Page 67 of Desire Me
Rae stuck her tongue out at Elliot’s back. “I don’t have to remember every woman I’ve seen to know you’re the smallest—except King’s fiancée, I guess—and also the scariest.”
Elliot pulled out a chair at the conference table, snickering.
“Care to share with the class?” Dain asked in his best Daddy team-lead voice.
“The class wouldn’t appreciate it.”
Saint swore Dain almost stuck his tongue out at their little brat too, but Jack chose that moment to interrupt.
“If we can all take a seat…” Once they did, he said, “Ms. Conté—”
“Rae, please. Or Raegan.”
Jack smiled. “Rae, then. I’d like to introduce my partner, Conlan James.”
Con nodded across the table, a smile softening the hard lines of his face. “Good morning.”
“Hello.”
“And this”—Jack gestured to the newcomer—“is Luka Sokolov. He’s new to JCL. I hope you don’t mind him joining us.”
“Ms. Conté.”
Saint noticed Rae didn’t correct Sokolov with her first name. He didn’t blame her; he wasn’t surehewould have had the nerve to correct the man, not with that cold Russian accent and stern stare. The man could freeze hell with that stare.
“Mr. Sokolov. Of course I don’t mind.” Rae slipped the hand not holding her coffee into Saint’s under the table.
Saint frowned across the table at Sokolov. The man stared back, unfazed.
“I can see Saint is wondering, so I’ll explain,” Jack said. “It seems to me that the next logical step is for you to head to Maine.”
Saint straightened quickly. “Shouldn’t Rae be the one to decide that?”
“I’ll concede that. Rae?”
A long pause settled over the table. Saint squeezed Rae’s hand. “Just be honest. Whatever you think you can handle right now.”
Rae cleared her throat. “Honestly, I was thinking the same thing on the way here,” she said. Her voice was subdued, almost too quiet to hear. She’d been through something terrifying, and now she would be forced to face her past before she was fully recovered. Anger stirred in Saint, and for a moment he wished he could kill the four men all over again, especially Lonergan. “Ready or not, I think we’re out of other options. Nothing else has worked. And with the mafia or cartel or whatever they are now probably seriously pissed, not just about whatever they’re trying to find but about the loss of their men, I also think we’ve run out of time to wait for my brain to figure this out on its own. They’ll come after me even harder now, and with no idea what they are after, I don’t have any way to stop this. Going back to the ‘scene of the crime’ is the last possibility I can think of.”
And despite the dread building inside him, Saint knew she was right. Still…
“I’d like Leah Marrone to weigh in on this before we make a final decision,” he said. “She helped treat Rae in the hospital, and she can tell us if traveling would be safe.”
“Good idea,” Jack agreed, “especially since you’ll be flying.”
The room erupted in surprise. “Flying?”
“Of course.” That was from Luka. His deep voice cut through the chaos. “I have a private jet, and we might as well use it. Better than a twenty-hour drive.”
Before Saint could question that logic, Dain added, “I won’t be going with you, so Luka will be taking my place.”
“Dain…”
“No.” Dain held up his hand. “I would be there for you if I could, but Livie is simply too close to delivery. I promised her no out-of-town trips, and I’m keeping my word. But I won’t leave my team shorthanded either.”
“Luka is new to the company, and we’d like him to get some time in with various teams before he begins running his own,” Con added. The big, dark-haired man could have been Jack’s brother, and for as close as the two of them were, that was probably how they saw each other. Jack was the one who handled Saint’s team, so he hadn’t spent much time with Con, but the man seemed firm on this point. Saint had to admit he could see the logic.
“Only if Leah okays the flying. You can’t be too careful with head injuries.”
