Love, Encoded (Selected Evolution Series Book 1)

by Sandra Harris

  An evil grin lit Tammy’s face as she walked across the office. “The techs were glad it was me and not you this time—but only briefly.”

  “So is everything up to spec? Paul’s invested a lot into this.”

  “Actually, the work’s coming along quite well. There were one or two issues I demanded they fix—and I promised that next inspection we would both be there.” She laughed. “Girl, you should have seen their faces!” Tammy’s handbag landed on her desk with a thump. “How’d the field test on the sonic seeing-aide glasses go?”

  A grin of satisfaction stretched Sarah’s lips. “Great! Dave sent me a vid-mail—”

  “Dave? I thought we were dealing with Jason from the Seeing For The Blind Institute?”

  “We are. Dave is the one who volunteered to test-drive the glasses. He said they were fabulous, an absolute boon, but his dog isn’t so sure about them.”

  “He put them on his dog?”

  She snorted. “No, but Dave’s girlfriend assured him his guide-dog gave him some very concerned looks as he gadabout without his usual form of guidance.”

  A knock on their office door interrupted their amusement.

  “Miss Rasmussen? A delivery for you.”

  Sarah eyed the enormous arrangement of orange Asiatic lilies and artful, gold-painted, tortured willow. A little puzzled, she stood and relieved the delivery lady of her burden. “Thank you.”

  The woman smiled. “You’re welcome.”

  “Well, who’re they from?” Tammy demanded.

  Sarah opened the small, elegant, gold-trimmed card.

  You are as intoxicating as you are beautiful. TB

  A shudder twisted through her.

  “That’s not the usual response of a woman when receiving flowers.”

  She looked up at Tammy’s dry comment and offered her the card.

  “Who’s TB?” Tammy asked.

  “Theron Barclese. He had a meeting with Paul on Monday. He’s got the patent on a number of components that could benefit our project.”

  “And he either took a fancy to you, or thought by buttering you up he could get a foot in the door. Is that why the tone of revulsion?”

  “No. He gives me the creeps.”

  Tammy’s eyes rounded. “Wow. You, the queen of ‘I don’t take crap from anybody’.”

  “Yeah. You want some flowers?”

  “I’ll take them down to the cafeteria, they’ll look lovely there. Give me the card, I’ll take great delight in giving it the treatment it deserves.”

  “Delivery for Miss Rasmussen?”

  Sarah turned to the door and eyed the exquisite arrangement of olive coloured cymbidiums nestling amongst sprays of white baby’s breath. Something unpleasant curled through her stomach.

  “I’ll take it,” Tammy intervened, then opened the card and frowned. “This is either a new approach or . . . no, who’s N.A.?”

  Sarah’s heart leapt and so did her feet. “Give me that!” She snatched the white card embossed with an oak tree from her friend and opened it.

  Beauty is liberal as the heavenly air,

  Beauty is boundless as the universe. ~ N. A.

  “Miss Rasmussen?”

  Tammy’s laugh echoed around the office. A huge bunch of red roses and yellow gladioli seemed to hover without any obvious means of support in the doorway. She took the flowers and Tammy grabbed the card.

  “Hearts will run to weed, like ruined gardens, scanted of love’s seed.” She slapped a hand over her heart and simulated a swoon. “Who is this guy?”

  “Guys.”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “Guys. N is for Nick, A is for Adam.”

  “Two?”

  “Yes, double the trouble.”

  A carnal grin spread across Tammy’s pretty features. “You go girl. At least one of us is living the dream. If only a man would quote verse from Evelyn Douglas to me. I wouldn’t give a damn how much of a prick he was.”

  “Your date on the weekend not so great?”

  “Total disaster. Crash and burn.”

  “Want to talk about it?”

  A blur of blue and white moved in the doorway and Tammy strode forward. “Maybe later, when all this excitement is over.” She accepted the bunch of iris and opened the accompanying card. “We stare awe-struck at the beauty of the storm. Forgive us.” Her whistle pierced the air. “Man-o-man, this is some serious grovelling.” Her glance flicked around their office at the other arrangements. “What did they do?”

  Sarah thanked the young woman making the delivery then turned to her friend. “Treated me like a piece of meat.”

  “Ouch. Bad move.”

  “You could say that.”

  Tammy stuck her head out the door, turning left then right. “Looks like that’s it for the moment.”

  “Good.”

  “You going to forgive them?”

  Self-aimed wryness twitched the corner of Sarah’s mouth. “More than likely. I, um, suppose I did overreact a bit. But I’m still disappointed in them. I want to hear words of apology.”

  “Have you kissed them?”

  She sighed and relaxed back in her seat. “They kiss so well I’m not sure I’m a virgin anymore.”

  “Now this is a conversation I’d rather not have walked in on,” her brother’s voice observed with dry amusement from the doorway.

  “Hi, boss,” Tammy greeted. “What can we do for you?

  His glance slid around the room. “Admirers? Now I feel remiss. I should have shown you both how much I appreciate your efforts before now.”

  “No problem, boss. We want to beat the pants off the opposition just as much as you do.”

  Sarah tried to strangle a snort in her throat and only half succeeded. Yeah, she wanted to beat the pants off the opposition all right. To be specific, two gorgeous specimens of manhood that worked for the Draken Foundation. And if that wasn’t a serious conflict on interest . . . Could she work around it?

  “Is something wrong with my report?” Tammy asked.

  “No, Tammy, your report is as concise as always,” Paul replied. “There is nothing wrong. You’re so far ahead of schedule, the propulsion system for the ship will be completed six months early.”

  “FIGJAM.” Tammy smirked.

  “So what can we do for you?” Sarah asked.

  “I’d like you to come to my office at lunch.”

  She pulled a face at him. “Not another meeting with a supplier?”

  His reassuring smile calmed her reservations. “No, I’d just like to have lunch with my sister and introduce Tammy to Grant.”

  “Lunch it is, then.”

  With a nod, her brother disappeared down the corridor. Sarah turned back to her desk and handed Tammy an electronic sketchpad.

  “Take a look at this. I nailed the base idea over the weekend and I’ve been tweaking it since. I think we could make this work.”

  Tammy studied the theoretical compositions on the open page and her eyebrows skyrocketed.

  “That’s . . . pioneering. I don’t recognise . . .” She tilted her head to one side and frowned. “Odd, the molecular structure almost looks familiar, but I know that element isn’t on the periodic table.”

  “I made it up.”

  “Ah-huh, I guessed that. Why?”

  “I did some backwards engineering.” Sarah frowned at her design. “This is the only way I can make this thing work.”

  “This is the bio-soup idea that’s been plaguing you?”

  “Yes.”

  Tammy’s gaze returned to the schematic and her eyebrows V’ed. “Hmm. Looks like its routes of data administration would have extreme promptness.”

  Sarah nodded. �
�The chemical interaction in this, if these compounds existed, would calculate and process huge amounts of data at the speed of, I hesitate to say God’s thought, but pretty close.”

  Tammy’s eyes narrowed as they met her gaze. “Where do you get these ideas?”

  She shook her head in bemusement. “I don’t know. Sometimes I feel like they’re ideas I already know, like I’m simply remembering them. It’s . . . weird.”

  “I—yeah.”

  “You think we could work on making a prototype?”

  A glaze clouded Tammy’s eyes as though her focus shifted to another plane. A familiar frown of concentration rippled her brow. She blinked then snapped back to the here and now. “Hell, yes. If we can produce it, it’ll make the ship that much more efficient.”

  Walking back to her office after lunch, the bold notes of an old rock’n’roll song hummed from the cell-phone clipped at Sarah’s waist. Her heart gave a little squeeze then leapt about her chest until she forced some discipline on it. She halted in the natural light-filled corridor and pressed the accept button.

  “Hello, Nick.” Yes, that was a good amount of polite enquiry.

  “Hello, Sarah.” His baritone seemed half an octave lower than normal. Delicate shivers danced down her ear canal and played along her breast to tease her nipples. “How are you?”

  She drew in a steadying breath. “Very well, thank you. And you?”

  The silence at the end of the phone seemed filled with tension. “We’d like to apologize.”

  Giddiness consumed her chest. Listen heart, if you do one more somersault I’ll have you restrained or removed. Got it? “I see.”

  “Not over the phone. We’d like to meet with you.”

  “Where?”

  “Our place.”

  Home ground advantage? I suppose I could give them a break—

  —Sucker.

  “When?”

  “Tonight, six o’clock.”

  “Thank you for the flowers.”

  “You’re welcome.” A deep breath rasped over the phone. “See you at six, Sarah.”

  “Goodbye, Nick.”

  She carefully closed her phone, then the excitement and exhilaration buzzing through her exploded free. She bounced on the balls of her feet, a grin pulled on her lips and she twisted her body in a short Snoopy dance.

  “Good news?”

  She turned to Tammy. “They want to apologize.”

  “Nick and Adam?”

  “Yes.”

  “Make ‘em work for it.”

  Concentration eluded Sarah for most of the afternoon. At four-thirty she acknowledged defeat and shut down her computer. Her mobile rang with Nick’s identifying tune and she answered to hear an aggressive voice yell, “For Christ’s sake move the fucking thing out of the fucking way you inconsiderate fucking prick!”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Sarah? Oh damn, baby that wasn’t directed at you. I’m stuck in traffic.”

  She smothered a chuckle. “Glad to hear it. Not you being stuck in traffic, that you weren’t swearing at me.”

  “I’ll be home as soon as I can.”

  “Perhaps we should postpone—”

  “No! Adam is home. He’ll look after you.” A harsh breath rasped in her ear. “Please, Sarah.”

  “Okay. I’ll see you later.”

  “You will.”

  A shiver of anticipation sparkled through her at what sounded like a delicious threat. She hassled Tammy to hurry, cadged a lift home from her friend and rushed through a shower and changed into a midnight-blue chiffon dress studded with silver stars. At five to six she walked through the golden glow of an evening sun lighting the path leading towards Nick and Adam’s front door. She pressed the doorbell then stood back.

  The door took a while to open to eventually reveal Adam dressed in loose, grey sweat pants. Her gaze glued to his bronzed six-pack abdomen and muscled chest. She finally managed to raise her focus and concern spiked through her at his pale face and pain-deadened eyes. He looked like death warmed up and leaned on the doorframe as though needing it for support.

  “Adam! What’s wrong?”

  “I’m sorry, Sarah, I’ve—” A spasm of pain crossed his face and his breath hitched. “Migraine,” he murmured.

  Compassion welled. She stepped close and lifted one of his arms over her shoulder.

  “Come on, let’s get you to bed.”

  Not how I intended my first bedding of a male to go. She manoeuvred him around and back into the house. “You’ve taken something for it?”

  He began to nod then his eyes closed in a grimace, obviously wishing he’d not made the venture. “Yes,” he managed on a moaning breath.

  “Right. We’ll get you to bed and I’ll leave you in peace and quiet.”

  His hand snaked down her arm and manacled her wrist.

  “No. Stay.”

  She pursed her lips in doubt. When she had a killer headache she didn’t want anybody even breathing in the same room. “Come along. Which way?”

  He directed her down the hallway and into a huge bedroom. At the king-size sleigh bed she helped him settle on the mattress.

  “You look pretty,” he murmured.

  She smiled at him for his effort. “I’ll be back in a moment.” But he refused to release her wrist. “Rocket scientist’s honour,” she pledged.

  His grip opened and his eyes closed. She went to a set of sliding glass doors overlooking a lap pool and drew the heavy curtains. The room plunged into deep shadow. Blinded, she remained still until her eyes adjusted then she headed for what she hoped was an ensuite.

  “Sarah?” The plea in Adam’s voice tugged at her heartstrings.

  “I’m just going to get something that will help,” she assured softly.

  With the door closed behind her she called for the bathroom light then squinted in the sudden brightness. Creamy-golden marble tiles covered the walls. A single, huge glass-panelled shower with double showerheads graced one wall. Opposite twin white basins made pleasant contrast to a black granite bench top.

  Nice.

  She grabbed a face washer, wet it under cold water, wrung it out and hurried back to Adam. “There.” She soothed the cool compress across his forehead.

  “Thank you, my angel of mercy.” He held an arm open towards the centre of the bed. “Please.”

  She succumbed to his plea and shook her head in self-derision. I am such a pushover. “So long as I don’t cause you discomfort.

  “I feel better just having you here.”

  You feel better because you took some serious painkillers.

  She turned off her phone, placed it on a bedside table and slipped off her sandals. Careful not to disturb his relaxing body, she crawled up beside him. He closed an arm around her and guided her close. She rested her head on his shoulder and placed a hand on the hard ridges of his abdomen. A sigh passed his lips.

  Nick opened the door to their home in a complete rage. He’d been held up for two fucking hours while debris from a poorly secured load of timber had been cleared from the motorway. It was an absolute miracle people hadn’t been injured in the resulting chaos when the load had let go.

  He’d tried to call several times, but both Adam and Sarah’s phones went straight to voicemail and he’d worked himself into a jealous depression wondering what they were getting up to without him. He frowned at the darkness cloaking their home and finally acknowledged the familiar presentiment that had haunted him for the past couple of hours.

  Adam was unwell.

  Shamed that he’d wallowed in envious resentment when Adam was in pain, and no doubt deprived of Sarah’s presence as well, he called for low lights and strode through the house. He silently opened the door to their bedroom a
nd, unhindered by the pitch-blackness, made straight for the shower.

  What a pig of a day.

  And now he’d lost the pleasure of Sarah’s company and the opportunity to express his apology. Hopefully she’d give them another chance. No, no hopefully about it. They’d hound her until she did. God, he had so been looking forward to holding her in his arms again. He illuminated the bathroom, stripped and stepped into the shower.

  It wouldn’t be wise to blurt out their deep, profound attachment to her. Not yet. Nor the genetically manufactured reason behind it. How would she cope with that information? Negotiating through telling her was going to be a minefield, no doubt about it.

  He ran a soapy hand over his hairless chest. Would Sarah be disappointed by his and Adam’s hirsute lack in that department? In this day and age a man’s virility was measured by the amount of testosterone-producing hair on his chest. An anticipatory grin stretched his lips. They’d take much pleasure in proving to her just how virile they were.

  He imagined her small hand on his skin. Sliding over the muscles of his chest, just as his own hand did now. Down over his abdomen to stop and tease his pubic hairs, tormenting himself as he’d love her to. A ripple of awareness shafted from his sensitive skin to plunge into his cock. He strummed his fingers across the root of his sex. Would she smile up at him before taking him into her hand?

  The promise of pleasure thrust his hips forward and his cock slid between the slippery grasp of his fingers. Would her touch be gentle or firm? Would he beg her to hold him tighter? Run her thumb over the crown of his cock—agh yes! Just like that—and milk pre-cum from him? Would she make him hard as stone with her small hand then wash the soap from his body and go on her knees before him?

  His back arched and his shoulders pressed into smooth tile. He pumped into his hand, imagining her elegant mouth wrapped around his rigid arousal. He whispered her name, visualized Adam behind her, running his hands over her inner thighs and testing the readiness of her sex. Behind his closed lids, he saw Adam fingering her clit, inserting a finger into her channel. He almost felt her moan through his engorged dick. His heart hammered in his chest.