Aurora Blazing

by Jessie Mihalik

  And I just might let him.

  My alarm tried to drag me from sleep but I fought the pull. I’d slept hard, but I could use another hour or two. The heavy drapes were closed, leaving the room dim. Putting my com on the dresser had seemed like a good idea at the time, but it meant that now I had to drag myself from bed to turn off the cursed beeping.

  A knock on the door added to the racket. I pulled a pillow over my head and willed everything to be quiet. A few seconds later, my alarm stopped. I blinked in surprise at the blessed silence, but didn’t question my good luck. Now I could go back to sleep.

  “Your alarm has been going off for fifteen minutes,” Ian said. “And you didn’t respond to my knocks.”

  I pulled the pillow off my head and glared in his direction. “I was sleeping.”

  Ian moved closer and I could tell when he entered the silencer’s circle because his steps paused. “Why are you sleeping with a silencer?”

  I peered at him in the faint light. I could just make out his outline near the end of the bed. “Ian, why are you in my room?”

  “When you didn’t turn off your alarm or answer the door, I thought something might’ve happened. Instead, I find you sleeping in a silence field where you couldn’t call for help even if you needed it. Why?”

  I sighed and gave him one of my truths. “Sometimes I have nightmares. This way I don’t bother anyone.”

  “No more silencers. I can’t protect you if I can’t hear you.”

  “Not your decision. Now go away so I can sleep.” But even as I spoke, I felt the last vestiges of sleep slipping away. I wouldn’t be able to sleep even if he left, which he showed no sign of doing. I sat up and glared grumpily at him. “Fine, I’m awake. Happy now?”

  “No, I’ll be happy when you agree about the silencer.”

  “Then I’ve got bad news for you, friend.” I tossed the covers back and slid out of bed. I had on a T-shirt and underwear, so I was decent enough.

  Ian moved closer. He was dressed in a dark shirt and dark pants. I was barefoot, and he towered over me by nearly twenty centimeters. Softly, he asked, “Why do you have to fight me on everything?”

  “Why do you assume you know what’s best for me?” I responded without missing a beat. “Look, I know it’s a security risk. Of course I do. I weighed the risks and decided it was worth it. I don’t know why you always assume I do things on a whim without a thought to the consequences. I always think about the consequences.”

  “And last night? Did you think about the consequences then?”

  I glanced away. “I don’t play with fire without realizing I could get burned.”

  “And did you want to burn?” His voice whispered around me, a temptation in itself.

  Yes. Yes, yes, yes, a million times yes. I’d promised him honesty, so I said nothing at all.

  He touched my jaw, turning my face up to his. I could just make out his handsome features, but the darkness washed the color from his eyes. “Tell me,” he urged, his voice low and delicious.

  If I admitted it, then I gave him the power to hurt me. He’d already hurt me once, long ago. And while I hadn’t expected a love match with Gregory, I’d expected mutual respect and admiration. I’d gotten neither, only more pain. I wanted to trust Ian, to trust that he wouldn’t hurt me again, to trust that he wouldn’t turn out like my late husband, but fear stole the words.

  “What are you doing, Ian?” I asked instead, my voice quiet.

  He ran a thumb across my bottom lip and chuckled. “I’m trying to convince myself to leave before I kiss you.”

  I made a mental list of why kissing Ian would be a bad idea, but, for once, I ignored it. I wanted him to kiss me, consequences be damned. I might not be ready to trust him with my heart quite yet, but I absolutely trusted him with my body. Ian would never physically hurt me, never take more than I offered. I knew it down to my bones.

  “Kiss me,” I breathed.

  He slid his hand into my hair and angled my head. His lips covered mine, warm and firm and divine. I slid my hands up his chest, one to his shoulder, one to the back of his head, and pressed upward, desperate to get closer. He groaned low and sucked my bottom lip into his mouth.

  I opened with a moan and slid my tongue against his. My nipples tightened and my pulse raced, pushed by the lust blazing through my system. Ian skillfully explored my mouth with seemingly infinite patience while I wanted to rip his clothes off and ride him to bliss.

  I pulled back with a gasp, aware that I was teetering on a dangerous precipice. Ian nuzzled his way down my jaw, nibbling and kissing. I let my head fall back into his hand, enjoying the feeling. I drew a mental line in the sand: I would allow this, but no further. Kisses might complicate our relationship, but sex had the potential to destroy it.

  Thoughts sorted, I used the hand buried in Ian’s hair to pull his mouth back to mine. He came willingly, scorching a trail up my jaw. His hand slipped under my shirt and headed north. I stopped him before he reached his destination, though my breasts ached to be touched. But I held on to my resolve by the slenderest of threads—if he caressed me, I’d be lost.

  Ian respected the line I’d drawn. His hands didn’t stray, but his mouth tempted me with every firm stroke of his tongue. By the time he pulled away to rest his forehead against mine, I was lightly panting and nearly ready to combust.

  “I should go,” he said reluctantly, his voice a low growl. His breath came in uneven rasps. I wasn’t the only one affected, then.

  “You should,” I agreed. I played with the soft hair at the back of his head, unwilling to let him go. Once we broke out of this quiet, hidden bubble, the real world would be all too eager to reassert itself, along with all of my doubts and fears.

  He kissed the corner of my mouth and straightened. “Get ready and I’ll meet you downstairs for breakfast. It doesn’t make sense for us to switch to local time if we’re only going to be here for a day.” He pulled away slowly, then turned and disappeared through the door connecting our rooms, closing it gently behind him.

  I stared at the door for a long moment, half hoping he’d come back and finish what he started. My body still hummed. It would take so little to push me over the edge. I’d never reacted so strongly to a kiss before.

  I foresaw an icy cold shower in my very near future.

  After getting ready, I put on my smart glasses, set up my connection safeguards, and logged in to my safe house in HIVE. Outside the window, golden early morning light hadn’t quite burned off the fog, turning the forest into an enchanting wonderland.

  The forest was part of this virtual location, so I often wandered through the trees, but today I didn’t have time for a leisurely stroll. I had two replies on the note board and one of them was from Tori Waugh. Based on the time stamp, I had just missed her.

  Both replies said essentially the same thing: MineCorp did not play when it came to network security. As expected, they had an entire department dedicated to locking down their systems. A remote hack was unlikely to succeed.

  Tori’s note went into further detail. She wasn’t in the security department, but she knew her way around a network and had been doing a little snooping of her own. She said that a few old-timers preferred to use an older, less secure piece of software that left ports open on the systems. The sysadmins had been trying to crack down on it, but the people who used it were in upper management and they did as they pleased.

  I murmured a little prayer of thanks for users who remained set in their ways. They made my job so much easier.

  The ports weren’t open from the outside, but if I could get physical access to the network, I could use a cracking script to get in. She even offered a few that might be useful. She warned that the sysadmins were good, so even if I got in, I wouldn’t have much time before they caught me.

  I saved the scripts, then wrote Tori an effusive note of thanks and attached enough credits to it that she and her wife could have a very nice dinner out. Unlike my other contacts, cred
its weren’t required here, we just helped each other out when we could, but Tori had gone far above and beyond what I had expected.

  I carefully left the safe house and logged out of HIVE. I rounded up a few more scripts that might get me into MineCorp’s systems, then shut down my com and took off my smart glasses.

  Now it was time to face Ian for the first time since our scorching kiss. Despite giving myself a stern pep talk about acting normal, my pulse fluttered as I made my way down to the dining room. The public areas of Rhys’s house were opulent bordering on ostentatious. Rhys hadn’t struck me as the type for conspicuous consumerism, so I wondered why his house was an altar to excess.

  In the foyer, a stately gray-haired butler directed me to the formal dining room. An ornately carved table with seats for fourteen dominated the space. The glittering crystal chandelier fought for equal attention. I would’ve preferred a smaller breakfast room, but I suppose with local time being evening, that wasn’t an option. I felt severely underdressed in my T-shirt and cargo pants.

  Place settings for six were laid out in the middle of the table. Ian sat at the near end with a cup of coffee. He was dressed much the same as me, to my relief, but his expression was guarded.

  “Is there tea?” I asked. I’d only been out of the silencer field for a few minutes, but I could already tell that the crush of signals would be a test. If I was lucky, I’d end the night functional but with a splitting headache.

  Ian waved me to the chair on his left. While I sat, he poured me a cup of tea and added milk and sugar. After last night, it shouldn’t have surprised me that he knew how I liked my tea, but the small kindness still warmed my heart.

  He handed me the cup, and I took a fortifying sip. Desperate to break the awkward silence, I said, “Ada sent me a message to let me know she’s on her way back. She and Loch should be here soon.”

  Ian nodded, still frustratingly silent. Finally, he said, “I apologize for earlier.”

  Humiliation heated my face. If he was about to give me a new version of the “empty-headed princess” speech, I didn’t want to hear it. “There is nothing to apologize for. If you regret it, fine. We’ll put it in the cabinet of things to never mention. But we were both consenting adults.”

  “I shouldn’t have touched you,” Ian said, his voice cool. “It won’t happen again.”

  Pain squeezed my heart. He’d rejected me again. It seemed I would never learn where Ian was concerned. I tried to match his coolness, with only partial success. “Then why did you kiss me in the first place?”

  He sighed and it sounded like it came from the bottom of his soul. “I was being selfish.”

  Hurt morphed into confusion. That wasn’t the answer I’d expected. “What?”

  “There’s no future for us. I know that, but I couldn’t resist. It’s a lapse that won’t happen again. I refuse to use you for selfish reasons.”

  There was an entire universe of things that needed unpacking there, but before I could attempt it, Ada called from the foyer, “Bianca, I’m home!”

  “In the dining room!” I shouted back. Just because I’d had a decorum tutor didn’t mean I had to follow her advice. I glanced at Ian. “This conversation isn’t done,” I whispered.

  His mouth firmed into a straight line, but he nodded.

  Ada entered wearing a sunny, colorful dress and a bright smile. Loch followed, dressed in his usual dark shirt and pants. “We found a way in, no meeting required,” she said. She peered at me. “You look better; you’ve got some color in your cheeks, at least.”

  I very carefully did not look at Ian. “Sleep will do that,” I murmured. “Tell me about the security.”

  “Let’s wait for Rhys and Veronica. They’re just a few minutes behind us and they may have suggestions. What’s for dinner?”

  I shrugged, but Ian said, “Prime rib. I think I mortally offended your chef when I requested that some breakfast items be added.”

  Ada winced. “Mrs. Willis takes her job seriously. She’s probably making a whole second meal. I’ll see if I can head her off.”

  Ada dashed off and Loch slid into the open chair on my left. The air in the room changed, but neither Ian nor Loch gave away a hint of what they were thinking.

  “Thank you for your help,” I told Loch. “I know you did it for Ada, but I appreciate it, too.”

  He frowned and his eyes flickered my way. They caught the light and reflected silver for a fraction of a second. “Why do you think I wouldn’t help you?” he asked, his voice low and gravelly. It’s too bad he didn’t talk much because I found his voice soothing.

  “Ah, well.” I scrambled for an explanation that didn’t give everything away, just in case I was wrong about Ian. “I did threaten you with a rusty utensil.”

  “In defense of Ada, who you helped for years. You also helped me. Of course I will do the same for you.” His gaze moved to Ian. “With any problems you’re having.” The threat was subtle but clear.

  Ian bristled. “She doesn’t need your help.”

  Loch grinned. “That’s for the lady to decide.”

  I bumped my shoulder into Loch’s. “Thank you,” I said softly.

  “You’re welcome.”

  Chapter 20

  When Rhys and Veronica arrived, they hugged me like family and politely greeted Ian, making it clear whose side they were on. Veronica invited me to sit next to her, while Ada sat across from me with Loch next to her. It put Ian as far as possible from me, hemmed in by Loch beside him and Rhys across from him. It was some effortless, next-level hostessing, and I smiled into my tea.

  Ada had not been joking about Mrs. Willis. The lady had outdone herself, serving up both breakfast and dinner. I wasn’t particularly hungry, but after six hours in a silence field, I felt okay, so I filled my plate with fruit and yogurt and a tiny slice of prime rib. I knew I couldn’t overdo it because I would feel worse and worse as the day went on.

  “What did you find at MineCorp?” I asked Ada.

  “Their office is on the ground floor, which is nice, but they’re in a Rockhurst building, which isn’t,” she said.

  Getting caught breaking into a Rockhurst building would make me a prisoner of war, never mind that I wasn’t there for Rockhurst in the first place. Ada hadn’t lost her art of understatement.

  She continued, “Loch and I found a few potential entry points. The four of us should be able to slip in, no problem.”

  “Ada,” I started.

  She slashed her hand through the air. “No. If I didn’t think we’d need your expertise for the system cracking, it would be done already. But if I can be patient, you can let us help.”

  “How is the building security?” Ian asked.

  “Pretty standard for a nice office building: chipped doors, cameras, and at least one guard on patrol,” Ada said. “Most of the surveillance is focused on the fancy glass front of the building. There’s a maintenance entrance in the alley behind that’s barely covered. Entrance through the ventilation system also seems doable, but a little more difficult.”

  I’d crawled through ventilation ducts before and I wasn’t super eager to repeat the experience. A good codebreaker could get us through the door, but we still had to deal with the cameras. Without access to the system, physically disabling them would be easiest, but also the most suspicious.

  “Thanks to Rhys, I got a copy of the building’s blueprint. The servers are two stories underground, so that would be tricky. But if you just need access to a terminal, the executive vice president’s office is on the corner of the third floor. Directly under a maintenance crawl space.”

  “Who owns the fourth floor?” Ian asked.

  Ada grinned at him. “A hotel. And I’ve booked a fourth-floor suite for the night.”

  Veronica had disappeared upstairs after dinner but Rhys had let us raid his warehouse for supplies. We’d loaded everything into suitcases and, to maintain the illusion, I’d donned the dark gold dress I’d bought in Honorius. Ada had loane
d me a luxurious hooded cloak and a scarf to hide my face.

  Now the obsequious hotel manager was showing us to our suite and trying to sneak peeks at Ada and me. Ian and Loch kept blocking him, but the man was persistent.

  “Can I help you?” I asked in my frostiest tone.

  “No, madam, I’m just so honored you have decided to stay at our hotel. I’ve personally ensured that the suite is prepared for your arrival.”

  “Then your assistance is no longer required,” Ian interjected smoothly. The manager stammered out an excuse, but Ian was having none of it. Ian sent him packing and we made our way down the hallway on our own. Ada swiped us into the suite. We each took a room and scanned it for trackers and bugs.

  Loch found three in the bedroom, I found one in the bathroom, and Ada and Ian each found two throughout the rest of the suite. In order to secure the suite she’d wanted, Ada had used her own name. The bugs could be innocuous or someone could be interested in Ada specifically. We wouldn’t know until we examined them.

  For now, though, we had a narrow window of time to get in position. The motion sensors in the MineCorp offices would be turned off while the cleaning crew worked. Working at the same time as the cleaning crew carried its own risk, but it meant I didn’t have to spend time overriding the security system.

  Ada and I commandeered one of the bedrooms to change into T-shirts, pants, and boots. “Are you sure I can’t persuade you to wait here?” I asked.

  She rolled her eyes and shot me an annoyed look. “I’m sure,” she huffed.

  I nudged her shoulder. “You’re my little sister. I don’t doubt your skills; I’m just trying to keep you safe.”

  She turned to me, her eyes solemn. “And who will keep you safe?” she asked softly.

  I purposefully misunderstood. “I imagine Ian is going to be glued to my ass,” I said. “You don’t need to worry about me.”

  “So, you and Ian, huh?” she asked with an impish grin. “I thought you said he wasn’t interested?”