A Thousand Glittering Lights

Chapter 17

Ellie tooka sip of her coffee, forcing herself not to look at Josh. Or, if she were being honest with herself, look at Josh again. Damn, the man was distracting. A low thrum of awareness pulsed through her whenever he moved, whenever she caught sight of his big, competent hands, or the way the muscles moved in his tanned arms.

She’d set him up on her spare laptop so they could work side by side in her office. She usually worked at home on a Monday anyway, and after the stress of almost watching him fade during their drive yesterday, it was a relief to stay at home where she knew he was safe.

Josh was browsing; looking for anything that might be familiar. Places. People. Jobs. Somewhere to start. While she was finally going to crack the mayhem in her e-mail inbox. Which would probably be moving a lot faster if she didn’t take a break every ten seconds to watch him.

Her body was still responding after the night—and the morning— they’d shared. Nearly losing him yesterday had created an urgency in them both. A constant need to touch and be touched. And of course, the touching led to more touching, until they were both naked.

Waking up and finding him still in her bed was magical. An unexpected, thrilling gift that she hadn’t dared to hope for. He’d been watching her, those clear blue eyes locked on her. On her hair, spread out over her pillow. On her breast, half peeking out from under the fallen sheet. And then his calloused hand had stroked over her body to take hold of the sheet and slowly drag it away, his gaze never leaving hers.

He’d leaned down and whispered, “Are you awake, Ellie?” and she’d gone from half asleep to wide awake and tingling with arousal as his hot breath whispered against her ear, the cool air flowing over her tightening nipples.

She’d reached for him, pulling him over her… and it had taken another hour before they finally managed to leave the bed. And yet another hour after that when he joined her in the shower.

The temptation to suggest they take the day off and go back to bed was almost irresistible. But her inbox had become totally insane, and she had to get it in order first.

She dragged her eyes off him, took another fortifying sip of her now cooling coffee, and dived in. And almost immediately lost the will to live. So much of it was junk. Even when it wasn’t outright spam, there were multiple copies of meeting minutes she didn’t need to see, bills that accounts should deal with, a few blatant covers—copying her to prove a point—and…

That was weird.

She opened the e-mail from ProClimate Air. It was a cost estimate for an annual service plan for a precision cooling system designed for a server room. For a very specific dedicated server room. A server room for Dangerous Business Games. Her company. The only thing was, they didn’t have a server room.

“Huh.” She leaned back in her chair and opened the attachment, trying to make sense of what she was seeing.

“What’s wrong?” Josh watched her, his brow creased.

“I don’t really know,” she replied slowly, reading further. It was the fifth e-mail in the chain, but the first time she was copied. Someone had added her, perhaps accidentally, because she certainly hadn’t been copied before. Not on any of it. “Something isn’t right. I have to?—”

She let the sentence fade, already picking up her phone, dialing, waiting with increasing… worry? Anger? Some combination of them both.

“Hi, Ellie,” Victoria answered eventually. “How are you feeling?”

“Right now, I’m feeling a whole lot of things.” She forced her voice to calm. “Vic, why am I looking at a quote for air-conditioning for a server room we don’t have?”

There was a long silence, and then footsteps, followed by the sound of a door closing. Presumably Vic’s office door.

When Victoria spoke again, it was with the measured calmness someone might use to talk to an overtired child. “We do have a server room, Ellie.”

“No.” She had to fight to keep her voice steady, to not give into the rising fury. “That’s not possible. Because I distinctly remember deciding that the costs of setting up and maintaining a server room were prohibitive—and it wouldn’t add any kind of value anyway. Because our games have always been intended to be played either as a single player or locally hosted for couples and small groups. The Shadowbound Rift is meant to be experienced as a story. It’s not designed to be a massive multiplayer game. That’s the whole point.”

Vic huffed. “Part one, maybe, but when the new game comes out?—”

“Not maybe. God, Vic. You know this. The Binding continues the story with the same characters and the same style of play.”

Vic continued as if Ellie hadn’t even spoken, and for the first time her tone contained a hint of something less patient and a lot less friendly. “What I know is that you weren’t here, and somebody had to decide what direction to take. I made the choices that were best for everyone.”

Ellie pushed back her chair and stood, pacing around her office as she spoke. “I was in hospital. And then in daily physical rehab, and then working from home. I wasn’t even gone that long.” It was as if Victoria had leaped at the chance, taking sweeping actions she must have known would never be approved otherwise. Ellie rubbed at her chest, trying to soothe the rising ache. “I left you in charge. I trusted you.”

Vic laughed, a brittle, high sound. “You don’t trust me, Ellie. You don’t even listen to me. I asked you to sell. I asked you to let the storylines evolve. You haven’t?—”

“Oh, my God.” Ellie cut her off as cold understanding flooded through her. “That’s why you installed the servers! Not for the game. Not for our staff. You did it to sweeten the sale. To offer a European data center for Silver Wolff to use.”

For the first time, Victoria was silent.

Nissy stalked out of her bed, fur rumpled and amber eyes narrowed, irritated at being disturbed. Josh rose from his seat and came to stand at her side, his hand resting on her shoulder, tethering Ellie to the earth.

“I told you how I feel about this, Vic.” She’d built her company from nothing. It was hers. Victoria was her sister in everything but blood—but she had pushed too far. It was time to go back and see her face to face. “Fine. I’m coming there. I’ll be in London by this afternoon. We’ll talk about this more when I get there.”

She put down the phone feeling a hundred years older and infinitely betrayed. Damn, she hated conflict. And Vic knew how tension and confrontations made her anxious. How she’d spent her entire childhood trying to be perfect enough to avoid being the focus of hostility. But Vic also knew Ellie’d never wanted to host a massive multiplayer RPG. She didn’t want to create a platform where strangers could spend their days shooting each other. She’d wanted an intimate story to share between friends. One with a happily ever after. Because God knew, life didn’t hand out HEAs.

Josh was still standing beside her, his gaze troubled, and that made everything even worse. She didn’t want to leave him, but she didn’t see how he could come with her. She didn’t want to think about whether he would be there when she got back. Or how she would ever find him again if he wasn’t.

She didn’t want this to be their end.

It was a terrible choice, and she hesitated. But Josh didn’t. He turned her to look at him, his hands warm and reassuring on her arms. “You have to go, Ellie.”

“But—”

He pressed kisses to her cheeks, her eyes, even her nose. “You need to do this. We both know you do.” He kissed her again and then stepped back, giving her space, waiting patiently while she came to the same conclusion, the conclusion she’d already reached while speaking to Victoria: she had to go.

Damn Vic for putting her in this position. But now that she was in it, there really was only one choice. She rolled back her shoulders and lifted her chin. It was time to set this straight.

Ellie ripped through her house shoving her laptop into its case, grabbing an overnight bag, and throwing in toiletries. In the past, she’d always stayed with Vic. This time, she would need to book a hotel.

She double checked Nissy’s cat flap, water, and food dispenser and cleared out her litter tray. She would be fine for one night and if Ellie had to stay longer, she could call her usual cat sitter from the village.

And through it all, Josh was a reassuring presence. He passed her things, reached onto high shelves, promised to keep an eye on Nissy. And then finally, after she’d buckled her bags, he wrapped her in his arms and kissed her again.

She leaned her head against his chest—so much warmer now than when he first appeared in her life—listening to the steady thump of his heart. And spoke into his neck. “I wish you could come with me.”

His arms were big and strong and safe. And his voice rumbled against her ear as he spoke. “I can stay here and wait for you. I’ll keep up the garden for you.” He chuckled. “I’ll keep your bed warm.”

She held him tighter, pressing herself even closer. “Will you be here? When I get back?”

“I hope so.”

She did too. He’d already become a part of her home. Of her life. And she wanted to share more. She wanted the house filled with their laughter, she wanted barbecues on the deck, long walks to the sea, and lazy Sunday mornings wearing nothing but skin. And she wanted them with him.

But that was all a dream, and even this brief interlude was already over.

She forced herself to step back, hoping she looked more confident than she felt. “When you get tired of scrolling through random websites, why not play Shadowbound Rift? There’s a link on the laptop.”

“I’d like that.” He grabbed her bag and slung it over his shoulder to carry out to the car.

They both hesitated on the drive.

“Will you be okay, Ellie?”

She swallowed. He wasn’t only asking about the long drive, but about Vic. And a part of her wanted to say no and run back inside with Josh beside her. A part of her wanted to avoid the confrontation that was coming and stay with him in the strange and inexplicable dream they’d been living in. But she didn’t run or hide. This is what she did: she kept working, kept trying, until she got things right. Vic had pushed her too far this time. Ellie had created something special, and now she would take on the battle to keep it safe. “Yes, thank you.” She took her bag from Josh and swung it onto the back seat. “I’ll be fine.”

“I’ll see you when you come back,” he promised. Although they both knew he couldn’t make that vow.

But he sounded like he meant it. As if, for all his talk of no emotions and having nothing to offer, he would be waiting for her if he could. And that was the hardest part.

She climbed into the front seat, slid on her sunglasses, and prepared to do what she always did: smile to hide how much her heart was aching as she waved and drove away.

But then she saw Nissy, sitting regally in her window, watching the world with big eyes. Josh stood just in front of her window, his hands in his pockets, his expression back to stoic and withdrawn.

A bird sang somewhere in the distance, and she didn’t know what kind of bird it was, but he would. Their eyes met, and she didn’t hesitate or stop to think, or try to do what was right or expected. She ripped open the door, flung her glasses on the seat beside her, and ran to him.

He caught her out of the air and lifted her high into his arms and laughed. God. He laughed. Genuine and free and full of delight. She cradled his face in her hands and bowed her head to kiss him. There in the sunlight, surrounded by the scent of sunshine on green leaves. And he kissed her back like she was rain on a summer’s day, and he was dying of thirst.

And when he finally set her down, he held her a moment longer. He pressed his cheek against her hair and whispered so softly she didn’t think she was meant to hear him. “I’ll miss you, Ellie. More than you could know.”