Chapter 67

CHAPTER 67

LOGAN

T wo months after Mira had shown up on my doorstep, she and I sat side by side in the cafeteria on the rig. I had my arm around her shoulders as she laughed at a joke Jack had made, and for just a moment, I drank in how far the two of us had come.

It had been less than six months since my first visit out here, and in that time, my entire life had changed—and so had life on the rig. Mira and I were still together and going strong. Honestly, the last couple months had been the best of my life so far.

With her around, everything was easier, brighter, and more fun. Once we'd come out with our relationship to the guys on the rig, even my visits here had started going better. They still ribbed me from time to time, but the hazing was fine.

I'd been told it was a sign that they were accepting me, so I took it as a good thing since it meant I wasn't just some fancy city-slicker to them anymore. I was becoming one of them, and as much as that had never been on my list of things to do, I found I was enjoying it much more than I'd expected.

In fact, I was enjoying everything about my post-player life more than I ever thought I would. It was fucking great waking up to the same woman every morning and falling asleep with her at night. Not that it was every morning just yet.

Soon enough, I hoped she would agree to move in with me, but after my near-proposal, I'd promised myself I'd take things slow, and it had only been two months. Asking her to move in with me had been more of a vague suggestion a few days ago over breakfast.

I'd simply said that she was spending so much time at my place and so many of her things were already there that she might as well move in. Mira had rolled her eyes at me and giggled at the time, but she was thinking about it.

I knew she was. Whenever we had a quiet moment, she had that look in her eyes that she got when she was far away, wrapped in her thoughts as she tried to decide if something was a good idea. I was hopeful that she would agree to do it soon, but I wasn't about to push the issue.

It would happen when it happened. When she was ready for it to happen. Me? I was ready for anything with her. If I had my way, I would've popped the question by now. Instead, I was giving her time, but as soon as I got that first sign that she was interested in taking that step, I would have the ring handy.

I was in this thing for life, and right now, I was just waiting for her to catch up—and I was grateful that I hadn't tried to rush her into it a couple months ago.

But now, I was definitely ready. Even more so than I had been back then. My resolve had been strengthened with every day that we'd spent together, my future with her becoming clearer by the damn hour.

"So, what's the big announcement you guys were going to make today?" Peach asked, drawing me out of my thoughts as he sent me a skeptical look. "Are you selling the rig already, City?"

"Nah, you guys are alright. I've decided to keep it a little while longer," I joked, glancing at Mira and seeing the excitement shining bright in her eyes. I smiled. "Why don't you tell them the good news?"

Her eyebrows lifted a little bit. "Are you sure you don't want to tell them? "

"For the love of God, someone just tell us," Jack groaned. "We're dyin' here. Next time you've got something to say, just say it instead of sending a message telling us that a big announcement is going to be made and then making us wait before you tell us what it is."

Mira winked at him as she started getting up. "Trust me, when you hear the announcement, you'll be okay with having to wait for it."

As she stood, she held out her hand to me and I took it, aware of all the eyes on us and not giving a damn. The rig workers had given Mira surprisingly little shit about dating the boss. She'd gotten it here and there, but she'd given it back and had taken the whole thing in her stride.

It had been a couple weeks after we'd made it official that she'd broken the news about us first to her closest friends on here. We'd both come out for a few days and I'd thought we were going to keep it on the downlow, but nope.

My brave girl had had other plans. We'd been sitting around the exact table we were leaving now when she'd come right out with it, telling them that what had been written in the article was true. She and I were together, and if anyone had a problem with what she did in her personal life, they could go fuck themselves.

I'd been surprised, but it had gone over well. From that point on, word had spread around the rig pretty damn fast and now there wasn't a soul onboard who didn't know. Not giving her shit about it didn't mean they weren't curious, though.

Every time she held my hand in front of them, which wasn't often, there were some guys who gawked. Probably wondering how the hell I got so lucky. Don't worry, gentleman. I don't know either .

I met one of the gawkers' eyes now and shrugged. I really don't know, bro.

He smirked back at me like he'd heard the thought, but then the curiosity returned to his face and his attention drifted to Mira when she came to a standstill in the very center of the large space. I was still right beside her, but she'd earned the right to be the one to tell them this.

We were doing the reveal on the rig today, away from the press and the prying eyes of the public at large, but Slate would be recording it so that my company and theirs could share it once we got back to New York. This was going to make waves throughout the industry and I, for one, was very excited to see what it would mean for the future.

The only other people we'd told had been our friends. Flynn, Ariane, Jude, and Mickey had all been misty-eyed about it. Hell, Ariane had even almost kissed me.

I still smiled whenever I thought about the look on Flynn's face when she'd flung herself into my arms. I was pretty sure he'd have knocked me out if she hadn't thrown herself into Mira's arms at the same time. Still, it was pretty hilarious to see that kind of primal protectiveness in action.

On the other hand, if Mira had thrown herself into another man's arms like that, I wasn't sure I would have been able to stop myself from knocking him out. But that didn't matter right then. All that mattered was that they had been ecstatic and I was sure the rig workers would be too.

It wasn't long until every eye in the cafeteria was on her. Conversations fell to a hushed murmur, and when she cleared her throat, they ceased completely. "As all of you know, Logan and I have been looking for a way to make the rig greener. You may remember that disastrous visit from the first contracting company we were going to try a few months ago."

A ripple of laughter rang out, along with some boos. Mira nodded, a smile on her face as she shared a few understanding, exasperated glances with the men around her before she continued. "For most of us who work in this industry, the environmental effects of what we do are the one thing we hate most about our jobs. It's a job and it's not only something we do, but it's something that needs to be done. Something that someone else will do even if we don't and, more importantly, something that becomes a part of who we are."

A few of the men nodded their agreement, but all of them were watching her with rapt attention. "Whether you're in this industry because you love it or simply because it's a paycheck, none of us are blind to the detrimental effects it has. There are arguments for and arguments against, and we have those arguments often because we have to. People come at us from all sides when we're not on this thing, from strangers staging protests, to family members around the dinner table, to lifelong friends who have bought hybrid cars and are now suddenly ranting about how we need to find new jobs. We're always having to explain ourselves."

There were grunts and more nods of agreement. Passion laced every word that Mira spoke and now that she'd gotten started, she was on a roll. "Now, I don't know about you, but I got to a point where I desperately wanted to make a difference, to make the industry different, but there was nothing to be done. So I just shut up. I took the abuse when it came my way and I tried to act like I didn't care. Like it didn't matter if I was in the industry or not because the industry would always be there."

"But then Logan Jones bought the rig." She smiled at me. "Now, some of you may not know this, but during the negotiations surrounding the sale, environmental concerns were raised. This old lady we're on was almost slated to be scuttled."

The crowd bristled, some of them even suddenly clinging to the edges of their tables like they were instinctively trying to protect the rig. Mira smiled. "I know how you feel. I would've been sad to see her go too, but we all know she's old, gentlemen. We all know there are modern rigs out there with smaller carbon footprints and we all know that upgrading this old girl isn't a feat that just anyone would take on."

She continued proudly. "For the past couple months, Logan and I have been working with a contracting company, and today, we're proud to unveil our advanced technology that will make this rig, our beloved old girl, the greenest one in the oceans today."

Stunned silence followed her announcement, but when they realized she was serious, they started clapping one by one. Soon, the applause was so thunderous that it was almost deafening and whoops and cheers rang out.

Mira laughed, waving her hands to show them to make it louder, and then she spun in a slow, victorious circle. They cheered for her like they might have for their favorite, underdog sports team who'd finally earned a long-awaited win.

As she started speaking again, they fell silent once more but they were grinning now, looking excited rather than apprehensive about where this was going. "Our new tech will harness wind to generate energy and reduce our carbon footprint by a whopping seventy-six percent!"

It took a moment for them to process what she'd said, but once they did, their applause and cheers shook the whole rig. The noise only dying down once she motioned for them to stop.

"It makes our rig a trendsetter. An example to be followed and it guarantees that she won't be scuttled anytime soon." She grinned. "In addition to all that, I've been working with other companies and private owners to bring this tech to their production as well and so far, so good. A lot of you have been asking me for these last couple months what we've been so busy with, and today is the day that you're finally getting those answers. It's taken some trial and error as well as a lot of investment to get the rig up to snuff, but now it's ready to be equipped with the green technology and we can't wait to see what effect that will have on the future of our industry as a whole."

Once the next round of cheers died down, she motioned to me and then stepped aside as she waved a hand at my chest. "There's more, but I'll let Logan tell you about that part."

A little blindsided, I chuckled but stepped up to the proverbial plate. When Mira had said that she and I had been working with other companies, she'd slightly overexaggerated my involvement. I'd bankrolled it and I'd put the engineers in touch with Ariane and her people, but on a practical level, I'd had very little to do with the development of the actual tech.

This next part, however, was my domain. As owner of a rig like this, my exposure to the operations, the people, and their day-to-day life had made me grow a lot in these last two months. It was still a business, but Mira had been right when she'd said they were also one big family.

As part of that family now, it really did bring me tremendous joy to be the one to give the workers this news. "What Mira neglected to mention about this new tech—" I cut myself off to smile at her. "Thanks for that, by the way."

I turned my attention back to them, meeting as many of the workers' eyes as possible as I swept my gaze around the room. "Anyway, what she neglected to mention so that I would have the honor of telling you is that this new technology is going to reduce the operating costs of the rig significantly. What that means for you is that everybody is getting a raise!"

Once more, it surprised me that the applause and cheers could be even louder than it had been before, but it was. This time, it went on for a few solid minutes, but since that concluded the announcement, Mira and I didn't bother quieting them down.

We started back toward our table, being clapped on the back and even embraced by several of the workers on the way. When we sat down again, Jack beamed at me. "Way to find a way to put the storms around here to good use, man. You're okay. I think we'll keep you."

I laughed. "Gee, thanks."

Peach leaned across the table, giving me a rare, wide grin as he raised his fist for a bump. "He's right. For a fancy city-slicker, you're not too bad at all."

I groaned. "This again?"

His grin widened. "It's always going to be this again, City. The difference is that now, it comes from a place of love and appreciation. You can take it or leave it."

"You know, I think I'll take it." It looked like I was well and properly in the oil game now, and if I had the men on only this one rig on my side, then it would make all the money and time I'd put into it worthwhile.

Besides, these guys were Mira's family and now they were mine too. Our family had grown and soon I planned on talking to her about growing it in a whole different way.