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“You dressed me in boots five times too big and made me wear hideous overalls…”
“That proved quite useful for your clandestine mission,” I reminded her.
She cocked her head in agreement.
We stood for a few moments longer, then more footsteps set me on edge. I held my breath as I waited for the owner to appear and let out a sigh of relief when Hector appeared carrying a brown box. He nodded wordlessly and walked out of the building, quickly followed by Arran and two other guys.
Her hand tightened around my fingers. What’s in those boxes?”
“Papers, mushroom spawn, equipment. It’s all going to be packed up and taken to the Isle of Creally, to Kyra’s lab.”
She nodded slowly. “I’m sorry I doubted you,” she said, quietly.
“You didn’t though, did you?” I couldn’t remember her doing any such thing.
She turned again, slowly. “When you found me in the Glade, you told me you were working on an alternative method to cultivate the agarics and I practically laughed at you. I didn’t think you were serious. I mean, Bas had already been in circulation for three years. But I get it now. I know it hasn’t been easy trying to get it to grow without all that… toxicity.”
I squeezed her hand. “You don’t need to apologise for anything. You were right, and I’d lied to you. I hate myself for that.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You shouldn’t. You were trying to protect too much – me, Hector, your family name.”
I snorted. “Right.”
“It was honourable, Rupert.”
My spine tensed and I curled an arm around her neck hugging her to me. Now all of that – my family, my obligations, my duty – had fallen away, the only thing of importance was her. I pressed my lips to her scalp. “God, I love you.”
Her own lips moved against my collar bone. “I love you too.”
I held her tightly until the conviction settled in my bones.
“Come on,” I said, unwrapping her and taking her hand again. “Let’s finish this.”
Her face lit up. “Where first?”
I nodded down the corridor. “The labs themselves of course.”
We set off towards Lab One, then her hand pulled me back.
“Wait. I just want to do one thing.” Mischief danced across her features then she walked towards my office.
“For old times’ sake,” she said with a grin. “I just need some alone time with the four walls that witnessed my thievery. Oh, and to see if those boots are still there. I need a souvenir.”
I rolled my eyes and bit back a groan. "Fine. Do what you need to do.”
I watched the door close behind her and took the opportunity to glance around the sterile space. The area to the side of the security desk was spotless – no one would ever know I’d shot a man and let him bleed onto that floor. There was no hum coming from the security cameras behind the desk – they’d all been disabled along with the alarm. There were no white clothed scientists or technicians bustling through the corridors – since the wedding, they’d been put on forced leave until we could supposedly fix some of the shit that had gone down. Little did they know, they’d never be asked to come back. I made a mental note to find all those workers some other form of livelihood. Many of them worked for the labs because they had no other choice. I couldn’t allow them to be victims all over again.
I walked back to the doors and let my vision be filled with the memory of Vivian standing there, trembling, while I laid down my demands. She’d just tried to deceive me, yet, while it was downright fucking annoying she’d got away with so much so soon, I was in absolute awe of her balls. If I hadn’t noticed her by that point – which I definitely had – then that very moment when she squared her shoulders and demanded to know what I meant by doing as I asked, made me notice every damn molecule of her existence. No one had ever questioned me like that before. It was like she’d come from another planet. And it sent shivers down my back.
Her defiance gave me a rush that I’ll never recover from. I’ll never get enough. When I threatened to throw her in my car, I meant every word. What I omitted from that threat was I was quite willing to lock the doors and fuck her from here to Siberia as penance for her sins. Holding out was hard. Hearing her finger herself with my name on her lips was godforsaken torture. It was also enough. Enough to make me lose my mind and find ways to make her lose hers. But in that maze of loss, we found each other. And that was all we each needed.
My gaze tracked back to the door. What the fuck was she doing in there? Trying on every pair of overalls?
“Babe, let’s go.”
When no movement came, a spark of desire lit up in my belly. It wasn’t the time nor the place to relive that day of sexual tension, but I admired her spirit. The Vivian of old would have wanted me to rip off her underwear, throw a leg over my shoulder and eat her out with abandon, but the new Vivian, the one I was still cautious about touching, could want something completely different.
I walked to the door. “We need to move, Vivian.”
