Page 16 of Shelter from the Storm

After hiding out in her room the rest of yesterday, Gretchen was surprised when Edith managed to draw her downstairs bright and early today. The two of them had spent the better part of the morning in Edith’s kitchen, cooking a ridiculously large breakfast before eating together.

The older woman had succeeded in learning more than Gretchen had intended to share. Edith discovered that in addition to lasagna being Gretchen’s favorite food, her birthday cake every year—until she went into foster care—was chocolate.

Fortunately, Gretchen had managed to hold back the foster care tidbit, but only barely.

Edith was a master at conversation, sharing entertaining anecdotes about herself, then slipping in an unexpected question at the right moment, so Gretchen responded without even thinking about it. The CIA should hire the woman to interrogate spies.

Edith’s eyes kept drifting to her neck, despite Gretchen’s attempt to hide the bruises. Her wardrobe wasn’t large by any means, because she had traveled with just the essentials. As such, she only had two turtlenecks, and she’d already worn both in front of Edith.

So this morning, she’d gone the heavy concealer route, then put on a blouse. The collar wasn’t as effective at hiding her injuries, and Edith’s eagle eyes had slid to her throat several times. Mercifully, Edith didn’t ask about them. Because while Gretchen had become a skilled liar when it came to her bruises, she didn’t want to be dishonest with Edith, who’d been nothing but kind and welcoming. If Gracemont was truly going to be Gretchen’s fresh start, she wanted to live the life she’d imagined the past few years but had never managed to achieve.

This Gretchen was going to be honest, brave, self-confident, and not, as Briggs put it, socially awkward.

Unfortunately, she was none of those things now, and Gretchen wondered what the hell she was doing here in Theo’s office. She hadn’t had a chance to mentally prepare to meet her new boss. She’d only intended to see how long it took to walk from Edith’s to the brewery, so she could make sure to be on time on Monday.

Time to cut and run.

“I’m looking forward to working with you too, Mr. Storm.”

“Theo,” he interjected. “My dad is Mr. Storm, although twenty bucks says he’ll insist you call him Rex.”

“Right. Theo,” she said softly. “Well, I’ll go and get out of your ha?—”

“How about a tour of the place?” Theo interjected, before she could get the hell out of Dodge.

“Oh, no. I couldn’t pull you away from?—”

“I already decided to quit work early today. One of the perks of being the boss,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows. “I was thinking about heading to the brewery for a beer. Why don’t you join me?”

Crap. Hadn’t she told him she was excited to see the place? She’d been forced to come up with a reason for being here when Billy found her outside, leaning against the building in search of shade for a few moments before starting her journey back down the mountain.

“Um…okay,” she said, unable to come up with a reason why she couldn’t.

Theo’s smile returned, brighter than before, like her joining him was the greatest thing on earth.

“Come on. Let me give you a quick peek of your office, and then we’ll detour through the main floor of the brewhouse to meet Jace and Sam.”

The event coordinator position was the first job offer she’d gotten after sending out countless applications, so she’d readily accepted it without thinking about the fact she would be working in a building surrounded primarily by men. God help her if they were all as hot as Theo.

Gretchen followed Theo to the office right next to his, gasping when he threw open the door and gestured inside.

“This is mine?”

Theo nodded. “We cleared out an old storage closet to renovate it into a nice working space. My cousin Mila decorated it.”

The office was at least double the size of her previous one, and it had a large window with an amazing view from the side of the mountain. She could see for miles, down into the valley, and it was as breathtaking as Edith had described.

“Not a bad view, huh?” Theo joined her at the window.

“It’s beautiful.”

Theo gave her another one of those smiles that said her answer pleased him. Then he turned back toward the room. “This will be your desk, and the computer is already set up and ready to go. My brother Everett is our IT guy, and he’ll be here on Monday to explain our network, scheduling programs, and to answer any questions you have. I’ve loaded the desk drawers with basic office supplies.” He slid one drawer open to reveal boxes of pens, new packs of Post-its, a stapler, and a variety of other things. “If there’s anything you need that’s not here, let me know and I’ll order it for you.”

She shook her head. “You don’t have to do that. I’m sure I can make do with what’s there.”

Theo pierced her with a look. “I don’t want you to ‘make do.’ If you need something that will make your job easier, you let me know and I’ll get it. Okay?”

Gretchen swallowed hard. There was a thread of dominance in his tone that should have had her running for the hills…but it didn’t. Butterflies took flight in her stomach, but not the bad kind. These were the ones she’d felt all those years ago, when Briggs swept her stupid, eighteen-year-old self off her feet.

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