Storm Shades (7 page)

“You can turn around now,” she tells him, as she pulls her wet hair up into a high bun on her head.

“It looks good on you.” Ashton looks her over appreciatively, making Sofie feel like she’s wearing something far more revealing than an oversized denim shirt.

“I doubt that, but it’s dry. Thanks.” Sofie locks eyes with Ashton, and she gets the same feeling that she did when she first saw him. It’s like the rest of the world stops, disappears, falls away, and all she can see is him. That lazy smile of his is back, and Sofie finds herself wondering what it would be like to kiss those lips, to have those lips on her, on her neck, on her breasts, on her pussy. She blinks a couple of times to bring herself back to the present moment, spinning around so she’s no longer facing him and trying to hide how red she must be turning. “What are those?” she asks, trying to deflect the attention from her own embarrassment. However, as she looks at the pieces, she feels herself drawn towards them.

“Totem poles,” he says in a hoarse voice, as if he too is being pulled back from distracting thoughts of his own.

There are three wooden poles—all over 8 feet tall. One, in particular, captures Sofie’s attention. She walks towards it, tracing her fingers over the intricate carving of a tree that winds its way up the pole. At the top is an image of the head of a wolf, and there’s something magical about it; yet, it looks so real. Not only that, but there’s a dignity about it that makes Sofie feel like she shouldn’t be touching it, as if she weren’t being respectful. She draws her hand back, and Ashton seems to take the movement as dismissive.

“They’re not done yet,” Ashton says, sounding almost embarrassed, like an artist that doesn’t like to show his work to anyone before it’s finished. But there’s something else in his voice, something that sounds a little like hurt at her reaction.

Sofie whirls around, taking a few steps towards him, closing the distance between them. “They’re beautiful.” She looks up at him and feels the magnetic pull that draws her towards him. “The wolf…it’s so life-like. It’s amazing,” she says, breathing the words. Her heart is beating faster, and she feels like the temperature of the room is rising.

“I’m glad you like it,” he says, gently. Sofie can’t stop herself from wondering what it would be like to have that gentle voice talking to her in the dark. “I don’t let people come in here usually.”

His words touch her, and she knows she would be lying if she tried to deny that she got a little zing of pleasure knowing that she’s seen a side of him that few have been permitted to. “Well, I’m glad you let me,” Sofie says, softly. There’s hardly any distance between them. She feels like she could reach up and touch his face, trace his hard jawline, and plant a kiss on those full lips. She leans in towards him, almost instinctively, and she’s pretty sure she doesn’t imagine that Ashton moves closer to her. But before they get any further, the insistent sound of the store phone ringing interrupts them. Ashton looks conflicted, but the noise has woken Sofie from her daydream and made her realize just how pathetic she probably looks flinging herself at this guy who probably has no trouble getting girls. “You should get that.”

Ashton frowns and looks like he’s going to say something; but, he follows her suggestion instead and disappears back into the store. Sofie is left in the workshop, trying to pull herself together. She reminds herself that she’s not a high school student, but a 27-year-old woman who knows better than to get involved. Her time with Tyler had taught her that much. Besides, Ashton probably had beautiful women following him around like lost puppy dogs and that wasn’t really her scene.

She steals a look at herself in an ornate mirror that hangs in the room. A slim, tall woman stares back at her, her dark eyes bright and her cheeks flushed. She tries to convince herself that it’s from the heat in the room, but she’s fairly certain it’s from something or, more accurately, someone else.

When she drifts back into the store, Ashton is hanging up the phone with a serious look on his face. However, they’re not alone anymore. A few customers have drifted in, including a hot petite woman, wearing shorts that would be classed as illegal in some states. It doesn’t take Sofie long to recognize her as the woman that she’d seen Ashton talking to the other day on the street. Miss Hot Pants gives Sofie an appraising look and takes in Ashton’s shirt, which she’s wearing. She finds herself about to give the woman an explanation and tell her that it isn’t what she thinks. Then, she reminds herself that it’s none of Miss Hot Pants’ damn business.

But perhaps it is her business
, Sofie wonders. The woman is one of the—probably many— female hangers-on that Ashton has. Looking like he does, it’s not likely that the guy has lived a life of celibacy and restraint. The thought lights a spark of jealousy and, before she’s fully conscious of what it is that she’s doing, she walks over to Ashton with a little more sway in her hips. The wolf totem pole has flagged a question that she’s been meaning to ask him, as he seems to know so much about this town.

“So, tell me something, is that wolf’s head in there based on anything other than your imagination?” Sofie analyzes his reaction, and she’s pleased to see that he blinks twice in surprise.

He doesn’t give much away. “There have been wolves in this part of the country for centuries. I don’t need to imagine what they look like.” His eyes don’t have the softness that they did only a few minutes ago. The blinds are back down, and there’s a coldness in his voice that reminds her of what he said to her the night before, that he would have left her out in the woods if he’d known she worked for Shale.

“That can’t be right,” she says, shaking her head. “We don’t survey sites that are known habitats for protected species. It would just be a big waste of time and money.”

“I didn’t say that this was a
known
habitat,” Ashton says in a low voice, but Sofie hears what he’s saying as clear as a bell.

She looks at him, clearly confused. “So what, you’re the only person who knows about the wolves here? What are you? The Wolf Whisperer?” Sofie laughs lightly and then wishes that she hadn’t when she sees the seriousness on Ashton’s face.

“You’re a scientist. I guess that means you must have more than an average set of smarts. I figured you would know not to talk about things you don’t understand,” he says in a harsh voice. The look of disappointment in his eyes is worse than the anger from the night before.

“If there’s something you want to tell me, then just say it. I don’t like riddles.” Sofie leans back, observing Ashton, waiting for him to explain himself; but, he doesn’t. He just stares back at her.

Eventually, he reaches behind the cash register and pulls out some of her sample packages, holding them out to her. “You left some of your rocks in my truck.”

Sofie takes the samples from him, even more confused than she had been before. “Why are you helping me?” She looks between the package and the man, wondering what it is that she’s missing.

“Not helping, just returning something to the rightful owner. Don’t they do that in DC?” His smile returns, but it’s not the one that makes Sofie go weak at the knees. It’s a mocking smile that doesn’t reach his eyes.

“No, no they don’t.” Sofie feels like there’s more that she wants to say, that whatever he’s hiding that he can tell her.
But why would he trust me? As far as he’s concerned, I’m the enemy, the last thing that I want to be to him.
I’ve made a mistake, and I know that. I’ve gotten my feelings involved in what should just be a job, a site survey like any other. But it’s more than that…something has piqued my scientific curiosity. I can tell I’m finding clues…hints as to what’s really going on in the canyon.

A plan starts to form in her mind, and she doesn’t waste any time getting to work. “Thanks for the shirt.” She turns abruptly and marches away, not waiting for a response. She can feel Ashton’s eyes on her all the way to the door, but she doesn’t turn around. If he wants to play hardball, she can play it just as well as he can.

When she gets back to the motel she throws open the door to her room, knowing that Finn is still going to be engrossed in his video game.

He barely looks up from the television. “Feeling better?” he asks—although his voice suggests that he’s a little disappointed she’s back so soon.

“Not sure yet.” Sofie stands in front of the television again, blocking Finn’s view so that he’s forced to give her his undivided attention.

His expression changes from irritation to amusement. “Nice shirt. Belong to anyone we know. A certain angry hero from last night?” He smiles so wide it looks like his face might split in two.

“It rained; I got wet; and he let me borrow a shirt—end of story.” Sofie skips all the other relevant details, and Finn looks like he’s about to question her further; but, she cuts him off. “Finn, focus. I need your help.”

Her serious words combined with the excitement on her face makes Finn’s ears prick up in interest. “What’s going on?”

“I’m not sure yet,” Sofie admits, ignoring his eye roll. “I need you to get online and dig up anything that you can about wolves in this area. Anything at all that you can find—sightings, scientific reports, historical references, whatever is out there I need you to find it.”

“Wolves? Come on, Sofe, don’t let whatever Mr. I’m-Gorgeous-Yet-Moody-And-Sensitive has said get you in a spin. We both know that we don’t—”

“I know. I know. We don’t survey sites that are natural habitats of protected species. I know how it’s supposed to work, but what if that isn’t what’s happened this time?” Finn’s expression of disapproval slowly gives way to his overwhelming need for information. “I know what I heard out in those woods, and it wasn’t the wind, and it wasn’t a freakin’ owl.”

Finn blinks, a sign that he’s weighing options in his head and thinking over the various possibilities of what he’s about to agree to. “Well, it’s not like I had anything else to do today.” He sighs, but his last words come out in a mumble as Sofie hugs him in gratitude. “Alright Sofe, I get all freaked out when you go girly on me,” he grumbles until Sofie releases him. “Darwin can’t find out about this.” Finn is already picking up his laptop and disconnecting the cables from the television.

“I agree, we don’t want this going any further up the chain. Besides, he has other things to worry about,” Sofie says, nodding in agreement and feeling more excited than she has in a long time.

Finn is half-talking to himself, already mentally out the door. “It’s going to take a little while.”

“Thanks, Finn.” Sofie heads over to her desk where she’s set up a make-shift laboratory and lays out the samples Ashton had handed over. It’s only when she takes them out of the containers that she realizes what she’s looking at. “Son of a bitch,” she mutters under her breath.

“What? What happened?” Finn walks over to the microscope she’s looking down and takes a peek. “What am I looking at? They look like rocks.” Finn is a genius, but he knows next to nothing about Sofie’s area of expertise, and it’s the one subject where she always feels like the teacher rather than the student.

“Exactly, they’re just rocks.” Sofie nudges Finn out of the way of the scope and peers down it again to check she’s right about what she’s seeing. “They’re random bits of stone. They’re not the samples I took from the woods. He switched them.” As the realization dawns on her, it only gives her more questions.

“Who switched them? The Diet Coke break guy?” Finn frowns in confusion, clearly hating that he’s a step behind Sofie, his ego taking a bit of a bruising.

Sofie nods slowly. “He wants us to think that there isn’t any oil, and that we’re looking in the wrong place, so we don’t start drilling. The rock that I saw in the woods is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. I would go as far as to say that it might not be something that anyone has seen before.” The words that she hadn’t trusted herself to even think the day before come pouring out. “I need to go back out and get another sample.” Sofie pushes her chair out and starts to stand up before Finn stops her with a hand on her shoulder.

“I agree, but whatever weird shit is going on here, you can’t go out in a hurricane to get another set of samples.” Finn speaks slowly, as he would to a child and doesn’t take his hand from her shoulder until Sofie sits back down with a thud. “Why don’t you check in with Jennie, see if she’s gotten anywhere with the samples you overnighted?” He winks at her theatrically.

“How did you know about that?” Sofie wonders what else Finn knows that the rest of them don’t.

“The power of the internet. I have eyes everywhere.” Finn does a fake bad-guy cackle, and Sofie can’t help but laugh.

“Good to know,” she says, dryly. “Sometimes you’re not as stupid as you look, Finnbarr.” He makes a vomiting face that signals how little he likes his full name. It was one of the things that they’d bonded over—how their parents had given them both names that no one ever knew how to spell correctly. “Now get out of here, slacker! You’ve got work to do.” Sofie nudges him playfully towards the door.

“There’s the bossy, pain-in-the-ass Sofie Braun that I know and love! You had me scared for a little while there, thought you’d gone soft on me.” Finn doesn’t wait for a reply before slamming the door shut so hard she’s pretty sure everyone in the motel would have heard it.

Sofie doesn’t waste any time trying Jennie at the office, but her phone just rings through to voicemail. She tries Jennie’s cell but the same thing happens, causing Sofie to frown. Jennie is someone who’s never more than a few feet away from her phone and obsessive about checking for email and messages. It was more than strange for her not to answer. She types out a quick text on her cell.