Chapter 32

CHAPTER 32

MIRA

C old and wet, we trudged inside, huddling into a service corridor with about a dozen doors leading off it, but none of those doors led to comfort. This platform was functional, not suited to living on or even just taking a break.

Andrew slumped with his back against a rusted metal wall, scowling like he was planning on setting his face that way forever before eventually lowering himself down to sit on the floor. Hiding a smirk, I kept my head down and tried not to look at the older man as a pouting toddler who hadn't gotten his way.

After their showdown outside, Logan had managed to convince him to wait out the storm here, but the man wasn't thrilled about it. I didn't care whether he was happy, though. Safety was all that mattered.

None of us wanted to be stuck on this platform, but we were. Besides, my guys were out in the storm preparing for the weather to get worse while they were in here with us. Cramped, but finally able to dry out a bit.

"What about the others?" Logan asked quietly, standing beside me at the far end of the corridor. We'd put some space between Andrew and ourselves, trying to diffuse the tension still radiating from the contractor.

I shot Logan a quick smile. "Sometimes, it's like you can read my mind. I was just thinking about them out there while Mr. Pouty over there is acting like he's in the worst position on the whole damn rig."

He huffed out a frustrated breath, his teeth grinding as he glanced at the man with obvious hostility brewing in his eyes. "Yeah, I know. He's an entitled prick, but at least we found out before I signed the contracts. So, are you sure they're going to be okay?"

"They'll be fine," I said confidently. My eyes locked on his as I drank in his concern for the men, most of whom who were still treating him with a certain measure of distrust. "I know those men and I trust their capabilities. We don't have to be nervous about the storm itself. It will pass and we'll be just fine. I was only worried about getting us all to safety before it hit."

"Someone had to be," he said, the look in his eyes softening as he stared back at me. "It figures that it would be you. I'm starting to think you always know best when it comes to this industry. Maybe we don't need any other consultants after all."

I pushed down a laugh, giving my head a small shake. "For what you want to do, you will need to hire outside contractors. Slate and I aren't equipped to put any of it in motion by ourselves just yet."

As Logan kept staring at me like he was debating the point internally before he spoke, I questioned my own judgment. An hour ago, I'd thought Andrew was the man with the answers. The guy who was going to help save the oceans one rig at a time.

Now, I wasn't sure I could trust him at all. Having a guy like him on this thing with an attitude like that was dangerous for everyone who worked here. If it hadn't been for Logan's threats, he would've attempted to get back to the accommodation platform, my own men's lives be damned if they had to get out there to save him.

My crew didn't have Logan's leverage. We didn't have any threats to make if another situation like that ever arose while he was working on our rig .

My teeth sank into my lower lip before I refocused on Logan's puzzled expression.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

I nodded. "Fine, but I think you and I need to go someplace where we can talk in private."

"Good idea." He turned those eyes up and down the corridor. "Is there anywhere we can go for that around here, though?"

"It's becoming way too easy to forget how little you know about the rig," I said softly, making sure to keep my voice down so I wouldn't be overheard. "The electrical room is behind us. We can talk in there."

"An electrical room, huh?" he mused before he gave me a quick, secret wink. "Sexy. I like it."

I wanted to roll my eyes at him, but I sensed someone watching us a little too closely, and when I glanced at Andrew's team, I found the asshole himself still glaring daggers at both of us.

"We'll be back," Logan said easily, obviously having noticed him at the same time. "You'll be safe here while we're gone."

Andrew snorted, pushing a hand through his graying hair before giving us a slight nod. I ignored him, inclining my head further down the corridor toward the electrical room instead. It was only a few paces away, and as soon as the door shut behind us, Logan and I were finally on our own again.

Most of my tension immediately eased from my shoulders and I let out a long breath before dragging another back in. "I have some concerns that I feel I should express to you."

Logan nodded, running his fingers through his damp hair while he looked around, presumably for a place to sit. I waved him toward the floor. "It's not soft, but it's safer than trying to sit anyplace else."

"Point taken." He glanced down, shrugged, and planted his butt on the floor before patting the space next to him. "Before you continue, I think I know what your concerns are about. Andrew might be a loose cannon. Am I right?"

"Yep." I sighed, sitting down next to him and crossing my legs. I leaned into his side as naturally as if he were mine to lean on. "I think having him here would present too much of a risk. If you hadn't been here today…"

"I know." He dropped his head back, knocking it softly against the wall behind us. He let out a groan. "I don't even want to think about the potential consequences for your crew. With that wind, someone might've died trying to get his stubborn ass off that bridge."

"Exactly." I smiled as I looked at him. "I'm glad you agree. I loved his presentation and I really do think his company has practical achievable methods of making the rig more green, but I don't know. I'm just not sure if he's a reliable person to have around. A lot of the work we do on here requires trust, and right now, I just don't trust him."

Logan finally blinked his eyes open again, turning his head to face me while still resting it against the wall. "Yeah, his pitch was excellent and his suggestions were practical and ethical. There's no getting around that, but despite what he said about having crossed bridges like that hundreds of times before, I'm starting to wonder how much exposure he's really had."

"You did your due diligence on his company. What did you find?"

I shrugged. "Their reviews are great, but the pictures on the website with him in them were the obligatory handshaking photos as he arrives on a rig or where he's grinning with some politician or another. I'm not sure if he's particularly hands-on once a project starts."

"Something tells me he's not," I said, surprised but impressed once again by how alike we thought. "It might be worth looking into. If he's not hands-on, he wouldn't be on the rig to do the actual work and that means there's less of a risk again. It's the best of both worlds."

"Yeah, except that I suspect he's a bit of a dreamer," Logan said. "The type who wants to save the planet without acknowledging how dangerous the work is. Or maybe he just thinks he's indestructible. Who knows? He's definitely got the right ideas, but you're right about finding out how often he'd actually be onboard."

"If it's not that often, we could have his ideas without the danger." Hope was starting to spark in my chest again. "It really would be the best of both worlds."

"Sure, but what I was getting to was that if he's that way, the people he hires probably are too. Which means that having any of his crew here still poses as much, if not more, of a risk. There have to be other companies out there who've got similar methods, right?"

I stared back into those eyes, mentally going over what I knew about the other players in the industry. "I honestly don't know. A lot of what he proposed, I've never seen in practice or even in the research papers just yet, but people might keep that kind of information close to their chests for now."

"Wouldn't want others cashing in on their ideas," he agreed. "Okay, well, when Slate gets here, we'll discuss the situation. After that, we can decide whether or not to give the guy a chance, or if we should withdraw our offer."

"I'm just glad you haven't signed anything yet." And I was disappointed that we might not sign up with them after all. But I didn't say that.

Why is it that so many of the people with the greatest ideas are completely clueless about real life?

"I'll be honest with you," I continued, my eyes intent on his. "Right now, I'm leaning toward withdrawing our interest in what they're selling. I love, love , all of his ideas, and if he wasn't such a stubborn jackass, I'd have been able to look the other way about his faults, but as things stand?"

"It's just too dangerous," Logan said. "He showed a clear disregard for his own safety as well as that of his crew and ours. That's the biggest no-no in the business, right?"

I pressed the corners of my mouth in and nodded. "Unfortunately, yes. Safety is our most important consideration. Always. If he doesn't know or understand that, he's got no business being in the industry at all."

"Pity."

"Yep." I rested my head against his shoulder, sliding my arm around his elbow. "I'm embarrassed for leading you astray. You trusted me to make a call, and I made the wrong one. Slate probably couldn't get here because of the storm, which means that if not for you, I'd have been here alone and lives might've been lost because of my poor judgment."

"Hey, no," he replied firmly, reaching over with his free hand and lifting my chin between his thumb and index finger. "Don't get in your head like that, Mira. It wasn't your fault. Based on his pitch, I also thought we'd found the guy who was going to change everything. We had no way of knowing how he was going to react to a storm rolling in. That's not on you."

"Yeah, but I should've known. My gut?—"

"Has been great. Is great. You should trust it, Mira. Your gut hasn't steered us wrong yet."

"It did with him," I said softly. "Or maybe I just had blinders on because I didn't want him to turn out to be a prick or a pretender. I wanted him to be everything we thought he was."

"So did I." Logan pressed his forehead to mine. "Nothing has happened yet that can't be undone. No harm, no foul. Don't sweat it, Mira, and definitely don't blame yourself."

I smiled, tilting my head back and moving forward to kiss him. Logan returned my smile, his lips curving against my own as his fingers wrapped around the nape of my neck to hold me to him.

It was a passionate, risky kiss while hidden out of sight, and it sent a wild thrill running through me. I didn't know what the hell Logan and I were, where this was going, or if it was going anywhere at all, but I really fucking liked kissing him and I planned on doing it as often as I could. While I still could. For as long as I could.

Regardless of what my brother thought about it.