“How is Rainier?” Harlow asked as Vienna emerged.
“He’s doing fine. He did have a sliver of rock in him. The doc found it and thankfully removed it, otherwise that infection would only have gotten worse.”
Shabina’s brows drew together. “Is he supposed to take antibiotics?”
“Yes,” Briac answered. “I gave him a shot and left pills on the nightstand. He has to finish all of them.”
Harlow heaved an exaggerated sigh. “You know those doctors. They never do anything they’re supposed to.”
Briac laughed, his gaze fixed on Raine. “I’ve never been hiking in the Sierras before. I’ve hiked in Europe and managed Shasta but haven’t had the opportunity to do any hiking in the Sierras. I’ve been hoping to get out that way soon.”
Gage edged toward the door, but had to stop when the doctor didn’t follow him out.
“The Sierras are beautiful,” Raine said. “Absolutely beautiful. I could email you some of our favorite trails to hike if you’d like.”
Zale came up behind Vienna. She knew he was there without him saying a single word. There was a powerful energy he exuded. He stood close enough that she felt his body heat. “She walked right into his trap,” he whispered against her ear.
She glanced at him over her shoulder and knew immediately it was a mistake to look at him. He was too close. His eyes too dark brown and focused on her with that look he reserved only for her. Her heart skipped a beat and her body reacted.
“You need to go away,” she whispered. “Stand across the room. Or better yet, in the other room.”
He bent his head the scant two inches to touch his lips against her ear. “Why do I need to do that, Snowflake?”
“You know why. I can’t think straight when you’re around.”
“You aren’t thinking straight unless I am around,” he corrected, his breath warm in her ear, his lips sliding against the sensitive skin. “The minute I leave you alone for any length of time, you start overthinking things.”
Goose bumps rose in reaction. His knuckles slid up and down her back. She couldn’t help herself. She leaned into his fist. It was true that she overthought everything. There was no question about it.
Zale managed to guide her away from the others as Gage urged the doctor toward the front door. Raine and Harlow escorted the two men out, chatting away with them.
Zale threaded his fingers through Vienna’s and walked her through the kitchen and out the door to the backyard so they could have privacy.
“I missed you last night. I gave you the space you asked for, Vienna, but it wasn’t easy. Being with a man like me is never going to be like the relationships your friends have. Even after I retire, it won’t be the same. Our life will always be different, and hopefully you’ll be okay with that.”
“I do want a partnership, Zale. I want communication. I don’t like being left in the dark. I know that when you go off on your missions or whatever you call it now, you can’t exactly give me details, but there should be a way to let me know you’re alive if I need to know. You talk to Sam. That means you can set up a way to talk to me.”
He remained silent, but his fingers went to the nape of her neck, stroking, kneading, easing the tension out of her.
Vienna decided she might as well take the plunge and tell him the real issue. “And maybe I haven’t caught you in an outright lie, but you certainly aren’t telling me the entire truth. That doesn’t make me trust you. In a relationship where you’re going to be gone for weeks, maybe months, without communication, I have to be able to trust you implicitly. I have to be able to believe everything you say to me. I have to come first, and that means you don’t go behind my back with half-truths that your buddies understand but I don’t.”
Zale continued to remain silent, allowing her to express her concerns for their relationship. Or was that what he was doing? That was the problem. She didn’t know. When she looked at his face, it was impossible to read him.
“Is that what you’re afraid of, Vienna? That my friends know things you don’t?”
His voice was so quiet, velvet soft. His hand never stopped that gentle glide down her back. She knew she should stop him. It was seduction at its worst. Not open. Not sexual. But intimate, tying them together in a way that twisted him deeper around her bones until he was branded there.
“Is that what your takeaway is from what I just told you, Zale? Do you really believe that I’d worry you would tell all your buddies things you don’t tell me? I’m not sixteen years old and in a schoolyard. I don’t look at you and your friends standing by your cars whispering together. You don’t get to reduce what I’m afraid of to something that small-minded.”
“I’m sorry if you took what I said that way. In this case, Rainier is privy to certain aspects of our missions that I can’t disclose to anyone else, no matter how much I might want to. I’m not always going to be at liberty to tell you the things you might want to know, Vienna, and you have to be able to live with that. Most of the time, I work alone. Sam has the ability to read code we use. I’ll do my best to get permission to teach it to you, but because often what is said on those loops is classified, the answer is most likely going to be no.”
“I don’t want to be on a loop where everyone can hear what is said. I just want the ability to communicate in case of an emergency. What if I’m pregnant and I go into labor early? There’s a problem with the baby? With me? Wouldn’t you want to know?”
Mostly, she would want to know if he was injured. Shot. Stabbed. She saw the scars on his body. On Rainier’s. Those were very real.
With the gentleness that got to her heart every time, Zale turned her to him and lifted her chin. “Snowflake, I know you’ll be worried about me when I have to leave. I’ll be worried about you. We’ll find a way to make it work. We’ll have to.” The pad of his thumb slid gently over the curve of her bottom lip. “I’m not willing to go without news of you and how you’re doing, and I won’t want you worried. If I’m injured, I’ll get word to you somehow. Those are things we can work out.”
“Are you really going to retire when your contract’s up, or are you going to be like Rainier?” That was another burning question. In her opinion, Rainier, as gifted and experienced as he was, shouldn’t remain in the field. She wondered if he was looking to die that way. Or if he wanted to climb up a political ladder. Was there one in their field? She didn’t know or even care.
“We’ve gone over this, Vienna. Where is this coming from? Why are you suddenly doubting us all over again? I told you I would get out . . .”
“Yes.” She pounced on that. “You said you would get out, but not that you wanted out. There’s a difference. A huge difference. Sam was ready to get out. He’d made that decision on his own. I don’t want you to leave a career you love for me. Eventually you would resent me. You know you would.”
“Snowflake, stop. I don’t do anything I don’t want to do. I wouldn’t get out if I didn’t want to. You’ll learn that about me, but for now, you’ll just have to take my word. I know you’re worried I’ll get bored. I’ve looked Yosemite over and there are all kinds of things to do there. It’s the kind of country I need to live in. I don’t foresee a problem living there with you and raising a family. If something comes up that I didn’t foresee, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
She heard the sincerity in his voice, and it settled the fears that kept blindsiding her. “I don’t know why I can’t stop this issue from coming up.”
“You warned me it would, and I’m okay with reassuring you as long as you always give me the chance.”