by Ravenna Tate
He looked really uncomfortable now, but she didn’t care. He’d started down this road, not her.
“I’m getting a bit old to be acting like a horny teen.”
They stared into each other’s eyes for long moments, and her heart suddenly went out to him. That statement was so intimate, and so honest. She knew a line now when she heard one, having had way too much experience in that department, and Oliver had not just handed her one. He stood before her, sincere and vulnerable. Since there was no reason for him to be either, she decided she was acting foolish.
She wasn’t sure what was going on with him, but she knew a poignant moment when she saw it. This man was putting his heart out there, and the last thing she wanted to do was hurt him, especially after he had come in here and helped her through the panic attack. He hadn’t been obligated to do that. He could have ignored it.
What harm would there be in one date? She didn’t have to sleep with him. Sure, it would be a struggle not to, but so what? All she had to do was remind herself that if she did go to bed with him, working here would become uncomfortable and awkward. She loved this job too much to give it up. Easy peasy. Right?
“Okay. I’ll have dinner with you.”
At first, it didn’t look as though he’d heard her. Then the sweetest smile graced his handsome face, and for a second or two she was sure he was going to kiss her. Instead, he nodded a few times. “Thank you. That’s wonderful. Thank you.”
Blair wondered if she was on the edge of a great adventure, or whether she’d just made the biggest mistake of her life. Either way, she had the unmistakable feeling that everything had suddenly changed.
Chapter Two
Oliver wasn’t sure she’d actually said yes this time until he realized she was smiling. “Is tonight all right? Have you been to Eden’s Garden?” It was the best place in SouthCentral, and the most expensive, but a first date with Blair after asking for one two straight years was worth any amount of money.
Her mouth dropped open. “Um … that’s really sweet of you to offer, but I’m more of a Dirty Harry’s kind of girl.”
Dirty Harry’s was a greasy spoon that had fabulous food, but wasn’t much to look at. He admired her honesty, and the fact she hadn’t jumped at the chance to be seen, and likely photographed, at Eden’s Garden with him.
She’d been serious about not wanting to be in the tabloids, and that was so damn refreshing he wanted to pump his fist in the air. “Dirty Harry’s it is. Would you like me to walk you back to your office?” When she didn’t answer, he added, “To make sure you’re really okay.”
“Sure. Yes. Okay. Thank you.”
He placed a hand against the small of her back as they walked down the hall. When she didn’t seem to mind, he moved it up to her shoulder and gave it a squeeze. Being next to her was enough to drive him insane with need. Actually touching her ensured he’d have an uncomfortable afternoon, but he still didn’t mind. She’d finally agreed to go out with him.
They stopped in front of her office door, and he caught the curious looks from her team and the others watching them from the rows of cubicles. “Six o’clock all right?” He kept his voice low in case she didn’t want the entire department to know they were going out. He’d dated employees before, but he now knew Blair wasn’t a woman who enjoyed people gossiping about her.
“That’s fine. Shall I meet you there?”
He leaned closer and lowered his voice even further. “Blair, it’s a date. I’ll pick you up at your apartment.”
She narrowed her eyes slightly. “How do you know where I live?”
“I know where everyone lives. I own the company.” Giving her a wink, he turned and got the hell out of there before she changed her mind.
Only when he was safe in his own office with the door closed did he allow the conversation to play over in his mind.
He’d noticed Blair from day one when she came to work in his customer service department to answer phones and take orders from the few remaining wholesale customers he’d still had. Then everything changed during the first year under the surface.
Bunkers were no longer considered an oddity or a luxury, because everyone had to live underground or die. People were no longer thought of as extremists if they knew how to grow food underground, or understood what was needed to keep the earth from collapsing in on a city that had been built forty feet below the surface.
Those were the kind of people Oliver sought out that first year. Anyone with an engineering degree, especially a degree in BioSystems engineering like Blair eventually earned, was on list of potential new employees.
Not all of his former employees had survived the move underground, and Oliver had quickly realized he’d need to expand his workforce to meet the demand of maintaining the systems that kept everyone alive.
The only bunkers his company now kept filled with breathable air and flushable toilets were the few the Storm Troopers and Addison’s teams used. All other resources were directed toward keeping everyone as comfortable as possible in these massive underground cities.
His company had the market share for the entire USA, but Oliver had shared information and technology with companies who did the same thing in other parts of the world from day one. They were all in this together, as far as he was concerned. It might be a radical business approach, but he was interested in his fellow man, not only in keeping his business alive.
His thoughts wandered back to Blair and what he’d witnessed in the bathroom. If she hadn’t been in the middle of a full-blown panic attack he’d eat his laptop. But what had set her off? It hadn’t been the information he’d presented because she was the one who had brought those figures to his attention in the first place. Although the information about the possibility they might not be able to stop The Madeline Project would have been new to her. Had that been the trigger?
He didn’t think so. The entire time he’d been speaking, she’d sat there calm and impassive, even when the others had begun shouting over each other to be heard. He knew very little about her personal life and even less about her past. Unlike most of the other Weathermen, Oliver didn’t do detailed background checks on all his employees.
He knew she was from Atlanta, and he knew she’d earned a degree in BioSystems engineering right here in SouthCentral, because he’d paid for her tuition through the company’s reimbursement program. He also knew she was the best damn project leader he had because she kept her focus and spoke to her team like they were equals, not underlings.
And he knew she had the most gorgeous dark eyes he’d ever seen. They were the color of rich chocolate, as was her long, straight hair. He had ached to touch it for years now. Oliver couldn’t count the hours he’d spent fantasizing about her lush body, and what it would feel like to hold her in his arms and sink his cock into her pussy.
“Fuck.” He rose from the desk and looked out over the expanse of skyline. Everything here was fake. The sun was fake, the stars at night were fake, and the water moving in the river was controlled by a computer. It looked like Houston had once looked, but it wasn’t Houston. It never would be.
Even Barclay agreed with him on that point, and Barclay had grown up there. Oliver had been born and raised in Austin. Would he have met Blair if none of this had happened? Would she have found her way to his company above ground, or would her pursuits have taken a different direction?
The world they’d created was fake, but Blair was real. Everything about her was genuine, from her smile to the way she gazed at him with admiration. Oliver frowned. That wasn’t quite right. He knew she admired him as far as business was concerned, but she also looked at him with trepidation, or at least a guarded expression most of the time. What was she afraid of?
Had she been hurt by some stupid twit who didn’t know how to handle a woman like her, and was now afraid to become involved with someone again? Was that what had brought on the panic attack? Had something he said, or someone else in the room said, sparked a bad memory?
>
He wanted to find out, but he knew to tread carefully. He didn’t like to talk about his own demons, and had already told her in the bathroom he had them. He wasn’t usually that open, but something about her made him want to throw caution to the wind and spill his guts. She had an openness to her personality, coupled with just enough vulnerability, that made him both want to protect her, and to let her inside the walls he’d built.
A dangerous combination.
Dangerous indeed, but Oliver was excited about their date tonight. She was an enigma, and he loved people like that. He loved women like that, in particular. It had been far too long since he’d looked forward to an evening out this much, and he had the feeling tonight would either be a complete disaster, or the start of something fresh and invigorating in his life. He hoped it would be the latter.
****
She was waiting outside her building for him at ten to six, and Oliver tried not to let his disappointment show as he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. He had hoped to be invited into her apartment for a few moments before they left so they could talk in private.
“You look nice,” she said, raising her chin in the air slightly. “And is that cologne? It’s almost impossible to find.”
“Unless you know where to look.” He gave her a wink, then held out his arm. “You look very nice, too. Ready to go eat the greasiest food in SouthCentral?”
She took his arm. “I happen to adore their food, even if I can feel my arteries clogging up every time I eat there.”
He chuckled. “Sure, but at your age you can get away with that.”
“Oh, right. You’re so old. We might have to puree your meal.”
She was so different outside of work. He’d never seen this side of her, and it made his dick ache. “You might. Glad to know our age difference doesn’t bother you.”
“Not in the least. Does it bother you?”
Lord help him. He was ready to jump this charming girl right here on the sidewalk. “If it did, I wouldn’t be here.”
Dirty Harry’s was as busy as he’d expected it to be on a Friday night, but Blair didn’t seem to mind. They were lucky enough to snag the booth in the back. Not only would it give them some privacy, but the jukebox was closer to the front. Tonight’s features seemed to be confined to the country/rock songs that had been so popular in the late twentieth century, and Blair knew them all.
He grinned like an idiot as she softly sang along to the current tune, while giving the menu no more than a cursory glance. “I’ve been here so many times I know what I want.” She placed it back in its metal holder.
He did the same with his. “What do you recommend?”
She laughed softly. “How easily do you get heartburn?”
“Faster now that I’m so old.”
“Then I’d steer clear of the jalapeño burgers even though they’re to die for. Stick with the classic ones. You can’t go wrong.”
“Are you eating one covered in jalapeños and onions?” Might as well send out feelers to ascertain whether he had a snowball’s chance in hell of kissing more than her cheek tonight.
“I might.” She gazed into his eyes as she stayed quiet for no longer than a second or two. “Is there a reason I shouldn’t?”
Go for it. “I might want to kiss you later. On the lips this time.”
“Then you should eat onions and jalapeños, too.”
Hot damn! She hadn’t missed a beat. Where had this flirtatious side come from? “Good idea. Why don’t you order for both of us, then?”
She was downright beautiful when she smiled. Their server came over as if honing in on an invisible cue, and Blair ordered them each a Power Burger, which he knew would give him heartburn for a year, a glass of lemonade, and a tower of stuffed onion rings to share. Once their server left, he asked what the rings were stuffed with.
“Mozzarella cheese and red peppers. You’ll love them.”
“Do you eat like this all the time?”
She laughed again, and the sound was like soft rain falling. He could still remember that, and the wave of nostalgia caught him by surprise. He didn’t want to die underground. He wanted his planet back.
“No, I don’t, but I love this food. I don’t know why that is, so please don’t ask me to explain or analyze it.”
He took a chance and reached across the table to take her hands. When she didn’t do so much as flinch, he wondered whether whatever had kept her from saying “yes” to his monthly requests for dinner had anything to do with the trigger for her panic attack earlier. He wanted to find out, because the urge to protect her was so strong, and because she was so different now than he’d expected her to be.
“Thank you for this, Blair.”
“I’m sorry I turned you down for so long.”
“You don’t have to apologize.” He gave her hands a squeeze. “But I would like to understand what happened to you near the end of the meeting today, if you’re up to talking about it.”
The expression on her face grew wary and the muscles in her hands stiffened, but she didn’t pull them away. “It seems like you have some experience with panic attacks from what you said in the bathroom.”
“Oh, I do. That’s why I recognized what was happening to you.”
She glanced down at their hands, and looked about to speak but their server came over with their drinks. “Do you want the onion rings with the burgers or now?”
“Now is fine,” he said.
Blair pulled her hands out of his grasp and removed the paper from her straw, then placed the straw inside the glass of lemonade. She drained half the drink without stopping to breathe. Whatever it was that had sparked her panic attack, she clearly wasn’t ready to talk about it.
“Tell me about Atlanta,” he said. “I only visited it once, a long time ago.”
The look of relief that crossed her face told him he’d guessed right. He’d have to wait to find out more about her demons, but that was okay. He was simply happy to be out with her. Plus, he was a very patient man.
Chapter Three
Blair took one more sip of lemonade even though she was no longer thirsty. She was glad he’d changed the subject but doubted he was done asking. “This is the best lemonade I’ve ever tasted anywhere.”
He sipped his. “Wow. You’re right. It’s great. What’s their secret?’
“Not too much sugar and a tiny dash of lime.”
He frowned. “Really?” Then he took another sip and scrunched up his face as if thinking about it really hard would help him taste the lime. “Nope. Can’t detect it.”
“It’s in there. So, what would you like to know about Atlanta?”
“Were you born there?”
“I was born in Alpharetta. It’s a northern suburb—was a northern suburb of Atlanta.”
“Is that where you grew up?”
“I lived there until we all came underground, yes. How about you? Your bio says you’re from Austin.”
“My bio?”
Her face colored slightly. “The online stuff. You know.”
“Yes, I’m from Austin, born and raised.”
“Is that where you started your company, then?”
“Yes, right out of college.”
“And how did you meet all the other Weathermen?”
Their rings arrived, and he popped one into his mouth. “Oh my. You were not exaggerating. These are incredible.”
“I told you.”
He watched her chew hers. “And you’ve also turned the subject from your life and onto mine.”
“Oh, you noticed that?”
She popped another ring into her mouth, and he laughed. “You’re very different outside of work.”
After she swallowed the food in her mouth, she asked if he meant different good or different bad.
“Good. Definitely good. Now tell me about your life in Georgia.”
“There’s not much to tell you. It was ordinary.”
He frowned slightly. “I doubt that.�
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“Why?”
“Because you’re not ordinary.”
“Thank you. Neither are you. I really do want to know how you met all the Weathermen.”
He ate another ring, holding her gaze with a sexy gleam in his eyes that told her she wasn’t going to get away with it that easily.
“I’ll tell you what. You tell me one thing about your life before we moved underground, and then I’ll tell you one thing about mine. Back and forth like that, until we each have all our questions answered.”
“Do you always negotiate everything like this?”
“Yes.”
She could see herself spilling her guts to this man. No one knew the full extent of her past, and she had always promised herself she’d keep it that way. But he was warm and reassuring. He made her feel safe, and Blair could count the number of people who made her feel that way on one hand.
She grabbed the last onion ring. “All right. I tried out for a play in high school and got the lead.”
“That’s great. Which play?”
Blair shook her head. “Nope. Your turn.”
Oliver gave her a droll look. “Blair, if the follow up questions are related to the same topic, you can ask them and expect to have them answered.”
“I’m not sure I like that rule.”
“Well, get over it because it’s set in stone.”
She laughed at the look on his face and at his words. Blair had trouble remembering the last time she’d had so much fun on a date. “In that case, it was a play about the life of author Sylvia Plath. Our drama teacher, who was also the director, said I had the look to play her, and was just morose enough to be believable.”
Oliver frowned slightly and leaned forward. “How did that make you feel?”
“Now you sound like a shrink.”
“Yeah, I guess I do. Standard question, I suppose. But seriously, were you all right with that?”
“I had a blast playing her. I wish I’d pursued acting.”
“Why didn’t you?”