by J. H. Croix
As he drove home, relieved spring was on the way and the roads were free of ice and snow, he sped along the winding road through the upper portion of the hillside above Diamond Creek. Though his raw need for her nearly overrode everything, his mind kept circling along one train of thought. He might not have been able to admit it, but he’d taken Joan’s pointed warning to heart. He knew it wasn’t fair to give into his desire over and over again, but he didn’t yet know how to move forward. He knew what he wanted—Ivy in every way, in every part of his life. Life without her felt empty and barren. Yet, every time his mind danced along the edges of what that meant, he shied away. He swatted the thought away, for the thousandth time, and reached over to slide his palm over her thigh.
When they walked into his house a few minutes later, he kicked his boots off and immediately went to the fireplace to start a fire. He turned around to find Ivy standing by a bookshelf, her eyes on a photo on the top shelf. It was the only photo of his parents he displayed anywhere. He had others, but they were tucked away in boxes. His heart gave a throb of pain—the loss was old and the pain was dull, but he suspected it would never disappear.
She turned back to him, and he prayed she wouldn’t say anything. She was still for a moment, her eyes scanning his face, before she walked to him. She stopped just in front of him. Though she didn’t say a word, her eyes held soft understanding in their depths. With his heart banging hard and fast against his ribs, he couldn’t speak. The moment elicited a sense of vulnerability he hadn’t experienced in years. Not since his parents’ death to be precise.
He closed his eyes because he couldn’t bear it but for so long. Her hands uncurled from his and slid up his arms, across his shoulders and up to cup his cheeks.
“Owen,” she whispered, her voice as warm as her touch.
He opened his eyes, colliding with her amber gaze. The fear beating like wings in his chest receded. He felt suspended in time, held in this warm, intimate place with her, desire mingling with a depth of emotion that crashed through him with such force he could barely catch his breath.
Ivy came awake at the feel of a warm palm sliding along the curve of her hip. She took a deep breath, savoring the feel of waking in Owen’s arms. She would so not mind feeling like this every day. Owen had sent her flying again and again and again last night. She was starting to hope maybe, just maybe, he was letting down his guard. If he did, maybe she didn’t have to keep trying to put walls up around her own heart. Because she didn’t know if they would hold. She couldn’t seem to turn away from this electric force drumming with its own heartbeat between them.
Owen’s palm slid down over her belly, his touch sending hot shivers through her. She rolled in his arms, smiling when she saw him. Because he was usually so tidy, she enjoyed seeing him sleepy with messy hair. She sifted her hand through his jet black hair. “You have bed head,” she said with a grin.
His mouth curled at one corner. “So do you.”
His hand slipped down her belly, through her curls and into her folds, slick with need. In a flash, he shifted above her, his lips mapping their way down her body, hot kisses dusting over her skin. She was trembling by the time he paused, just above where she wanted his touch the most. She looked down to find his bright blue gaze waiting for her. She wouldn’t have thought it possible to have one look nearly melt her, but he held a unique power over her. Her channel clenched, heat streaking through her. She couldn’t look away as he slid a finger inside, another joining it. Quivering with need, she moaned as he stroked into her. She cried out when he dipped his head and brought his mouth against her. Her head fell back as he took her straight to the burning edge—his lips and tongue teased her mercilessly while he drove her wild with his fingers. Just when she felt herself quickening inside, he lifted his mouth and drew his fingers out.
At her protest, he moved swiftly, dropping scorching kisses along her abdomen and over her breasts before settling his weight over her. “I want to feel you come,” he whispered roughly. In a flash, he yanked the drawer open in the night table by his bed and rolled a condom on. He held still, the head of his cock resting at her entrance. Her channel was throbbing, desperate to be filled. Opening her eyes, she found his waiting for her again. “Don’t make me wait,” she managed to choke out.
Held in his blue gaze, she cried out when he seated himself to the hilt. He laced his fingers into hers, gripping tightly as he began to move. She was so close to release, she had to draw deep to hold on. She wanted this to be with him—to let loose only when he did. His eyes darkened as he drove his hips into the cradle of hers. She felt him start to go taut and finally let go, her channel throbbing and clenching around him as hot pleasure rayed through her. He shook against her when he cried out, his forehead falling to hers.
A while later, after they’d showered and dressed, she leaned against the kitchen counter and watched while he slid an omelet onto a plate and handed it to her. “Eat up,” he said.
He immediately poured the remaining egg mixture into the pan for another omelet, quickly folding veggies and cheese inside. Within a few minutes, he was seated across from her, sipping coffee and digging into his omelet. The morning was so ordinary, well except for the bone melting sex, and felt so good that she didn’t know what to do about it. All she wanted was more of all of it…with Owen.
Chapter 20
A few days later, Owen walked into his office, his desk phone ringing as he stepped through the door. He strode quickly to the table and answered. “Owen here.”
“Ah, glad I caught you. Dr. Parkhurst here. How are you Owen?”
Hot anger rolled through Owen, and he gripped the phone tightly. He fought the urge to throw the phone and promptly tell Parkhurst to go straight to hell. If he was going to play this right, Owen needed find out why Parkhurst was calling, or rather what he thought he could gain by calling. He yanked the reins on his anger and forced himself to keep his voice calm. He knew Garrett had sent his warning shot via letter, yet Owen was well aware Parkhurst likely didn’t know of his knowledge of that and of his full support of Ivy.
He might not be ready to let loose with his anger, but he could get a small bit of satisfaction by toying with Parkhurst. “Excuse me? The name’s not ringing a bell for me.”
There was a loaded silence, and Owen could practically feel Parkhurst’s affront through the phone line. Parkhurst cleared his throat. “Dr. Samuel Parkhurst. We’ve met at a few conferences.”
“Oh right. My apologies,” Owen said, injecting just enough obsequiousness into his tone to soothe Parkhurst’s ego. “What can I do for you?”
Another long pause from Parkhurst. Owen knew perfectly well Parkhurst would like to assume Owen had read his emails. While he had, he wasn’t about to let on because it certainly wasn’t for the reasons Parkhurst hoped.
“I’m not sure if you’ve had a chance to review the emails I sent, but I was hoping to touch base with you about Ms. Nash. I had offered to consult on her projects, but I’m going to have to withdraw my offer.”
Owen wanted to throttle Parkhurst and spit his nauseating arrogance right back at him. He forced himself to stay on track. “Can’t say I got around to reading your emails. Things stay busy around here. As for consulting on projects with Ms. Nash, that’s entirely unnecessary. If you know anything about Off the Grid, you should know that I left United Tech to start the firm. Much as I appreciate the contributions of academia to the field, I have no interest in tying my firm to such arcane guidelines. Furthermore, Ms. Nash is brilliant and certainly not in need of any support. I suppose it works out you’ve withdrawn your offer since it’s unnecessary and unwelcome.”
“I certainly didn’t mean to offend and had no intention of trying to influence your firm’s work. My offer was made out of good faith. Ms. Nash…”
Owen couldn’t help himself and cut in. “Has no need for consultation and you must know that. It was your program’s loss and my gain that she chose to leave there.”
“P
erhaps. Either way, I wanted to call to withdraw my apparently unnecessary offer and to give you a warning.”
“Oh?”
“Ms. Nash is threatening to sue me if I attempt to defend myself against her baseless harassment complaint against me. I had hoped she would come to her senses, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. You might want to reconsider her role at your firm. I’d also like to warn you that if she doesn’t drop her complaint, I’ll go public. All I have to do is drop a few rumors about her being unsuited for the field and coasting on her looks. Every project that has her name attached to it will be called into question. I’m guessing you’d rather avoid the negative publicity that will bring.”
Owen closed his eyes and nearly bit his tongue in half, fighting to keep from telling Parkhurst off. He was ready to spew his fury at Parkhurst, but that would give Parkhurst exactly what he wanted. A huge part of him didn’t give a damn about Parkhurst throwing bad publicity his way, but he wasn’t stupid. Off the Grid was doing quite well, but the firm was new and he needed a plan for how to respond to Parkhurst. It took all of his discipline not to tell Parkhurst to go straight to hell.
“I see,” he finally said. “I suppose we’ll have to wait and see what happens.” At that, he forced himself to hang up.
He stalked to the windows and started pacing, his anger simmering inside. The last thing he needed to deal with was Parkhurst drawing negative attention to Off the Grid. Much as he’d been happy to leave the academic world behind, he knew Parkhurst could make things sticky with a few of the research contracts they had.
At the sound of a knock on the door, he saw Joan through the glass and waved her in. As soon as she saw his face, she crossed her arms. “What is it?”
He leaned against his worktable and ran a hand through his hair. “Parkhurst is threatening to go public about Ivy and try to drum up bad publicity about Off the Grid if she doesn’t drop her complaint.”
Joan’s eyes flashed. “That asshole!”
“Oh yeah, he’s definitely an asshole.”
“What are you going to do?” she asked. “You can’t let him do this.”
Owen rolled his head from side to side. “Hell if I know. I’d never ask Ivy to drop her complaint, but he really can call her work into question if he wants. No matter what a loser I think he is, he has connections and he’s been in the field forever. I don’t know what the hell to do. I’m damned either way. If I don’t tell her about this, he can really screw her over. I can’t stomach telling her though and watching her do what would be the most practical thing to do—let it go. She’s not the first woman he’s done this with, and he deserves a hell of a lot more bullshit than a formal complaint with no teeth.” He closed his eyes and shook his head. Upon opening them, he met Joan’s angry gaze. “Damn if I know what to do.”
Ivy dodged a puddle on her way into Garrett’s office. What passed for spring was arriving in Diamond Creek. Ivy was finding spring here meant mud everywhere. Ginger had informed her this morning there was no such thing as spring, but rather mud season. When she reached the steps of Garrett’s office, she looked down at her boots and smiled ruefully. They were covered in mud. She kicked them on the stairs to knock off as much as she could before walking inside. Garrett had called and asked her to stop by this morning.
Garrett was seated at the round table by the windows in his office and gave a wave. He quickly finished a call and gestured for her to join him. “Come on in. Coffee?” he asked, standing to fill a cup from a coffee pot situated on a smaller table nearby.
Ivy shook her head as she slipped into a chair. “No thanks. I’ve had several cups already today.”
He sat back down and took a long swallow of his coffee before setting it down. “I haven’t had enough,” he said with a grin. “Okay…” His gaze sobered. “I asked you to stop by because I had a reply from Parkhurst’s attorney and the HR department. End game is here. Parkhurst’s attorney sent a very nice apology letter, excusing the ‘misunderstanding’ and assuring us there would be no further contact from him.”
“Really?” Ivy asked.
Garrett nodded, a grin spreading. “Really. Next good news is the university’s attorney assures me they are taking steps to formally respond to your complaint and putting Parkhurst on administrative leave at the moment. They’ve also advised me to notify them immediately if you hear anything from Parkhurst again.”
“But what does that mean? They’ve essentially been saying the same thing all along. The only difference is they’ve put him on leave now.”
“On the surface it may look the same, but legally he’ll be in hot water if he steps outside the lines now. He might be tenured, but he’s still required to adhere to university policy. Violating it in the middle of a harassment complaint is a big no-no. Now that we’ve brought this to the attention of the legal counsel there, any wiggle room he had is gone. My guess is he’d like to keep his pension and benefits, so he’ll toe the line. If not, I’ll deal with it.”
“Wow. One letter from you, and suddenly they seem to be taking my complaint seriously.”
“Attorneys take attorneys more seriously. Shouldn’t be that way, but it is. I’m guessing it feels anti-climactic, but I really think he’ll leave you alone now. It’s all about costs and benefits. The costs are too high now.”
Ivy leaned back with a sigh. “Thank you so much. You have no idea how much it means to have legal back up like this.”
Garrett grinned again. “No problem. I’ll be honest, I was hoping for a bit more of a fight, but the response was so quick, they took that off the table for me. It’s what I expected, but I wouldn’t have minded making Parkhurst squirm a little more.”
Ivy started to laugh and next thing she knew, she was laughing so hard, she lost her breath. She finally managed to stop and looked over to find Garrett shaking his head. “Big relief, huh?” he asked.
She took a slow breath, the knot of tension in her chest easing. “Definitely. Well, is that it?”
“For now. If you hear anything from Parkhurst, let me know immediately. Otherwise, consider this a finished matter.”
Ivy stood up and slung her purse over her shoulder. “I still feel funny having you take care of this at no charge. If you’ll send me a…”
Garrett stood with her, shaking his head firmly as he did. “There will be no bill. Cam’s a good friend, and now you are too.”
“Okay, okay. Well, thank you again.”
He walked beside her to the door, giving her shoulder a squeeze as she stepped out into the bright sunshine. She gave a wave and walked down the stairs. She heard the door close behind her and paused to turn to the bay. A brisk breeze gusted off the water, and she savored the fresh, clean air as she breathed it in. The sun struck sparks on the surface of the water. She turned away, feeling lighter inside than she had in years, since before Parkhurst first started creeping her out when she was a doctoral student. She spun away and started to jog to her car, promptly splashing in a puddle.
A short drive later, she parked her car at Off the Grid and walked inside. She recalled the afternoon she’d come here for her interview. Her nerves had gone from unsettled to wild the second she’d laid eyes on Owen. As it had been that day, the reception area was quiet. She glanced around and realized she’d come a long way since that afternoon. She’d moved here, started her job and loved it. She couldn’t say precisely why, but Garrett’s help cemented the feeling that she was actually starting to belong here in Diamond Creek.
The door to the waiting area opened and Joan stepped through with several files in her hands. She smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “How’d the meeting with Garrett go?”
Ivy had seen her on the way out and mentioned where she was headed. “Great actually. The university put Dr. Parkhurst on administrative leave, and Garrett received a letter from them requesting we notify them if Dr. Parkhurst tries to contact me again. He also got a letter of apology from Dr. Parkhurst’s attorney. All in all, it doesn’t
feel major, but Garrett says the costs are too high now for Dr. Parkhurst to keep bothering me.”
Ivy couldn’t say why, but the look on Joan’s face cued her something was off. “What’s up?”
Joan sighed. “You need to talk to Owen.”
Ivy’s stomach started churning, and she had no idea why. “Can you give me an idea of what’s going on? Is it something to do with Parkhurst?’
Joan held her gaze and nodded slowly. “Just talk to Owen.”
Ivy nearly ran past Joan. “On my way right now.”
She raced down the hallway to Owen’s office and entered without bothering to open the door. “What’s going on? Joan said I needed to talk to you.”
Owen spun around. She didn’t know how to read his expression. He didn’t say a word and simply gestured to the computer screen in front of him. The relief she’d felt in Garrett’s office had turned into a dread filled churning inside. She stepped to the table and looked at the computer screen. Owen had the website for one of the premier engineering publications on the screen. The moment she started reading, she felt sick. The headline read: Ivy Nash, acclaimed engineer accused of falsifying complaint about famed leader in the field. She couldn’t stop herself from reading further. Dr. Parkhurst hadn’t violated anything with HR, but he’d done worse. The article went on to question her doctoral research and speculated she’d only succeeded in the field by coasting on her looks and relying on the expertise of Dr. Parkhurst and others. The article went so far as to mention Off the Grid and speculate as to whether the firm would choose to keep her, knowing her work might not be all it claimed to be.