Always You: A Sweet Romantic Comedy (ABCs of Love Collection Books 5-8) Read online

  His pulse rate ticked up, and only a little because he’d caught a whiff of her distinct Tessa scent as she led him back to the elevator, a vanilla and honey smell that brought him straight back to their hours-long study sessions, when her nearness drove him half-crazy. But his excitement now wasn’t about old memories. It was about her passion for the project, obviously. The idea of throwing himself into something new and difficult with a team so absorbed in their work . . . he glanced at the rest of the team as the elevator doors slid closed, each engineer hunched over or leaning into their work in a way that crackled with engagement, not boredom.

  Tessa leaned past him to hit the correct floor button, and a ghost of vanilla tickled his nose again. He almost leaned forward to breathe it a little deeper. He didn’t, but he wanted to. And “want” was a feeling he hadn’t experienced since Sarah had trashed his heart like it was high-carb leftovers.

  This Palm Valley move was turning out to be one of the most surprising he’d ever made.

  Uh, because of the project. Of course.

  Chapter Three

  The flat brown paint of Tessa’s townhouse door had never looked so welcoming to her. She’d worked until well past dinner time, not hungry enough to stop, but now as she slipped inside, her stomach seemed intent on devouring itself. She didn’t even bother rummaging through her fridge or small pantry. She hadn’t kept her kitchen properly stocked for two weeks. This was going to be a GrubMates kind of night. Most nights were, lately.

  She pulled her phone out to place an order but tapped out a quick text to Ethan instead. She hadn’t seen him after she parked him in HR and hurried back to the lab, but the poor guy was probably exhausted from moving then reporting to work less than eight hours later.

  Going to order some dinner. Care to join me?

  Instead of an answer, he sent a picture of several pieces of IKEA furniture scattered on his carpet. Whoa. Among engineers, sending pics of unassembled parts was practically a booty call. Her fingers already twitched to pick up one of the tiny Allen wrenches and impose order on chaos. She typed out a reply.

  Just got home. Will change and be right over!

  She hadn’t even gotten upstairs to her bedroom when his answer came in. I wasn’t trying to trick you into putting my stuff together.

  She snorted. You show me all those freshly unpacked components and expect me to let you have all the fun?

  He sent back a short message. Fair enough.

  She changed out of her work clothes into comfy jeans and a T-shirt then ordered Thai food delivered to Ethan’s unit, which was across the parking lot in the same complex as hers. She’d called the leasing office at just the right moment to find him the spot, a rarity in the tight Palm Valley rental market.

  Ten minutes later, she knocked on Ethan’s door. He opened it, and once again she had a split-second of paralysis. He was back in the basketball shorts and Georgia T-shirts he’d lived in during their senior year, but they fit him much, much differently. When he looked at her with a slight touch of confusion beginning to wrinkle his forehead, she realized she was staring again and stepped past him into the living room.

  “This is even better than I’d hoped.” She eyed the flat cardboard boxes leaning against his walls in addition to the project he’d already started. “Can I build my own thing?”

  “Sure,” he said. “I’m working on my bedframe so I can use it in a couple of hours, but I wouldn’t mind having a table to eat off of for breakfast. I figured that’s all I’ll really need for the next six weeks.”

  “Speaking of food, I’m having the food delivered here. If you’re not hungry, bring it for lunch tomorrow.”

  “This is way too much,” he protested. “You got me a job, found me a condo, and now you’re building my furniture and buying me dinner? I’m racking up a favor deficit.”

  “No way.” She opened the furniture box as she talked. “First of all, you have no idea how hard we’re about to work you. Secondly, we’ve needed someone badly for two months now if we have a prayer of making our deadline. You’re a lifesaver. All debts are zeroed out.” She slid the table from the box and reconsidered. “Well, maybe you owe me a little for finding you this place. They never have vacancies, but I was relentless with the leasing office until they promised on their firstborn children to tell me about the next available opening. Sorry it isn’t a two bedroom though.”

  “This is great,” he said. “I don’t need much room.”

  “So no girlfriend, huh?” She sent up a little prayer of thanks for finding a natural opening.

  “No. I was . . . no.”

  Was. The word was loaded with the freight of a short-fused bomb, and as a shadow flitted through his eyes, Tessa didn’t dare light it by asking what he meant.

  “Sorry. Wasn’t trying to get in your business.” What a lie.

  “No big deal,” he said. “It was another symptom of stagnation.” A sly smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

  She recognized the warning signs. “You’re about to make a really dumb pun. Don’t.”

  “I guess you could say I was ready to move on from Stagnant Labs and relationships.”

  She stopped unwrapping the nuts and screws for the table.

  “Get it?” he asked. “Stagnant Labs instead of Standard Labs?”

  “I got it. But I’m going to need a second to collect myself so I don’t accidentally throw these screws at your head.”

  He went back to work on his bedframe, his expression looking like he’d just a solved fluid dynamics equation in his head. Which she’d seen him do before.

  The doorbell rang a half-hour later, and Ethan returned with a plastic bag wafting spicy flavors ahead of him. “I’m so disappointed,” he said, frowning down at her. “I thought an ace engineer would have built my whole table by now.”

  She narrowed her eyes and glared up at him. “I know you’re just messing with me, but there’s no way I’m letting that slide. You’ll have your table in five minutes.”

  “No way.”

  “Set your watch.”

  He nodded, set it, and nodded again. She flew, not needing the directions, assembling the table in a way that made intuitive sense. “Four minutes, twelve seconds,” he said in a tone of respect when she yelled, “Done!”

  “I’m super impressed.”

  “Don’t be impressed, be scared, because we need to build two chairs, and I’m about to beat you so bad you’ll want to drive back to Denver.”

  “You’re on.” He grabbed a boxed chair for each of them, and when Tessa called go, they tore them open.

  They worked like lunatics, hands flying, plastic wrap flung about, several curses free flowing, though only one of those was from Ethan. But in the end, it was Tessa who sat in her chair and unpacked the delivery food while Ethan worked for another thirty seconds to tighten his final two screws. He scowled at her as he secured the last one, but she felt the smile beneath it in a way she couldn’t explain.

  “This is why I recruited you so hard,” she said as he rose and took his own seat, opening the container of Pad Thai.

  “Because I’m slow at building chairs?”

  “Because you’ve always given me a competitive edge. I don’t think I’ve worked as hard to beat anyone as I had to work to keep up with you at school.”

  He nodded. “Yeah. I get that. We were always one and two, huh?”

  “If by one you mean me, and by two you mean you, then yes.”

  “That’s not how I remember it.” His grin was back. “Actually, I’m just going to sit here remembering all the times I beat you and feel better about losing the chair race.”

  “Go right ahead, but I’m going to eat all your food,” she said, fishing out chopsticks.

  “Nope.”

  He scooped up the noodles and dug in. “Can we talk about The Project now, and I mean that in the capital letter sense of the word. That’s how it sounds every time you mention it.”

  “We call it Helios because we’re
crazy enough to think we can harness the sun, and the company is giving us until March 1 to get a working prototype to prove it.”

  “You mentioned you were working on energy storage?”

  “Food first.” When she finished off her curry, she was ready to talk for real. “Did you ever see that video that went around a couple of years ago about drivable solar highways?”

  His forehead wrinkle reappeared. “Yeah . . . wait, the one where the roads of the future will be made of solar panels that automatically charge any electric vehicle traveling on it?”

  “Yes. We’ve almost got the panels figured out.”

  He set his food down and stared at her, his jaw moving but no sound coming out. Finally, he said, “Seriously?”

  “Seriously. We’re almost there, Ethan. We’ve almost got a durable enough panel to withstand a high vehicle load.”

  “This was maybe the last thing I was expecting,” he admitted. “BBMJ isn’t . . . ”

  “I know.” The company had a reputation as a powerhouse in traditional manufacturing systems from software to the automated machines the software ran. “But when they recruited me out of Cal Tech, it was—”

  “Wait, what? Cal Tech? Did you go do a masters?”

  “I’m ABD, baby.” All but dissertation, and she didn’t care about hiding the pride in her voice.

  “Focus?”

  “Materials science.”

  He shook his head. “Should have guessed. Are you going to finish?”

  “Depends on corporate’s feasibility study of Helios. If I can’t prove that these road panels are a viable investment by the deadline, they’re going to pull the funding and reassign me.”

  “And you don’t want that? They pay so well.”

  “But they don’t have any other energy solution divisions. I’d go back to Cal Tech so I can work on green tech. But if I can convince BBMJ that green tech can make their shareholders happy, I may be able to run a permanent tab on their research-and-development funds—”

  “—instead of spending half your time writing grants,” he finished. “I see why that’s so tempting.”

  “No, you don’t. Not with Klieber waiting for you. That’s like saying you’re tempted by a strawberry when you already have a strawberry cheesecake sitting in front of you.”

  He grinned. “Good analogy. But there’s a tradeoff, you know? Klieber will let me pursue any projects I want, but even though they’re well-funded, they don’t have nearly the kind of resources BBMJ does.”

  “Deep down I’m dreaming of the best of both worlds. If BBMJ greenlights a new division, then maybe we’ll revolutionize the industry. Freedom to innovate, bottomless funds.” She realized how arrogant it sounded and studied him from the corner of her eye to see if he would laugh at her.

  “Wow. That’s huge.” He wore a dazed expression. “But you’re right. You have to crack this.”

  As she watched the wonder slowly unfolding on his face, she was more sure than ever that she’d made the right call in bringing him in for the end of this project, even if they only got him for a month.

  He patted his chest, then his leg, and she realized he was looking for a pen. He rose and fished one out of his messenger bag, taking his seat and grabbing a napkin from the plastic delivery sack. He mumbled about coefficients and sketched.

  This was going to work, she realized. She’d worked with a handful of people as smart as Ethan in the years since college, but she’d never worked with anyone who reached his level of excitement when he was into a project. She needed that kind of passion to re-energize their team as the deadline approached and their stress deepened. Ethan was the perfect guy.

  She answered his questions as he took notes on what their current obstacles were, and she kept herself busy building his other two chairs as she answered and he scribbled. It was past ten when her phone buzzed, startling her.

  Ethan blinked and looked up. “What time is it?”

  “Too late for anyone to be calling me.” She frowned at the name on her screen, confusion and worry jockeying for the upper hand. “Hi. Rachel? Is that you? Is anything wrong?”

  Her sister’s voice sounded tired but also infinitely relieved that she’d answered. “Yeah, it’s me. And no, nothing’s wrong. Except that I’m standing on your doorstep. Thought I’d surprise you, but I guess I’m the one who’s surprised you’re not home.”

  “Be right there,” Tessa said, already heading for the door.

  “Boyfriend?” Ethan asked.

  “My sister, Rachel. Haven’t seen her in two years, but she says she’s at my house. Which is weird, because last I heard she was in Florida.” She pinched the bridge of her nose and took a minute to collect herself and breathe deeply, trying to reorient herself to reality. “I better get home. See you tomorrow.”

  “Sure. You going to be okay?” he asked as he walked her to his door.

  “Yeah. Just a little surprised.” It was the understatement of the decade. She and Rachel hadn’t parted on the best terms the last time they’d spoken.

  “Holler if you need anything.”

  She nodded, already distracted, and hurried over to her own place, where Rachel’s petite frame rose to meet her. She had an overnight case on the step beside her and wore the look and smell of someone who had spent a few hard days on the road when Tessa leaned in to give her an awkward hug. They’d never been huggers, and it made her sad that it had felt far more natural to hug Ethan yesterday than it did to hug her own sister.

  “Hi. So . . . this is a nice surprise.” Tessa stepped back to examine her, cataloguing her lack of makeup and her yoga pants, two very unRachel-like choices.

  “Yeah. Um, it was a last-minute trip.” An awkward pause fell between them. “Sorry it’s so late.”

  “It’s okay. I obviously wasn’t asleep.” Tessa glanced down at the overnight case. “Um, do you want to crash here tonight?”

  Rachel’s shoulders slumped slightly. “If you don’t mind putting us up.”

  “Us?” Tessa asked just as the suitcase beside Rachel gave a small grunt. It wasn’t a suitcase, she realized as she squinted at it in the dim porch light. It was a baby carrier, the kind that snapped into a car. “Who is that?” But she had a sinking feeling she knew.

  “This,” Rachel said, hefting the carrier and turning it so Tessa could see the tiny sleeping face inside, “is Calvin. Meet your nephew.”

  “My what?” She’d half-expected the answer, but it still landed like a gut punch, the realization that she’d had a flesh-and-blood relative come into the world and not known about it. That Rachel had chosen not to tell her about.

  “Can we come in?”

  “Of course, right, yeah.” She fumbled the lock open and led Rachel into the small living room. They settled on the sofa and Rachel perched the baby carrier atop the coffee table.

  “So, um, how old is he?” Tessa asked. How was she supposed to address the subject of discovering she suddenly had a nephew? It was her first and only one. Age seemed like a safe place to start.

  “Four months. Sorry I didn’t tell you about him.” Rachel’s voice was defensive, and Tessa realized age hadn’t been such a safe subject after all.

  “It wasn’t a criticism. It’s just . . . I don’t know where to start with questions.”

  Rachel dropped her head against the sofa and closed her eyes. She was quiet so long that Tessa wondered if she had fallen asleep, and she was about to get a blanket to cover her when Rachel sighed and stirred.

  “I was seeing a guy and we broke up. I didn’t find out I was pregnant until after the breakup, and he didn’t want anything to do with the baby, so that’s been fun.” Her tone made it clear that it had been as fun as a root canal. Or worse, based on the exhaustion curling around each word. “Anyway, I’ve been working at a resort in Orlando, but I . . . ”

  “You got fired?” Tessa guessed.

  Rachel’s eyes snapped open. “Nice, Tess. Of course you assume I got fired.”

  Tes
sa fought the urge to rub her own suddenly very tired eyes. “Sorry. Shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.” Even if those conclusions fit Rachel’s pattern since she was sixteen. “You’re working at a resort in Orlando, and . . . ?”

  “I needed a break. This single parent thing is no joke. Can I crash here for a few days?”

  “Of course.” The baby made another small squeak. “I can’t take any time off work because we have an insane deadline, but you’re welcome to stay. I only have one bedroom, but you can have it, and I’ll sleep down here on the sofa.”

  “No way. The sofa is fine. An upgrade from my mattress at home, actually.” She kicked off her shoes as if she was ready to stretch out and sleep right then.

  Tessa was surprised Rachel hadn’t jumped on the opportunity to take the nicer bed. It was one of the major points of contention between them: Rachel had always complained that Tessa got the best of everything while she got the raw end of the deal. It had been her refrain growing up in the chaos their alcoholic mother had caused.

  But Tessa had been dealt the same lemons. The difference was that Rachel sucked on them and Tessa used them for lemonade, but of course, Rachel never saw it that way. Tessa pretty much knew the argument by heart, so if Rachel was going to take the high road for once, Tessa was happy to let her.

  “Does your baby need anything?” She didn’t know what she could possibly offer a baby, but it seemed like the polite thing to ask.

  “He’s fine.”

  Tessa fetched a blanket and pillow for Rachel who was half-asleep when she came back, but she sleepily accepted them and moved the baby carrier to the floor before she lay back down.

  “You sure the baby doesn’t need anything?” Tessa asked, eyeing him. He looked like he was asleep, but she wasn’t sure if he was supposed to stay in the carrier or if she should figure out how to rig a crib or something for him. She also hated to ask in case she offended Rachel. Everything out of her mouth usually did even when she was trying hard not to.