Page 19 of Being Bold
She remained quiet behind him as he finished preparing the food, divvying up the tomato soup into bowls and cutting each sandwich in half at a diagonal before plating them and carrying everything to the table.
As he set the meal in front of Selene, her pretty eyes warmed, and she opened her mouth to thank him.
Not wanting to hear it, Bo cut her off with a barked, “So what’s the deal with your boss?”
A thoughtful frown tugged at her features while she studied him. He needed to look away, but her sea-swept gaze locked him in its eddy. The grays and the greens of her irises swirled together, like water lapping at his legs, threatening to pull him under. The world around him felt unsteady.
When she finally blinked, he swallowed and dropped his eyes to his plate. Gripping the spoon tighter than necessary, he dipped it in his soup.
She sighed softly, sipped her water, then spoke. “I work for Saber Tech as a translator. The company headquarters are in China, and I got stuck on second shift. Last nigh—”
“You speak Chinese?”
She made a face. “Mandarin. And, yes, among others.”
Curious, he asked her a question in Pashto.
His mouth curved when she answered in the same language, “Not a chance, dude.” Then she took a huge bite of the grilled cheese he’d asked for half of.
A chuckle surprised them both when it rumbled out of his throat. She recovered first, asking with a smile, “How do you know Pashto?”
Any mirth he’d felt evaporated under the screaming heat of his past. It burned, just like the scars on his leg. “I was a SEAL. My unit deployed to Afghanistan.”
Her face clouded, something akin to sympathy flickering in her eyes. Ignoring it, he focused on his food and prodded, “What happened last night?”
He didn’t miss the way her body shuddered, the hand holding the spoon rattling it against the soup bowl. “I found a piece of technology in one of my translation packages. I had no idea what it was, so I planned to ask my friend, Yumi. She’s a programmer with the company. Right about then, the power went out, and I had to find my way to her desk in the dark.”
When she audibly swallowed, he couldn’t help it. He met her gaze. But her eyes looked through him, reliving what she relayed. “The CEO of the company, Mr. Dao, and another man he called Felix were at Yumi’s station, asking about some technology model. They were looking for the microchip I’d found, so I turned it over. I thought that would be the end of it,but the next thing I know, I’m being knocked out and waking up in a car somewhere near here.”
Her rush of words abruptly stopped, making him fight the urge to squeeze the hand she fisted on the table. As if he knew how to offer anyone comfort. Not only were his people skills rusty, but he was also the opposite of soothing. Internally shaking his head, Bo took another bite of his sandwich and waited for her to finish.
Her voice lowered in volume as if she still couldn’t quite believe it. “Mr. Dao wanted to drug me and leave my unconscious body to succumb to the elements, so I ran. Felix shot me, and I fell.”
Bo gripped his spoon so hard he thought he might bend it as he looked up to catch her dazed expression. The thought of anyone firing at her, trying to take her life, filled him with an uncomfortable fury. The force of it started building in his blood until it pounded out a tattoo on his temples.
“I remember the cold . . . and I was bleeding. They thought I was dead, so they left.” Watching her fiddle with the crust of the sandwich she hadn’t wanted to share, the rage slowly seeped out of Bo. He’d pay back this Felix and Mr. Dao, but for now, Selene needed to know he wouldn’t let them get to her again.
Reaching for her restless hand, he stilled her fingers. When her gray-green eyes met his, he gave it a squeeze. “You’re safe here, Selene.”
She nodded slowly at his statement, staring down at his hand until he came to his senses and removed it. “Then, I started trekking through the snow until I saw your cabin.” She forced a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “I think you can take it from there.”
A heavy silence fell as she finished her story. If her boss had taken her anywhere else inside the national forest, she’d be dead. His property was the only one for miles, and she’d have eitherbled or frozen to death. Though he’d just met Selene, the thought of never seeing her ocean eyes smile at him felt like getting hit by a bomb again.
Something raw and wrenching threw his insides into chaos. His vision blurred while his lungs accelerated in his chest.
What the hell was that about?
He struggled to process his body’s reaction when her head jerked up. “Did you hear that?”
The fear in her eyes cleared Bo’s head. He strained to listen for what she might’ve heard. The fire crackled in his ears, followed by the hooting of a nearby owl, but there, a faint whir of a motor and the crunch of snow under something heavier than a foot.
Adrenaline spiked as he rose, heading for the pistol hidden under the couch. When he’d retrieved it, he shoved his feet into his boots and reached for the front door handle.
“Where are you going?” Anxiety strained her voice.
Meeting her gaze, he told her. “Stay here and bolt the door behind me. Don’t open it unless I tell you to.”
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