As he set his hand on his mouse, two more people left the room to head to Temple’s office. He wondered which ones she grilled and which ones she assumed were not a risk factor.
A glance over his shoulder told him Michelle was also hard at work. Her back was to him, and she was leaning over a microscope. It was weird not being able to speak freely to her, but most people had no idea the two of them were together.
They hadn’t discussed when or if they wanted to out themselves as a couple. Hell, all they’d done was have sex every night. She’d agreed readily enough to keeping them a secret. Maybe she never wanted anyone to know. He wasn’t sure he didn’t agree.
Chapter 13
After several stressful hours in the busy lab, Michelle couldn’t take the volume anymore. She hadn’t been able to focus on a thing the entire day. She’d even skipped lunch because her stomach felt like it might revolt if she tried to swallow.
She suddenly decided she needed to get away from the chaos, grabbed her laptop, and headed for the door. With no particular destination in mind, she wandered down the hallway until she came to the conference room. No one was using it, so she slid inside, took a seat at the far end of the table, and opened her laptop.
There was still no way she could focus on the words on her screen, but at least she could pretend to be intently studying the computer while she silently freaked out inside.
If someone would have asked her last week if she cared whether Zeke stayed at the bunker or left, she would have said good riddance. But that was before she’d started sleeping with him. She’d seen a side of him she was certain few people—if any—ever saw. Tender. Compassionate. Caring.
He was a generous and considerate lover who’d ensured she was well taken care of several times every night. She’d had more orgasms than she could count. And not the sort of orgasms that left a woman feeling like something was missing either.
He’d rocked her world.
And now he was leaving?
How did he feel about the orders? She’d been afraid to even look at him earlier for fear of finding indifference in his gaze.
Coward.
She must have been in another dimension because she didn’t hear the door open or close or notice that someone else was in the room until suddenly Zeke was sliding into the chair next to her.
She jerked her gaze up. “Shit. I didn’t hear you come in.”
He didn’t give her a smile, though she might have liked to see one. Instead, he ignored her comment and searched her face. His brow was furrowed in concern. “You gonna avoid me for a week?”
Her face flushed. “Of course not.”
“Might be easier.” His tone was sarcastic.
“Probably,” she muttered.
“Or you could talk to me.”
She closed her eyes, trying to gather up the courage to face him more fully, and finally lifted her face to hold his gaze. “I don’t know what to say.”
He didn’t respond for several long seconds, and then he took a breath as if his next words were going to be difficult. “The way I figure it, you’re either hiding from me and yourself out of self-preservation, or you don’t really care that much that General Levenson just told me she was moving me God knows where next week.”
An uninvited tear escaped one eye and slid down her face. Michelle wiped it away quickly. “You know that isn’t true. Don’t go there. I’m doing the best I can just to breathe through the next few hours until I can reasonably escape to my suite and throw a few things against the wall. I’m holding on by a thin thread. Please…”
He set a hand on the table, and for a moment she was certain he’d intended to reach for her, but he stopped himself. “Okay.” The one word was breathy. “Come to my suite when you can get away. I think we need to talk. At the very least, if you throw things, they’ll have a vacant room to do the repairs after I move out.”
She shot him a glare, but found him finally giving her a small grin. He was joking. Sort of. She nodded, biting her lower lip.
Thankfully, he rose and left the room without another word. If he had touched her, she would have fallen apart. If he had said much more, she would have started crying. Luckily, he’d realized her state of mind and left her alone.
She concentrated on two things after he left—breathing and pretending to intently stare at the screen. Her mind easily wandered to analyze her predicament. On the one hand, she’d only been sleeping with him for four nights. Not a lifetime.
You’re kidding yourself if you dismiss this as nothing.
On the other hand, it was impossible to ignore how he’d made her feel every one of those nights. Surely most people could move on with their lives after such a whirlwind and not look back.
There was no way to guarantee that just because they had enjoyed several rounds between the sheets they were compatible for a lifetime. It was entirely possible they would have figured out in the next few days or weeks that they couldn’t stand each other for any number of reasons.
Perhaps the heat between them had more to do with the fact that they had both been through a long drought than anything else. The passion probably wouldn’t last. How could it?
It was also impossible to ignore just how damn good they’d been together. The quiet, reserved, stoic, surly man who worked in the lab was not the same man who came to her when they were alone and drew her into his arms.
He hadn’t just fucked her and walked away. He’d made love to her. He’d done so multiple times. He’d held her gaze and made her so hot for him she thought she might self-combust.
There was a vulnerability in his eyes, and she was certain they hadn’t begun to scratch the surface of the kind of man he could be. She couldn’t face the idea of him being taken away from her before they had a chance to figure things out.
Frustrated and completely unsure what she should do, she squeezed the mouse so tight it was a wonder it didn’t break. Maybe she shouldn’t meet with him tonight. Maybe it would be easier to end things now instead of spending more time with him and risking her heart.
Would she forever wonder what could have been if she broke things off now and severed ties to avoid hurting more later? That thought pushed her in another direction. Maybe it would be better to spend every second with him in an effort to burn out the relationship fast and make it easier to say goodbye.
What were the chances they could make it together in the long run anyway? The percentage couldn’t be high. Any relationship under their circumstances couldn’t stand much of a chance at long-term survival. They didn’t know each other well enough yet.
Hell, they’d already been through more than one round of miscommunication and insecurity. Sure, they’d worked things out, but it had hardly been smooth sailing since their first kiss. What if these last few nights were an indication of all they might have together though?
She pictured herself going to him every night and making the most of every second they had before he got transferred. They could stay up late, experimenting with every position known to man, talking, eating in bed, sharing wine, showering…
Her heart clenched. She wanted those things. She would shrivel inside if she had them and lost them.
Someone cleared their throat, and Michelle jerked her gaze up to find Temple standing two feet away, leaning against the windowsill. She looked concerned and a little pissed. She didn’t hesitate either. “Are you in a relationship with Zeke?”
Michelle jerked in her seat, released the mouse, and spun toward her boss. “Who told you that?” The only people who knew about their relationship were Emily, Kate, and Ryan. No way would any of them talk about her behind her back. Would they?
“Is it true?”
Michelle licked her lips.
Temple groaned and pushed off the window to pace the room. “Shit. Why the hell didn’t you say anything this morning?”
“Would it have made a difference?”
“No. But I would have been more sensitive.”
M
ichelle breathed in and out, trying not to freak out. It would have been easier if Temple hadn’t found out.
“How many people know?” Temple asked.
“Three. Ryan, Emily, and Kate.”
“Fuck.” Temple stopped pacing to slam her palm against the table across the room.
“What’s the matter?” Michelle would have stood if she could have gotten her legs to move, but they weren’t taking orders from her brain. “What happened?”
“You want to know how I found out about your relationship?” she asked in a tone that suggested the answer would be the last thing Michelle ever wanted to hear.
She held her breath.
“Nicole Salway told me.”
Her lungs expelled all her air in a whoosh. “The undercover cop outside?”
Temple nodded. “Whatever is going on between you two is now privy to the entire world because the picketers out front are gossiping.”
Michelle slowly shook her head. “I don’t understand why that fact is even interesting.” Nor do I understand who would have leaked it. It was too painful to imagine that Kate, Emily, or Ryan would say a word.
Temple gave a sardonic laugh. “The story quickly took on a life of its own. Imagine this picture—the mourning wife shows up to comfort her reanimated husband only to find out he’s sleeping with a coworker.” She spun around in a full circle, hands on her hips. “Dammit, I told Zeke to get ahead of anything Meredith might try to pull.”
All the blood ran out of Michelle’s face. She thought she might faint. “They’ve been divorced for fourteen years.” How the hell could Meredith be involved?
Temple shrugged. “The media didn’t quite get those facts, or they chose to ignore them. This way the story sounds so much better,” she continued sarcastically. “Apparently the reanimated have the tendency to wake up so mentally altered that they can’t control their sexual impulses and will fuck anyone who gets in their path. They are clearly a dangerous menace to society and can’t be trusted to reenter normal civilization.”
Michelle shook her head slowly, unable to fully process the picture Temple was painting. “That’s what they’re saying?”
“Yep.” She ran a hand over the top of her head, somehow managing to not dislodge a single hair from the perfect gray bun she wore every day at the base of her head.
Michelle leaned her forehead on her palm, elbow to the table. She was shaking. She wasn’t at all sure she wasn’t still close to hyperventilating. “I’m sorry.”
“Me too. Mostly because I know you’re hurting.” Her words were calmer now.
Michelle lifted her gaze. “I never should have let anything get in the way of my job. I’ve never acted so unprofessionally in my life.”
Temple frowned. “I know I’m in a total panic, but I didn’t mean to imply it was your fault. I don’t care if you’re involved with Zeke. It’s probably good for both of you. Living in this claustrophobic environment isn’t healthy. What you do in your free time is your business.”
And yet Temple had implied it would have been helpful if they had told her.
“I’m much more concerned about why and how this leaked to the picketers out front than who you’re spending your nights with.”
Michelle nodded.
“I’m going to have to call Ryan, Emily, and Kate into my office. I can’t believe for a moment any of them is selling or otherwise provided private information to the outside, but maybe one of them inadvertently told someone else.”
It was possible. Hard to believe, but nevertheless possible.
There was only one way to find out. “Can I come with you to talk to them?”
“Sure. Let’s go.” She spun around and headed out of the conference room so fast that Michelle wasn’t positive what she’d just agreed to. Deciding she should follow her boss, she slapped her computer shut, grabbed it off the desk, and headed for Temple’s office.
Michelle immediately regretted her decision to sit in on the meeting with the three of her friends. As soon as they entered the room, Michelle felt a sense of dread fill her chest. What if they felt like she was accusing them?
“What’s going on?” Ryan asked as the three of them stepped inside Temple’s small office. It wasn’t really large enough for five people, but they didn’t need to sit. Michelle didn’t think this would take long.
Michelle met Ryan’s gaze. She’d known him for years. Emily and Kate had both been on the original team, meaning Michelle’s relationship with them had only existed for months. “Someone leaked to the press that Zeke and I are in a relationship.” It sounded ridiculous to even utter out loud since she and Zeke had not defined their status at all yet, nor had she had the opportunity to tell him this shit storm had landed at their feet.
Emily gasped. “Who would do that? And why?”
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” Temple stated. “Did any of you tell anyone else, perhaps even inadvertently?”
All three shook their heads. Kate spoke. “Zeke is my friend. Emily’s too. There’s no way I would utter a word about his private life to a soul. Besides, I don’t even know the details. Not my business.”
“None of us would leak that sort of thing. And why would we? Who could possibly care?” Emily asked. “This escalation of insanity is out of control. I don’t believe for a second any member of either team would talk to the media or anyone else about anything happening inside this bunker.
“We’ve devoted our lives to Project DEEP. Most of us were recruited into the program while we were still in college. Most of us went to a military academy. Unless one of us was planted to sabotage some unknown future government project, it makes no sense. Whoever that would be would have had to be groomed from a very young age to do something years later that didn’t even exist yet.” She shook her head. “I’m not buying it. There has to be another explanation.”
Michelle agreed. It was ludicrous.
Temple was nodding. “You’re right. I can’t figure out which direction to turn.”
Michelle had a thought. “I had an argument with Zeke one day in Ryan’s office. I suppose someone could have walked by and heard us.” Hell, someone also could have seen them coming and going from their suites too.
Ryan shook his head. “What difference would it make? Even if half the staff stood outside my office door and pressed their ears to the wood to listen in, it doesn’t change the fact that none of them would talk to the media. Interoffice gossip maybe, but that’s it.”
Emily agreed. “Also, Ryan and I have been together for months now. People have never seemed to care much about it, beyond the truly weird zealots who think I’m an inhuman monster. Why focus on Michelle and Zeke? It’s no different.”
Temple pursed her lips and threw her hands in the air. “I’ve got nothing.”
“I need to go find Zeke,” Michelle stated, stepping toward the closed door. As she set her hand on the knob, she turned around to face them again. “The saddest part of this is that even Zeke and I aren’t sure about our relationship status. In real-world terms, we’ve been seeing each other for less than a month. We have not discussed the future. We don’t even have flipping dinner plans.
“At this point anything that might have developed between us in the future is moot since he’s being transferred to another bunker next week. I can’t stand that the entire world now gets to dig around in my laundry when it was all clean and neatly folded just a few hours ago. Makes me sick.”
No one said a word as she left the office, but she did hear Kate ask Temple, “Is that true? You’re transferring Zeke?”
“Yes. I’m transferring a lot of people.”
Chapter 14
Zeke was surprised to find Michelle at the door to his suite when he responded to her knock at five o’clock. “I wasn’t expecting you this early.” He’d given up the pretense of working about an hour before and left the lab, but he’d expected her to continue working for several more hours.
The expression on her face
was nothing like the one he’d seen when he left her in the conference room earlier that day. He would have described her as distracted to the point of tears earlier. Now she looked fit to kill.
“Did I miss something?”
A low rumble of sardonic laughter caught him by surprise. “You could say that.”
Great. Just what he needed. More drama. How had his life gone from drama-free to full-on crazy train in so little time?
Michelle stomped around his suite, not meeting his gaze. “Get this—someone leaked to the media that we’re an item.”
“Pardon? You and me?”
“Yep.” She kept pacing with giant heavy steps. “Temple came to me a bit furious we hadn’t told her ourselves earlier.”
“You’re saying someone informed the media you and I are together between our meeting with Temple and now?”
“Yep,” she repeated.
“Why the hell would that even be newsworthy?” He thought Michelle’s reaction was a little over the top. Sure, it pissed him off that someone would share his private business with the world, but it wasn’t worth having a meltdown.
She stopped pacing, set her palms on her hips, and finally met his gaze. “According to Temple, it’s like a bad tabloid article. Jilted wife comes to see her poor cryonically preserved husband after a decade in stasis only to find out he’s sleeping with a coworker.”
“What the fuck?” he snarled. He set his hands on the back of the couch to steady himself, suddenly understanding the reason for her abundant frustration.
She nodded. “You heard me.”
“We’ve been divorced fourteen years by her calendar. How could anyone spread that sort of gossip?” He stiffened. “That bitch.” He gritted his teeth as he spoke.
Michelle held out a hand. “Though admittedly I’m not fond of your ex-wife from what you’ve told me, I’ve never met her, so I can’t claim to know what she’s capable of. But I don’t see how she had anything to do with this.”
Reviving Zeke (Project DEEP Book 4) Page 15
