Page 53 of Last Chance

“To protect you, Brent will remove the restraints on his interrogation team.”

Feeling sick to her stomach at the thought of other people, even evil ones, being hurt on her account, Janie nuzzled his cheek with hers. Seconds later, she froze, realizing she’d crossed a line. This relationship wasn’t real. The pretense was only for her employees and others outside her circle of friends who might be curious about the strange man who suddenly seemed to be everywhere with her. She and Sawyer weren’t in public.

She eased away. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“I don’t mind, Janie. Do it again whenever you want.”

The elevator doors opened, sparing her from coming up with a comment. Although she wanted to fan her flaming face, the action would be a dead giveaway. Nope, she’d remain silent unless Sawyer brought up the comment again.

She should tell the operative the action couldn’t happen again, but she’d be lying to herself and to him. Janie wanted to do it again, pleased to have permission to indulge herself when she wanted. Wouldn’t be fair, though, unless he had reciprocal privileges. Janie supposed the most important question was whether he’d want the same right.

Sawyer carried her down the hall on the third floor to a small conference room where a tall, slender bald man sat at the large table.

He jumped up from his chair, alarm on his face. “Everything all right, Chapman?”

“She’s fine. Janie, this is Ian McGregor, our resident sketch artist. Ian, meet Janie Moran.”

“I’m glad to meet you, Janie. Brent told me a lot about you,” Ian said.

Great. What had her friend’s husband blurted to his employee? “All good things, I hope.”

He chuckled. “Of course. I’m sure you’ll be seeing my wife, Kim, in Natural Bliss before long.”

“Tell Kim to introduce herself, and I’ll give her the grand tour. She can sit in on one of our classes if she’s interested in learning to make soap or bath salts.”

He groaned. “You shouldn’t have said that. I can already feel my wallet hurting.”

She laughed.

“Do you need anything before we start? Coffee, tea, soft drinks? We have everything in the break room down the hall.”

Sawyer set her on a chair near Ian. “Would you like tea?”

“Thank you, Sawyer.”

He squeezed her hand. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

After Sawyer left, Ian studied her face a moment. “Want to tell me what upset you?”

Janie grimaced. “It’s that obvious?”

“Only to someone who sketches faces for a living. Talk to me while we wait for Sawyer to return.”

So the observant sketch artist knew she wasn’t comfortable without her bodyguard. She sighed. Yeah, she’d officially become a card-carrying wuss.

She talked freely to Ian, telling him everything that had happened since she and the operatives had left the safe house early this morning. “Not that a big deal,” she said. “I don’t know why I’m having such a hard time with what happened.”

“It’s not every day someone tries to run you off the road and possibly kidnap you again. You have a right to feel afraid.”

“The SUV was damaged, not me.”

“Doesn’t matter. Having absolute proof that someone wants to hurt you is traumatic, and truthfully, anything could have happened during the race to get here.”

“I’m here and perfectly safe because of Sawyer and Jesse.”

“Texas Team is one of the best we have at Fortress. You’re lucky they were available and in the area so they could rescue you.”

“Believe me. I’ll never forget it.”

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