Page 72 of Forged in Peril

“I agree. She still intimidates me, and she’s definitely not someone who suffers fools lightly, but everything I’ve ever seen from her has been totally above-board,” Bristol admitted.

“Has she been behaving professionally toward you? Any concerning interactions I should know about?”

Cameron cringed at his own words, hating the HR-speak, but it was worth asking. After all that Bristol had put up with at D&P, her perception of what constituted acceptable behavior from a superior had likely become skewed.

“No. She was tougher right when I started here, but she’s softened toward me a lot,” Bristol said. “Look, I don’t want her to feel accused if it’s just a simple misunderstanding, but there was a gut feeling that I just couldn’t shake.”

Her fingernails tapped against the armrest of her chair.

“And gut feelings aren’t something that should be easily ignored,” Cameron added. “Sometimes our intuition picks up on things that pure logic will miss. I’m glad you came to me.”

“Thank you for understanding why I did.”

“I’m going to have to talk to her,” Cam said.

Bristol shook her head.

“You can’t. She’s going to know it had to have been me who listened in, seeing as our clerk wasn’t even in today. And even if someone else could have come into the office, she’s still going to know it was me because I talked to you.”

Cameron gave her a questioning look, and Bristol rolled her eyes.

“She’s not blind, Cam. She along with everyone else figured out pretty quickly that I don’t treat you the same way as Gabe or anyone else here. I’m not exactly the best at hiding my feelings, and you’re even worse.”

He couldn’t decide whether he should feel hopeful or not.

“Anyway, considering that, maybe you can ask Gabe to talk to her. He’s the big boss, and maybe if it’s coming from him, Jaclyn will believe that it was someone else who overheard her.”

Cameron doubted it, but there was no need to tell Bristol as much.

“Good idea,” he said. “Gabe won’t care. He’s used to handling most of the tough conversations around here.”

“Good,” Bristol said, though she looked about as convinced as he felt.

“I’ll talk to him today and try and get this figured out as soon as I can. Like you said, I’m sure there will be nothing to tell.”

An awkward silence descended, and as usual, Cameron longed for things to go back to how they’d been just weeks ago.

He watched Bristol sitting there, fiddling with the ends of her sleek brown hair as the seconds ticked past.

Clearly, she wasn’t getting up to leave, but she didn’t look eager to speak, either.

He caught a glimpse of her eyes as she stared down at her lap, lost in thought.

In the soft light of the room they looked especially almost gray instead of green, reminding him of a northern sea in winter.

Every time she came near him, he was reminded just how difficult it was to keep his distance–especially when she couldn’t seem to decide whether she wanted to trust him, or to keep pushing him away.

BRISTOL

Bristol wanted to run, but her limbs refused to move, as though some larger force held her in place.

Instead, she sat still, waiting for an invitation that Cameron wouldn’t dare to extend, not after the way she’d reacted to him so many times before.

She dared a quick glance up at him, unsurprised to see that he was looking over the desk at her, his eyes filled with confusion.

She wished that he could understand how difficult it had been to open up to him, even a little, and even about something that wasn’t directly personal. But she also wanted to tell him how much it meant to her that he had taken her concerns so seriously, like she was actually part of the team, and not just some airhead client that he was obligated to shield from the danger that surrounded her.

She drew in a quick breath, offering a silent prayer in her heart for courage.

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