Tectonic (Double Blind Study Book 3)

by Heidi Hutchinson

The lift was full of people and Shane leaned back on the railing that ran the perimeter, but didn't touch her. He was staring at her, however, and she felt her skin warm under his close scrutiny. The lift was still partially full when they reached his floor and she exited behind him.

  He stopped at his door and leaned heavily against the frame. She wondered again how drunk he was, and felt a twinge of disappointment that this might be a very short reunion for them. Oh well, she could wake him up for a second round after he'd slept most of it off.

  The door clicked open and she sauntered in first, letting her hips sway, hoping he was watching.

  She stopped short upon entering the suite. The large living area was not unoccupied. For a moment, she wondered if they had the wrong room. But the dark and devastatingly handsome man wearing Armani looked as if he were expecting them.

  Harmony's confused gaze tracked to the woman who was with him. That's when she felt her heart lodge in her throat.

  Cody Carmichael.

  She spun back to Shane. Hands in pockets, all semblance of drunkenness gone. His eyes cold, harsh.

  “Please come in, Miss Jeffords,” the unidentified man in the suit directed her.

  She did as she was told, not really knowing why she wasn't already back in the elevator trying to get away from whatever was about to happen.

  “No doubt you're wondering who I am, though you seem to already know Miss Carmichael.”

  “We've never actually met,” Harmony rasped, her mouth dry as dirt.

  “Hm, well, that's to be expected, I suppose.”

  This man, something about him screamed at Harmony to exit the premises as soon as possible. She didn't know how she knew, something instinctual and primitive inside her told her that this was dangerous. He wasn't like other men, he was something different.

  It frightened her.

  He moved to a tray with various glasses and bottles on it. “Care for a drink?” he asked, motioning a hand to the display.

  Harmony shook her head.

  No, she wanted to leave.

  He shrugged and poured a glass of wine, handing it to Cody. Then he poured himself something clear and took a sip.

  “My name is Cole Parker.”

  Harmony couldn't stop the involuntary rush of air she sucked in at his announcement. His lip twitched slightly.

  “So you've heard of me,” he stated, unsurprised. He took another slow drink, letting Harmony sweat.

  By now she was starting to guess what was happening, though it was too late. Way too late.

  Cole tsked under his breath. “You should know that your cousin, Geoffrey Jeffords,” another lip twitch, “unfortunate name,” he said, smirking at Cody, who hid her smile behind her glass. “He was arrested this afternoon on charges of extortion, fraud, and espionage. Among other things.”

  Harmony was going to be ill. It was not a question of if, but when.

  Cole ran his middle finger over one eyebrow. “Oh, and he admitted to fabricating the money transfer between Greta O'Neil's and Ted Trippy's accounts.”

  ***

  Shane watched Harmony try to maintain her composure from her seat. Her face was escalating in shades of crimson with every sentence that Cole Parker uttered.

  “What do you want me to do?” she asked, her voice scratchy and tired.

  Cole's jaw worked back and forth as he studied the blonde. He was angry, and from what Shane could tell, he wasn't a man you wanted to make angry.

  “It would have been good for you to get a job. A real one. Earn your way in this world and stop looking for a free ride.”

  Harmony's blue eyes cut up to Cole's much steelier gaze and she shrunk before him.

  “I've been content thus far to let your family piss in their own pool for years. They think they're key players in a much larger plan, but their not. They're peons, annoying, like gnats at a backyard picnic. Unfortunately they passed their sense of entitlement onto their offspring.” He sighed disgustedly and waved toward Harmony.

  He paced a short distance away and turned back sharply, his eyes flashing.

  “You know what the difference is between you and Greta O'Neil? It's really very basic. She has a heart.” He shook his head, as if he wanted to say more, but talked himself out of it.

  “You're done, Harmony. You're not smart enough to play the game.”

  “Are you—turning me in?” she asked, with not a small amount of fear.

  Cole Parker looked at his feet, then back at her. “Greta asked me not to.” He narrowed his eyes, then reached a hand out to the side. Cody slid a folder into his hand and he flopped it onto the sofa beside Harmony.

  “Copies of everything I have on you and your family. I'm not Greta. I'm not one to forgive and forget. I turned all of this information over to the authorities. They were especially interested in your connection to other wire transfers involving known arms dealers.”

  “I didn't—I had nothing to do with that.” She was panicking now.

  Cole shrugged.

  “That's not the way Geoffrey tells it.” He scanned her agitated face. “I recommend you get home and warn your parents. Daddy Jeffords is looking at hard time for tax evasion. If you're lucky, you'll get out of the money laundering, and only be charged with fraud, embezzlement, and extortion.” He smirked just a bit. “If you cooperate with the authorities, anyhow.”

  Harmony picked the folder up with shaky hands and Cole barked at her, “Get out.”

  She didn't hesitate, she stood and rushed past Shane, never looking back as the door slammed behind her.

  Shane stared at the door for minute, feeling the oppressive darkness that he had been shouldering for the past couple of months exit with her. Was that it? Could it really be that simple?

  The room filled with a different kind of tension. Shane turned slowly to find himself under careful examination. He returned the cool blue gaze of Cole Parker.

  They hadn't had time to speak privately yet. Cole's plane, a private Gulfstream G650 no less, had landed a little more than an hour ago. Cody was the one who had arranged the meeting in the hotel room.

  Shane felt the power radiating from Cole's side of the room.

  “Let's talk, Brookings.”

  Cole waved a generous hand at the beverages provided, getting himself a refill. When Shane shook his head at the drink offer, Cole merely shrugged.

  “It's... interesting to see you, Cody,” Shane remarked, shoving his hands into his pockets.

  Cody gave him a soft smile. He hadn't seen her since the last day of the X-Games, when Lenny had crushed her run time, and Cody had stalked off in a huff.

  She looked the same, for the most part. Except the tight lines she used to carry around her eyes and mouth had softened.

  Cole gave them both a look over his shoulder, but didn't say anything.

  “Thanks for coming out here to help Greta,” Shane continued quietly.

  Cody crossed to a chair facing the couch and sat down.

  “I didn't do it for Greta.” She took a sip of her wine. Red. That made sense to Shane.

  Cole sat in the other chair and waited for Shane to join them. Which he did, after about three seconds of mental deliberation.

  Cole waited, his impassive face solid stone. Shane had to wonder what exactly Greta had seen in the man. He seemed far too... rigid.

  “Cody came because I told her to,” Cole explained. He looked into his drink and pursed his lips. “And she came because of her history with you and Mrs. Casey.” He sighed quietly.

  “I don't know what Greta has told you of our... history,” Cole's eyes flicked over Shane's shoulder briefly. “In an effort not to put her in a position to have to answer awkward questions, I'll tell you more than you need, but hopefully not enough to make you uncomfortable.”

  Shane tilted his chin in understanding. Truthfully, he was probably happier not knowing, but he figured that it was best not to argue with a man like Cole Parker.

  “I'm a married man. I'm happy with my
wife, we have a fantastic arrangement. I wanted to add Greta to my life in an... unofficial capacity.”

  Shane's eyes narrowed in disgust and he felt his lip curl.

  “You wanted a mistress.”

  Cody shifted in her chair and Shane glanced in her direction. Ah, so Cody was filling that role. Everything was starting to make sense.

  Cole was unaffected by Shane's statement.

  “As you're aware, Greta is not like regular women. She's special—”

  “She's mine,” Shane bit off, deciding that maybe it was a good idea to argue with this man.

  Cole's lips twitched, but he didn't smile. “As such, I would do anything for her.” His tone was dark, with deeply hidden meanings that Shane didn't want to explore.

  “We didn't fit,” Cole explained clinically. “I've... moved on.” His eyes sliced to Cody, confirming Shane's assumption. “I've found something far more suitable for my life. But that doesn't change the fact that Greta will always be very special to me.”

  Shane didn't get it. Maybe he wasn't enlightened enough, but he was part of the school of thought that people should only make vows if they intended to keep them. His disbelief must have been obvious.

  “What I'm trying to say is, the affection I feel for Greta is permanent, even if she doesn't realize it.”

  Shane stiffened in his seat. This was a powerful man sitting across from him. Shane had just witnessed the complete dismantling of a fairly complicated scheme, and the threat of having that schemer's family more than likely put in prison. If he wanted Shane out of Greta's life, for whatever reason, he could do it.

  “She loves you. She's happy. That's all I want for her.”

  Shane swallowed hard. All the unspoken insinuations were thick in the air. What had happened with Harmony could have gone in an entirely different way if Cole Parker had decided that Shane wasn't a good match for Greta.

  He supposed he should be thankful for the man's uninvited blessing.

  “Now that business had been conducted, I would very much like to take you both to breakfast tomorrow. To see, with my own eyes, that Greta is well.”

  Shane wondered if he would have been able to deny such a request. He simply nodded in reply.

  The three of them stood, shook hands, and departed the hotel room amicably.

  Shane didn't profess his gratitude, he didn't fawn at the feet of his wife's ex-whatever. He was grateful, to be sure. But Cole left him just uncomfortable enough to remain watchful. Wary.

  Maybe that was what Cole Parker had intended all along.

  ***

  Shane parked in the driveway, noting Brady's car was gone. He'd texted a few minutes ago saying that Cole's call to Greta earlier had given him the all-clear to leave.

  He angled out of the car and closed the door. Bruce Springsteen crooned through the open windows, “Lonesome Day.” Greta's clear voice was singing along.

  She was listening to Bruce.

  That meant she was sad.

  Shane doubled his hurry.

  He found her in the study, moving around boxes. She stopped when she saw him in the doorway. A second later she launched herself at him, wrapping her lean legs around his waist and burying her face in his neck. He caught her bottom and smiled into her hair.

  “You miss me?” he asked, and she sighed into his ear.

  “I never want to be away from you again.”

  “I know the feeling.”

  Chapter 21

  Speak Easy

  Greta's eyes drifted open, but the sunlight streaming in through the partially open blinds caused her eyelids to reverse and squeeze themselves more tightly together. She had one arm draped across Shane's bare chest, her head on his perfect pectoral, one leg swung across his thighs, effectively pinning him to the bed. He didn't seem to mind, seeing as one hand was holding her hip in place while the other traced lazy circles on her bare shoulder.

  She loved that. She loved this. All of it.

  “I missed this,” he murmured.

  “Me too.”

  “I'm gonna get up here in just a minute and make you some coffee,” he kissed the top of her head, “just as soon as I get tired of this.”

  Greta smiled against his skin and made a purring noise in the back of her throat. “Or we could just stay here all day,” she offered.

  “Mmm, I like that idea,” he rumbled, the sound sending a shiver through her body. “But we have to have breakfast with some very influential people in a few hours.”

  Greta opened her eyes. That was true. She had forgotten for a moment the reason behind her and Shane's reunion.

  “You left a few things out when you told me about Cole Parker,” he murmured into her hair at the top of her head.

  “Yeah,” she admitted. She watched her fingers trace a pattern along the planes of his chest. Up, then dipping, then up again. His muscles twitched under her light touch.

  “You're still not gonna tell me everything, are you?” He didn't sound upset by this, just resigned. But he was wrong.

  “I'll tell you anything you want to know.” The circles he was making on her shoulder paused for a second, then restarted. That was her only indication that he was surprised by her words.

  She lifted her body up partially so she could look into his face. The sleepy look in his half-lidded eyes, his tousled hair, the peaceful line of his jaw; she couldn't decide which part was her favorite. Maybe she didn't have to decide right now.

  “I don't want there to be anything in my life that you have to wonder about. If you have questions, ask. I used to believe that I'd never find anyone I could trust with my secrets,” she said, touching her nose to the soft beard on his chin briefly, “but I was wrong.”

  His hand threaded through her hair and pushed it back over her shoulder as he studied her intently. Even though his eyes were lazy in their perusal, she felt their touch more intimately than if he were using his fingers. She licked her lips and then his thumb pressed lightly on her lower lip.

  “So beautiful,” he whispered, and she got the distinct impression he was speaking more to himself than to her. Then his eyes locked on hers and he proceeded to take her breath away. “Not just your face, though it's gorgeous in it's own right. I'm talking about you. All of you. How you think, the way you process things and then share them with me. I have so many hang-ups and you just blow right past them. Like they don't exist.” His lips twitched and he looked past her shoulder for a second before continuing. “I can't promise I'm not gonna screw things up from time to time, but I think that as long as we always end up right back here, where it's just us, there's nothing we can't get through.”

  “Home team,” she whispered.

  His mouth tugged up on one side. “Yeah, home team.”

  ***

  Breakfast was going about as smoothly as it could, considering the circumstances. Shane had asked a few awkward questions in the car on the way there and Greta was honest, like she said she would be.

  Shane didn't respond like she thought he would to the revelation that the only other man she'd ever been intimate with was Cole Parker. She didn't understand his agitation and was hoping he'd explain it. He did.

  “I thought you'd have lost your virginity in high school or college to some idiot who didn't know what he was doing,” Shane growled. His Oakley-shaded eyes aimed out the windshield at the restaurant where no doubt Cole was already waiting.

  Greta shrugged. She couldn't change the past. “Why does that matter?”

  He took a scowling breath. Yes, his breath actually scowled. “It matters.”

  “Okay.” She still didn't get it.

  He tipped his head back against the headrest and groaned audibly. She let him have his moment. He twisted his head to look at her.

  “Because now I have to go face the guy and make nice and be thankful for what he's done for us, all while knowing he's seen you naked.”

  Greta pursed her lips. “Now I get it.” She swallowed and gave him a conciliatory smile. �
�But I have to know the same thing about Cody.”

  “Cody's different.” Shane shook his head and looked away, his frown still obvious despite the sunglasses.

  Greta's head jerked. “How is that different?”

  “Cody was just sex. We never had a relationship. She was never in love with me.”

  “That's not exactly comforting, hubby,” Greta said dryly.

  He swung his head back to her and removed his glasses. “Babe.”

  Greta rolled her eyes at the word. It wasn't the word so much as the tone behind it. It basically said that she was being ridiculous. “Well, I can't change my past, just like you can't change yours. Now can we go in there and eat expensive breakfast food, have my ex-lover pick up the bill, and then go home and finish moving me in?”

  Shane's grin was all she needed to know he was going to be fine. But he did keep a hand on her leg all during breakfast. Or an arm along the back of her seat, not exactly being subtle in his indication to the whole world that she was his now. As if the giant diamond on her left hand left any doubt.

  Cole was his usual smooth and polished self. He dealt with business in the beginning, giving Shane a more detailed description of what he had on the Jeffords; he'd been keeping a folder on them for a while. Then he slid a folded piece of paper across the table with a short list of snowboard and surfboard makers who would be interested in buying out Shane's contract with Ted Trippy.

  “It would feel weird to take my business elsewhere, knowing that he took the money in order to help his daughter,” Shane said soberly.

  Cole's icy stare flicked to Greta and she saw the approval there before he closed it down again. He cleared his throat and tapped his fingers along the side of his coffee cup. “I took care of that issue with the Trippys. His daughter's treatment will progress as scheduled and he won't be implicated in this mess with the Jeffords.”

  Greta felt her back straighten. This was unprecedented, even for Cole Parker. He was never one to be charitable. He did what he did for his benefit—or if he owed someone. And he never left himself in a position to owe someone.

  He caught her movement and pinned her to her seat with his stare. His jaw worked back and forth almost imperceptibly. That brief silence, exchanged expressions between two people who knew each other better than they probably should, made Greta understand what Shane had been worried about in the car. She broke the connection first, looking down at her plate and refocusing on her Eggs Benedict.