by Ravenna Tate
“You get what?”
“I know how to stop it. Or at least, I think I know how.”
He stared at her like she’d just told him she was going to live on the surface from now on. “What are you talking about?”
“Oliver, I’m serious. I think I know how to stop the program.”
Chapter Thirteen
Oliver didn’t want to burst Blair’s bubble, so he listened to her theory which involved a surface discussion of paleomagnetism and accessing the plasmasphere again. That was what the original programmer of The Madeline Project had done to make the program work, and it was what his successors had done again to tweak the program.
“Why can’t we simply reverse the polarity? No one is up there anyway, so any temporary effect doing so has on solar winds reaching the surface wouldn’t affect us, and in time it would balance out again, just as it’s done on its own each time the polarity reversed.”
“Each time the polarity reversed, we aren’t even sure if humans inhabited the planet.”
“Okay, but no one is living on the surface now.”
“The Storm Troopers and procurement teams do.”
“Bring them underground. Just for the test.”
“Blair, no one has ever attempted to do it before by hand. Do you understand what’s needed to reverse polarity? Even on a small scale, it’s not a matter of simply flipping a switch.”
“Yes, I do understand. But just because no one has ever tried to do it doesn’t mean it can’t be done. Before The Madeline Project, no one ever attempted to access the magnetic fields and harness them either.”
“That’s not entirely true. We have x-rays, magnets—”
“Okay.” She cut him off, holding up a hand. “Point taken. Not accessed on such a grand scale, then. But my point is that it was done. The Madeline Project had one real-time test that proved successful. It did work.”
“Accessing the fields and reversing the polarity of them are two entirely different animals.”
“I realize that, but you asked us to come up with a plan. This is my plan.”
How could any man not fall head over heels crazy in love with this woman?
“At least run it past the other Weathermen. Who is the physics expert in the group? Or would an electrical expert be a better choice? We need both, actually…”
He raised a finger. “I’m afraid I’m the closest we have to either of those.”
“Okay then. Find people who know more about this than all of you do. Run it past them.”
“That’s not as easy as it sounds. We can’t let this go public.”
She slumped her shoulders, a look of defeat crossing her face. “No, I don’t suppose you can risk that. But don’t at least one of you have contacts somewhere who could talk about this in theory even?”
“Yes. I’m sure we can find someone.” He opened his laptop and composed an email to all of them, asking if they could each think about how this might work, and who they could ask without tipping their hand or risking it getting out. Then he set up another group meeting for Monday morning. He and Barclay had woken up each of the others for the phone call, and if he needed sleep now, they all likely did. Also, he didn’t imagine any of would come up with a list of possible names before Monday, at the earliest.
“Thank you,” she said, leaning against him and stifling a yawn. “I can’t believe I’m sleepy after this.”
“You’re sleepy because of all the hot sex we had earlier.”
Her beautiful smile almost made him change his mind about sleeping. “Yes, it was hot.” She kissed him. “And sexy, and incredible, and I can’t wait to do it again.”
“Well, fuck. I’m not sleepy now.”
He picked her up, and her excited squealing made his dick hard. Sleep was overrated.
Oliver carried her back to bed and laid her face down, then covered her body with his and kissed her neck. He sat up long enough to peel his shirt from her torso, then moved down to her thighs and straddled them so he could spank her luscious ass.
“Ow. That hurts.”
“Really? Because it doesn’t sound like you mind very much.”
She giggled again, and he was certain he’d lose it. This woman was intoxicating, and it wasn’t only her sexy body and her response to his lovemaking that had him punch drunk. It was her passion, and that mind. In seven years of trying to figure out how to stop the fucking program, not one of them had thought to approach this from the standpoint of reversing the polarity of the magnetic fields.
“Not too much.”
“I knew it.” He lazily spanked her again, wondering exactly how far she’d let him go, but then his mind wandered back to the magnetic fields.
They had discussed attempts to manipulate them during the first year underground, but concluded that because the program was stuck in an automatic loop, they’d never be able to stop it by messing with the fields. It fed off them, so they believed that trying to do anything with them would be like cutting off one’s own oxygen supply on purpose.
Blair’s theory might work, if they could do what she suggested. And it was a big if. Too many other variables were unknowns because no one had ever tried it before.
“Where did you go just now?”
She was watching him, having glanced over her shoulder.
“I’m sorry. I was thinking about your plan.”
The hurt in her eyes sent guilt coursing through him. “Oh.” She wiggled out from under him and curled up on her side. “I’m really tired anyway. Let’s get some sleep.”
He kissed her neck. “Blair, I’m sorry. I really am.”
“Please don’t be. I really am tired and I’m sure you must be, too.”
Her voice was tight and hard. It didn’t take an engineering degree to realize he’d hurt her, and badly. He turned her over and crawled on top of her, pulling her arms over her head and grasping both wrists with one hand. “Please don’t do this.”
She looked like she was going to cry. “I’m not doing anything except trying to sleep.”
“Please don’t pull away like this. I was distracted, thinking about your brilliant mind. In seven years not one of us came up with that possibility.”
She bit her lip, and some of the hurt had left her eyes, but she still looked like she was holding back tears. “Really?”
“Yes, really. But I should have pushed the thoughts away and concentrated only on making love to you again. Please forgive me.”
“There’s nothing to forgive.”
Her response was automatic, like she was used to saying it. “Talk to me. What memory did this trigger?”
Bingo. She sucked in a sharp breath and her eyes were suddenly wet. Oliver moved off her and sat up, pulling her with him. He put his arms around her and held her tightly. “I’m listening, Blair. Talk to me.”
At first, he wasn’t sure she’d tell him, but then finally he felt her muscles relax and she moved slightly so she could look him in the eyes.
“Donny used to talk during sex, but not about, you know, sexy things. He’d tell me about the latest harebrained scheme he and his idiot friends had come up with, or he’d talk about the last sporting event he’d watched on TV. He was just going through the motions. There was no intimacy or tenderness during it. When he finished, whether I’d come or not, he’d crawl off me, roll over, and flip on the video monitor.”
Shit. Fuck. And he’d just inadvertently done the exact same thing to her, minus the finishing quickly and checking to see if there was a movie or a game to watch.
“Blair, I’m so sorry.”
“I know you didn’t mean to mimic him.”
“I didn’t, but I shouldn’t have been thinking about magnetic fields.” He cupped her face gently. “I should have been completely focused on you.”
“You usually are.”
“I will be from now on.” Oliver kissed her, slowly, tenderly, savoring the feel and taste of her mouth. He didn’t stop until she pulled away, breathless. The soft
ness was back in her eyes, and he made a mental note never to do anything so fucking stupid again.
“You deserve to be worshipped, like a goddess.” He kissed her neck, letting his tongue linger. “You are the prettiest, sexiest, most incredible woman I have ever met.”
“Oliver…”
She said his name like a prayer, and his dick was now rock hard again, but he was determined to take his time. He slowly laid her down, on her back this time, then licked up and down her chest, circling closer and closer to her breasts. Her moans and the way she writhed under his touch only made him move slower. He wanted to torture her with this. He wouldn’t take her until she begged him to.
“Please…”
“Please what, gorgeous?” He moved his tongue lower, teasing her abdomen and then her inner thighs, but leaving her pussy lips alone.
She grasped his hair. “Please!”
“Tell me what you want, Blair.”
“Oh, God. Fuck me. Please. Fuck me.”
“I will.” He moved back up to her breasts, licking only the tops of them now. “When I’m ready.”
She cried out in frustration as he moved closer and closer to her nipples. Instead of moving his tongue over them, he slid between her legs again and teased her thighs just to the point of reaching her labia, but never actually tasting the silky folds.
“Oh, please! Tell me what you want me to do and I’ll do it, only fuck me. Please.”
“I want you to lie there and enjoy it, Blair.”
“I am enjoying it. I’m so damn wet for you.”
“I see that.” He touched her nipples lightly, using only two fingertips. She moaned loudly and arched her hips toward him. Then he brushed his fingers over her pussy, and sucked in a long breath. “I can smell how wet you are, Blair.”
“Then do something about it.”
He parted her labia and blew on her clit. “What will you give me if I do?”
“Oh, fuck! Anything. What do you want? Name it.”
He blew on it a few more times, then licked each nipple, fluttering his tongue over them, while placing his hand over her pussy and simply resting it there, not moving it. She arched against him once more and rubbed against his hand, moaning loudly now.
“What will you give me, baby?”
“Anything.”
He kissed her again, letting his mouth linger once more. She tasted so damn incredible. When he released her, he cupped her face. “I have everything I want right here.”
“Oliver, I…” Her face filled with indecision, and sharp fear pricked at the edges of his consciousness. What was wrong? Had he triggered another bad memory?
“What is it, sweetheart? You can tell me anything. Whatever it is, we’ll work through it together.”
“Oh… You’re almost too good to be true. I could … I could so easily fall in love with you.”
The unspoken end to that sentence hung in the air. Oliver swore he could see it there, dark and purple, like a nasty bruise. “If you let yourself. Right? Is that what you were about to say?”
She nodded, her eyes huge and almost wet again. Maybe one day she’d allow herself another chance at falling in love. He could hope.
Oliver took a deep breath, and jumped off the cliff. “Pretty sure I’m already falling in love with you, Blair Adams.” Then he kissed her, deeply this time, so she had no chance to respond. When he dared to release the kiss, he went straight to her dusky nipples and sucked on them, hard.
She moaned and clutched at his hair, her lush body moving underneath him. Thank God. To put it out there was hard enough, especially since he’d never told any woman he loved her. He couldn’t deal with seeing that look in her eyes right now. That doubt and fear. It would have to wait, because he needed to be inside her. Now.
Oliver moved between her legs again and took her pussy into his mouth, sucking hard on her clit. He slid two fingers into her waiting wetness, and moaned softly as she cried out. Her climax was strong. He would never tire of making her come, and seeing that look of pure bliss on her beautiful face when it happened.
Before the contractions finished, he sank his cock into her, fucking her rough and hard. She clutched his arms, her eyes filled with so much love his heart nearly burst. He had to make her his own. He had to find a way to help her trust enough again to fall in love once more. He had to. Because to not have this woman in his life was no longer acceptable.
Rational thought was gone as he reached the point of no return. He tried to hold it off a while longer, but he was lost in Blair. Her scent, her body, those eyes, and the feel of his dick moving in and out of that hot pussy. When he came, he let it all go and his cries joined hers.
He held onto her as long as possible, then withdrew and gathered her into his arms. He kissed her neck, not surprised that she was bathed in a fine sheen of sweat, just like him. “Blair. Thank you.”
“Thank you. That was amazing.”
He pulled her closer. “Every time with you is amazing, baby.”
As Oliver drifted off to sleep, he thought he heard her whisper something, but then it was gone, like the wisp of a dream.
Chapter Fourteen
Blair felt she was living a fairytale for the next two weeks. She hadn’t spent a night in her own apartment since she and Oliver attended the play. She might as well be living with Oliver because with the exception of her furniture, everything she owned was now at his place.
They made love every night, and she never grew tired of the creative things he did in bed, in the living room, the kitchen, the bathroom, and nearly every other space in the apartment. His small staff was so discreet she usually forgot they were there, and now it didn’t even bother her to realize they were usually not alone in the apartment.
She’d been thrilled when the other Weathermen gave her plan serious consideration. They were looking for people to ask about the possibility of it, but it was slow work for the reasons Oliver had given her two weeks ago. She didn’t push it because she knew none of them would risk this going public. The closer they came to finding all five hackers, the more they kept things closed to the outside world.
Blair rarely had occasion to speak with the IT staff, but now she seemed to see Sam Preston’s name everywhere. It could be because she was looking for it, but every memo that came out, or every instance where she needed help with her work machine seemed to put her in front of the man, or at least in front of his name on an email, or listening to his voice on the phone.
How could someone who had worked for Oliver that long, and had known him even longer, do this to him? She wanted to blast the man into the next century, but she couldn’t say a damn word. She couldn’t even confide in her friends at work, and that was very frustrating. Her heart went out to Oliver, and to Barclay and Grayson as well. She couldn’t imagine what it was like having known hackers you’d been searching seven years to find working for you, and not being able to do anything about it.
The more time she spent with Oliver, the more she knew she was in love with him, but she hadn’t told him that. Well, she had told him but always when she was certain he had fallen asleep.
The panic attacks had disappeared, but not the fear and doubt that came with them. She had always assumed when one left, the rest would follow, but that hadn’t happened. She locked her screen and sat back in her office chair, letting her mind wander back two weeks ago when Oliver had told her he was pretty sure he’d already fallen in love with her.
It had taken every ounce of courage she’d had that night to tell him she could easily fall in love with him, and she’d only been able to say it because of the way he’d drawn her out of that horrible moment when she’d flashed back to her marriage.
Oliver was the perfect man. The one she used to dream about before reality came crashing down in the form of drunk men her mother brought home, and having to hide in her room with the door locked, praying the man trying to open it wouldn’t be able to.
But in her waking and sleeping dreams, Oliver
was the man she saw. Kind, courageous, and understanding, he would fight for her and never let anyone or anything harm her. He loved her without fail, and would die before he’d let her feel ashamed or afraid.
Blair had pretty much given up on her fantasy man being real until she met Oliver. Then she’d kept him at a distance when he asked her out, because it was easier to live in a made-up world than risk having your dreams blow up in your face when Prince Charming turned out to be a jerk.
She’d taken the biggest leap of faith possible and given Oliver a chance in real life. She hadn’t been disappointed yet. So why was she still so damn afraid this would collapse one day? He’d given her no reason to believe it would. Even when she’d pulled away that night he had turned it around, apologizing and making sure they ended the night with her feeling like the sexiest woman on the planet once more.
He was a true gentleman, and she had no reason to doubt him or fear him. What the hell was she waiting for? The man had a right to know she was in love with him. She saw the desperation in his eyes when he didn’t realize she was watching him. She heard it in his voice, and she felt it in his touch.
It was time to stop acting like a child and take the next leap. It was time to tell Oliver how she really felt.
****
Oliver was grateful for the distractions of both walking on eggshells around Sam, and combing through every person he’d ever known who had made it underground, in the hopes he’d find just one that might be able to help them figure out whether Blair’s plan was even possible.
Every time he had occasion to speak with Sam in person or on the phone, Oliver had to mentally hold his anger in check. He wanted to take the man out back and beat the shit out of him, then leave him for dead and tell the police it must have been an attempted robbery or some such crime.
If he couldn’t trust someone he’d known this long, who the hell could he trust?
Every time he asked himself that question, Blair’s beautiful face floated up in his mind. He could trust her. Completely.