Page 57 of Frequency of Attraction

“You’d have to ask him that question.”

She did, after she finished washing the dishes from her meal, but he didn’t respond to her text. After her shower, before bed, and in the morning, she still hadn’t received an answer.

His sleek black Porsche was in the lot when she pulled in the next morning, but Vadim was not in his office or the hangar. When she hadn’t run into him by lunch, Quinn pulled up his calendar on her computer. He’d booked himself in the sim most of the day. He’d scheduled training flight time and one-on-one meetings with each of his team members throughout the week. Vadim wasreacting. How bad had the T-38 incident been?

Around closing time, she popped into the sim just to get eyes on him. She greeted Miriam, the pregnant technician who was running the simulation.

“You haven’t had those babies yet?”

“What kind of twins stay in there to term? Mine. Stubborn like their father,” she muttered. She nodded her head to the bay that held the mock-up of Stratos and the giant IMAX screen that showed the sky in current conditions. Vadim was strapped into the faux cockpit, cloaked in full flight gear like he was actually aboard the spaceplane. “And that one. We were supposed to be done an hour ago.” Miriam hit a few keys. “Which is why I’m throwing birds at him. Maybe he’ll hit one and go down in flames so I can pee.”

Quinn snorted. She watched as Vadim coolly navigated around the flight hazards. She’d always loved watching the sim, the journey from the dry beige ground of the Mojave Desert to the obsidian darkness of space and back again.

Miriam activated Vadim’s headset with a click. “Just hit something already.”

His smooth voice reverberated in the booth. “Is it snack time again?”

“Hush. Either land the spaceplane or Quinn’s taking over while I use the ladies’ room. She might not go easy on you.”

“Quinn’s there?”

“I’m here,” she answered.

“I need more time,” was the terse reply.

Miriam growled with impatience. “Astronauts.” She paused the simulation and waddled off to the restroom. The frozen IMAX screen showed Stratos’ nose bursting through puffy white clouds on its way back down to the ground.

Quinn ditched the booth for the mock-up. Vadim didn’t look up from the controls as she approached. She didn’t know if he couldn’t see her with the helmet on or if he just wasn’t interested in talking. She did know that he looked fantastic in the snug gray flight suit. Even covered in belts and cords of every kind, the suit showed off his frame to perfection.

She tapped on his helmet with a fingernail to get his attention. He removed it, his arctic-blue eyes lighting on hers. He smoothed his hair, raking inked fingers through the sweep of brown locks across the side of his scalp.

Quinn’s thumb brushed the harsh lines of his cheeks. “I just wanted to che—”

He captured her wrist and brought her hand away from his face.

Quinn dropped her hand, stung. “Uh, Miriam is in the bathroom. No one is watching, Vadim. I just wanted to make sure you’re okay. You didn’t answer my text.”

“I’m fine, Quinn. I’m always fine.” He sounded annoyed by her concern.

She blinked at his cold tone. “Are we fine?”

Why was he acting like this? And what did it say about her that she wanted to smooth the wrinkles on his brow even in the moment where he held words in his heart that might break hers?

Vadim disconnected his headset from the sim and flicked his gaze her way. “There is no ‘we.’”

Quinn went into free fall. She took a step backward and had to check the ground to assure herself she wasn’t actually falling.

“We fixed your little problem,” he continued. “You don’t need me anymore, which you proved by your call from Cannes.”

Her heart hammered so hard she barely heard the words leaving her lips. “That was because ofyou!” That video call had been her first attempt at self-pleasure since she’d met him. She didn’t think she’d have been successful without the very specific motivation he’d given her.

“Our business is done,” he continued, as if she hadn’t spoken.

“Really? This was all just business?”

“That was the agreement from the start. I fixed your problem, you fixed mine. I appreciate you bringing me to Mila. But I’m here to work, Quinn. To get into space. Everything else is just a distraction.”

Miriam knocked on the one-way window of the control booth. They couldn’t see her, but Quinn was sure she was gesturing at Vadim to get his helmet back on. He did, effectively ending the conversation that had carved out a piece of Quinn’s heart.

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