by Elsa Jade
He delayed again, this time with her coffee. He took a sip and raised his eyebrows. “Is everything better with chocolate syrup?”
“Almost always. You should try clear and explicit answers with chocolate syrup. Delicious.”
With a soundless sigh that ruffled the lingering swirls of chocolate and foam, he returned the mug to her. “‘We’ is my crew. Three of us came here to work for Evens. He said we’d be first in line to test the perfected matchmating algorithm.”
The one she was supposed to be designing, from scratch, with questionable data. She sat back. “You’re working for a date?” Which made Evens basically a pimp; no wonder she’d gotten weird vibes.
But Cross shook his head. “A mate.”
For some reason, his faint accent stood out to her again, a reminder that she didn’t really know him, despite sharing the kiss and the coffee and the kismet of both of them hiding in the same place at the same time.
When she stayed silent, he sighed again. “It’s hard to explain. We left our homeland for this chance to find our beast-binding.”
The words seemed to chime in her head like the discordant bell over the Odds & Ends Shop doorway. “Your what?”
He flinched. “That didn’t come out right.” His lips pursed as he tried again. “Our…fated soulmates?”
She could only stare at him, dumbfounded. But at least some of the strange blanks in the raw data now made sense. Evens wasn’t just trying to match up preferences and philosophies and physical appeal; he was aiming to codify the mysticism of True Love™.
“Cross, that’s beyond impossible,” she sputtered. “It’s delusional. Soulmates aren’t…” Even as she started to say it, her brain toyed with the concept. But who believed in soulmates? “There’s just no way to amass the infinity of variables that would be required, much less systematize it to make it applicable and usable. It’s too…magical.” She shook her head. “And no one could do it alone. Specifically, I can’t.”
His jaw flexed. “You don’t believe in soulmates?”
She couldn’t believe she was having this conversation. Not to mention having this conversation with a man with a body and voice and eyes like Cross, who probably never lacked for any sort of mating. And what kind of word was that anyway: mating? She glared at him, annoyed and confused enough—feelings she never liked—that it took her a long moment to realize he seemed even less enamored with the idea than she was.
She huffed out a breath. “A dating app—or matchmating, whatever—is supposed to take some of the confusion out of finding connection,” she explained. “What you’re talking about… It’s ineffable, unquantifiable. There’s no real explanation, no one right answer, which makes all data and decision matrices irrelevant. Impossible. Or there are infinity answers, which makes the data and decision so tangled as to become impenetrable.”
“But Evens promised—”
She shook her head. “Evens is a con man, a charismatic grifter.” She really needed to get a cell signal so she could check her bank account again.
Cross nodded. “But I also think he needs this as much as we do. We can’t give up.”
Her chest tightened. “I’m sure your crew will understand why you thought this would work.”
He gave her a furious amber stare. “By ‘we’, I meant you and me.”
She sputtered. “I don’t need…” But she had to stop herself. Whatever Cross was hiding, she wasn’t doing the same. She didn’t need a date or a mate, but she did need a win, badly. She gulped down half the mocha; sugar and caffeine had always taken her at least part way to any solution.
If one path led you to kiss me again, what would be the next step?
Well, that felt like it had happened a million years ago, and it was only last night. Which was just one reason why a universal matchmaking algorithm was impossible—because feelings were so idiosyncratic, so personal to each person.
“What I do need,” she said at last, “is to talk to Evens. If he truly wants what no one can give him, then this ends right now.”
Cross was so still, she feared the Montana chill had crept through the window and frozen him in place. “Let’s go.”
She nudged the mug toward him by way of apology, because he really did seem upset—unfair, considering no one should be surprised that a true soulmate wasn’t an easy request. Walking back to the Odds & Ends Shop with her to-go lunch was more tense than the walk out but with none of the simmering undercurrent of sexual tension. This was just the plain ol’ strain of no one getting what they wanted. Although she should have gotten used to that after the last year with Brett.
When they pushed under the cowbell at the shop, an unfamiliar woman was seated behind the counter on the high stool. She was sorting small colored stones in front of her, but she looked up with a grin. “Hey, Cross. How’s it going?” Her dark brown gaze shifted. “And you must be Tyler, the computer whiz. Welcome to Sunset Falls.”
Cross nodded. “Tyler, this is Kailani who works here part-time on one of Evens’ other projects.”
Tyler eyed the woman. “He seems to have a lot of projects.”
“Tell me about it,” Kailani said with a beleaguered groan. “I make one mention of teaching my daughter about semi-precious stones and now I’m sorting fifty pounds of agate, jasper, quartz, a few sapphires, and a whole lotta nothing for a ‘Terrestrial Treasures’ display. Not to be confused with the extraterrestrial treasures.” She nudged a small box of labeled ‘Montana! Meteors!’
“Is he in his office?” Cross took a step toward the back.
But Kailani shook her head. “That’s why I’m holding down the fort here. Said he had a meeting at the distillery about finding a caterer.”
“The Twinkle seems to have excellent baked goods,” Tyler said, peering into the bag of leftovers. She held it out to Kailani. “Take what you want.”
“Thanks.” She pulled out a frosted sugar cookie. “My guy Thomas says these are too ridiculously basic, but I love them so, so much.” She took a bite. “Powdered sugar with a whole lotta nothing else, mmm.”
Although Tyler could sense his impatience, Cross waited until Kailani swallowed to follow up. “He was just here. Did he say when he’ll be back?”
“Nope. But would we believe him if he had?” The woman took another bite.
“So many people seem to have priorities other than explaining themselves,” Tyler murmured, nudging her glasses higher to sidelong a glance at Cross.
Kailani laughed. “You and Lana could commiserate. My daughter was just saying the same thing about her mate.” She rolled her eyes at Cross. “Hashtag not all males.”
The thought of meeting up with a contemporary who had nothing to do with her life or work made Tyler perk up. “Does your daughter live in Sunset Falls?”
Kailani pursed her lips. “She is, uh, overseas right now, but she’s due back for a visit at some point, so if you’re still around—”
“Probably not,” Cross interrupted.
Tyler bit the inside of her cheek. Why was he unfriend-zoning her? The way this day was going, she was going to rescind the preauthorization on that kiss.
Cross looked as if he wasn’t too psyched about this day either. “If you see him, tell him to message me.”
Tyler jumped on the tacit admission. “You have cell service?”
His jaw flexed. “It’s a private system.”
“If Evens has his own satellite uplink, I need that more than free coffee,” she argued. To check her bank account, to virtually stalk Cross…
He glanced away. “Next time I talk to Evens, I’ll see what we can do.”
Did they want this project to be a success or not? Why were they hampering her efforts?
Kailani glanced back and forth between them, obviously sensing the tension—probably all the different kinds. “Since the boss is away, you two should take the opportunity to play,” she said at last. “You know, play hooky.” Her smile was a little more sly than before.
T
yler let out a breath that was not quite a snort. “I’ve already got directions to all the clothing-optional hot spots around the lake.”
“Oh, yes. Thomas took me out once to show me. It’s supposed to snow tonight, and soaking in a hot spring under the snow and stars might as well be heaven.”
“But if there are storm clouds, you won’t be able see the stars,” Tyler pointed out.
Kailani smiled as if she were revealing a great secret. “But the stars are always there anyway, aren’t they?”
Couldn’t argue that. Tyler handed over the other frosted sugar cookie before they left. At the corner of the building where the stairs went to her room, she paused. “Well, that was a bust.”
“But the chocolate syrup was good,” he said diffidently.
She peeked up at him. She hadn’t meant to insult their time together. But he was looking away, his head cranked to one side as if the other side of the street engrossed him. Well, maybe she wasn’t the only one rethinking that kiss and the promise of more.
“It was,” she said with great seriousness. “I guess I should get back to work, even if the part-time rock sorter gave us the rest of the day off.”
Though his head didn’t move, his gaze shifted back to her, the amber still shadowed. “The people of Sunset Falls are…eccentric,” he said. “Don’t take everything they say as the truth.”
She lifted one eyebrow. “Maybe it doesn’t seem like it, but I actually do have the self-discipline to stay on task, so—”
“I meant the rest of what you heard.”
She wrinkled her nose in confusion. “About the stars behind the clouds?”
His jaw flexed. “And alien abductions.”
She huffed out a laugh. “Okay, I know that spontaneous kiss might’ve made me seem out of my mind—”
“It’s the out-of-this-world part that you shouldn’t listen to,” he said.
“Well, it’s no more ridiculous than a universal matchmating algorithm.”
For some reason, that made the corner of his mouth twitch. Was that his version of a smile?
Maybe she was out of her mind.
“I’ll find Evens and get the answers you,” he said, a ring of determination in his tone. “If there’s anything you need before then—”
“Yeah, yeah,” she muttered. “I’ll be sure to ask you.” For all the good that had done so far.
Barely holding back a disgruntled snort, she climbed the stairs, and by the time she fished the key out of her pocket and glanced down, he was gone.
When she let out the breath she was holding, it was definitely disgruntled.
She worked through the afternoon, devouring her sandwich while she sat at her workstation. While she doubted the quality of the data sets—garbage in, garbage out, as the saying went—she had a sense of what the structure should be and she could at least start building a framework. Assuming Evens would reveal whatever secrets he thought were proprietary. Damn, she was so tired of men and their secrets.
Cross might be the worst of the bunch. Which was probably why she was drawn to him. Damn her own garbage desires.
The dismay and disgust in her sigh this time could be aimed at no one but herself.
For all her distracting feeeeelings, she worked until she realized she was too hungry to make anything so she hustled down to the Twinkle without changing into her outside pants, just throwing on her extra-long coat. The café was closing—how had it gotten so late?—but the young man sweeping up handed over a quarter of leftover pizza. Score!
Devouring it on the walk back while slurping a soda, she climbed the stairs, still thinking of what rules might apply to denormalization if she was going to scale the relational columns…
The door to her apartment squeaked open under the point of her key.
Chapter 6
Cross had just completed his last patrol before setting the night alarms when a frantic rapping at the shop door made the bell sway although it didn’t clang. Didn’t need to with all the banging. Kailani had closed the shades when she left so he yanked open the door.
Tyler almost fell into his arms. “Someone messed with my data!”
He pulled her into the shop and shoved the door closed with plenty of clanging.
Her stormy eyes were wide and furious. “I swear I locked the door. I went down to the Twinkle, but when I came back, the door was open. No, not open, but unlocked—”
He gripped her shoulders. “Are you all right?”
“I…” She blinked up at him. “Yes. Of course. Why wouldn’t I be all right?” She swallowed, and slowly her eyes narrowed behind her glasses. “Why? Why does Evens have black ops security? Why hasn’t he given me all the info I need? Why are we out here in the middle of nowhere? Why did you tell me all those times to check before opening the door and then you just opened the door without checking at all?”
With each why, her voice rose until the bell was on the verge of ringing again. Or maybe that was just his ears. “I opened the door because I didn’t have any worries about who might be on the other side.”
She glowered at him. “No worries because you knew it was just me? Or because you knew you’d deal with whoever it was? And don’t think I didn’t notice that you’re only answering my last question.”
He ignored that. “Did you go into your apartment?”
“Of course. I had to check—”
“Tyler. Why didn’t you come to me first?”
“I don’t have your number, even though you seem to have functional phone service.” Her voice cracked as if someone had stuck a plasma grenade in that blighted cowbell. “And anyway, why would I? You haven’t helped me out with my questions or the second kiss. Okay, yeah, you got me coffee, but…”
Flexing his fingers on her shoulders, he dragged her closer, staring down furiously into her eyes as she faded out. She swayed even closer to him, the toes of her fuzzy-topped boots pressed to his crew boots, her heated breath riling the air between them.
“I know you want more,” he said. “But what Evens wants for Sunset Falls…it’s not my secret.”
She glanced away for a second, then back at him with one more shaky breath. “Right. Sometimes I forget I’m just doing a job. And so are you. Well, dev ops is telling sec ops there’s a problem, so… I guess we’re done here.” She spun on her heel, breaking his hold.
Or she tried to. He kept his grip and used her momentum to swing her toward the center of the dark room. “You stay here. I’m going to check your rooms and then I’ll review the scans.”
Pulling her coat tight around her as she spun around, she glared at him. “You’ve been watching my rooms?”
“I watch the whole building.” And a few other places, although the same mineral composition of soil and water that made Sunset Falls the place to hide the IDA outpost from closed-world technology also interfered with his watching. “Just stay here.”
“No. Someone was messing with my stuff, and I deserve to know what’s going on.”
Since he didn’t think any threat remained—and he wasn’t going to waste time arguing, especially when his chances of prevailing were…not good—he let her follow him back up the stairs.
But he did lead with his weapon.
“Are you kidding me?” she hissed. “You have a gun?”
“It’s my job,” he reminded her.
“No one told me there’d be this sort of threat!”
“Evens didn’t tell me either.” He managed to keep the anger out of his voice—mostly. “Stay quiet now, please.”
The stairs were narrow enough that unless the intruder jumped over his head, they weren’t going anywhere. But…there were plenty of beings in the universe who could jump, glide, or fly past him, or who might be strong enough to burst past him, and that was just under their own power. Whatever tech they might bring to a closed-world would be an added problem.
The Big Sky IDA outpost had caused more trouble than seemed statistically likely for a closed world with not much goi
ng on besides some underdeveloped natural resources and questionable entertainment value.
He circled through the rooms, but neither his weapon scanner, which focused on biologics, or his wrist datpad picked up anything unexpected, and at this range interference should be minimal.
Tyler was standing at her workstation, touching nothing, he was glad to see.
“Clear,” he told her. “What makes you think—?”
She whipped her head around to glare at him. “Someone touched my data.”
He gave her a steady look. “I believe you. You would know. I’m asking how you know that since it might give us insight into who they are and what they wanted.”
After giving him another searching glance, she gestured at the three screens arranged on two desks. “I always keep my digital workspace in a very specific configuration.” She hitched one shoulder a little protectively. “It’s not actually the most efficient or common-sense approach, but it works for me.” The colorful flecks across her nose and cheeks faded as the rest of her skin flushed brighter. “I had a professor who called it my random access back-end debugger because I was so lucky about finding problems.” She shrugged again. “Anyway, it helps me sort, simplify, and visualize, and it doesn’t matter to anybody but me.” She pointed at the screens. “But it’s also basically impossible for anyone to put it back the way I have it if they moved anything around. That’s what made me check my save logs. Early on in my career, I had a couple of bad experiences with losing data, so I’m kind of obsessive about saving. But that showed me where someone else made changes.”
“Well, whoever it was isn’t here now. What did they take?”
“I’ll have to do a more focused comparison, but it’s not so much that they took anything. As far as I can tell, they didn’t delete. I think they added some of the data that Evens left out.” She gave him a pointed look. “And it’s kind of weird.”
He stiffened. Who would be adding information to an intergalactic matchmating database? When he’d signed his crew to Evens, he’d not got all the answers he wanted, but he’d extrapolated that perhaps Evens had stolen or otherwise improperly obtained the information to launch his new venture. At worst, he’d supposed he’d be fending off attempts to reclaim whatever had been taken. If someone was adding, that called into question all the assumptions he’d been working under.