Page 8 of Jacob

Alex swallowed. “Who’s waiting for me?”

“Mr. Black.”

Oh God. The big man himself. This was either very good or… very bad. She ran through what she knew about Jacob Black in her head. It wasn’t much. His company was famous, but he kept to the shadows. He was never personally in the news. He was never profiled. She knew nothing of the man himself beyond the fact that he was ex-military and very rich and powerful.

She found it hard to continue. Her feet felt nailed to the travertine floor. As long as she was out here, she felt—well, not safe. Not really. But Catherine and the two guards would find it hard to hurt her out here. Wouldn’t they? Walking through those doors into Jacob Black’s office felt dangerous. Felt like something she shouldn’t do.

“Dr. Hethering?” Catherine asked as Alex hesitated. She took in a deep breath. There were no good options here. The two men had taken what looked like sentry stations at either side the elevator, standing with legs apart, hands loose at their sides, watching her carefully.

A flash of fierce regret shot through her. What had she been thinking, going to Black Inc.? Maybe she wasn’t saving Elias, herself, the CDC, the world. Maybe she had stepped into a nest of scorpions, boiling up from a hole she hadn’t seen. All of a sudden, she fiercely wanted to escape. To get back into that elevator, go down to what was surely another amazing lobby, catch a cab to the airport, take the first flight out of San Diego and make her way home again. Get back to her calm, pretty apartment and…

And then what?

Nothing had changed. Elias was still missing and her fears were still there, sharp and dark and fanged. She was still desperate. She was still worried sick.

There was no going back, not really.

Alex swallowed, sketched a smile and walked forward. She could feel Catherine and the two men staring at her back. She forced herself to walk steadily onward, through the glass door and to the big metal door. At the last minute, it slid open and she walked through without breaking her stride. The door slid closed at her back.

She was in the largest office she’d ever seen. Not even the Director of the CDC had an office like this. She’d been in the offices of the CEOs of huge pharmaceutical corporations and she’d never seen anything like this.

Here, too, like everything else in Black Inc., everything was sleek and modern and high-tech. One wall was covered in thin monitors, there was a conference table bigger than the conference table in the Situation Room of the White House, which she’d been in, a fully equipped kitchen and a living room suite for informal talks. One thing was missing. Though she knew, because she’d read it somewhere, that Jacob Black had been a highly decorated soldier, there was no glory wall. No citations, no photos of him with important politicians or generals, no medals. Nothing. Not one of those items that so fed the egos of important men. It could have been any man’s office, if that man ran one of the largest security corporations in the world and was one of the richest men in the world.

The office faced west and it was the moment when the setting sun’s lambent rays hit the eyes full on. The moment she hated when driving west at sunset. The ocean reflected the sunlight and was mirror-bright.

Alex held up a hand to shield her eyes. The man sitting behind the desk touched something and the window instantly polarized.

She dropped her hand as he stood up. Though the sun didn’t hurt her eyes anymore, he was hard to see as anything more than an outline. He was very tall and had extremely broad shoulders. His suit was expensive but it looked like a costume on a man built like that. A rich man’s costume over a fighter’s body.

“Alex,” he said. His voice was deep, rich.

Shock immobilized her. It was a voice she didn’t know but it reverberated through her, scaring her. What was wrong with her? It felt like a hand was squeezing her heart so hard it would burst. Her knees shook. She couldn’t breathe.

“Alex,” that dark voice said again, and all the breath rushed out of her body. She gasped for air, the sound loud in the huge silent room. Every muscle was frozen.

She didn’t know the man, how could she react like that to his voice? It was as if his voice had cast a dark spell over her that paralyzed her. Turned her to stone.

He moved out from behind the desk, walked toward her. His face came into the light and she was so unsettled that at first she couldn’t make sense of his features. His face was made of dark, hard slabs. Dark hair. Dark eyes, deeply tanned skin. One side of his face was badly scarred, both knife and burn scars. He wasn’t good-looking—no man who was as scarred as he was, who looked as dangerous as he did, could be considered good-looking—but he was compelling, fiercely focused on her. His dark eyes burned and he moved to her, coming right into her personal space. Her limbs wouldn’t work. She didn’t have the strength to take a step back.

He was so close she had to tilt her head back to see his face. He reached out a huge hand, cupped the back of her neck and she was shocked at the reaction her skin had to his touch. Heat shimmered over her, like she was burning up. She still couldn’t breathe.

Who was he?She didn’t know him, so why was she reacting so strongly to him?

“Alex,” he said again, and it was as if the spell he held her under shattered.

“You!” she gasped.

ChapterThree

“You!” Alex gasped, face suddenly ice-white.

A shudder ran through her. And then, horribly, her knees buckled. Jacob Black reached out and caught Alex before she could fall. The idea of Alex falling, hurting herself… he couldn’t go there. Alex would never fall if he was anywhere near her. He’d catch her, always.

He’d had time to get used to the idea of Alex with him, in his office. She’d flown halfway across the country to get to him and in these past hours waiting for her, that was all he could think of. Alex. Coming to him. At last.

He had two big contracts to go over, one with the Pentagon. He had after-reports to read, particularly one of a dangerous mission to Kazakhstan. It had ended well because Black Inc. only hired the best, but it had been a close thing.

Jacob was a highly focused man. Focus had taken him from a trailer park in Central Oregon where he lived with a violent and crazy drunk, into the Navy, into Special Forces and then to the creation of a big, powerful company. Focus was the very bedrock of his personality.

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