Ava Gray - Skin Tight

“I don’t have anything to do with it. I can’t construct other people’s base expectations. I’ve simply learned to shift them to my advantage via my movements, behavior, and wardrobe. So if she expected the street to be clear and I was nearby, then that’s what she saw.”

Mia thought she might be getting somewhere. She couldn’t falter now, so she steeled herself to the misery that lay beneath his anger. “Why would she have any expectations at all regarding the road?”

His first hesitation. “I don’t know.”

“So you concede that she might’ve seen the car, if she had stopped to look. Søren, I’m so sorry for your loss, I am, but it doesn’t track logically that this same accident couldn’t have occurred to another family on your street. One bereft of weird abilities.

“It still would’ve been a tragedy, and my heart is broken on your behalf, but you must accept that you didn’t do this. You loved her. Thinking about how you’ve cared for her all these years, it makes me want to cry. And the way you adopted Beulah as your own? It reveals you. You’ve been walking a dark road alone for a long time, but you’re not a bad person. If anything, you feel too deeply.” She gave a watery smile, tears barely held at bay. “That’s a hell of a kryptonite for any superhero. No wonder you buried any sign of it under layers of ice.”

“Can we stop now?” You’ve eviscerated me, his eyes said.

“Sure. I can’t persuade you I’m right. But in time you may accept that I am.”

He grunted in answer.

Reluctantly, she let the matter drop. Silence, punctuated with remote birdsong, reigned in the cabin. They had been here for a couple of days, and the peace had seeped into her soul. She understood now why he loved this spot, but hiding wouldn’t make their problems go away. And sex was out of the question right now; she was lucky he hadn’t put her outside for the bears yet.

So she changed the subject. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad we’re safe. But I’m wondering what we can accomplish out here.”

“You’d be surprised.”

“Would I?”

“Does this mean I’m supposed to show you now?”

She wondered if it was too soon for a joke. “Well, I think I’ve seen everything else.”

“Are you saying you’re bored with… everything else?” In a few scant moments, Søren had lost his sharpness, his anger, everything that fueled him.

“No. Just eager to put this behind us. If we can.” Mia was none too sure.

“We will. Regardless of blame, I must finish what I’ve started, but I promise you will take no lasting harm from your time with me.”

Time, as in limited. Pain lodged inside her sternum. After what she’d done to him, doubtless she deserved it. To cover, she said, “That’s good to know. You had something to show me?”

Søren felt as though she’d flayed him with her tongue.

God knew he should be furious. And he had been. But now he was something else, somewhere between bitterness and loss. The mood left a salty flavor on his tongue.

He escaped gratefully to the car, where he withdrew a case. The circular object inside he affixed to the roof and then made the necessary connections. Next, he fetched his laptop, which he connected to the device on the roof. The mountain air held a chill, so he slid into the passenger seat and ran the cable through the lowered window.

But instead of getting to work, he stared off into the trees. Pines marched in stately rows all around him; he could picture what they’d look like from the summit, though from right here, he saw only a green tangle. That seemed particularly apropos.

He couldn’t begin to sort the emotional snarl Mia had created with her quiet, brave declaration: because her I love you wasn’t-couldn’t-be true. He didn’t dare place any faith in it. Some women just had a tendency to attach to men they couldn’t have, and he was more untouchable than most.

With a faint sigh, he powered up the laptop. Before departing, he’d set up a forward, filtered through a number of servers, to receive any incoming mail. He suspected their enemies would make contact directly, trying to lure them out into the open.

He checked old accounts first, men he had been in previous lives. Those names were quiet like the grave. But when he pulled up the Thomas Strong file, he had five messages waiting. The first two were banal, involving company business.

We await your decision regarding the donation. Your efforts will save a life. Too late on that one, even if he were AB negative. He hoped they’d found an alternative source.

It has come to my attention there has been potential misconduct between you and a member of our IT department. Please contact me at your earliest convenience. That one was from Frederick Collins, the director of operations. He smiled reluctantly; he supposed tying a subordinate employee to his bed might constitute harassment in the usual course. But how did they know? That presented some interesting questions.

He set some inquiries in motion regarding Collins’s personal correspondence and then moved on to the final e-mail. We know you’re working with Mia Sauter. Things will go badly for you unless we come to some arrangement.

“They think they can buy me off,” he muttered.

Mia tapped on the window to let him know she was there. She’d tugged his shirt over her own in lieu of a jacket, and it hurt him to look at her. “What is all this?”

“Satellite uplink.”

“Isn’t that insanely expensive?”

“Not anymore.”

“And what are you doing?”

“Finding out what they know.”

“Which is?”

It pleased him to make her mine for information, as if each syllable were encased in gold. “They think you’re in charge, and that you’ve persuaded me to help you.”

Her mouth curved into a mocking smile. “Well, how about that. So they have no idea who you are?”

“It appears not.”

“Does that help us?”

“Doesn’t hurt.”

Mia curled her hands into fists. “Are you going to be like this the whole time?”

“Like what?” He regarded her coolly.

“Never mind.” She whirled and stalked back to the cabin.

Smiling, he typed a reply: You’re mistaken. Your trouble has only just begun.

He had ample time to come up with a strategy and respond to whatever gambit they offered. There had to be a way inside the real labs. It stung that he’d wasted that time undercover before being forced to flee, but he wouldn’t give up. It had taken ages just to find the dummy facility, after all, but he’d done it. Now he’d find a way to end this.

But Mia complicated his initial plan. Somehow he doubted she would be amenable to staying out of it while he went in to destroy the place… even if it killed him. Before meeting her, that had been the optimum result. He’d played the scene so often in his head that it offered near sexual satisfaction.

He didn’t know what he wanted anymore.

Søren disassembled the gear, stowed it, and grabbed a bag before he closed the trunk. Ordinarily, he would just take off, but he owed her more than that. Muttering, he tapped lightly on the cabin door. When Mia opened it, he said, “I’m going to take a walk and set some traps on the perimeter. I’ll be back later.”

“Stay here, in other words.”

“If you don’t mind.”

She was the most frustrating woman. Any other female would obsess over the revelation she’d made earlier and his response to it, but Mia had attitude to burn. Søren turned, shouldering the gear.

“You can’t run away from the real world forever,” she said.

“My reality and yours are quite different. Drop the bar when I leave and don’t open it until you hear my voice.”