She didn’t want to know the answer to that. In this case, ignorance was truly bliss, but as her days went on, she found herself not concentrating on her work, her thoughts drifting to one tall, dark, and sexy as hell man who lived in the cabin next to her. No matter how hard she tried to push him out of her mind, he’d find his way back with a vengeance.
Rob had been true to his word and not allowed any more testing, so regardless of her wishes to fully test his will, she knew that opportunity had sailed. She couldn’t even bring herself to approach Jack about participating in some tests. Ariel’s stomach turned with just the fleeting thought. So instead, she just formulated the drugs and gave them to Thomas to administer, and after Thomas watched them give themselves their own shots, he started leaving the syringes with them at night for them to medicate themselves in the morning, and then he’d collected the empty syringes at breakfast to return to her. It was a system that ensured the men learned how to medicate themselves without assistance and pushed her out of the equation completely. At this point, she could concoct the compound at her lab on campus and ship it to them.
She really had no reason to see Rob anymore. And that thought made it difficult for her to breathe because she knew the longer she stayed, the more difficult it’d be to walk away. This past week had been difficult enough and she knew he was close by. Her sister did her damnedest to keep her away, too, telling her how great of a cook Toby was and inviting her to dinner at their cabin every night. Krista had told her that she just wanted some quality time with her, but Ariel was smarter than that. She did appreciate the excuse to avoid dinner with everyone though. She wanted to see Rob. She just couldn’t bring herself to face his wrath with an audience.
There was no denying she cared for Rob. How it happened, she had no idea, but she knew she was too gun shy to go down that road again. She didn’t believe in love, and she had no intention of changing her beliefs. But that didn’t negate the fact that she felt something for him.
It was because of those feelings that she had to make things right with Rob. She’d tried calling him, but he hadn’t answered. She’d considered telling Krista what was wrong and have Toby explain it to Rob, but that had felt like a copout. She’d made this mess with him, so she needed to be the one to fix it. She needed to go to him, tell him in person. She could’ve done it days ago, but she was a chicken. She knew that. She fully realized once she was within his grasp again that she’d bend to his will. It wasn’t love, though. It was sex. With a man she cared about. That was all.
Yes, a total chicken.
But it was time to make amends and move forward. She hadn’t gotten anywhere with herself imposed semi-isolation, her researching into the Woods family connections turning up big goose eggs and the medication working with only minor tweaks.
Ariel closed the book she was reading. It was mid-afternoon, so she assumed Rob would still be out on the land, harvesting or planting trees. With no plan other than to talk to him, she left her cabin and started walking into the woods.
* * * *
“Rob?” Josh sounded on Rob’s radio.
He unclipped it from his belt and brought it to his mouth. “Yeah?”
“I have a bead on our guest. She’s walking on the north end quadrant, heading to the burnout. Thought you’d like to know.”
What the hell was Ariel doing walking around out here like she was on some fucking field trip? Didn’t she realize there was heavy machinery and trees being extracted, and his brothers out on wheelers creating a very dangerous situation for someone unfamiliar with their work tactics? She could get hurt or worse.
“I’m on it.”
Damn that little waif of his. He’d been hurt and pissed, so he’d avoided her like the plague, which proved a monumental feat. Just because he was mad didn’t mean he didn’t want her with aching force. He’d stayed away from his cabin during the day so he wouldn’t accidentally run into her…or pretend to run into her because lord knew that ridiculously embarrassing thought had crossed his mind. God, he’d run at night with his brothers just to sleep in his feline form outside her door. He knew it was pathetic. His brothers and his father were all worried about him. In the waning hours of his medication, he couldn’t resist his lion’s need to be near its mate. He knew his family talked about him and about how Ariel’s tests had been too much for him. Hell, they talked about that in front of him. He knew they’d witnessed him staying in his shifted form and sleeping outside, and he didn’t give a shit. He was not ashamed of how she made him feel.