by Janie Crouch
He helped her finish the paperwork and escorted her out. He expected more of an argument from Gabe, until Violet explained he was going to give Jordan a ride home. Evidently Oak Creek’s ugly side had made an appearance in terms of Jordan’s care.
“Did you know they treat her like this?” she asked after explaining what had happened.
“I know a lot of people around here still hold a grudge. I wasn’t trying to keep it from you, I just figured it was Jordan’s choice about how much to say. Her trauma to talk about or not.”
She sighed. “I guess I can understand that. I just wish I had known so I could have helped her.”
He wrapped an arm around her as they walked out onto the sidewalk from the hospital. “Everybody has to choose how to fight their wars. So far, Jordan’s MO has been evasion. If she decides to make an out-and-out stand, she’ll know she can count on you beside her.”
She nodded, her arm wrapping around his waist. “I probably shouldn’t get this close to you. You’re going to smell like a kitchen fire.”
“I’ve got a shower and a lot of shower gel. The smell will eventually come off.”
She peered up at him. “I might need some help scrubbing off in the shower. But you’ll have to promise to be very, very thorough.”
This woman. She was everything. “Firefly . . .”
She heaved a sigh. “I know. I know. We’re on a break. We need distance. I need to make completely sure my big-girl panties work. You’re going to work in Timbuktu so we can stay away from each other.”
He stopped walking and turned to face her. This wasn’t a conversation he’d planned to have in the middle of the sidewalk, even if it was relatively empty. But it couldn’t wait.
She hadn’t stopped talking. “Showering together is a bad idea because of all the mind-blowing sex it leads to. Yada yada yada. But you know wha—”
He put a finger over her mouth because if she said one more word, he would throw her down on the sidewalk and take her right here.
“You know what?” he said. “Screw all that stuff I said before. My intentions may have been good, but I don’t care anymore. You’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever met. You’re strong in every way a person can be strong—physically, emotionally, mentally. You’re strong with me, without me, it doesn’t matter.”
“Aiden . . .”
He cupped both her dirty cheeks in his hands. “I’m never going to be your crutch. You’re never going to need a crutch. Every gain you’ve made has been your own. And if you start to doubt that at some point, we’ll just take it to the mat, and you can beat on me until you prove yourself wrong.”
He kissed her tenderly. “Take me back, Firefly. Come home with me, not just for a shower, not just while they repair your bakery. Come home with me and stay. Let’s figure out where this—us—leads.”
She let out a soft sigh that had him worried.
Shit. “What? Too much, too fast?” She was twenty-two fucking years old, for Christ’s sake. What was he doing, besides scaring the shit out of her? He scrubbed a hand over his face as an even worse thought hit him. “Too late?” he croaked.
What if the time apart had made her realize that she wanted things to be casual between them, if she even wanted anything at all?
She folded her arms over her chest. “What I’ve said from the very beginning in your kitchen is still true. I refuse to take a passive role in my own life ever again. I refuse to blindly conform to what other people want for me any longer or let them make decisions for me and just go along with them. That includes you too.”
He could barely breathe through the pressure squeezing his heart. How had screwed up the most important thing in his life so badly?
“Violet, I . . .” He trailed off, not even sure what direction to take. Should he try to explain? To reason? To beg?
She reached out and poked him in the chest with one small finger. “Lucky for you, I’d already decided what I wanted before your little speech. Hell, before the fire even broke out. I was coming for you, Teague. You weren’t getting away from me that easily.”
There was finally enough oxygen in the world again. “I wasn’t?”
“You were right about some of what you said the other night. I probably do need to continue my training with someone else if I want to take it to the next level.”
He nodded.
“But I get to choose who’s by my side. Just like you get to choose who’s by your side. Nobody makes that choice for us. Don’t try to make it for me again.”
He held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
She reached up and grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him down so their foreheads were touching. It was more like the opening stance of a wrestling match than an embrace.
And somehow all the more perfect because of that.
“We stand by each other’s sides. And we’re stronger because of it.”
“Yes.”
She kissed him gently, softly. “I’m learning how to follow my instincts. And all my instincts point directly to you. We’ll figure the rest out on our way.”
He let out a sigh of relief and threaded his fingers in her hair. “You’re young. Every time I hear a damn Drake song, I realize how young you are. I’m not trying to rush you. We’ll take all the time we need.”
“I know my own mind. That’s the good thing about having been so mature all these years. I may not have done a lot of the stupid things that are traditional for people my age, but I’ve never been flighty. I know what I want. I want you.” She grinned. “Even if you are like Off my lawn! old.”
He threw his head back and laughed. He really was in love with her.
And he had to have her right damn now.
He put an arm around her again and started walking so fast she almost had to jog to keep up with him. “Just wait until I get you into the shower. I’ll show you the difference between being old and having enough experience to make you scream my name multiple times.”
She smiled. “So we get clean first, then we’ll get very, very dirty.”
Chapter 26
Violet rolled her eyes at Aiden five days later as she spoke into the phone at breakfast. Aiden couldn’t blame her; Edward had called at least half a dozen times since the fire.
He was pretty desperate to get her to come back. Aiden stood up to get them both another cup of coffee. If this conversation was anything like the last few, Violet would be on the phone for a while. She’d just been making vague agreement sounds—obviously in an attempt to listen and pacify Edward—for the last few minutes.
She set her cell phone down on the table and put it on speaker so she could eat while continuing the conversation. She held her fingers up to her lips to tell Aiden to keep quiet.
As if he wanted to get caught in the middle of this argument.
“We just need you for a few days, Violet,” Edward said. Again. “Your work is so important.”
“I’m not the only person who can work on these projects,” she responded, taking a sip of coffee. “And there’s no way I’m coming back for a whole week. You’re going to have to find someone else.”
“Fine. Not a week. Just three or four days. Gabriel needs you. You know how he is, doesn’t want to talk about it or admit that he needs help. But he does.”
Aiden smirked under his breath. Edward knew just what strings to pull with Violet. She may be all independent, but she wasn’t going to leave a loved one in a lurch.
“Fine. One day. That’s all you get. And then that’s it, Edward, I’m done. CT is not my life anymore.” Those emerald eyes looked up from her food to meet his with a smile. “My life is here in Oak Creek now.”
Aiden flashed her a smile back. It sure as hell was. They didn’t have to know what the future looked like, they just both knew it started here.
“Fine.” Edward sighed. “Thank you. I know Gabriel will be happy to have your help. He’s looking forward to working together with you.”
“I’ll head over to Idaho Falls as soon as I’m done with breakfast.”
They said their goodbyes, with Edward all but gushing his thanks.
“I guess we don’t get to play hooky anymore,” Aiden said.
“I’ll go do this one thing, and then I’m done. Gabe wouldn’t have asked if he didn’t really need my help, and I’ll get to work with him, which will be fun. Besides, if I don’t do it now, Edward will just keep asking, especially while the bakery is out of commission. I don’t think he or Gabe really want to accept that I’m gone.” She got up and came around and sat on his lap, tucking her feet under one of his legs. It was a habit she’d developed once it had gotten colder.
His arms wrapped around her automatically. “Change is hard, but they’ll come around. I need to get into Linear anyway and figure out the new winter schedule. Everything is in a little bit of disarray since I decided not to go overseas.”
“And I’m very happy about that.” She relaxed against him.
They’d spent the last three days in an odd mixture of training, sex, and baking. Since Fancy Pants wouldn’t reopen for at least another two weeks, and that was with Violet paying out of pocket for the repairs until she was reimbursed by insurance in order to speed things up, she’d turned his kitchen into her own pastry test facility. It had never smelled so good in his house. Neighbors, including Mrs. Mazille, were constantly stopping by.
Aiden needed all the training and the sex to burn off the calories from the new creations she’d made him try.
There hadn’t been much progress on who had thrown the bottle bomb into the bakery. Sheriff Nelson had brought in three or four guys who’d been known to give Jordan a hard time in the past. But they’d all had alibis.
Aiden wouldn’t be giving up and wouldn’t be letting Violet stay there alone. Gabe felt the same, and Kendrick and his team would be back on security detail once Fancy Pants reopened.
They finished their breakfast, and Violet got ready to leave.
“If this is the last day I’m giving them, I’m sure it’s going to run pretty late. They’ll try to milk me for every hour they can.”
He grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and pulled her close. “I’ll be waiting up, no matter how late it is.”
She smiled. “That’s just what I was hoping you’d say.”
Violet was barely out of Oak Creek before she got another call from Edward. She sighed and hit speaker again.
“I’m still coming, Edward. I said I would.”
The older man chuckled. “Actually, I’m calling to ask if you can meet us at the research and development warehouse in Irwin on Highway 26.”
“CT still owns that? I thought we got rid of it a couple years ago.”
“No, we still have it, we just don’t use it much anymore. But at least it means less of a drive for you.”
That was true; it would cut her drive nearly in half.
“Okay, I’ll see you there.” She disconnected the call before Edward could start thanking her again for agreeing to work.
She put the directions into her GPS and headed toward the lab, wishing even now that she were headed back toward Aiden. She might be pissed as hell about the fire, more because of the hatred aimed at Jordan than the damage to Fancy Pants, but she would always be a little glad it had happened, since it had forced her and Aiden to confront their real feelings about each other.
Finding the old R&D lab was a little trickier than she remembered. This place really was out in the middle of nowhere. Edward’s sedan was parked out front, but there was no sign of any of the three cars Gabe drove depending on what mood he was in.
She walked inside, shaking her head. If CT was paying for this place, they needed to keep it up better. And most of the inside looked just as neglected as the outside. Only one small section of the lab, where Edward and a lab tech were already waiting for her, held any of the equipment they would need to do significant work.
“It would’ve been worth it for me to drive all the way to Idaho Falls,” she said in lieu of a greeting. “There’s only so much we’re going to be able to do here.”
“It has what we need,” Edward replied. The stranger standing next to him didn’t say anything. He had on a white employee lab coat like many of the CT techs wore. The coat barely covered the muscles on the guy.
“Where’s Gabe? And what the heck was he thinking, sending us here? I can’t believe he let a lab we own get so run-down.”
Edward shrugged. “You know your brother. He always has his reasons, but he doesn’t tend to share them with anyone. This is Matthew Learson. He’s a new employee and isn’t very familiar with many of the CT projects, so I’m not sure how useful he’ll be.”
Learson still hadn’t said anything, so Violet just shrugged. She wasn’t here to make friends. She slipped on the lab jacket Edward handed her, and she had to admit, it felt a little nice. Not what she wanted to be doing all the time, but good for today.
“Well, let’s get started. I’m on your dime, and it’s a very limited one. I don’t want to waste time waiting for Gabe.”
“I was hoping you’d feel that way.” Edward sounded about as excited as he ever got.
Violet literally rolled up her sleeves and got to work. Gabe had sent her a dozen files, each with a problem that needed to be sorted out. None of them were easy, but none of them should’ve been anything that Gabe or any of CT’s higher-level chemical or mechanical engineers couldn’t have figured out on their own.
By midmorning, when Gabe hadn’t shown up—despite asking her to come help him—Violet felt no guilt at all about her decision to make this the last time she worked for CT. Especially when what they were giving her to work on didn’t actually need her expertise.
She was beyond angry at her brother when they stopped for a short lunch. Edward assured her he was on his way, and man, was she going to let Gabe have it when he got there. Not only for being late, but for giving her this crap work.
After lunch they moved on to the next task Edward shoved into her hands. Her microhydrocarbon fuel cell project. Now this was something that truly needed her expertise. The project had been her baby, and she’d made advances on it before they had sent development in a new direction.
Until she and Gabe had realized its strong potential for weaponization.
“Gabe wants me working on this?” she asked.
Edward nodded. “He wouldn’t have sent it if he didn’t.”
She had to admit, she had everything she needed here to take those final steps on the project she’d stopped working on a couple months before the kidnapping.
“Hand me the DMFC,” she said to hulking tech guy. He’d been hovering over her shoulder most of the day, but she had yet to see him do anything of any real use. He just looked at her blankly now.
She shook her head. “The direct methanol fuel cell?”
The guy had no idea what she was referring to. She mentally added “screening lab techs” to the list of things she was going to chew her brother out for. If he ever actually got here.
Edward pushed Learson out of the way and handed her the cell she needed, which she began to dismantle so she could basically strip it for parts.
Edward rubbed his hands together. “Yes, now we’re getting somewhere.”
She didn’t pay him any attention, her focus now on the work at hand. She’d enjoyed this project but hadn’t minded moving away from it when it had become necessary. Partially because of the danger, but partially because she’d known this one was going to be more long-term. Developing it as a weapon was going to be easy—she was almost there now. But continued development so the fuel cell couldn’t be used as a weapon was going to take years of research and testing.
She smiled as she continued to work, the hours now flying by. Even back when she’d been itching for a change, she’d known to back away from the projects that were longer term because she wasn’t going to be here to finish them.
But she could finish this
one component now. It would be the most important aspect of the micro fuel cell. It would be fully functional after today, and she would have to trust Gabe to make sure the prototype and research were protected and kept secret until he and the R&D staff could develop the rest of the technology to keep it from being used as weapons.
But Gabe wasn’t here to assure her of that, was he?
She looked at Edward, who had been hovering over her shoulder. “Are you absolutely positive Gabe wanted me focused on this?”
“One hundred percent. He left very explicit instructions that this was what you were supposed to work on.”
Her stomach dropped. “I thought he was going to be here. Why would he leave instructions for what I was going to work on if he was going to be here to tell me himself?” she asked softly.
For the first time she could ever remember, Edward looked shaken. Not like the rock he’d always been. “I just meant until he gets here.”
There was something wrong. “Why don’t we just take a break until Gabe arrives? Or even better, I’ll call him and cuss him out for forcing us to work when he didn’t even show up.”
“I’m sure he’ll be here any moment. Why don’t we just keep going until he does get here? You’re so close.”
Edward wasn’t an engineer. He worked on contracts and finances for CT. He knew enough to understand the basics of what she was doing, but maybe he didn’t understand the potential danger of what was in front of them.
“I think there’s been a mistake, Edward. I started my testing on the hydrocarbon fuel cell last year and made a lot of progress. But then Gabe and I agreed that it needed to be shelved indefinitely. A normal-sized hydrocarbon fuel cell has a number of legitimate uses. But a micro-sized one, engineered the way it would be here, is nothing but a deadly bomb that would be very difficult to detect. It would make it easy and cheap for terrorists to do as much damage as they wanted.”
Edward shook his head. “That’s so unfortunate.”