Page 28 of Jacob

He cleared his throat. “Everything ok? You find everything you need?”

She gave a small smile. “Everything is fine. I’m sure your guests find the guest quarters comfortable. Lavish, actually.”

Jacob frowned. “I wouldn’t know. I told you, I’ve never had guests over before.”

Alex blinked. “Never? That bedroom suite is awfully elaborate for something that is never used.”

He shrugged. “When I was designing my living quarters, I specified guest quarters because I thought it would be easier to have my mission heads staying over when planning, but in the end it was easier just to have everyone stay at a nearby hotel. So you’ve inaugurated the whole set up. Here, let me have your bag.”

“No, you’ve got your own stuff, you don’t have to carry mine.”

“That’s okay.” Jacob hoisted his duffel, which clanked, clearly full of equipment, then took both suitcase handles. “We don’t have far to go.”

It was only two floors up to the rooftop. The helo’s rotors were already spinning. Jacob tried to shield Alex from the wind, but it was impossible. He just tried to get her into the cabin as quickly as possible. One of his men stowed their luggage away as Jacob helped Alex up the stairs. He sat her down, pulled across the seat belt, put a noise cancelling helmet on her, then did the same for himself. The instant he could, he signaled the pilot, who pulled them up and away.

“Airport’s only about half an hour away,” he said into the mic and she nodded.

“I remember.”

He glanced at her sharply, but there was no sarcasm in her tone. She was simply stating a fact. She’d taken the helo trip from the airport and remembered the length of the journey.

For the first time, Jacob looked at her trip cross country from her point of view. She said she felt she’d been ‘shanghaied’ and he could see that. Usually, he thought things through carefully but from the instant he’d received word that Dr. Alexandra Hethering had stepped into Black Inc. in Atlanta, he’d been in a fever to get her here as fast as possible.

He hadn’t been subtle about it, but in the end, here she was.

With him.

She might be a little less pleased at this than he was.

He’d have to work at that.

And take care of her. She’d had a little color in her face after the shower but now she was paper white. She must be exhausted. Days of worry, not sleeping nights. Flown across the country, where she didn’t eat or drink anything, and there’d been no time for food.

Jacob had given orders that the plane be stocked with food and drink because it was going to be a long trip across the Pacific. The plane would be fully stocked and the bedroom would have fresh sheets on the bed.

He looked at her, at that tired lovely face, and ejected that thought right out of his head and out of his dick. She was in trouble and he needed to take care of her. That didn’t include necessarily sex, much as he wanted it to. Women needed to be in the mood. He himself would have cheerfully had sex on the helo’s seats if she gave even the merest hint she’d be up to it. Which she definitely wasn’t doing. She wasn’t even looking at him.

“Relax,” he murmured into the mic. It was a channel only for them. “Get as much rest as you can.”

She looked at him, some effect of the light turning her eyes silver, a flash of it. She nodded and leaned her head back, closing her eyes. Jacob held his hand hovering over hers for a moment, then placed it over hers.

Her hand was cold. He’d been right. She was running out of steam. Behind them was a thermal blanket and he put it over her, tucking it into her sides. She fought it a little, then went out like a light. He watched her for a long moment, caught his pilot watching him in the mirror.

Jacob had told nobody about Alex except for Nick, one evening when he got shit-faced. They’d both been shit-faced and heartbroken over losing teammates in a firefight and Jacob’s lifelong rule, broken only for Alex and her parents—never let anyone know what’s going on inside you—had been broken. But other than Nick, no one knew anything about his private life. He’d never openly been with a partner.

The pilot was going to talk about how the boss was treating this new woman who’d popped up. Let him. Jacob didn’t give a shit who knew he cared about Alex. It wasn’t anyone’s business but his own.

He pulled out his ruggedized tablet and started going over the intel Nick had sent.

The pilot was good—if nosy—and landed them gently on the tarmac at the airfield. Alex was still out. Jacob shook her shoulder gently, but she didn’t wake up. He shook her again. “Alex. Wake up. We’re here.”

She inhaled sharply and opened her eyes, that light-blue gaze meeting his and he saw surprise flare. She looked around in confusion and he saw the exact moment she was oriented. She was with him, they were going to embark on a plane to Vostokova and they might be travelling to stop the end of the world.

It was all there on her face before she shut it all down, gave him a bland smile and a nod.

He nodded. “You must be hungry. There will be food on the plane.”

“Oh.” Alex looked startled, as if she’d forgotten the concept of food, of hunger. “I am hungry, thanks!”

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