Read Break the Rules (The Flanagan Sisters Book 1) Online
Authors: Claire Boston
All
eyes turned toward her and Kevin’s face went red. She ignored him and looked at
Jack. “I’m glad to see you up.”
She
wanted to run to him, to fling her arms around him and hold him tight, to
convince herself he was all right.
The hell with it.
No one could think any worse of her than they already did.
She
crossed the room and wrapped her arms around Jack’s neck, being mindful of his
arm in a sling. “I thought you were dead,” she whispered, holding him close.
His
free arm came around her, hugging her back.
Somewhere
behind them Kevin made a grunt of outrage but Bridget ignored him. “I’m sorry
for making you think you weren’t good enough, for not trusting what we have.
I’m sorry my baggage made you so unhappy.” She stepped back and looked him in
the eyes. “I love you. When I thought I might have lost you –” That was as far
as she got before he covered her mouth with his and kissed her.
When
he stopped he rested his forehead against hers. “I love you too.”
“Do
you see what I mean?” Dirk’s disgust was clear. “She’s sleeping with him. She’s
probably been filling his head with lies since he started. I’ll bet you it was
her stupid safety project that caused the incident.”
“Shut
up, Dirk,” Jack snapped, turning to him but keeping his good arm firmly around
Bridget’s waist. “I know my own mind and I know safety. From what I’ve heard
about the incident there could be a number of causes, but those relief valves
venting to atmosphere caused Roger and my injuries.”
Kevin’s
face went red. “Dirk told me the project was unnecessary.” He glared at Dirk
who turned pale.
Bridget’s
eyebrows shot up. That was information she hadn’t known. She couldn’t prevent
the smallest hint of satisfaction going through her, but she needed to make a
point. “We were very lucky yesterday –”
“
Lucky?
”
Bob’s voice was incredulous. “Half the plant is ruined and we’re going to lose
millions of dollars.”
Bridget
stared him down. “We’re lucky we didn’t
kill
anyone.”
He
pursed his lips and she continued. “The burns were bad enough. It’s time this
site took safety seriously and started listening to the
experts
they’ve
hired when they tell them something is wrong.”
“Fire’s
out …” Jeremy’s voice trailed off as he walked into the room and noticed
the tension.
Bridget
smiled at him. “What’s next?”
“There’s
a bit of mopping up to do but it should be clear within the hour. We’ll need to
get some structural engineers in to check the stability of the area and then we
can start the investigation.” He nodded to Jack. “Good to see you up, boss.”
Bridget
turned to him. “About that … you should go home and rest.”
“I
feel fine. I’ve had ten hours’ sleep and have some great painkillers for my
arm. I want to sit in on the interviews.”
Bridget
turned to Anthony to back her up.
“He’s
been cleared to work,” he told her with an apologetic smile.
Jack
kissed her again. “I’m fine. I promise. Now I need to speak to you alone for a
moment.”
He
took her hand and led her out of the room, past an unusually silent Kevin, to
his office. He shut his door and turned to her, pulling her close with his one
good arm.
“I’ve
accepted Graham’s job,” she said. “I need to officially apply, but as soon as
it’s confirmed I’ll hand in my resignation.”
Jack
kissed her deeply. “I don’t care. All I care about is that you’re safe. When I
woke up and remembered the explosion I was so scared something had happened to
you. I made Anthony come straight over and tell me. Then afterward, when I was
talking to everyone who was injured, your name kept popping up. It sounds like
you saved the day.”
She
shook her head and stepped back. “I just followed procedure. I was the only
emergency response coordinator on site. I had to take charge.”
“By
all accounts you were amazing. Thank you for saving my life.”
“It
was in my best interests,” she said, blinking back tears and swallowing the
lump in her throat.
“I’m
sorry for the way I acted.” He squeezed her hand. “I was selfish, not thinking
about what you wanted, but expecting you to change jobs so we could be together.
All I could think was you didn’t love me the way I love you.”
Bridget
smiled at the thrill his words sent through her. He loved her. “The only thing
stopping me from accepting it right away was my sense of responsibility for all
of the guys at the plant. I didn’t want to let them down. But after what
happened, I’ve realized everyone is responsible for their own safety, and
management doesn’t want me here. I’m probably more a hindrance than anything.
You’ll be able to make progress where I wasn’t able to.”
“I
wish it wasn’t that way.”
Her
smile was a little sad.
“Me too.
But wait until you
see the job description – you’ll be jealous,” she teased.
He
laughed. “Come on. We need to get back to work.”
Yes.
She took his hand. “Safety first,” she said and smiled.
Epilogue
“Here’s
to Bridget: heroine of the plant. Long will she be
missed.
”
Jeremy raised his glass, and around him people echoed his sentiments.
Bridget
smiled her thanks, raising her glass of wine. Her chest was full of emotion but
luckily she didn’t have to speak. The people who surrounded her now were the
ones who had supported her the whole time at Dionysus. These were the people
she was going to miss.
She’d
given two weeks’ notice when she’d handed in her resignation. She’d made sure
the incident investigation was well under way and Jack would be able to ask her
any follow-up questions.
Now
she sat in a bar not far from the plant, with people who wanted to wish her
well on her final day. Her heart warmed as Jack squeezed her hand.
The
last couple of weeks had been difficult, but as they uncovered more details
about what had happened, Kevin had gone from openly hostile to quietly subdued.
She hadn’t expected an apology from him, nor did she get one, but they were
both aware he’d been very wrong about her.
The
company’s vice-president of safety, health and environment had praised her
efforts during the incident when he’d returned from leave, and had done
everything he could to convince her to stay with the company, but as far as
Bridget was concerned it was too late. She was excited about the next stage in
her career and felt she was going to make a difference.
“Hey,
Bridge!” An arm came around her neck and Tanya kissed her cheek. “I thought I’d
come and celebrate with you.” She waved to Jack.
“Hi.
You know a few people, don’t you?” Bridget said, gesturing to Sally and Trish.
“Sure
do. I’m going to grab a drink. Do you want another?”
Bridget
nodded. She was going to relax and celebrate.
When
Tanya was gone, the vice-president approached her. “Are you sure I can’t
convince you to stay?”
She
smiled at him. “I’m sure.” He’d been involved in the investigation and she’d
got to know him over the past few weeks.
“It’s
a shame, but I guess we let you slip away.”
She
nodded. Tanya returned and handed Bridget a drink before finding a seat next to
Trish.
Taking
a sip, Bridget glanced at Jack. The few days following the incident had been
difficult with them both having to answer questions about their relationship.
Kevin’s ire vanished as soon as they discovered the cause of the explosion –
the sticking level transmitter Bridget had told production to fix. The thinning
pipeline Mike had identified had also played a part because the explosion had
caused it to rupture as well. They were both things that could have been
avoided if Bridget had been listened to.
But
she didn’t feel vindicated, she felt sad. It was better for her to leave the
company. After her run-in with the CEO she doubted the company’s other oil
refineries would be any better than the one she was on.
Jack
squeezed her hand again. “You OK?”
“Yeah.”
He
leaned over and kissed her and Bridget closed her eyes, savoring the moment.
She loved that Jack could kiss her in front of all her colleagues now and she wasn’t
the least bit perturbed. It was incredibly freeing. She’d let her experience
with Lionel affect her life, had given him far more power over her than she
should have. But all of that was in the past.
She
and Jack were together. The day after the incident she’d moved her things into
his bedroom, which was the bigger of the two, and the following weekend they’d
moved the rest of his things out of storage. Her mother kept asking when he was
going to put a ring on her finger, but Bridget wasn’t in any rush. She was
content to be with him, to have him safe and by her side. They’d started
searching for a place to buy together and for Bridget that was commitment
enough.
“I
love you,” Jack murmured in her ear.
A
warm shiver of pleasure went through her.
“I
love you too.”
She
smiled as the pleasure welled up inside her, making her feel like she could
burst with happiness. She was moving to her ideal job, she had Jack by her
side, and she was surrounded by friends.
Life
couldn’t get better than this.
There was a lot
of research that went into this book and I want to thank the following people;
Pete for all his information about oil refineries - brainstorming all the
things that could go wrong was quite fun (and a little scary!), Anne for her
information on unaccompanied child refugees, Carmen for checking all the
Spanish and giving me some details about El Salvador, and my beta reader
Michelle for spotting all those
Australianisms
which
keep sliding their way into my stories.
I also want to
thank the team at Momentum; Joel, Patrick and Ashley for all their hard work,
plus my editor Dianne for helping me make the book better. Though Momentum
weren’t able to publish this book in the end, I appreciate the support they
gave during its development.
The Flanagan
Sisters #2
Software billionaire
Carly Flanagan has an abundance of everything except time.
With everyone
wanting a piece of her, or more accurately, her money, she spends her days
trying to live up to her company's motto of Community, Sharing,
Support
. Having always been so focused on responsibility,
success and supporting those less fortunate than her, Carly’s forgotten to
consider what she wants for herself in life – until she meets Evan.
Evan Hayes is an
artist and free spirit, and when they meet at a local art exhibition, he is
immediately intrigued by Carly. He sees through her public persona, realizing
she is not the person she portrays. Evan’s the type of man who doesn’t have a
lot, but is perfectly comfortable with who he is. A man who knows what he wants
– and he wants Carly.
Carly is sure
Evan wants something else from her. Everyone does. All Evan is asking is the
chance to get to know her, but will Carly let him in? Or will a lifetime of
protecting herself prove too hard to overcome?
A
gorgeous romance for fans of Nora Roberts,
Jojo
Moyes
and
Kristan
Higgins.
Claire Boston is
the best-selling author of The Texan Quartet. In 2014 she was nominated for an Australian
Romance Readers Award as Favorite New Romance Author.
Her debut
contemporary romance novel, What Goes on Tour caught the attention of
Momentum’s Joel
Naoum
when her first scene was read
aloud at the Romance Writers’ of Australia (RWA) conference in 2013. This led
to a four book contract for The Texan Quartet series.
Claire is
proactive in organizing social gatherings and educational opportunities for
local authors. She is an active volunteer for RWA, as a mentor for aspiring
authors and the reader judge coordinator.
When Claire’s not
reading or writing she can be found in the garden attempting to grow
vegetables, or racing around a vintage motocross track. If she can convince
anyone to play with her, she also enjoys cards and board games.
Claire lives in
Western Australia, just south of Perth, with her husband, who loves even her
most annoying quirks, and her two grubby but adorable Australian bulldogs.
Claire loves to
hear from her readers. You can find her at her website,
www.claireboston.com
,
on Twitter, @
clairebauthor
, and on Facebook
www.facebook.com/clairebostonauthor
.
You can also join her reader group at
http://eepurl.com/Z4-4z
.