“Me too,” she answered with a grin. “I love being home with you.”
“Oh, yeah?” He pressed his forehead against hers.
“Yeah,” she purred.
“Hey, what–ohhhh,” Sierra said as she stomped into the room and arched an eyebrow as she crossed her arms.
“You have guests,” Sierra’s sharp voice cut through the room, making both Alex and Ava jerk apart slightly. Alex let out a small sigh, his fingers instinctively tightening around Ava’s. He wasn't ready to let go of this moment, not after everything they had just survived. But Sierra, with her designer heels clicking loudly against the floor, wasn't the kind of person to wait around for romantic pleasantries.
“You shouldn’t canoodle on the couch,” she added.
“We’re hardly canoodling,” Alex said as he pulled back slightly from Ava. “We were just…being thankful that we’re still alive.”
“Great. I’m so glad you are thankful. Meanwhile, yours truly is dealing with a PR nightmare over PharmaTech. Despite us having those internal documents, they’re trying to spin this that one of their employees went rogue. Anything else we can use to nail them on this before they slip the noose?”
Alex let his head fall back against the cushion behind him as he dropped the controller in his lap. “You’re kidding, right? You can’t spin this on your own?”
Sierra’s eyes went wide, and she set her hands on herhips. “Are you joking? What do you want me to do? Pull evidence out of my designer handbag?”
“If you could,” Alex said with a crinkled nose. “Because Ava and I were just about to do a gaming session that is long overdue.”
“Oh, were you?” Sierra crossed her arms, stamping a high-heeled foot on the floor. “Well, if you two could stop reliving your college days and actually help out that would be super appreciated.”
“Fine, fine, I’ll find you something,” Alex said. “While I was in their system, I went ahead and downloaded a copy of their email servers. There has to be something on them we can use to make sure the big wigs at PharmaTech go down for this.”
Alex reached for his laptop, pulling it onto his lap and opening the top. He let his fingers fly across the keyboard. “I’ll just write a little program that will search the emails for anything to do with Hemlock Falls, Project Reaper, or anything tangentially related to that, and then we’ll see what we’ve got.”
He dramatically slapped the enter key before he set the laptop aside. “That’ll take a bit to run. Why don’t you relax, Peak Princess? Maybe take a walk on the beach or have a coffee poolside?’
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Do I look like I have time for a walk on the beach? I’m a busy executive juggling a dozen things. I will be upstairs wheeling and dealing. Call me when you have something.”
She stormed out of the room with a frustrated sigh.
“Wow, she’s intense,” Alex said as he frowned at her departing form.
Ava rubbed his shoulder. “Good thing grabbing those emails, though, Ace. Hopefully we’ll find what we need in them to take PharmaTech down.”
He grinned at her as he picked up his controller. “Ready?”
“Always,” she said with a grin as they started their game, battling against each other in a road race.
As their cars skidded around the bend on the split screen, Alex slid his eyes sideways to Ava. She intensely studied the screen, the crease between her eyebrows deeper as she concentrated.
They’d been through so much already, and they hadn’t even defeated The Board fully. But when he’d been lying in that hospital bed wondering if he’d ever get out of it and Ava’s plane had been in trouble, all he’d wanted was a quiet moment like this.
A moment reflective of where they’d started, and hopefully where they’d end.
He’d spent far too much time second-guessing their relationship, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
But he couldn’t continue to do that. He’d drive himself and Ava crazy. And this gaming session, so similar to the easy times they’d shared in college, those moments when he’d fallen in love with her despite her feelings for him, was all he’d dreamt of.
He wanted this for the rest of their lives. They just needed to get through the barrage from The Board.
Would they be able to? The constant attacks weren’t any closer to stopping. In fact, they’d likely ramp up. The Board would set their sights on them, assuming they’d been the ones to dig up those emails.
The deceased Miranda Vale, who had led them to this discovery, couldn’t be held accountable.
As Ava crossed the finish line moments before him, she pumped a fist in the air with a grin.
