Force of Forever (All In #0.5)

She thought of his warmth, his drive, his dedication to a family business that didn’t appreciate him like he deserved. She thought of the private tours, how he treated Célia, how he’d ironed Pia’s uniform and learned to make an Americano just because she liked them.

She remembered his sweet touches, and the words that had melted her.

I have no regrets.

With you, all of it felt right.

Thank you for every leap of faith you made with me.

She held out her hand for Ami’s. Her cousin gave her an affectionate squeeze. “What’s our motto?”

“We got this.”

With warmth in her heart and butterflies in her belly, Pia dialed Matt.

13

It had been a hell of a month.

Matt had spent a significant portion of the past five weeks in the air, back and forth from California to Paris, or in a rental on the dusty highway between Victory and LAX. He’d finally broken down and requested the company invest in a private jet stateside, and the finance committee had agreed. Matt’s commute from desert office to Paris flat would soon shrink.

Though he could hardly call Paris home anymore since he’d partially moved in to the villa in the Victory hills. Commissioned by his great-grandfather in the 1930s, it was a replica of a famous French house, though Matt didn’t find the empty, endless cement structure particularly homey. It was cold and quiet and full of sharp corners.

With all the flying he’d been doing, he hadn’t seen or spoken to Pia once. With all the time in the car on California highways, he had too much time to think about how much he missed a woman he hardly knew.

HemissedPia. For one whole day, he’d felt the sun. Since, only shadow.

In the past five weeks, Matt had dealt with nothing but apprehensive investors, a displeased mother, and international hiring managers tired of his high standards for staff. He’d experienced no kind words, no hugs, no mind-bending sex.

Pia hadn’t texted or called. Not a word. She’d started to feel like yet another person he had let down.

Or maybe he was the one feeling let down.

He uncorked a bottle of wine in his spartan kitchen. He had one set of everything on the open shelves. With his family and company in France, he was alone in the desert that stretched into the horizon. Grabbing a glass and the bottle, he dragged himself to the nearest sitting room, where he prepared to lose the night working and staring at the hills. As much as he loved his City of Lights, the desert vistas were growing on him.

He took a deep drink of the Bordeaux. At least most of his C-suite had been hired. He’d signed the last set of hiring paperwork the day before. He just needed an operating officer and the executive staff would be complete. OrbitAll was nearly ready to roll.

Matt had so many ideas, too many, to make this branch of their company the highest standard of commercial spaceflight in existence. But he also had ideas for new companies, new ventures, new tech. Ideas that were getting loud. He was afraid he was going to have a hard time sitting still here, and he’d need a decade at least before they’d actually get to fly passengers to space. He found the constant antsy feeling concerning.

His phone rang from the arm of the couch where he’d stashed it. His heart lurched when he saw Pia’s name flash on the screen. He set his wine glass down hurriedly, splashing some onto the side table in his rush. He swiped the phone open, mouth drying out like the landscape outside.

“Pia.”

“Hey, Matt.”

Her voice sounded smaller than he remembered. Dimmer.

“I’ve—how are you?” Matt caught himself from confessing just in time.

“Um…”

He waited. Heard her whisper to someone nearby. Waited some more.

“Pia?”

“Yeah, sorry.”

“How you are shouldn’t be a hard question to answer.”