by Amelia Jade
Failure crashed over her in a giant wave of darkness, driving her down until she was sitting on the cold concrete ground staring up at the last vestiges of the only dream she’d ever really had. It meant so much to her, bringing joy to families and little kids as they watched the giant floats go by. That was what had, in the end, ruined her. She’d been driving in the Founders Day Parade, and the sea of little faces looking up with awe, amazed and full of happiness had caught her eye.
If she’d only done her job, she’d have stayed in the center of the road and been able to avoid Vanek, and everything would be okay.
Except you wouldn’t have met him.
“Yeah, but it was just one dinner date. It’s not like I’m going to see him again, unless he actually manages to come through with a brand-new float.” She definitely wasn’t going to let herself even remotely begin to believe that possibility until it walked up and smacked her in the face.
Meeting Vanek had been nice, as had dinner. That was an experience she would never forget, nor something she would ever be able to repeat. She’d snuck a peek at the bill, astounded that it had come to nearly four figures for just the three courses and several glasses of wine. Outrageous for sure, but she was glad she’d agreed to go. The actual restaurant was so beautiful. She’d remember it always.
Bringing her mind back to the present, she got to her feet and decided to forge ahead. Maybe, just maybe, she could repair the float enough that it could be useable. The odds were long, but fixing it would definitely be cheaper than buying a new one. Especially if she did much of the work herself. After nearly twelve years at the helm, Harlow had learned a thing or two about makeshift repair work.
Rolling up her sleeves, she went to the cab of the rickety old semi-truck she used to haul the floats around. Opening up an underside panel, she removed several boxes that were filled with tools and laid them out on a folding table nearby. It was time to get to work.
“This looks like fun.”
The voice came out of the air behind her and she spun, clutching a wrench in one hand, spilling tools all over the floor as she bumped into the table as well.
“Vanek,” she said with a sigh of relief. “You scared the shit out of me. What are you doing sneaking up on someone?”
He looked around. “I didn’t sneak up. I walked in here like normal.”
“Well then you move like a ninja. Someone your size should be heard from a mile away. Don’t do that!” She smiled slightly as relief replaced the burst of adrenaline. “My heart can’t handle it.”
The huge man came closer, his face happy, but tight. “I didn’t mean to make your heart skip a beat, but I can’t say that I’m sorry to hear I did.”
She rolled her eyes. “You wish it was just the sight of you, and not your stealth skills.”
“I’ll take what I can get.” He jerked his chin in the direction of the float. “What’s the plan with that?”
Harlow turned to regard the mess once more. Even getting it back to the warehouse had been…interesting. “I don’t know,” she said, sighing. “Repair it, probably. I need six floats.”
Vanek came up to stand next to her, his elbow brushing slightly against hers. For some reason Harlow didn’t object, letting them rest while touching.
“That’s actually why I came here to see you.”
“Yeah, how did you find me?”
He shrugged. “I called the city and asked what warehouse they had rented out to you. Wasn’t that hard.”
“Oh. Well. You found me and my wreck.” She shrugged. “But it’s okay, the new one will look great next to it, that’s for sure.”
“Yeah.” Vanek turned to look at her. “Listen, Harlow. I’ve done some looking into getting you a new float.”
She braced herself. Here it comes. You knew it was coming. He put his mouth where his money ain’t, and now he needs to back out of it.
“It’s going to take me a bit longer than expected. I had thought I could get you one in a few days.” He winced. “I…don’t think I can do that anymore.”
Of course not. Vanek, like every other man who’d made promises to her, was going back on it. Just like her father when he’d promised to come back to his then-four-year old daughter. But he hadn’t kept that promise either. Harlow wondered what it was about her that had men running for the hills when she was around.
“Yeah, it’s fine. I didn’t think you’d be able to get it,” she said, trying to contain her hurt and anger. “Thanks for dinner though.” She turned to the side, focusing on her tools while she waited for him to go.
“Whoa.” A hand fell lightly on her shoulder, turning her back around.
She kept staring down.
“I never said that I wasn’t getting it,” he said forcefully. “Just that it might be a few weeks, instead of a few days.”
Harlow slowly dragged her eyes upward, cognizant of the fact she was also admiring the outline of his body underneath the tight T-shirt he wore. She’d known he was jacked, but this was the first time she’d truly noticed his muscles. The firmness of his chest and the broad, solid shoulders.
“Are you sure?” she asked carefully, trying to remain guarded.
“I gave you my word. I keep my word.”
There it was again, that utter conviction of truth that rang out in his words. Harlow felt it seducing her, tempting her with its believability. Still, she couldn’t let herself live in dreamland. Not yet.
“This one still needs repairing though. I have someone coming to look at it before I leave town, to see if they want to rent them for their corporate parade thing. I don’t really know, they were pretty vague. I need six floats though. They were insistent on that.” She pushed the hair back out of her face that had fallen forward. “If I don’t get this repaired by then, I’m absolutely going under. It’s my only chance, and frankly, I think it’s impossible.”
“Really?” Vanek glanced at the wreck. “Why?”
“Well for starters, I can’t afford all new rebar to frame this. Plus I’m not sure I can do it all on my own.”
“Well, we can’t show them the new one,” he said. “Though I promise it is coming. But you’re going to try and repair this one?”
“Yes. I have to try.”
He nodded, grasped the side of his shirt and took it off, tucking it into the back of his waistband as he strode past her to the table, looking over her assorted tools. “Okay, when do we start?”
Harlow was caught off guard, her eyes, attention, and every other part of her focused on the insane definition of his body. Vanek’s back practically bulged with every movement. He spun, and her head grew heavy as she took in the taut lines of his stomach, disappearing into the jeans that were all he was currently wearing.
Wow.
“You’re a mechanic now too?”
Vanek shrugged, the motion setting off a chain reaction in her body that seemed to match each rippling muscle as it settled back into place. “Sure, why not.”
Harlow’s head bounced from side to side. “Yeah. Sure. Why not. Okay. We can do this.” She licked her lips, swallowing her nerves as best she could. “Yeah.”
Vanek grinned. “What do we do first?”
“First, we have to rip down the wire structure and get it clear. After that we need to…”
Harlow started walking around the float, pointing at the various things they would need to do to get it back into working order. Vanek followed her around, taking note of everything she said with a seriousness that wasn’t at all what she’d expected.
Who is this guy? And why is he interested in me this much?
Chapter Six
Vanek
He walked up to the warehouse door, sliding it open.
Immediately his eyes were drawn to the bright workshop lights that Harlow had set up around the float. She was working away already, dressed in blue overalls and a white low-necked T-shirt. The combination was intoxicating, and visions of picking her up and making love to her then and there assa
ulted his brain.
The overalls slipped off one shoulder as he headed toward her, and she absently pushed it back up, something about the movement so comfortable and practiced that he found himself mildly aroused. He’d picked up on it the first day, but Harlow was clearly used to working with her hands.
“Hey Harlow,” he called as his footsteps echoed loud enough that even she had to hear them.
He’d started doing that the second day, so that he didn’t scare her. Just like he’d asked her at the end of each day what they were going to do the next. That way he could go home and spend his evenings researching just what the hell half of the things were.
Now, three days later, they were going to attempt some welding. When Vanek had first watched some videos of it, he’d grown frustrated immediately. The process they went through was so convoluted and lengthy. All he needed to do was call upon his fire and he could forge the metal together stronger and far faster than the ungainly tools they were supposed to use.
It irked him that he couldn’t just reveal to Harlow the truth about himself and show her what was what, but he knew that it would need time. While he waited for her to start to trust him, to believe that he wasn’t some charlatan, he would have to do things her way. The slow way. Which meant he’d watched hours of welding videos so that he knew what to do.
Corde thought him ridiculous, but for Harlow, anything was worth it.
“Vanek,” she said as he approached. “Good to see you.”
“And you,” he replied. She’d been surprised when he’d shown up again a second time at the warehouse, but this was the third time since, and he thought she was getting used to it. He hoped she was. He didn’t have much longer; the military’s ultimatum deadline was looming close.
Vanek knew he didn’t need his mate nearby to kill the Outsider, but he would feel much more secure knowing that she was safe when he went to go do battle, and not hideously exposed. Winning Harlow over before he met his foe at long last was the smart thing to do. Unfortunately it meant he had to move fast, while not moving so quickly that he scared her off. It was a bit of a tightrope to walk, but so far, so good. All he needed to do now was ask to see her again.
That was proving to be far harder than he’d expected, however, and his two opportunities to do so the day before had fizzled out before he’d even managed to ask. Vanek needed to just suck it up and expose himself to being hurt, otherwise he was never going to find out. Today, he vowed, today was going to be the day.
“So, what work of mine are you going to undo today before we start anew?”
She grinned. On day one he’d not known a single thing about modern tools, and had screwed up badly, forcing her to undo nearly half an hour’s worth of his work. Neither Vanek nor Harlow had been impressed. Since then though, his quick mind and constant research had meant she’d been forced to correct very little. It was now a running joke between them at the start of the day, and something he looked forward to, because it always made her smile.
“Shockingly, nothing,” she admitted. “But that probably means that today will be an entire waste to make up for it.”
He laughed. “I hope not!”
“Me neither.” She stepped forward and pointed at the crazed mass of bars. “Today we need to try and bend some of this back into place, so that I can weld it together and reinforce it. Hopefully those are good for more than just show?” She pointed at his biceps.
Vanek winked. “I think so. Let’s bend some pipe. Point me at it.”
“Sure. This is our first bend here,” she said, pointing out two connections that had snapped apart upon impact. “I’ll grab some straps and we can tie it to the truck and the wall, then hopefully winch it back into position.”
He stepped forward, looking at the two pieces of metal. Grasping one in either hand he casually brought them together, hoping he’d imagined it in his mind's eye. “So we want it to end up like this, right?”
Harlow stared at him. Vanek looked at her, following her gaze to the metal. Then back to her. Then to the metal.
Uh-oh…
“How the hell did you do that?” she gasped. “That’s two-inch-thick rebar!”
“I…uh, I work out a lot?” he said lamely.
“Yeah, I can see that,” she said skeptically, both awed and visibly flustered at the same time as his bunched biceps stayed flexed, keeping the metal in place so that it couldn’t revert to its old form. “Can you hold that?”
“For a little longer,” he said, trying to act like it was more of a struggle than it actually was.
He liked showing off for his mate, but the last thing he wanted was her asking too many questions about what he could and couldn’t do. There wasn’t time for that, not yet. He would reveal himself to her when she was ready to hear it. Not before.
Harlow picked up a welding mask and draped it over his face. He wanted to tell her that he didn’t need the ridiculous thing, that fire didn’t bother him, but he let her anyway.
“This will protect you from the molten metal shards,” she explained.
Oh. Those weren’t fire. Maybe he’d let her protect him after all. Getting one of those in the eye did not sound pleasant at all.
“Normally you’d put on an apron, basically, that would protect your arms and torso.” She gave him a wink. “At least today you haven’t taken your shirt off yet.”
He rolled his eyes, knowing full well she loved the fact he preferred to work without a shirt on. Her lovely dark, golden-brown orbs had been caught admiring his physique many times so far, each time a little more brazenly than the last.
A blanket was draped over each arm, and then gloves wrapped around his hands. “There, I’ll get these attached quickly, then you can put this on and we’ll finish up.”
He nodded and she proceeded to don her own attire and swiftly and expertly weld the two pieces together enough that they would stay put. When she indicated he could let go, Vanek slowly released his hold. The frame groaned slightly, but it held. He stepped back out of the way and Harlow finished welding the entire thing.
“Think you’re up to bending some more?” she asked as he put on the gear properly.
“Yeah, I can manage that.” He gestured for her to show him where.
“Over there,” she said, pointing to his left and bumping him with her hip.
He glanced down at the contact and shuffled over, grabbing the two pieces and pulling them together as well, the piping creaking from his strength.
“Careful with that,” he said as she approached, trying to block himself from her hip. “Keep that up and you might break me. Then it’ll be you taking me to dinner.”
Harlow frowned in disbelief, her eyes moving from the metal in his arms to her. “You know what? I don’t anticipate me being able to break you.”
Vanek smiled and laughed. “You’re probably right,” he admitted. “But still, dinner would be nice.”
The words tumbled from his mouth before he’d had a chance to think them over, and it was likely the only thing that enabled him to say them. Harlow jerked slightly, but remained focused on the task, her welding torch spitting fire as she joined the two pieces of metal together.
When she was done and had checked her work she stepped back, flipping her mask up and giving him a long, cautious look. “Are you serious about that?”
This time it was Vanek’s turn to eye Harlow. “Yes, of course. Why would I say so if I weren’t?”
“Because you were making a joke?”
He shook his head. “No, that would be rude. To joke about wanting to go to dinner with you, but not meaning a word of it? Why would someone do that?”
Harlow pointed at two more pieces of metal, slipping her helmet into place. He did the same and then with a grunt pulled them together, the effort bringing much of the rest of the frame into a semblance of organization as he did. Harlow quickly but expertly joined them together and then stepped back.
“You’d be surprised,” she answered at last, her
mask still down in place.
They went through several more joins as piece by piece he unbent the structure according to her directions. At last she pronounced it done, having gone as far as they could for the moment.
“I’m going to need to get a few more pieces of pipe before we can continue, to reinforce some of these weak joints,” she said, her finger rapidly pointing out several apparent stress locations.
Vanek just nodded along, still waiting for her answer to the idea of another dinner date.
“You swear that this isn’t just you trying to make up for this?” she asked, pointing at the wrecked float.
He shrugged. “Well sure, part of it is that. I feel horrible. That’s why I’m here right now. I had a great time at dinner though, and would like to do it again. That’s why I brought it up again.”
“Yeah. I understand. I had fun too.” She blinked a little faster as she spoke, much to his amusement.
“Does that mean we can do it again?”
Harlow nodded. “Yeah, you know what, I’d like that. But nowhere fancy this time. Getting dressed up was fun, and the restaurant was gorgeous, but I’m generally a casual sort of girl. I don’t like to eat that fancy all the time.”
Grinning, he nodded excitedly. “Sure. Do you want to come to my place, and I can cook if you’d like?”
The hesitation at his words told Vanek he’d overstepped. Quickly rethinking what he’d just said, he saw the double meaning behind it all.
“Good food and laughs. Nothing more,” he added, making it clear he understood the conversation happening between the lines.
Harlow thought about it for a few seconds, then she bobbed her head up and down once. “Okay, sure, what the hell. I’m in.”
The nervous ball of energy that had been forming in his stomach slowly began to unravel itself at her agreement. He had a date! With his mate! It felt great! One step closer to proving to her that they were meant to be together. That they could spend days like this, working in close proximity and laughing with each other as often as they wished.
After he killed the Outsider. He couldn’t forget that minor detail.