Page 141 of Fire and Ice

"We'll fly straight from here, I have a charter on standby."

"Are you nuts?"

Jack curled an arm around her and kissed her nose.

"I couldn't be any more serious and we have lots of things to discuss."

"Oh, yeah, that," Maia retorted sarcastically.

"Are you going to hold that over my head forever?" Jack sighed.

"Maybe. But I must say you have one heck of a way of making up for it."

"Well, about Paris?"

"Jack, I don't have my clothes and my real passport."

"I have that covered."

"What? You broke into my house?"

"No, I had Laurie buy you a new set of clothes before we came for you."

Maia was having a hard time processing this. "You bought me a whole new wardrobe?"

"Yeah."

"Before you even knew the outcome of the mission."

"Babe, any outcome other than you coming home with me was unacceptable."

Maia shook her head in disbelief. "And my passport?"

Jack shrugged, "Viktor gave it to me."

"Viktor gave it... ?" Maia was baffled. "Since when did you and Viktor become such buddies?"

Jack chuckled. "Well, babe? Paris?"

"Oh, all right, since you went through so much trouble."

Jack looked like he had hit the lottery and went off to finalize the arrangements with the charter company.

Maia shook her head and turned her phone on to listen to her messages. Her phone gave a rapid beep as the voice message notification filled up her phone. Holy crap, twenty voice messages from Jack?

She started to listen. And some from Derek, Jack's assistant Laurie and Jack's mom, all of whom, Maia was sure, had been put up to by Jack.

She got a bit teary-eyed listening to some of Jack's messages. He was truly scared for her and had reacted in anger and she had also not handled leaving for Russia that first time properly either. After spending such a wonderful month together, she had treated him like crap, which she had realized in the weeks that followed. She had nearly destroyed him; good thing they found their way back to each other. And she was surprised how she was now willing to trust Jack with all of her.

They certainly did have a lot of things to talk about.

He loped back to her with a big smile on his face. It looked like everything was set with their trip to Paris.

Seeing her face, Jack frowned, "What?"

"Just listened to my messages," Maia said waving her phone at him. "You are such a stalker."

Jack's laughter filled the hangar as he pulled her into his arms.

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