. "What are you doing here so late, Professor Miller?"

"Well, my office is upstairs, and I needed to finish up grading."

Oh, well duh! Great way to look like an idiot, Lex. "Cool," was all she managed to respond with.

"Cool." Tom nodded slowly and adjusted the strap on his shoulder. "So, did you find it?"

"Find what?" Lexi scrunched her face.

"The, uh, the item that you frantically left a big party for to come back here to get."

"Oh! Oh yeah, that item!" she started with excitement then forced herself to tone it down. "Um, no. I didn't. The computer lab is closed so I couldn't check."

"I have the key if you want to pop in to check?"

Lexi's eyes grew wide. She wanted to be inside that room, but she doubted she could do any real snooping with Tom standing right next to her. Yet, with Tom's expectant stance, she knew she need not raise any suspicion. "Sure! That would be amazing, thank you!"

He reached into his pocket and withdrew a small set of keys before trying one on the door next to them. As soon as the key turned, the door sprang open. He quickly brought his hand up to stop it from shutting back on them. "After you," he said in his deep voice and humidity danced along Lexi's skin.

"Thanks so much," she quickly responded and made her way past Tom. The space had three long rows of desks and computer monitors occupied each workstation. He followed closely behind her, and the door closed itself behind him.

She pretended to be searching underneath the front row desks and bent over dramatically as if she spotted something. With a sigh, she quickly turned back around and caught Tom staring at her lower body. Instantly, he averted his gaze toward his left and then again toward the floor. A vibration hummed through her.

"It's not here." She said before giving him a muted smile. The dimly lit room cast shadows across his features and seemed to heighten Lexi's draw toward him. She knew it was likely the alcohol she had drunk that prompted her to ask, "Were you just checking me out?"

Tom laughed nervously and dropped his bag on the floor. He opened his mouth to say something, but then quickly closed it and let out another laugh without meeting Lexi's gaze. She could tell he was flustered and it made her smile widen. "Hannah, that's not appropriate for you to ask me."

"Well, do you think it's appropriate for a professor to be staring at his student's ass?"

Tom chuckled again and then shifted his stance. "I mean, how could I miss it when it took up most of the view?"

Lexi mock gasped. "Hey! I can't help it that my butt is a little on the bigger side! I'm a little self-conscious about it, so thanks for bringing that up," she responded sarcastically.

Tom lifted his hands briefly, pretending to surrender. "I didn't say a word of that." He smirked before continuing, "And anyways that is definitely not something you should be ashamed about."

Heat surged through Lexi's cheeks. She knew they were shifting the sands that they had clearly drawn a line into, but the willpower to re-draw it seemed to vanish into thin air. "And why's that?" she asked him and hoped he was as much on board as her with the sand-shifting session.

He smiled and shook his head. "You are going to get me fired, Hannah," he said in a low voice. He shifted and the turmoil marked across his features prompted Lexi to take a step forward. She let out a breath when he didn't shift to move back. A sandalwood and musky scent wafted into her nostrils.

"Hannah, I keep-" Tom started in a low voice but then instantly stopped when a ping emerged from Lexi's wrist. While it was a soft alert, it might as well have been a blaring horn by the abrupt back step that Tom took. He quickly increased the distance from Lexi and shook his head. Her stomach sank and she glanced at her phone.

Mom: Okay, no worries sweetie! Sorry, we missed your calls. Your father and I were heads down, deep in work. We can regroup tomorrow on what the alert was about.

Lexi sighed and glanced up at Tom who had picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder.

"We should probably go," he said without meeting her eyes.

Maybe it's for the best. I can't be crossing this line. "Yeah. We should." They both stayed rooted in their spots, unspoken words seeming to fly all around them. Tom cleared his throat before heading for the door first. He pushed on the bar to open it and jerked back when it wouldn't follow his prompting.

Oh, God. Please no.

Tom tried again and the door wouldn't budge. He let out a long sigh before dropping his bag on the floor by the door. "Well, it looks like we're stuck here."

"Wh-What do you mean stuck? Maybe the door's just jammed and you need to push harder."

"Feel free to try," Tom said as he pulled out his phone and made his way to a desk.

Lexi pushed as hard as she could against the door, but she simply bounced back from the impact. "How could this have happened? Don't you have your keys?" As soon as she said it, she peeked through the small glass and saw his keys dangling from the keyhole on the other side of the door.

"The doors automatically lock after hours. I'm going to call security to see if they can let us out."

"Okay great. And I'm going to call, um," Lexi paused thinking through who she would be able to call. There was no way she would call her parents or Cole. They'd take one look at Tom and flip that she hadn't told them about him. She contemplated calling Mindy but again didn't want to disrupt any of the work that she was doing to solve the case. Better to let security come get us out. "Never mind. Security is a good call. Thanks." She made her way to a seat near his, intentionally leaving a desk space between them in the process.

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I'm trying to pace myself with posting this book but it's been so much fun I may just post more frequently! I hope you're enjoying it. Thanks for reading, voting, and commenting! ♥️