Page 12 of Mountain Security

He probably still felt bad about his friend’s faux pas.

She almost laughed out loud when she remembered the moment the poor man had realized she was listening in on the call.

Even so, she’d been touched that he’d waited for her. And grateful, since it’d been snowing by the time they got back to Chamonix. Her shoes wouldn’t have survived a trek in the snow.

He’d dropped her off right outside her doorstep. And he’d been a proper gentleman, getting out of the car, walking her to her door, and only leaving after checking one final time that she didn’t want to go to the hospital.

She’d been the one with the improper thoughts. She’d considered inviting him up with her. That had been a first for her. She didn’t date people who weren’t into politics. This was less about having something to talk shop with, and more about making sure the person’s schedule, particularly during pre-election time, was as crazy as hers. Even with these precautions, several of her relationships had ended in the run-up to an election. According to one of her ex-boyfriends, she took things “very seriously”.

She did take her job seriously, and wasn’t going to apologize for it.

But for Alex, last night, she would have broken her rules.

One night with him, to remind herself that she was alive … it almost made sense.

Eventually, though, tiredness—and common sense—had won out, and she’d closed the door without saying anything, hoping to sort herself out with a good night’s sleep.

Yeah, right.

Physically, she was fine. But all night, lying in bed, she’d felt the adrenaline of that moment coursing through her veins, the intense rush of fear as the motorcycle had borne down on her.

It’d made it impossible to sleep.

“Good morning, Yvette,” a voice said. Adeline Berenger was a sour-faced woman who happened to be the world’s best admin assistant. She’d been working with the mayor even longer than Yvette. In the years she’d known her, Yvette had only seen the woman smile when somebody mentioned her grandkids, who lived in Australia.

Every year, she took a long vacation to see them. Though, thankfully, she always planned it outside of election time, even so, the office was left without an admin assistant for two months. It was still worth it, because Adeline was the best damned assistant Yvette had ever seen.

“’Morning, Adeline,” Yvette said. She looked at the mug in the woman’s hand. “Is that for me?”

Adeline nodded.

Yvette took it gratefully. “Thank you.”

The rest of the team would be filing in over the next few minutes. Yvette wanted to speak to her boss before she spoke with them, so she hurried over, knocked on the door, and let herself inside.

Pierre was sitting behind his desk, where Alex had spent the afternoon yesterday, but he wasn’t alone. Alex was there, too, standing behind Pierre, pointing at something on the screen.

Yvette felt a flash of irritation. He looked fine this morning. More than fine. He looked like he’d slept like a baby, whereas she’d tossed and turned in bed all night and had wasted five minutes this morning layering on the concealer.

She covered her irritation by taking a sip of Adeline’s coffee. Despite herself, her nose wrinkled. It was dark enough to give Turkish coffee a run for its money.

Alex spoke first. “Yvette.” His voice was deliciously deep, and there was that smooth British accent she’d kept hearing in her mind as she tossed and turned in bed.

“’Morning, Yvette,” Pierre said. “Alex is taking me through the search he ran last night.”

She forced herself to focus on her boss. Pierre’s smile was in place, as always, but there was something … she couldn’t quite put her finger on it … something that made her worry.

Something’s bothering him.

She sighed.

Or perhaps this raging headache is making you paranoid.

That was possible, too.

She often got headaches when she didn’t sleep enough. Sometimes they disappeared after a second cup of coffee, but sometimes she ended up having to take a painkiller to make it go away.

She realized she’d missed most of what Alex was saying.

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