Page 101 of (Mostly) Human Resources

Nic considered his options. After taking an unapproved trip to West Virginia, nearly dying, and failing to rescue Elliot or document the creature he’d set out to find, he was almost 100 percent certain he’d not receive approval to go to London on a whimanytime soon. However, as a devout hoarder of vacation days and an otherwise upstanding employee, he had an arsenal of excuses and time off ready to go.

Ifhe still had a job when he returned to the office, of course.

And then there was Alexys to consider, as well. The person the spider had been haunting for so long. Years, according to Hornsby’s report. He would need to find a way to tell her that the spider was captured. That he knew about her nightmares to begin with but also that she shouldn’t have them anymore. He wanted to believe she would be relieved, but Alexys was an incredibly private person. Perhaps, he would let things settle before telling her everything.

Nic checked the time, did some quick math, and realized it was far too early in the morning in London to call Charlotte, so he sent her a text instead. He’d conduct his research and see his family, who had been desperate for him to visit for months—it was the perfect excuse. Two birds, one stone, and a coveted ticket to rub his accolades in his colleagues’ faces.

Nic made his way to his home office to do a little research into the arachnid exhibit and respond to some work emails. Hornsby had no doubt left a few emotional meltdowns in his inbox that would need soothing, and his work calendar would need rearranging if he was going to London. The sooner the better.

Hours had passed when Nic’s stomach grumbled with hunger. He imagined Alexys might be hungry too, he didn’t trust her to cook herself a proper meal in her current state.

He found her curled up, under no less than three blankets, soundly asleep. He smiled. He liked seeing her there, in his house, sleeping on his couch. Somehow, it felt like the most natural thing in the world. Sitting down beside her, he gently removed the journal from beneath her hand and placed it on the coffee table.

He sat back, studying her face in sleep, reaching out to brush back a stray hair. Her nose scrunched up at the feeling of his fingers on her skin, and Nic smiled at the expression. Alexys made the sameface when he said something she found particularly irritating, a dramatic scrunch of her nose and furrow of her brow. He’d never met someone so expressive, every emotion painted so clearly on her face.

He pulled the blankets up a bit further and let his eyes wander over her features, taking a quiet moment to observe her uninterrupted. To remind himself that she was alright, and that she had survived. Her long lashes fanned out across lightly freckled cheeks. Her auburn hair, which he knew now to be the warmest copper in the sunlight, was thrown across her left shoulder. Her mouth was parted just slightly.

What did they call it? An Eros bow?

Nic thought of their unexpected kiss in the mine. Neither one of them had mentioned it, and yet he’d thought of it at least a dozen times since it happened. He wanted to trace his fingertip along her lips then, just to feel their softness again.

He resisted, onlyjust.

Nic knew this would be her first night of deep, nightmare-free sleep, and he wanted her to enjoy it.

“Nic.”

He swallowed. He wasn’t used to hearing his name in her mouth. It did strange things to his pulse. She rolled toward him, absently, and her hand reached out toward him. He wanted to tell her right there and then how he felt. He wanted to kiss her again, without the pretense of a life-threatening injury. He wanted so much, in that moment, but …

Her hand. She was holding his hand.

Another type of hope, something burning and rooted deep inside him, took hold of him then. Thoughts of spiders and conferences faded completely as he looked down at the woman that had been willing to give her own life for his.

He sighed.

There was so much that needed to be said, but it’d just have to wait.

Once they’d returned to the office and regained a sense of normalcy, they would talk. He would be patient if it meant he could have more of her.

More of the bickeringandthe tenderness.

More of her in his space.

More of whatever she would give him of herself. He could wait until she was ready, and until then, he would let her sleep.

CHAPTER 54

“Working for Entity is a privilege, and we want to ensure everyone we employ feels honored to work for such an esteemed company. The work environment we create isn’t just a team, it’s a family.”

Entity Employee Handbook: HR Edition

Alexys had been cleared off work for a few days, and she was relieved to have time to herself.

Natalie had been messaging her every couple of hours after her concussion window had passed to ask how her trip went, having been forced out on her own in-field evaluation. Alexys kept assuring her she was fine. But Natalie could read between the lines and knew something was wrong, despite Alexys’s best efforts to reassure her to the contrary.

The truth was she felt fine, almost better than fine. That night at Nic’s, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept so deeply without any disturbance. Not a single nightmare, which felt like a damn miracle and a much-deserved break after everything she’d been through. They’d slept straight through the night, both of them, on his couch. He’d not been wrong; it wasverysoft. As was his hand, which she’d woken to find curled with her own.

He’d made them a very strong pot of coffee which Alexys appreciated, and they verbally danced around everything else. She never imagined Nic Dyre would give her butterflies, but the thought of him, it was doing some very strange things to her stomach. And she couldn’tstopthinking about him.