Tectonic (Double Blind Study Book 3)

by Heidi Hutchinson

  They exchanged affections and disconnected right as Shane knocked on Greta's door. She ran to open it and turned back to the room without pausing to greet him.

  “I'm almost ready. I was on the phone with my ma and I just have to finish my hair, then we can go.”

  They were going out with the whole group that night, as they had done every night since they had arrived in Squaw Valley. But tonight was a swankier establishment and it required Greta to get a little more dolled up than her usual.

  All this meant was that she wore her dark denim jeans with the bling on the butt, a scoop neck black top that gathered at the shoulders and hugged her curves without being scandalous. She went a little heavier on makeup, going for smoky around her eyes and a pale pink gloss on her lips. Her hair she planned to wear down and blown out. But it was currently still wet.

  Shane followed her to the bathroom as she turned on the blow dryer and grabbed her round brush. He leaned his tall, built frame against the doorjamb and crossed his arms over his chest, making his biceps bulge just that much more.

  “I like your jeans,” he remarked, and she saw his eyes in the mirror aimed at her backside.

  She shook her head and he made eye contact with her in the mirror where he winked.

  “Don't think I've forgotten about the tattoo that you have yet to show me, either.”

  Greta let out a snicker. Shane hadn't brought up the tattoo since that day in his office when he'd kissed her for the first time. She knew he hadn't forgotten, but she felt like he was giving her time to be comfortable enough to bring it up herself. She also knew that if Shane had it his way, they would be moving things along a lot faster, and the only reason for them to be going the pace they were was because he wasn't going to push her for more than she was ready for. Which, incidentally, was the opposite of how Greta lived her life. And yet, she wouldn't want her first real relationship to go any other way.

  When it was time to progress to the next step, she knew it would happen naturally.

  “What am I gonna do with you?” she asked in faux disappointment with a warm smile.

  “I can think of a few things you could try.” Shane continued to flirt, and Greta felt her face heating from more than the blow dryer's close proximity. “But you could start with telling me what it is that you decided to ink on your backside.”

  “It's a daisy.”

  Shane's eyebrows dipped into a frown.

  “It's a daisy that's exploding. The blown-off petals are on fire and they go across the back of my hip and down the side of the leg a little bit,” she described. It was kind of hard to picture, she realized, and she was going to try again but then she caught the look on Shane's face in the mirror.

  “It's a flower, that is on fire, and being blown apart.” It wasn't a question so much as a musing that he seemed to mutter to himself. Then he smiled lazily at her reflection. “Can't wait to see it, babe.”

  Maybe it was because she'd just gotten off of the phone with her ma and those conversations always left her relaxed and happy. Maybe it was her excitement about the upcoming holiday that happened to be her favorite one of the year. Maybe it was because of the hot, clever, funny, amazing, gentle, sweet and hot guy standing behind her. Whatever the reasons were, Greta felt good.

  Easy.

  Free.

  “My mom wants you to come home for Christmas with me.”

  Shane's expression softened further and she focused on her hairbrush and blow dryer. She knew this was a big deal. She also knew that Shane had been waiting for her to make this kind of a gesture, but he'd placed no pressure on her to do so. Which meant that she had to keep blathering so she didn't get distracted by the look on his face. A look that very clearly stated that he was happy with her sudden invitation.

  “It's a huge thing. All my relatives will be there and I'm making the cookies. Harrison usually inflates this huge bounce house and it drives Miranda completely nuts. It won't be back this year due to Carl's Stab and Slash last year, so the kids will probably get a little wild without that to exhaust them after the enormous sugar rush. My aunts make candy starting in November and save it up until Christmas Eve, and then it's a free for all.”

  She took another breath, her heart pounding.

  “Granddad sits in this big easy chair in the living room and rings this little bell on his beer stein until Gran comes to see what he wants. She gets super cranky with him, but he thinks it's hilarious. I think it must not bother her that much, otherwise she'd stop coming in to check on him.”

  Greta stopped talking to focus on finishing her hair. A few minutes later and it was dry. She fluffed the ends, added some smoothing serum and turned to face Shane.

  “Are we driving or walking?” she asked, stepping past him into the living area of her room and heading for the door.

  He caught her upper arm in a hand and spun her back to face him. Her body collided with his. The hand on her arm slid into her hair while his other arm slanted across her back and held her to him. Then his mouth came down hard against hers.

  It was safe to say that Shane didn't just like her inviting him to Christmas with her family. If the kiss was anything to go by, he really liked it.

  He pulled his head back sharply, having kissed her breathless.

  “I just want to know if I should wear my heavy coat or if a lighter jacket is okay,” she slightly panted, her eyes still closed.

  Shane's body started to shake with silent laughter and her eyes opened to see him gazing at her with a huge smile on his face.

  “Christmas is ten days away,” he said.

  “Yeah.” It was also his birthday. “I'm flying out the night of the twenty-second.”

  “Seven days,” he mumbled, his eyes tracing her lips, going over her face, to her hairline, then back to her eyes.

  “Yeah.”

  “I really like that you asked me to come with.”

  “I think I caught that,” Greta whispered, still somewhat breathless.

  He flashed her a warm smile and gave her another squeeze with his arms before releasing her and reaching for her leather jacket.

  Greta turned and allowed him to help her into her coat, pulling her hair out of the collar, her body still buzzing from the intensity of his kiss. If that was how he showed his appreciation, she wanted to do more things that he might appreciate.

  They left her room, walked down the hall, and stopped in the lobby.

  “I'll bring the truck around,” Shane said, moving to kiss her cheek before departing.

  Greta shoved her hands into her pockets, content to wait. Content with everything.

  “Um, excuse me?”

  Greta twisted her head slightly to find a woman of about her age, height and likeness approaching her. She looked familiar, but Greta couldn't place why.

  Greta raised her eyebrows in question at the woman. Upon closer inspection, her dark hair had been highlighted with a flattering caramel color and her eyes were a steel gray.

  “Are you here with Shane Brookings?” she asked, her gray eyes skittering to the side where Shane had disappeared out the front door, then returning to Greta with not a small amount of curiosity.

  Fan? Greta wondered briefly as she nodded her head, still having not spoken. Not for any reason other than she didn't have anything to say yet.

  “Are you guys...” the woman trailed off as her fingers rubbed along the hem of her jeans, “um, together?”

  How was Greta supposed to respond to this? The easy answer was to just say “yes” and end the conversation. But that seemed rude. Her eyes flicked to the woman's nervous fingers again.

  Greta decided to go for a warm (she hoped) placating smile. “Yeah, we're just headed to dinner. Do you know Shane?”

  The girl took in a deep breath, straightened her back, dropped her voice and leaned forward slightly. “How long will he be here?”

  That was a weird question. Though she didn't seem too stalkerish to Greta, it was weird that she didn't answer her. />
  “Do you need me to give him a message?” Greta asked instead. She never liked being ignored, and her instinct to protect Shane began to kick in.

  “I'm sorry,” the woman apologized quickly and visibly swallowed. “I'm not his favorite person and I don't want him to see me talking to you.”

  That served to put Greta on alert and she slowly turned her body to face this person more directly.

  The woman noticed the shift in her stance and her eyes closed in what looked like frustration. Then her eyes snapped open and the timid façade had faded and was replaced with earnest annoyance.

  “Effing hell. My name is Cody Carmichael. I don't have a lot of time, but if you're with Shane, and from what I saw a second ago, you are, there are some things you need to know. He's in some trouble. I don't know how much yet, but from what I've been hearing, it could get pretty ugly. I would approach him myself but like I said, he kinda hates me. I know that he and Lenny are in business together, so it might affect her as well, I don't know. Do not tell him you spoke to me. He'll never believe a word I say.”

  “Then what am I supposed to say?” Greta responded, intrigued and amused at the same time. Now that she had a name to go with the face, she put the rest of it together.

  Cody Carmichael had, at one time, been the best friend of Lenny Evans. That is, until she betrayed said best friend by having sex with her boyfriend, Shane, at the Winter Olympics the day before Lenny's infamous wreck that landed her in the hospital and Cody on the podium. It took two years for all of the scandal to finally rise to the surface when Lenny confronted both of them publicly at the Winter X-Games. Shane had used that moment to turn his life around. Cody had seemingly fallen off the face of the earth.

  Until this very moment.

  “I don't know, come up with something clever,” Cody answered with a slight snap. Which she immediately regretted because then she rolled her eyes, sighed, and tried again. “I don't have details yet, but I'm working on it. Just give him a heads-up to start watching his back. Someone out there is trying to make his life very hard.”

  Greta decided not to inform Cody that Shane already knew someone was messing with him. Instead she asked, “How do you know all this?”

  Cody looked to the door as headlights made an appearance, then back to Greta giving her a swift up-and-down glance. Her face turned thoughtful and almost melancholy.

  “I'm glad Shane has this in his life. Someone who cares about him. He deserves it,” she said, her voice quiet, as if she were speaking to herself. She cleared her throat, eyes focusing on Greta again. “Don't mention my name.”

  Then she turned and walked swiftly to the elevators, turning her face away from the windows, so Shane couldn't see her if he happened to look inside.

  “That wasn't dramatic at all,” Greta muttered to herself sarcastically. She went to the door, shaking her head in amused exasperation.

  Shane met her with the passenger door already open.

  “Everything all right?” he asked, his eyes narrowed and pointing to where Cody had disappeared.

  “Everything is fine, but we have things to discuss. I'm going to vote for after dinner when we can really focus, but if you decide to get all macho bossy on me, I'll go ahead and talk about it now. Even though it really can wait until later,” she replied, swinging up into the tall truck and settling her ass in the seat. She looked to Shane to see his mouth twitching to fight a grin.

  “Macho bossy?” he asked.

  “Yeah, you know, when you get all pushy and demanding and I give in because you're super hot, not because I agree with you. Which, for the record, does not bode well for me in the future if we keep this thing going and get married and all that jazz. Either you're gonna have to figure out how to make yourself way less attractive, or I'm going to have to fight with you from the other room. Why are you laughing at me?” she ended in exclamation.

  Shane had lost the fight with his grin and now his whole body was shaking with laughter. He steadied himself, rested a hand on Greta's knee, squeezed it, let go, and closed the door.

  When he'd secured his seat belt and they had gotten underway, he chuckled to himself. “All that jazz.”

  Greta rolled her eyes and looked out the window, pretending to be annoyed, but she wasn't. She liked that he found her amusing. Not that she was going to tell him that.

  “Should I try to get a ticket on the twenty-second too?” Shane asked into the silent drive.

  Greta's head swiveled his way, but he didn't take his eyes off the road. She always really liked watching him drive. He rested his left wrist on the top of the steering wheel and his right hand was free to hold her hand, adjust the music, or rest on his thigh like it was now. She really liked his arms. And his shoulders. And his neck.

  “Babe?” he asked, glancing over briefly, and Greta realized she hadn't answered his question.

  “Uh, yeah. I mean, if you want to.”

  They rolled to a stop at a red light and he turned his warm eyes on her.

  “What do you want?” he asked.

  She licked her lips, trying to figure out what the best answer was. His eyes dropped to her tongue's movement.

  “What I want is to be with you at Christmas,” she answered honestly.

  He stared at her for a long moment, then the light turned green and he faced forward again.

  They drove in silence for the remainder of the trip. He pulled the truck into a space in the parking lot of the restaurant, killed the engine, and turned to face her directly.

  “Meeting your family is a big deal,” he said, stating the obvious. But he did it in a way that made her think that she maybe had forgotten.

  “I know that,” she said softly.

  He studied her for several long, drawn-out heartbeats.

  “I wish you would tell me what's going on in your head,” she said quietly.

  Shane sucked in a breath, faced forward again and rubbed his jaw with his fingertips. Then he focused on her again.

  “Right. I think you know how much I appreciate you inviting me to a major family holiday, but I haven't been to a family Christmas since I was eighteen. I usually go to the Lakers game alone. And while you said you understand that meeting your family is a big deal, I'm not sure you realize how big of a deal it is for me. You and Harrison are open and inviting people, I can only imagine you come from great people. I'm sure they'll be welcoming and open with me. So I'm a little concerned to have all that back in my life, find out I really like having it there, and then have it go away again.”

  Greta's heart squeezed in her chest.

  Oh shit.

  He was afraid he'd like her family, and that if she wasn't ready to be serious, he'd have to get over more people than just her. He knew her really well. So well that he knew she made spur-of-the-moment decisions without thinking them through. And he wasn't judging her for that, but he was giving her the out she might need in case she hadn't thought this whole thing through.

  He was such a good guy.

  Shit, oh shit.

  Greta was going to cry.

  “I love you,” she whispered. His eyes lit from the inside, but his entire body went stiff. She went on, “I know I make hasty decisions. I know that it can appear that I'm living my life in a completely haphazard fashion. But I try, really hard, to not suck others into my swirling vortex of happy calamity. You need to know I have never brought a guy home. I've never wanted to introduce anyone to them because you're right, they're good people and they'd get attached, and I knew it would be bad if things ended ugly. I don't have those fears with you.”

  Shane was fast, Greta knew that, but he moved so swiftly she didn't have time to react. One second she was sitting alone in her seat and the next, one of his hands was threaded through her hair and the other hand was curling around the side of her neck, and his mouth was on hers. It was hot, fast, and full of what felt a lot like relief.

  He broke away from the kiss before she was ready to, rested his forehead against he
rs, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath before opening them again.

  “You gotta know I love you too, crazy girl.”

  “Does this mean you're coming home with me on the twenty-second?” Greta asked, trying to focus through the haze leftover from his kiss.

  He chuckled slightly. “Yeah, that's what that means.”

  “Ma's gonna be so happy. She'll really put on the dog.”

  That's when Shane threw his head back and laughed.

  Greta added that to the list of things that she loved about Shane.

  Chapter 14

  Halo

  Shane looked down at the display on his phone that illuminated the time.

  It was four in the morning in California. He should be sleeping, but he knew that Greta's alarm had been set to go off at six.

  That meant she'd been up for an hour, making cookie dough.

  The past eight days had gone by quickly and yet they couldn't have passed fast enough. Shane had looked forward to meeting the O'Neils as a whole that he had completely forgotten to be nervous about it.

  This is, until the second they'd landed in Boston and Greta's father and one of her uncles picked them up at the airport.

  While Harrison and Greta were undeniably adorable and sweet people, they obviously didn't get these qualities from their father.

  Gerard O'Neil was a beast of a man. Tall, broad shoulders, still physically fit despite being in his early sixties. His brother was a carbon copy. Same dark hair and eyes, same commanding presence and furrowed brow.

  Shane was not an easily intimidated man. He had a ready confidence that came from years of being able to prove he was the best at whatever he put his mind to. This was especially true around other men.

  “Papa!” Greta had squealed in surprise as she dropped her carry-on and flung herself into her father's arms.

  “Coffee Bean,” her father answered with a wide smile as he hugged his youngest daughter in a tight embrace.

  Coffee Bean? Shane made a mental note to ask about that later.

  “Ma said that it would just be Uncle Cort picking us up.”

  “I wanted to surprise you.”