Shamrock: A Linear Tactical Romantic Suspense Standalone

by Janie Crouch

  She smiled at the older man. “Baking and engineering are not as dissimilar as you might think. Both rely on precision and attention to detail.”

  The men finished the pastries on the plate, looking around as they did. What did they see when they looked at it through their more neutral, businessperson’s eyes?

  She had no doubt Gabe would tell her. Especially if he didn’t like it.

  Gabe finally spoke. “So the reason you were in downtown Idaho Falls by yourself in a parking garage at ten o’clock at night when you were kidnapped was because of a baking class?”

  She straightened her shoulders, caught off guard by her brother’s abrupt statement. “Yes, I had been taking a class for a few months.”

  “And you didn’t think to mention that to me? That it might be a security issue?” He arched a brow.

  “That’s not fair and you know it, Gabe. I had no idea there was a security issue, and you never asked me in the past where I was going when I went out.”

  She could almost see her brother regroup, trying to find the best angle to come at her and make his point without causing harm to their relationship. “I guess what I’m saying is that if this was so important to you, if you were this close to opening a bakery, why haven’t you ever mentioned it before now?”

  His tone was the very epitome of friendly rationality. Violet knew what her brother was doing: appealing to her sense of reason. He was suggesting that she was latching on to baking because of the kidnapping. That it didn’t have a permanent place in her life.

  But it did.

  “I wasn’t hiding it. It just never came up.”

  He raised a dark eyebrow. “Well, it has certainly come up now. It just all seems like a very sudden change. Nobody knew you baked at all, and then the next thing we know you’re opening your own bakery.”

  “I’m not saying opening this place has nothing to do with the kidnapping.” She held her hands out, looking between both men. “How could it not? It affected everything about me, affected how I see the world. The evil that I know is much closer than I used to think.”

  Gabe put his hand on top of hers on the table. “I know that,” he whispered. “And I hate it. I hate that your safe existence had to change at all, much less so brutally. That you had to have firsthand knowledge of that sort of ugliness.”

  “I know.”

  Gabe agonized over what had happened to her. He didn’t mind facing the ugliness and depravity of an evil world himself—he’d become a Navy SEAL in order to stand in that gap and fight darkness so that people like her wouldn’t have to face it. And she loved him for it.

  But it still didn’t change the fact that her kidnapping had happened. For better or worse, it changed how she viewed everything.

  “I can’t go back to what I was before.” She set her jaw. This was nonnegotiable.

  He shook his head, eyes softening. “I know. I don’t expect you to.”

  Violet smiled and touched his hand. Good. Maybe Gabriel was finally understanding.

  “I’m just saying,” he continued, “if you need to take time off, to travel or regroup or whatever, you could do that. But starting a new business, even more, an entirely new career? That’s a little overkill, don’t you think?”

  Or maybe he wasn’t understanding anything at all. She sighed. “No, I don’t think that.”

  Gabe ran a hand over his face. “You’re only doing all this because of your kidnapping.”

  At Gabe’s words she looked over at Edward, hoping for support, but the older man was studying the tabletop as if it held all the mysteries of the universe. He obviously didn’t want to get in the middle.

  She turned back to her brother. “Baking has been an important part of me for a while. It wasn’t something I dove into because of what happened to me.”

  “Fine.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Not the act of cooking itself, but this whole bakery as a business has come up because of your kidnapping.”

  She slammed her hand down on the table, causing the plate to rattle. Both men startled, then stared at her like she was some unknown creature. She couldn’t blame them. They’d never seen her act this way before.

  She fought for patience. “No, Gabe. What my kidnapping, assault, and constant fear that I was going to die”—he flinched at her words, but she wasn’t going to sugarcoat this for him—“highlighted for me is that even though I’m only twenty-two, I am not guaranteed a tomorrow. Life is too short to spend my time in a career I’m not passionate about.”

  No more passivity.

  “This is what I’m passionate about. Baking. Creating. Providing it for other people and having them be happy for just a moment as the flavors hit their mouths. Supplying a place where they can sit and be part of a community and just eat some fantastic treats. That’s what I’m passionate about. Not Collingwood Technology. Not engineering.”

  Now Gabriel slammed his hand down on the table. “Being passionate doesn’t mean you just get to ignore reason and responsibility. You’re opening a business, Violet. What if it doesn’t make enough to support you? There has to be a lot of overhead in a place like this.”

  “Fancy Pants doesn’t have to make a lot. I used my personal inheritance to pay for the building and make the necessary changes. So fortunately, I’m not under some of the same financial pressures that many new business owners face.”

  She was pretty sure her brother’s eyes were going to bug out of his head. “You used the money Mom and Dad left you to start this business?”

  When their parents had died, both she and Gabe had been left individual inheritances that were not tied in with the company. It wasn’t so much that they would never need to work again, but it had been more than enough for Violet to buy the building and make the necessary changes.

  “Before you start yelling at me about how using my personal finances wasn’t good business sense, I already know that, and I made the choice deliberately. I didn’t want to have to worry about cash flow.”

  Her brother looked like he was about to blow a gasket. Jordan walked out from the back kitchen, halting whatever tirade Gabriel was about to deliver.

  “Oh, sorry. I didn’t realize anyone was out here with you, Violet.” Jordan turned to walk back into the kitchen.

  “Stop. Who are you?” Gabriel snapped.

  Jordan stayed by the door but turned back toward them. “I just work in the back. No biggie.”

  Violet walked over and linked her arm with Jordan’s, towing her back out toward the table. Both Gabriel and Edward stood at their approach before sitting back down again. Jordan seemed a little surprised at the common courtesy.

  “This is Jordan Reiss. She’s been an absolute godsend.”

  Gabriel was not even trying to hide that he was staring at Jordan.

  “I just had a question about the tart, but it can wait. I better get back to the kitchen.” Jordan turned to leave.

  “Reiss?” Gabriel asked. “That’s your last name? I’ve heard that name.”

  Jordan stopped walking, her back now ramrod straight, and nodded without turning back.

  Gabriel’s focus moved off Jordan and onto Violet. “Great. Not only are you making questionable business choices, you’re also hiring criminals.”

  Now Jordan turned around, tension evident in the slender woman’s frame. “I’m not a criminal. I did my time.”

  “Come on, Gabe,” Violet said. “She fell asleep behind the wheel when she was eighteen years old. But for the grace of God, that could’ve been any of us.”

  Gabe leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m not even talking about her jail time. I’m talking about the fact that her father, Michael Reiss, was a con man who cheated a lot of the people in this town out of their hard-earned money.”

  Violet looked over at Jordan, but she was staring down at her feet, her arms hanging low at her sides. Violet knew it was true without even asking her.

  “See, Violet?” Gabe said softly. “You�
�re not processing clearly, not making wise choices. Your abduction affected you more than you think. You need to let the people you trust help you make decisions right now.”

  For just a second, Violet was tempted to give in. It was in her nature. A twenty-two-year pattern of going along with what other people told her was best for her was hard to break.

  “No.”

  Gabriel hit the table again. “Goddammit, enough already. Think about what you’re doing.”

  “She’s an adult.” Jordan wasn’t looking down at her feet any longer, she was glaring at Gabe. “She can do what she wants. Plus she’s absolutely amazing at this. And she loves it.”

  “Oh really?” Gabe scoffed. “You’ve been out of prison for what, an hour and a half? That makes you some big authority on human nature? Is that just for honest people like my sister, or do you stick to what you’re familiar with?”

  “Gabe!” Violet had never heard her brother talk to anyone like this.

  “All right now, everyone, let’s calm down.” Edward was holding out his hands in an attempt to soothe.

  “You think you know anything about me, rich boy?” Jordan’s voice dripped venom.

  Now Violet spun to look at Jordan. She’d never heard the woman speak in that tone either. The other woman had taken a step toward Gabriel like she was going to fight him or something.

  Gabriel stood again. Jordan may be tall, but Gabriel’s huge arms and shoulders made him look nearly twice the size of the slender woman. “I think I know enough about you to know you don’t belong here, tainting someone innocent like Violet.”

  These two were going to kill each other.

  “Enough.” Violet said it with enough force that everybody turned their attention to her. “Jordan stays. She already told me about the vehicular manslaughter charge, and what her father did is not her responsibility. So if you don’t mind, Jordan, if you could head back to the kitchen, I’ll be there in a few minutes, and we can figure out the problem with the tart.”

  Jordan nodded and turned back toward the kitchen. Gabriel muttered something about Jordan’s expertise as a tart, and Violet glared at him. It was obvious from how the other woman’s shoulders stiffened even more that she’d heard him.

  “You,” Violet poked her finger at Gabe’s chest, “on the other hand, are welcome to leave. Take your juvenile comments with you. And don’t come back until you’re ready to support me.”

  Gabe looked like he was about to light into her again when Edward touched her arm.

  “Your brother does support you, Violet. You know that. He loves you, and that’s why he is having a difficult time expressing himself.” The older man’s voice was reasonable. Calm. Edward’s voice had always been the one of reason. It had just never been needed between Gabe and Violet. “Let’s just talk for a few more minutes. Both of you will be unhappy if you leave here in anger.”

  Gabe folded himself into the chair again, mouth tight. Violet did the same.

  “Anyone can see this bakery is important to you,” Edward said. “I know Gabe and I are both unhappy that you’ve had this passion inside you and you didn’t feel like we would understand it. We hate to think we were stifling you in this way.”

  She looked over at Gabe, and he gave her a brief nod.

  “But the work you were doing at CT, many of your individual projects, like the hydrocarbon fuel cell, are also important,” Edward continued.

  The micro hydrocarbon fuel cell? Admittedly, she missed that, and she was perhaps at the forefront of the field when it came to that technology. But it was a dead-end project since it could so easily be utilized as part of a weapon. She wouldn’t be working on it even if she went back to Idaho Falls with them today.

  Which she wasn’t.

  But she touched her brother’s hand where it rested on the table. “Am I truly leaving you in a lurch? That wasn’t my intent. Is CT going to suffer without me?”

  Gabe rolled his eyes but squeezed her hand. “Yes, we’re going to suffer without you. I’m going to suffer without you. But no, it’s not going to affect the bottom line of the company. Edward just wants you around for his pet projects as always.” His finger stroked up and down her hand. “You’re a brilliant engineer, and you’re my baby sister. So of course I want you around.”

  He stood up and began walking around the room. “But this place is amazing, Vi. It’s so homey, not like your apartment or the office.” He studied the bookshelf she’d filled with knickknacks and odds and ends she’d found at various shops and flea markets around the area.

  Gabe picked up a small porcelain elephant—so feminine with its pink and purple polka dots. “I made a lot of mistakes with you when you were growing up. I didn’t let you be much of a normal teenage girl, rushing you into the engineering stuff.”

  She stood and walked over to him, putting her arms around his waist and leaning her cheek against his back. “You did your best, and it was more than enough. I was never going to be a typical teenage girl anyway.

  “I need to do this,” she continued after a moment. “I want to do this. I need you to keep CT as successful as it has been, so that if I decide this isn’t for me and want to come back, I can.”

  She knew that wasn’t going to happen. But she also understood that giving up Fancy Pants and returning to Idaho Falls was an option if she wanted.

  “Okay,” he said.

  “This might fail, and if it does, then at least I tried. I followed my passion.”

  He turned so he could hug her back. “You’re a Collingwood. You’re amazing. Fancy Pants won’t fail, fancy pants.”

  Chapter 18

  “So, how does it feel to have two weeks under your belt as the owner of the best bakery in town?” Aiden called out from his bathroom to Violet lying on his bed.

  “Not quite as good as what you just did under my belt, but yeah, pretty fantastic.”

  Aiden grinned. She sounded happy. Sated. Just the way he wanted her.

  The past few weeks had been hectic for her. Opening a business was no small feat, but she had excelled. There could be no doubt that everyone loved Violet’s edible creations. She had Jordan helping her full-time and Charlie and a couple of other young women helping part-time and on weekends. Fancy Pants had more than enough business to employ them all.

  Finding time to spend with Violet had been tough. When Aiden had explained his plan to take it slow, this wasn’t exactly what he’d had in mind. But he couldn’t begrudge Violet her absolute joy at what she was doing.

  “Dates” for the past three weeks had turned into grabbing takeout and eating it at her place or his, or sometimes even him helping her at the shop. Some nights he had to literally drag her upstairs away from her recipes and the new ideas she wanted to try. Even the exuberant and energetic candle of a twenty-two-year-old would only burn at both ends for so long, although there was no telling her that. She needed rest, a chance to be away from the business she loved so much in order to be able to continue working at the pace she wanted.

  Aiden happily took on the duty of carrying her upstairs each night and making love to her until she was no longer trying to sneak back downstairs to her kitchen. He had no problem with that job.

  Half of Saturday and all day Sunday were theirs. The bakery closed just after noon on Saturday, and each week Aiden had been there ready to pick her up. That first Saturday—in what she had called the worst first date ever—he’d taken her to Linear Tactical and shown her around. He’d wanted to show her where he worked and the place that held such an important part of his life. That, she hadn’t minded. She’d enjoyed it, asking question after question about the facility and business.

  Go figure, his little baker-engineer had a particular interest in wilderness survival training and wanted to know when she could get in on a class.

  After the tour and answering all her many questions, he’d proceeded to drag her into the middle of a self-defense workshop Gavin had been teaching. That was why Aiden had brought her there in th
e first place.

  No, it wasn’t a great date, not in the traditional sense of the word. Maybe not in any sense of the word. But when they had left the workshop two hours later, Violet had learned a half dozen methods to protect herself that she hadn’t known before. No matter what happened between the two of them, Aiden wanted her to have that knowledge.

  She’d been uncomfortable in the class at first. She’d made jokes about it—about his inability to come up with a better date—but he’d known that was a defense mechanism. Some of what was being taught in the class hit very close to home for her. Taking it out on him with sarcasm was an attempt to cope.

  That was the other reason why he’d wanted to do this class. So they could do it together. He knew she could have done it with her girlfriends, hell, even with her brother. But he also knew she wouldn’t want to tell them all what had happened when she’d been abducted, her worst fears. Aiden had already been witness to a lot of those, so hiding it from him was a moot point.

  Still, there had been some he hadn’t known about.

  She’d been all winks and suggestive comments when they’d gone over the methods for escaping someone who was lying on top of her. Aiden had been more than happy to place kisses on her lips in between bouts. She’d made him wish they didn’t have a half dozen people around so they could try the maneuvers naked.

  But when he’d flipped her over onto her stomach and allowed some of his weight to rest on her hips and legs, she’d immediately frozen.

  The sound of her ragged breathing had been so loud, it had drawn the attention of some of the other people in the class. Gavin had met Aiden’s eyes, realizing Violet was having a panic attack. He’d called for a break and had gotten everyone else out of the training room.

  Aiden had stayed where he was on top of Violet, crooning her name, even when her tiny sob broke his heart. He wanted to jump off, whirl her away from the situation that was bringing back such hard memories. But if they could work through this now, it would help her so much more in the future.