Zach rested his shoulder against the equipment rack, a suspicious frown forming on his face. "Unless someone deliberately locked it from outside."
Their eyes met in sudden understanding.
"Babushka," they said in unison.
CHAPTER 10
41 DAYS UNTIL ANNA & DRAKE'S WEDDING
PIPER
"But how would Babushka even lock this?" Piper strode to the door and tried it again. Nope. Nada. It wasn't moving.
"Trust me, never underestimate Babushka's abilities," Zach sighed, running a hand through his hair. "If she wants something to happen, she'll find a way."
"Why would your grandmother want to lock us in a closet?" Piper demanded, the absurdity of the situation finally hitting her. "What could she possibly gain from that?"
Zach hesitated, looking suddenly uncomfortable. "She's an enigma, that one."
"This is what she did to Drake and Anna," Piper said. Not a question, a statement.
Zach confirmed, his pulse visible along the line of his neck.
"So, your grandmother thinks that trapping two adults in small spaces is the path to true love?" Piper's voice rose incrementally with each syllable. "That's—that's?—"
"Effective, apparently," Zach admitted with a sheepish smile. "I mean, it worked for Anna and Drake."
Piper sat in one of the folding chairs she found against the back wall, her palms pressed to her cheeks. Her throat tightened with the familiar feeling of dread. "How bad was it? Between Drake and Anna before the big lock-in?"
"What do you mean?"
"Couples that have serious problems before marriage? Those problems don't magically disappear after the wedding." Piper's voice sounded tight even to her. "If anything, they get worse."
Maybe the point of this whole thing wasn't to push her and Zach closer together. No, maybe it was to remind her that they were a bad idea in the first place.
Zach straightened, his expression growing serious. "Anna and Drake are solid. Like, really solid. They just had a communication hiccup during a stressful time. Every couple has rough patches."
"That's what they all say," Piper muttered, shaking her head. "Until it all falls apart."
"Nah." His voice wrapped gently around the last word as he crouched in front of where she sat. "Not every relationship is doomed because it hits a bump. Not Anna's, not…"
Ours.
He let that unspoken word hang there in the air between them. And all she could focus on were the flecks of green in his eyes she'd never noticed before.
The intensity between them had her squirming in the seat. And the knowingly perceptive way he acted like he could see right through to the raw hurt underneath did not help the situation.
Piper stood abruptly, forcing him to step back. "This isn't about philosophy. This is about getting out of here before I miss my movie marathon." A tangle of wires blurred in her vision as she blinked, trying to focus on something—anything—other than what had just happened. "Maybe we can patch into one of the event rooms and call for help?"
Silence stretched as he studied her before finally replying, "Good thinking. Let me see what we've got."
They worked side by side in tense silence, Piper focusing all her attention on the control panel while trying to ignore both Zach's proximity and the unsettling revelations she needed to totally pretend had not happened.
She stared at the mess of wires and switches. Was the electrical system they were trying to hack into as hopelessly crossed as her own professional boundaries? Because each connection she traced seemed to lead somewhere unexpected, just like her feelings for Zach.
The small space made it impossible not to be aware of him—the faint smell of his cologne, the warmth radiating from his body, the brush of his arm against hers as they hunched over the equipment.
She looked up to find his face much closer than she'd anticipated, his eyes darkened with an emotion she wasn't ready to name. Dim overhead lights cast long shadows over stacked equipment. The air, warm and dry, crackled with unspoken things.
