His heart rested in his throat. Even though he knew bringing her back should be easy, fear stole his confidence. A chill swept his entire body. Ancestors, don’t let her be gone. His chest clenched, as the idea that he might not be able to revive her took shape in his mind.
He had to, though. He closed his eyes, and let tiny pulses of electricity flow from him to her. Seconds ticked away, and…nothing. Frustration crept in. He could heal any injury she’d sustained, and keep her from suffering brain damage.
Unless she didn’t want to come back. No. Marley was too full of life for something so fatalistic.
She still wasn’t responding. Anger surged. She couldn’t be dead. Please. Ancestors help me. He’d never forgive himself or the fates, if she didn’t wake up.
*
Marley gasped for breath, and her eyes flew open. She struggled to drag in more oxygen. Why the hell didn’t she feel like she couldn’t breathe? She drew in deep swallows of air. Something pounded inside her skull, hammering and splintering already fractured thoughts.
“Marley!” Eli’s frantic voice sliced through her confusion. Gentle palms rested against her cheeks, drawing her further out of her own head. “Breathe. Slowly. Just relax.”
She couldn’t. Nothing made sense. What had she been doing? Why was there a giant, gaping black hole in her memory? Snippets rushed back to her, snapping into place.
Eli pressed close. How desperately she wanted to toss decency to the wind, and just let him have his way with her. Oh, God. Had they…? Had they what? Why couldn’t she remember?
“Look at me. You need to calm down.” Eli moved her head, forcing her gaze onto his face. “Breathe in, just once.”
She focused on his voice. His gorgeous blue eyes. Because it was easier than falling into the pit in her head. She did as he said.
The corner of his mouth tugged up. The cobwebs cleared some more, but not enough. It felt like a million ants were dancing under her skin.
“Now let it out slowly.”
She obeyed again, repeating the action several times, until she could form words. “What happened?”
He chuckled, and offered her a hand. Why had she been lying down? As she sat, she did a quick check. She was fully clothed. Her head hurt like hell. And it was dark in the room. “And why are the lights off?”
He shifted from his kneeling position to sit on his ass, across from her. “Something wasn’t grounded. You were electrocuted. It…” He closed his eyes and swallowed. “It knocked you out. Blew a fuse. I’m just glad it wasn’t worse.”
She rubbed her arms through her sweater. Something about his words made ice run through her veins. She should go to the emergency room, but that would mean admitting something severe had just happened. The idea made her as uneasy as the missing last few minutes in her memory. A tiny nag tickled the back of her thoughts. Electrocuted, blank memory. Was it even more serious than Eli was saying? But he wouldn’t hide something like that from her. Right?
She tried to stand, and her equilibrium made the room tilt and spin in protest. She sank back to her knees, and pressed a palm to her forehead.
“We need to take you to the hospital.” He rested a palm against her cheek. “You’re done working for the day.”
His concern warmed her as much as his touch did. But her headache was already evaporating. It was almost as if his fingers were sapping away the pain. Not that such a thing was possible. It would be as ridiculous as wondering if he’d just done something like bring her back to life.
Sure, there was enough electricity running through those wires to stop a heart—that was safety one-oh-one when working with live wires. But it wasn’t like Eli, or anyone, had the power to bring people back from the dead. She’d just gotten a little dizzy. “I’ll be fine. We have too much to get done.”
“Marley, no. Rest here for a couple more minutes, and then when you feel well enough, we’re going to the hospital.”
“No.” She resisted the urge to lean into his touch. The longer his hand lingered, the more her pain evaporated. She almost felt back to normal. “I’m not leaving this half-finished mess.”
“I’ll take care of it.” His thumb trailed along her cheekbone, stroking softly.
His concern warmed her further. Pride surged inside. She wasn’t going to let a little tiny shock keep her down. Besides, she felt a lot better. He was overreacting; she just needed to sit for a minute. “I’m fine.” She kept her voice firm. “And I’m not going anywhere.”
He opened his mouth, and she held up her index finger. “No,” she said. “I know you’re the boss, but this is my project, and I intend to see it through.”
“I don’t—”
She narrowed her eyes.
He shook his head, still caressing her cheek. “All right. But the moment you wobble again, the workday is over.”
She stood slowly, hoping she wouldn’t falter, and even more concerned he’d decide she couldn’t handle work after all. The room wasn’t spinning anymore. Good. “But I will let you leave the circuits off until we’re finished. We can get LED lanterns or something in here, right?”
Chapter Four
Marley scooted on the carpet, until her back connected with the wall. Every inch of her ached from bending, crawling, and feeding cable through small tubes for the last however-many hours. It was dark outside, and a couple of LED lanterns around them provided the only light in the building. The rush she’d felt after her post-electrocution dizziness passed had evaporated hours ago. But at least Eli finally stopped hovering and treating her as if she were made of porcelain.
While she’d really enjoyed the attention, she knew she shouldn’t have.
He sat across from her, the lamplight casting his features in shadows, making the scruff of his unshaven face look even more rugged. Damn it, why did he have to be handsome and considerate? Why couldn’t he just be an asshole boss like most of them?
The reminder that he was her supervisor snapped her back to reality. “We’re more than half done. That bodes well for our schedule.”
He glanced at his phone before dropping it back into his pocket. “And it’s not even ten. Wow. I owe you dinner. And then we’ll get back to it?”
She nodded. They’d made headway, but not nearly enough that they’d be done before tomorrow, if they called it a night. “Anything but pizza.”
“You love pizza.”
Just the word turned her stomach. “Yeah, but last night…cold pizza, warm beer, and a live band that was louder than they were talented—I’d just rather walk away from that memory for now.”
“All that on top of the asshole. No wonder your night was a bust.” He stood and offered her a hand up. “Note to self and all that.”
At least if she was blushing, the dim light would hide it. She tried to be subtle about pulling away, before they could do an encore of the awkward moment from that morning. She might not be able to say no this time. “I want to get the west section prepped while I’m still thinking about it, and then we can break.”
His gaze raked over her, lingering on her face for a moment. “All right. Tell you what. I’ll order dinner and finish up in the executive office, and we should be done about the time the delivery guy arrives.”
“Who are you going to get to deliver out here so late?”
He winked. “I know people. Trust me.”
They hashed out a few more details, and he walked away to finish his tasks. The silence sank in around her for the first time that day, and gave her thoughts a chance to ramble. Combined with exhaustion, her brain did something she never let it do. It wandered into thoughts of what it would be like to spend time with Eli outside of work. Not as friends, but more along the lines of how different the night before would have been if he’d been her date.
She let her mind trip lazily over the delicious thought, while she worked. It was easier to lose herself, when she didn’t have to worry about her attraction to him being written all over her face. With no one to see her gaze d
rifting off to nowhere, it didn’t matter.
She would’ve invited him in at the end of the night. There was no question there. Offered him a drink. Maybe slid up next to him on the couch. Before today, she’d wondered if he’d be the one to make a move, but after the incident on the counter, there was no doubt he’d take charge if the situation was different.
“You okay?” His concerned voice broke into her rambling thoughts. She scrambled to her feet, and whirled to face him, pulse kicking up another notch. “I’ve been calling you.”
She stashed the images in a mental side-drawer, and gave him what she hoped was a neutral smile. “I’m fine. Just engrossed.”
“I see that.” Was that awe? “You did all this in twenty minutes?”
She looked around the room, surprised herself. She’d been so lost in thought, she hadn’t realized she’d finished prepping the quadrant, and then some. “I guess.”
He stepped aside, and gestured toward the other end of the building. “Food’s here.”
She fell into step beside him. The familiar scents of lemongrass pork and curry wafted over her, and her stomach growled in response. He’d ordered from one of her favorite places. “I didn’t know they delivered.”
He shrugged. “The owner owed me a favor.”
They reached the office that would be the CEO’s after the move, and she paused in the doorway, any response evaporating. He’d lined the walls with a handful of flashlights—she had no idea where he’d gotten the extras—all pointing straight up like electric candles. A blanket sat in the middle of the room, with a neat arrangement of takeout and two place-settings. A wine bottle even sat in the middle, adding an elegant feel despite the paper cups.
Had he brought all that with him? Bribed the take out boy to pick it up? She didn’t care. She wouldn’t be able to drink more than a cup, since they still had work to do, but the gesture still warmed her.
“I figured we might as well pick the nicest room in the building for dinner since there’s no furniture anywhere, including the kitchen. Sitting on the floor in here should be a lot more comfortable than the cold tile in there.” He waved a hand, and it seemed to grow brighter in the room, as if all the lights cranked up a notch. “Take a seat.” He rested a hand at the small of her back, and nudged her forward.
She burned the memory of his touch into her thoughts, along with the entire setup. It was an incredible feeling, and a lot better than focusing on whether he’d really just made the flashlights intensify. She desperately needed to find a guy who got her on this level, and wasn’t her boss.
*
Eli leaned against the wall, watching Marley talk. They’d cleaned up dinner at least an hour ago, and he knew they needed to get back to work, but he couldn’t bring himself to interrupt. They both sat on the blanket, less than a foot between them, and she was as animated as he’d ever seen her. Arms moving and eyes bright, even in the dim light.
“No. I’m serious.” Her smile was gorgeous and genuine. “My grandfather would tell these bedtime stories, every time he visited. Bible stories. But only the ones with dismemberment or beheading. Who needs Grimm, when you’ve got gentiles and worshippers alike getting their heads chopped off?”
He’d always been a fan of the brothers Grimm. Their version of the stories was more accurate than anyone else’s up to that point in history, and no one had told the tales quite the same since. Still, she had a point. “I can’t argue with that. It definitely sounds like a way to scare someone straight.”
She laughed—that was an amazing sound. “It didn’t work on me, but I’m odd.”
“In the best way possible.” He couldn’t tear his gaze from her face.
She met his eyes, and pink flooded her cheeks. She ducked her head. Her voice dropped in volume, but her enthusiasm didn’t vanish. “What kind of stories did you grow up on?”
The single question brought his entire universe crashing back into focus. There’d been hundreds of tales over the centuries. He’d watched people write down the original history, and then witnessed as it warped and mutated over time, as each story was retold, and the occasional new one was created.
But one stood out over all the others. A reminder of why it didn’t matter how much he adored Marley. Even if she weren’t off limits for professional reasons, there could never be anything more than a physical relationship between them. “There was one…”
She looked up again, eyes soft and curious. She scooted closer on the blanket. “Tell me?”
He shouldn’t. He should put everything away now. They had a deadline to meet. They had… Every excuse evaporated from his thoughts, when she leaned forward, arms resting on her crossed legs and attention focused intently on him.
Maybe repeating the curse would help him get his thoughts back in order. “All right,” he said. “But there’s no beheading, or other body parts being cut off.” At least he hoped not. The sudden thought terrified him, and he squashed it. He’d never forgive himself.
“I’m sure I’ll live.”
He hoped so. He dredged up the thousands of years’ old memories. “My grandmother used to tell me this when I was very young. We’d sit around the fire every year at holidays, and beg her to relate the story.”
“You and Loki?”
“And our other brother Helblindi.”
“I didn’t know you had a third brother.”
Most people didn’t. Hell, most people didn’t know Loki had any brothers at all. They thought Eli’s brother was the son of Odin. Stepbrother to Thor. As if. Sometimes Eli hated that no one knew his history, but at least he hadn’t been written into comic books and films with an entirely different bloodline.
“Blake manages affairs overseas. Maybe someday you’ll meet him. Anyway.” Eli breathed deeply, and let his memories drift back. “She’d always start off by reminding us we were the stuff of legends. That brothers born in threes—it never happened in our family. The oldest was always meant to take the reins of the household, and the youngest to explore the world. But when there was a middle brother, balance was disrupted.”
Her brow furrowed. “That’s a little harsh.”
He’d never thought of it that way. “I guess. I’m the youngest, so I didn’t mind.” At least, he’d never minded until just a couple of years ago, when a frustrated brunette sat across from him in a job interview and told him outright that she’d be one of the best employees he ever had, but there was some shit she wouldn’t tolerate.
“It’s just a fairy tale anyway, right?” She almost sounded like she was trying to convince herself.
It was so much more than that, but he didn’t correct her. “There was a poem she’d recite. I can’t remember all the words, but she’d chant it in front of the fire, the words mingling with flame. Sometimes I swore, if I stared at the flames long enough, I could see them becoming real. The words.” He shook his head to clear away the vivid memory. He hated to lie to her. He remembered each verse as if it were in front of him. But speaking the words always felt like giving them power. At least speaking all of them. There was one verse she had to hear.
She stared at him, mouth barely open, eyes wide. “What was the general idea then?”
He swallowed. “No one would be suited to take over family affairs, unless he proved himself. Instead of assuming his birthright, the first brother would hop from wife to lover to wife, traveling the world, drifting for ages, until he finally found the woman who could calm his heart.”
“Helblindi.” She repeated the name flawlessly, even though she’d only just heard it.
He nodded. “The second brother would know fame. Celebrity like none of us had ever imagined. And it would change him into something none of us recognized.”
She looked like she wanted to speak, but she snapped her mouth shut again. Silence hung between them, until she finally asked, “And what about the youngest?”
The words flowed to his lips without thought. After centuries of pondering them, he knew them better than his ow
n name. “As you are, for all of time, to taste neither love nor death. When you find the one worth more than life, she’ll draw her last mortal breath.”
“Wow.” Her single word was shaky. “Harsh. But it’s just a fairy tale, right? Meant to scare you as a kid, by being vague and threatening?”
He forced something genuine into his smile. “Sure. Absolutely.”
She caught her bottom lip between her teeth. “Still, it’s not a very nice thing to tell a kid.”
Or to burden an immortal soul with. “It is what it is.”
He wished to everything ever it wasn’t. Now more than ever, he wished it wasn’t real. But the scare that morning… The rest of the curse was true. And he wasn’t willing to take that chance with her. He didn’t dare fall for Marley and risk her life.
Chapter Five
Cold flushed Marley’s cheeks, and jarred her back toward consciousness. She and Eli had worked for a few more hours the night before, including testing every last connection in the executive offices twice. When exhaustion had become impossible to ignore, they agreed to nap for a couple of hours. But she was certain they’d fallen asleep several feet apart.
The familiar scents of new paint and recently unwrapped everything filled her head, but she wasn’t ready to open her eyes yet. Every moment of the night before was seared into her thoughts. And even though it was cold in the building—no heat plus an overnight snowstorm meant it was probably almost freezing—her back and arms, and everywhere Eli touched was warm.
She wasn’t sure when she’d curled up against him, or who had pulled the blanket from dinner over them, but she wasn’t complaining. She let sleepiness have control, and stretched back against him with a sigh. His arm snaked tighter over her hips, fingers brushing the bare skin above her jeans, where her hoodie had tugged up during the night.
Floating in that wonderful haze between wakefulness and sleep, every touch lit her thoughts on fire as much as it warmed her skin. He moaned and pulled her closer. This was incredible. His palm glided up to her stomach, and his warm breath caressed the back of her neck. Was he awake, or was this all just a reaction for him?
Operation: Santa's Elf: 3 Sweet & Spicy Christmas Novellas (Operation: Holiday Cheer Book 1) Page 3