Page 30 of Jacob

“Told you.”

“You tempted me with food so I wouldn’t be nervous.”

He resisted smiling. “Busted. But since I did, let me get it for you.”

Jacob knew how the food service worked. He made a point of knowing how all things in his company worked. He could answer the phones, clean the floors, man the canteen if he had to. In the early days he’d been his company’s armorer and vehicle mechanic.

The catering was well organized. In a few moments, he had Alex’s tortellini, piping hot, in front of her and had his hot pastrami sandwich. Their salads were on the sideboard and drinks right in front of them when he sat down.

Alex sighed. “That’s well done. Maybe you missed your calling.”

“Mmm,” he said as he bit into his sandwich. Delicious. “Black Inc. Catering. Has a certain ring. How are your tortellini?”

“Fabulous. I was really hungry. Maybe I should have eaten on the way over, after all.”

Jacob turned to look her in the eye. “Dylan said you wouldn’t accept anything. Not even water.”

She rolled her eyes. “I was not at all certain I wasn’t being kidnapped in a totally non-threatening kind of way. With the best of intentions.”

Jacob blew out a breath. He’d really fucked that up. He could normally game out how to do thing, but he’d dropped the ball. All he could think about was Alex on her way to him and not how Alex would perceive being tossed across the country like a package.

She turned her head to him. “You know, you should apologize.”

Jacob didn’t do apologies, unless he had fucked up massively, which he never did. But: “Sorry.”

She fixed those blue blue eyes on him. “That sounded like it hurt.”

It did. “That’s okay.”

“Why don’t you try again?”

He’d forgotten that about Alex. She rarely let go of something until she got what she wanted. Too bad he had always admired that in her.

“Ok. A little out of practice here, but I’ll give it a shot. I’m sorry—I’m really sorry I had Dylan accompany you?—”

“Drag me.”

Deep breath. “Yeah, okay. Drag you across the country. I hadn’t given instructions to him on what to tell you so it must have seemed as if you were being strong-armed.”

“Politely strong-armed, but yeah. It wasn’t fun.”

Oh, shit. He’d have shot anyone forcing him onto a plane. Fought with all his strength and he was a strong man.

Alex was not a strong woman. She’d said she didn’t do martial arts and anyway she could never have beaten Dylan, who was a black belt and a fourth dan. It would never have come to that, but she couldn’t have known that. She chose not to rebel because it was clear she couldn’t win.

Jacob was now sorry he’d put her in that position.

He looked her straight in the eyes and spoke from the heart. Something he never did. Every word out of his mouth was always calculated, but not this time.

“I am so sorry I put you through that. I wasn’t thinking at all. All I knew was that you turned to my company and I needed you here as fast as you could come. So I gave instructions I now regret. I am really sorry.”

She gave a half smile. “Okay. Does the galley stretch to dessert?”

And just like that, it was over.

He’d apologized, she’d forgiven him, that was that. Alex didn’t bear grudges, he remembered that.Hedid. Fuck, yeah. He could hate someone forever. He still bore a grudge against the fuckhead who’d bullied Alex in her freshman year, though she’d probably long ago forgotten him.

She wanted dessert? He’d give her dessert.

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