Reviving Zeke (Project DEEP Book 4) Read online

  Reviving Zeke

  Project DEEP, Book Four

  Becca Jameson

  Copyright © 2018 by Becca Jameson

  eBook ISBN: 978-1-946911-38-4

  Print ISBN: 978-1-946911-39-1

  Cover Artist: Scott Carpenter

  Editor: Christa Soule

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. And resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  About the Book

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Author’s Note

  Also by Becca Jameson

  About the Author

  Acknowledgments

  I really have to thank everyone who listened to me ramble on and on about this series for months while I worked out the plot and figured out where we were going. It’s a totally new genre for me. (Well, I mean except for the fact that it’s still erotic romance! Let’s not get carried away.) So, it took a lot of planning.

  The concept came to me in the early hours of the morning in a dream when I wasn’t quite awake yet. (Okay, gotta pause again here to say that “early” is a relative term. I don’t do “early.” Nothing in my world is actually “early.” I just mean whatever time the last hour of my sleep occurred. Probably more like ten in the morning.)

  In my dream, there were these scientists in a government bunker. They were studying diseases. They got sick. They had to be cryonically preserved… And from there, a series was launched. I spent a great deal of time studying cryonics and learning the difference between cryonics, cryobiology, and cryogenics--which are very different things.

  I worked very hard to ensure that my terminology was correct with respect to the field of cryonics, though I obviously took a great deal of artistic liberty when reviving the preserved since alas, as far as we know, no one has been reanimated to this date.

  Many thanks to Christa Soule for plotting with me when we were in the early stages, and then when we were in the middle stages, and still to this day.

  Thanks to my husband and countless friends who listened to me and added their two cents.

  Thanks as usual to my cover artist, Scott Carpenter, for designing these series covers. He rocks, and he nailed it once again!

  Praise for Becca Jameson

  “Time and time again, Ms. Jameson infuses her talent for creating pleasurable and entertaining love stories with wonderful characters, a depth of passion, and the joy at discovering your soul mate that is beautiful and thoroughly sexy.”

  Shannon, The Romance Studio

  “Becca Jameson can write sex, hot, steamy, make-you-cold-shower-twice sex. She also can write emotion.”

  Felicity Nichols, Mad in Wonderland Reviews

  “I always love reading Becca Jameson's bedroom scenes and how she makes her heroes fall so completely in love with the female leads in her stories.”

  Roni, Romance Book Scene

  “Becca has the ability to create the different worlds, draw you into them, and keep you wanting more with her writing ability. The way she writes the different characters, you can’t help but to feel for their emotions. When they are scared and upset, you are as well.”

  Crystal’s Many Reviewers

  About the Book

  Zeke is the fifth person to be reanimated after being cryonically preserved for ten years.

  But he wakes up to a world that resents his very existence.

  Everything he worked for is in danger of being destroyed.

  The last thing he needs is a well-meaning scientist with her own agenda.

  Michelle would rather work with anyone besides the surly scientist she’s been partnered with.

  The man desperately needs an attitude adjustment.

  Too bad his penetrating glares also manage to hit a long-buried place inside her.

  It doesn’t matter because there’s no way she’s going to enter a relationship with a coworker.

  And after his disastrous marriage, he has no interest in letting any woman get under his skin.

  Even in their standoff, sparks fly.

  Eventually they will have to face the truth because curing disease isn’t their only job these days.

  Staying one step ahead of whoever would rather see them dead is equally important.

  They need each other, and it would be much easier if they could get along.

  Even better if they could find a way to let the other into their hearts.

  Chapter 1

  “Put me to work. I don’t care if you want me to take out the trash, vacuum the floors, clean toilets, or find a cure for Ebola, but I’ll lose my mind soon if you don’t give me a task.”

  Michelle lifted her gaze from the paperwork she was going over with her boss, General Temple Levenson, in the general’s office. Standing in the doorway, scowling, was one of the latest patients to be reanimated by the Project DEEP team—Zeke Holleran.

  Of the eight people who had been revived so far, Zeke was Michelle’s least favorite. He seemed permanently angry. Sure, he was ridiculously good looking, but his brow was always furrowed, and he rarely spoke to anyone.

  Temple leaned back in her chair. “You’ve been awake only three weeks. You should be concentrating on standing, walking, using a fork.”

  He narrowed his gaze. “I think I’ve got those things down, Temple. I realize you haven’t seen me for ten years, but do you remember me sitting around with my feet up?”

  She chuckled. “No. Definitely not.” Temple was the link between every member of both teams—the old and the new. She had been there from the beginning, so Zeke knew her as well or better than anyone who had been hired in the bunker in the last few years.

  “Look, I realize you have no system in place to pay any of us yet, but you’re going to have a mutiny on your hands soon if you don’t figure out something for us to do. We’re scientists. We may be behind on the latest developments, but we each need to figure out if we’re willing to put in the work or change professions. The only way that’s going to happen is if you give out some assignments.”

  Michelle could see his point. If she were in his shoes, she would be crawling out of her skin.

  “Do you still feel solid as an immunologist? Any memory problems?” Temple glanced from Zeke to Michelle.

  Oh no. Hell, no. Please, God, no.

  “I’m solid.” Zeke lifted a brow.

  “And you’re sure you want to continue with Project DEEP? You realize you have options. No one is required to stay. We can relocate you. Provide you with a new identity so you can start over.”

  “Not a chance. This is my life.”

  Temple nodded slowly. “Well, it’s only been three weeks. You don’t have to decide anything today, but if you want to get back to work, why don’t you shadow Michelle? She’s also an immunologist. She can bring you up to speed.”r />
  Zeke shifted his gaze toward Michelle, seeming to just that moment notice she was in the room. He was still frowning, but she refused to take it personally. He knew nothing about her, and he scowled like that at everyone.

  That didn’t mean she wanted to work with him. Shit.

  Zeke hesitated. Was he scrutinizing her?

  She stood straighter to her full height of five nine and crossed her arms as if this were a standoff. “Join me any time you’d like. I know you’re still gaining strength. I’ll understand if you want to start slow. Maybe a few hours a day?” She knew she sounded snarky, and she fully intended to. Jesus, the man could melt iron with his looks.

  “I’m not having trouble staying awake, for God’s sake. I’m just not quite up to a marathon.”

  “Well, everything around here is a marathon. That’s why I’m suggesting you not attempt to enter the competition. Ease in. See what you remember and where the holes are. Then we can take it from there.”

  “Excellent,” Temple interrupted. “Now, I’ve got a meeting in the conference room. I trust you two can continue this tête-à-tête elsewhere?” She glanced at Michelle as she stood, eyebrows lifted. She gave her a more pointed glare as she shuffled toward the door.

  Great. Now Temple didn’t think Michelle could play nice. Then again, Michelle wasn’t at all sure she was capable herself.

  She followed Temple out of the office as Zeke backed into the hallway also. Temple walked away, and Michelle pasted on a smile. “You want to start tomorrow?”

  “Now’s fine. Show me what you’re working on.” He swept a hand in the direction of the wing of the bunker where most of the medical personnel worked. At least he was a gentleman.

  He followed her while she tried to imagine how she was going to live through this ordeal. She was backed up with projects that needed attention. Meanwhile, the bunker was quickly filling with newly reanimated staff whose skills were ten years behind. Next week, there would be four more joining the group.

  The bunker was getting crowded, and tensions were high because no one was supposed to leave the bunker without permission.

  The only way anyone could leave the bunker was if they chose to take a new name and relocate to start a new life. So far, no one had opted to leave. As more of them awoke, Michelle had little doubt some of them would decide they didn’t want any part of this chaos.

  When Michelle rounded the doorway leading to the main lab, she found several coworkers already buried in work.

  “For some reason, the lab looks smaller than it did the last time I was here,” Zeke murmured.

  “Well, I wasn’t here ten years ago, but Tushar, Trish, and Emily have all confirmed there have been few changes to anything. With the exception of the additional attached housing units, this section of the bunker hasn’t undergone much of an overhaul.”

  “Oh, trust me. I would remember. I was just here a month ago in my mind.”

  “Right.” She nodded as she led him to a workstation. She was aware of how each of the reanimated scientists perceived the passage of time, but it was still eerie. As far as the original team was concerned, they’d been in a sort of coma with no awareness that a decade had gone by.

  Zeke picked up a notebook she’d been using before she went to see Temple. “How can you even read this?” he asked, scowling.

  She inhaled slowly, forcing herself not to slap him. If he said one more condescending thing, she wasn’t sure she could hold back. “I don’t need to. Everything important is in the computer. I just keep a notebook next to me to jot something down if I need to.”

  “The computer…” He glanced at the laptop open on the desk area.

  The room was bustling with six other people working and talking over each other. Sometimes Michelle felt like she worked for a major newspaper always on the cusp of an important story instead of in a government bunker.

  Project DEEP was the thankfully short abbreviation for Disease & Epidemic Eradication & Prevention. Not a soul used that term. Half of them couldn’t even remember it.

  “Yeah, I’ve also come to realize your team didn’t rely as heavily on computers ten years ago.”

  “We used computers, of course, but I’ve never trusted them enough to rely on them not eating my data or losing it somehow in the ether,” he grumbled.

  “They’ve improved a lot in the last decade. We back up everything multiple times into a cloud and onto external hard drives. It’s all safe.”

  He lifted a brow. “I’m clear on how the computer works. We backed up everything even in the dark ages a decade ago, but if I can’t hold it in my hands, it doesn’t feel safe.”

  Was he going to argue with her like this constantly? She was losing her patience, and they hadn’t even started yet. Great. This was going to be so much fun. “You might like to take a refresher course on computers to get up to speed. Kate, Grayson, and Colton were going to sit down with our tech guy and brush up.” The three people she was referring to had been reanimated at the same time as Zeke. They were coworkers of Zeke’s.

  Zeke ignored her offer. Perhaps he didn’t play nice with others even a decade ago. “I’ll just stick to paper for now.”

  “Okay. Suit yourself.”

  “What’s most urgent?” he asked, taking a seat in the rolling chair as he lifted the printout of a spreadsheet to scrutinize. He didn’t look her in the eye. It was annoying as hell and somewhat rude or condescending. She wasn’t sure which.

  If this guy even so much as insinuated that she wasn’t as good as him because she was a woman, she truly would kill him with her bare hands. She wasn’t sure why she got that particular vibe, but it stuck. “Myasthenia Gravis,” she said.

  He nodded slowly, peering into the microscope in front of him and then glancing around at the samples on the desk. “It makes me kind of sick to my stomach to realize how little advancement has been made in the last ten years in some areas of research,” he told the microscope.

  She chose to pretend he wasn’t criticizing her in particular or even the Project DEEP team. He’s just making an observation. Don’t take it personally.

  “Why is this disease at the forefront right now?” he asked the desk.

  She wanted to grab his chin and force him to make eye contact with her. Instead, she took a deep breath and answered his question. They were going to be working closely. She needed to find a way to stifle this animosity. “There has been an unusual surge in occurrences in the last few years. No one knows the causes, and we’re still no closer to a cure.”

  “I see.”

  “I’ll give you some time to look over the data.” she stated, hoping to get away from him so she could breathe again. It was too bad he was so foul. If his brow weren’t knitted together and he actually smiled and relaxed his shoulders, women would do a double-take when they walked by.

  At a glance, he was attractive. Six feet tall. Green eyes she’d only glimpsed. Broad shoulders. Brown wavy hair. He could even be sexy. But instead, he was a bit of an ass.

  “Let me know if you need anything. Or ask anyone in the room. We’re all friendly.” Except you.

  Keeping his head tipped down, he lifted his gaze alone to meet hers. It was the first time he made eye contact with her. “I have a PhD in immunology from Harvard. I think I’ll be fine.”

  “Good for you,” she returned. “I have a matching PhD from Emory that is ten years newer than yours.” Without another word, she turned around and left the room, praying she could make it to someplace private before she stomped her feet in frustration.

  Chapter 2

  Zeke kicked himself internally as he watched Michelle gracefully saunter from the room. There had been no need for him to be such an asshole. Nothing about his current situation was her fault. In fact, it was a wonder she hadn’t slapped him in the last fifteen minutes.

  She probably thought he was a total dick with the way he’d behaved since Temple set them up to work together. And that wasn’t far from the truth. But not for t
he reasons she might suspect.

  His sour personality had nothing to do with her personally. Not professionally anyway. No part of him doubted her abilities or her education. The reason he couldn’t stand to look at her was because she was eerily similar to his ex-wife—a woman who left him soon after they moved to Falling Rock, Colorado. Long brown hair. Dark chocolate eyes. Tanned skin. High cheekbones. Slight build. Even her long legs that went on forever reminded him of his ex-wife. It was uncanny, and he was afraid if he stared at her very long, he might growl.

  Zeke met Meredith in the last year of his doctorate on a night he should have been studying. He had taken an evening off from studying or catching up on sleep to attend another student’s wedding, and had met Meredith at the reception.

  From the moment he met her, he should have seen the signs. Red flags everywhere. So many of them waving in the air, it was a wonder he could even see through them.

  Meredith, it turned out, had been far more interested in money than she was in love. And she incorrectly assumed Zeke would be a rich man who would spoil her for the rest of her life. What she didn’t count on at the time was that Zeke had already made a commitment to the government to move to Falling Rock, Colorado, after he finished his PhD, where he would work long hours for little thanks in a dark bunker.