Sometimes It Is Rocket Science

by Thorpe, Kara

  “No. Send Dom my regrets.” Robert straightened his chair and capped the open pen on his desk.

  “Are you certain, sir? Mr. Vargas promises that several Texans cheerleaders will be in attendance.”

  “I believe I’d rather see what trouble Georgiana’s found downstairs,” Robert said. He rose from the chair, slid his hands in his pockets. “I’ll see you in the morning, Cedric.”

  Cedric couldn’t wipe the grin off his face. “Yes, sir.” He made it to the doorway before the sound of his name had him stopping mid-stride.

  “You have mentioned wanting to find your own domicile.”

  “Yes, sir. The guesthouse is great, don’t misunderstand, but it is a little cramped for Allan and me.” Cedric grimaced. “And Allan’s equipment. The truck with his workout gear arrived yesterday.”

  “Would you be opposed to sharing the Collier townhouse with Ms. Ruiz? There are three unused bedroom suites. The house is equipped with an artificial intelligence interface similar to NORA. The rent would be nominal, especially compared to what you were paying in New York.”

  “I wouldn’t be unopposed to the idea, sir.”

  Robert didn’t miss the way Cedric’s face brightened at Yvonne’s name. “I will let Georgiana know so that you can coordinate with Ms. Ruiz. Goodnight, Cedric.”

  On his way down to the workshops, Robert stopped in the kitchen to retrieve two bottles of fruit juice and a container of washed, seedless grapes. The door to her workshop was open. He expected to hear lively jazz music or soulful blues. He wasn’t prepared for ‘90s grunge.

  He rapped his knuckles on the glass window before stepping inside the workshop. “What is with the walk down memory lane, Gigi? I feel like I should dig out my letterman jacket and my copy of Java 1.0.”

  “Tab noticed a glitch in the system when he finished uploading music to the server. Since he and Dan are currently engrossed in a Spirit Stalkers marathon, I volunteered to keep an eye on the diagnostics. I haven’t heard some of these songs in years.”

  “Was it a problem with the -,” Robert started.

  Georgiana held up a hand to stop him. “No, no, no. You have any programming-related questions, you direct them to the kid upstairs. I have my hands full down here.” She wiped her grimy hands on the shop towel dangling from the pocket of her blue cargo pants. Two of the fingers on her left hand were wrapped with oil-stained gauze. “I don’t know if you know or not, but Dom’s having a big shindig tonight at his place off the Katy.”

  “I received the invitation.”

  “Oh.” Her lips twisted in a frown. Her eyebrows knitted together. “It’s a pretty nice place. Clean. Great bartenders, good food. Loud music. The guest list is usually impressive, too.”

  Robert lowered himself onto the stool beside the metal desk. Georgiana’s PC was already running. With a few mouse clicks, he opened the program that allowed him to reconstruct the Mercedes’s damaged computer. “I would prefer to spend time with you, Gigi.”

  Georgiana dropped her torque wrench. “Okay.” She wiped her hands again. “Okay. Give me time to shower and change, and we can go out.”

  Robert glanced up from the computer screen. “This is fine. We don’t have to go anywhere.”

  She waved a hand to encompass the workshop. “C’mon, Bobby. You can’t mean that you’d rather work on this than attend one of Dom’s parties. His parties are legendary.”

  He rolled the chair around the desk. His glare was equal parts irritation and affection. “Drink mid-range champagne and eat greasy food while having my eardrums assaulted and attempting to fend off drunk gold diggers, or spend a quiet evening with my gorgeous, witty fiancée solving a complex programming problem and trying to put Prask in his place? It’s no contest, doll.”

  “Are you sure? I haven’t been to one of Dom’s parties in months, and I’m due. Yvonne wasn’t able to reschedule any of my meetings until the day after tomorrow, so I could spend tomorrow down here working on the car to make up for tonight.”

  Robert snaked an arm around her waist and yanked her down. She landed on his lap with a high-pitched yelp. He secured her in place with the arm around her waist and a hand on her thigh.

  “I appreciate the offer, but no. This is never going to work if you don’t give me a chance to prove that I’m not the wild child you remember,” he said. “You’re working with obsolete data. Face it, doll, you’re clinging to your original hypothesis and ignoring the evidence right under your pretty little nose.”

  “I’m sorry.” She started to squirm but froze at Robert’s low groan. “Also, I’m sorry for that.”

  “I’m not.”

  Her tongue darted out to moisten suddenly dry lips. His eyes darkened, narrowed on her lips.

  “You should be sorry for that, though,” he murmured.

  With wide, unblinking eyes, she watched his head lower towards hers. His tongue flicked across her bottom lip. Her hands crept up, buried themselves in the soft, thick hair at the back of his skull. He playfully nipped her lip before settling his mouth over hers.

  The kiss was different than their previous encounters. There was heat coiling in her belly and spreading through her veins, but it wasn’t leading towards a rapid explosion. There was no risk of spontaneous combustion.

  It was a slow burn. Smoldering. Sustained heat like glowing embers of coal. Robert’s hand dipped under the hem of her shirt. He slowly, deliberately ran his fingers up her spine. Her skin scorched; her nerve endings caught fire. His hand stilled. He raised his lips a fraction. The fire banked back to a controlled burn.

  She dragged his head back down. She didn’t want the heat to ebb and flow. She wanted to explode. She sank her teeth into his bottom lip. His answering growl rumbled against her lips.

  “It’s not a race, Gigi,” he panted, lips against the thundering pulse at the base of her throat. His tongue traced patterns across her clavicle before moving back up for another kiss.

  “No. It’s a supernova.” She twisted, reveling in every breathy moan that fell from Robert’s lips, until her thighs were around his hips and her knees pressed into his back. “Gamma ray burst.”

  Robert’s hands curled around her ribs. His thumbs brushed the sides of her breasts. Even through the cotton cups of her sports bra, the touch was enough to send her head spinning. She arched against him, broke the kiss to drag oxygen into her aching lungs.

  Her frantic movements shifted the chair, banged it against the table and knocked a cup of screws to the floor. The clatter was enough to break the spell surrounding them. Robert’s hands hand slid out from under her t-shirt. Georgiana raked her fingers through his hair one last time before settling her hands on his shoulders.

  “Oh god,” she breathed, willing her pulse back to normal. No matter how much air she dragged into her lungs, none of it seemed to reach her brain.

  “Yeah.” Robert didn’t sound any steadier than she felt. His fingers dug into her side and clenched every time she twitched. “Don’t move.”

  “O-okay.”

  A feline noise of protest sounded from behind the chair. Robert craned his neck to peer over Georgiana’s shoulder. The Siamese was standing on her rear feet with her front paws curled around the bars of a makeshift cage.

  “You didn’t tell me we had a captive audience, Gigi.”

  “I had to lock her up. She kept trying to run off with the small pieces. I swear she’s part raven.” A broad, impish smile curled up the corners of Georgiana’s kiss-swollen lips. “Guess what she’s in.”

  “Don’t say it,” Robert groaned. “Please don’t say it.”

  “It’s a Faraday cage.” She giggled like a five-year-old hyped up on cotton candy. “Get it?”

  He dumped her on the cold workshop floor. He looked as if he’d sipped sour milk. “Now I owe your brother thirty dollars. He told me, as soon as you named that cat, that you’d make a Faraday cage remark. I didn’t believe him.”

  “Silly Bobby,” she laughed, clambering to her feet.r />
  “Silly Gigi,” he mocked. He matched her smile. He stroked a hand across her bare forearm. “And you thought I’d rather attend a party than spend the night with you.”

  “My nights aren’t always so exciting.”

  “And you shouldn’t believe half the stuff they print in magazines.”

  “Truce?” She held out her hand to shake.

  “I wasn’t aware we were ever at war, doll.” He wrapped his fingers around her wrist and pulled her in for a long, lingering kiss. He kept hold of her wrist when she swayed.

  They settled in to their respective work areas. They chatted about work and the possibility of a romance between their assistants. The lulls in conversation were organic, comfortable. The tapping of Robert’s fingers on the keyboard faded into the background like the music. Her habit of talking aloud as she worked earned her an occasional grape to the back of the head. Retaliation came in the form of a freed Faraday deciding that Robert’s lap was the comfiest perch in the room.

  Long after the juice and grapes were gone, Georgiana slid out from underneath the Mercedes. “Bobby,” she said softly. The color had leached out of her face and her fingers trembled.

  Robert saved his progress but left his program running. He wheeled his chair around the desk and stopped next to her. He ran a finger over the components in her hand but didn’t touch them. “What are those?”

  “Well, I thought they were part of the SUV’s Elektronisches Stabilitätsprogramm. Now I’m not sure. The sensors don’t match the specs from Mercedes. I don’t see any markings on them, which is odd. They don’t fit in with the truck, either. I have all its electronics.”

  He frowned, eyes flicking back to his computer screen. “But you believe they are part of the stability program?”

  “If not, then I’m missing those sensors. The hydraulic modulator looks a bit off, too. I’ve taken into account the possibility of damage sustained during the accident, but it doesn’t add up. I haven’t looked at the traction control system yet, but I’m afraid I’ll find the same discrepancies.”

  “Come here.” Robert set the components on the desk and helped Georgiana off the floor. He made room on the side of the chair for her to sit next to him. He pointed at a block of code on the screen. “See this here?”

  “Yes. But if you think I can translate that without a legend and a gallon of coffee, you’re out of your mind.”

  He smothered his smile by pressing his lips to the side of her head. “And I wouldn’t have a clue what a hydraulic modulator looks like, so we’re even.” He used the mouse to highlight the code. “This isn’t original programming. It doesn’t match the style of the rest of the program.”

  “Someone hacked my brother’s car?” she asked.

  “It’s an access panel, of sorts. It gives the user control of certain functions.”

  Georgiana’s head tilted towards the parts on the corner of the desk. “Like the ESP?”

  “Amongst other things.”

  A hard, burning lump formed in the back of Georgiana’s throat. Assuming that someone sabotaged her brother’s car was easier than seeing the proof that someone had tampered with the vehicle. Someone had wanted her brother to have an accident on the way home from Dallas. Someone had tried to kill her brother.

  “Can you track who accessed the vehicle during my brother’s accident?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Something fierce and protective inside snarled. She wanted to find the person who’d harmed her precious brother and tear them limb from limb. She wanted to ruin them personally, professionally, and financially.

  “Can you find out who altered the code?” she asked.

  “I don’t know, Gigi. I just found this. I need to spend more time working on it.” Robert’s voice was sharp with exasperation.

  Georgiana stood on shaky knees. She scrubbed a hand across her face. “Whatever you need: people, equipment, someone to be your lackey. Whatever you need it’s yours. Just… right now I need to…”

  Robert squeezed her hand. “Go check on Tab. I’ll be fine down here.”

  Georgiana fled out of the room as if the hounds of hell were on her heels. Alone with a snoozing Faraday, Robert rolled his shoulders and cracked his knuckles. He adjusted the monitor so that it wasn’t causing his neck to cramp.

  “All right, Prask, let’s see where you slipped up.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine:

  Georgiana paced in front of Tab’s cracked-open bedroom door. She had her arms crossed around her middle in a self-hug. She shrugged off the comforting hand Robert placed on her shoulder.

  She walked past a concerned Dan, pivoted sharply, and started a new circuit. “God, I can’t do this.”

  “Yes you can,” Dan encouraged. “Robert and I will go in with you if you think that will help.”

  “No.” She shook her head. “It needs to be just the two of us. I don’t know how he’s going to react, and I’d rather not cause him any unnecessary embarrassment.”

  Robert stood in Georgiana’s path. He braced his hands on his shoulders, waited until her panicked eyes met his steady gaze. “We’ll be right out here if you need us, Gigi.”

  Her movements unsteady, Georgiana wrapped his silk tie around her hand and yanked him in for a quick, closed-mouth kiss. Before he could deepen the embrace, she released his tie and stepped back. She inhaled sharply and held the breath a beat before releasing it.

  “Thanks.”

  Tab’s room was bright. The overhead lights were on and the curtains were thrown open. Textbooks and spiral notebooks littered the bed and the floor. Georgiana knocked on the doorframe before moving further into the room and closing the door.

  “Hey, little brother, do you have a sec?”

  “Sure.” Tab sat up. He shoved a pile of books off the bed and patted the freshly cleared space. “I wondered why it sounded like a herd of elephants was wandering the hallways.”

  Georgiana perched on the edge of the bed. She folded her hands in her lap in hopes Tab wouldn’t notice the way they shook. “I need to talk to you about something pretty important.”

  Tab rubbed the back of his neck. His gaze dropped to the bed. “Is this about my history quiz? I’ve already talked with Professor Devlin, and he’s going to let me take up a make up test.”

  “No, this isn’t about your… wait, what? What happened with your history quiz?”

  “Nothing!” Tab’s cheeks were red. “Nothing happened.”

  “Tab,” she sighed, “we studied for that. You assured me you understood the chapters.”

  “I know. I know. I thought I did, so I don’t know what happened. I reread the chapters, though, and I’ll do better on the make up.”

  Georgiana reached across the space between them to hold Tab’s hand. “It’s not about school. It’s about the accident.”

  Tab’s swift intake of air and the way tears instantly filmed over his eyes sent a pang through Georgiana’s aching heart. She scooted closer so she could drape an arm around his trembling shoulders. He seemed to shrink three sizes right in front of her eyes.

  “Oh, honey, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I wouldn’t bring this up if it wasn’t important, I swear.” She blinked to hold back the tears threatening to overflow her eyes. “I know this hurts, but we’ll talk about it real quick and then it will be over.”

  Tab sniffled. “What do you want to know?”

  “Was the Mercedes out of your sight at all the week before your accident? I don’t just mean in the parking lot, either.”

  “No.”

  She offered up a tremulous smile and pressed her forehead against his. The tears dripping down her cheeks mingled with the tears gathering on the tip of his chin. “Honey, please. You can’t lie to me now. I need to know what happened with the Mercedes.”

  “What is this all about Gigi?”

  She sighed, straightened. Linking their hands, she tugged him off the bed and out into the hallway. She silently led him down to the workshop. Dan and Rober
t trailed behind them with Quinn pulling up the rear of their somber procession.

  The glass in her workshop was set to opaque. She paused outside the door and gripped Tab’s hand tighter. “You have to stick with me, little brother. This is going to be painful, but you have to trust me. It’s necessary.”

  “Gigi?” Tab asked, voice breaking.

  She kissed his forehead. “Shh, it’ll be okay.” She placed the palm of her free hand on the scanner. The door opened. NORA turned on the lights.

  “Oh god,” Tab gasped. He sagged against Georgiana. Together, they stumbled into the workshop. He huddled against her side, one hand against his mouth and the other cutting off circulation to her fingers. “Wh-what is that doing here?”

  Georgiana didn’t try to make him move any closer to the wrecked SUV. “They released it to me after everything. I had to rebuild it, honey, I had to.”

  “Why?” Tab swallowed, fixed teary confused eyes on her. “Why would you do this?”

  She swiped at her wet cheeks with the back of her hand. Her vision was blurry from so many tears, and she didn’t want to miss an expression on Tab’s face. She had to know when she was reaching his limit because she refused to push him too far. Catching Prask didn’t mean a damn thing if it came at the cost of her brother.

  “You said that you thought it was mechanical failure. I had to investigate.”

  “You believed me?”

  The look of absolute heartbreak on Tab’s face shattered her. She wrapped herself around him like an octopus. He tucked his head under her chin, sobbed onto her t-shirt. Neither of them noticed when Robert gently guided them onto the edge of the desk.

  She buried her face in the top of Tab’s fair head. His arms were too tight around her waist. His knees pressed hard enough against her shins to leave bruises. She didn’t want to ever move.

  “Of course I believed you, Tab,” she said. “Of course I did.”