Page 67 of Fire and Ice

Jack marched Maia to bed as she sputtered her response in irritation. He didn't say anything, just continued grinning as she slipped under the covers and he got in behind her and pulled her to him. He gave her a chaste kiss on her lips that surprised her.

"Don't want you all hot and bothered and have you jump me, I'm beat." In actual fact, Jack felt his cock stirring but he forced himself to cool it.

"You conceited ass."

"Night, babe." He huffed into her hair.

It didn't take long for Maia to fall asleep. Jack watched her beautiful face in repose.

"Mine," Jack whispered fiercely, his arm tightening around her waist.

"What?" she murmured sleepily.

"Shhh... nothing. Sleep, babe."

Jack stayed awake for a while. As tired as he was, he was afraid that if he fell asleep he would wake up to find her no longer there, that she would still be lost at sea or that the big burly assassin would have gotten to her.

***

Maia had woken up to an empty bed. She was not surprised because Jack had always been an early riser while she really wasn't fully awake until noon unless she ran in the morning. The back of her head still throbbed, but she had decided against any more pain medication. Those pills screwed with her alertness and had almost gotten her killed. Jack was so torn up with what had happened, she could see the torment in his eyes. She didn't think that she could ever convince him that it wasn't his fault, that shit like that happened to her all the time. Maia was not clueless, she knew Jack was beginning to care for her. But she also knew extreme situations could bring about a rush of emotions in a person that were not real and long lasting.

She took a leisurely shower, letting the spray of hot water soothe her aching limbs before switching to a blast of cold water to wake her up. She studied her reflection in the mirror: there was a slight bruise on her cheek but color had returned to her lips. Her body had a few scratches and bruising right around the ribs. Other than that, she should be in fighting shape in a few days.

It was almost 11 am before Maia decided to dress in sweat pants and head downstairs. Grace should be puttering around and she wondered what Jack was doing. She heard low voices in the kitchen, one was Jack's and the other sounded very familiar.

"Derek!" Maia exclaimed as she flew down the rest of the steps and flung herself into her friend's open arms, almost knocking him over.

"There she is," Derek replied warmly. "You don't look any the worse for wear."

"What are you doing here?"

"Well, I needed to see for myself how you had come back from the dead yet another time."

"That's not why you're really here," Jack interjected brusquely. "So why don't you cut the bullshit and tell us the real reason, Derek."

"Really, Jack, no need to be so hostile."

"Well, I've been trying for the last half-hour to get something out of you."

"What time did you arrive?"

"About an hour ago, Jack whisked me straight to his study to interrogate me."

"That was business."

"Bullshit. Half of the questions were about Viktor and Baltimore."

"Jack, I told you to lay off that," Maia said in exasperation.

"Sorry, sweetheart, that's not me."

Jack never called her sweetheart unless he was pissed or being sarcastic.

"So back to my question: what are you doing here?" Maia asked.

Derek sighed, reached into his pocket and handed her a smartphone. "Viktor wanted me to give you this."

Jack turned livid with anger. "She's not yet fully recovered," he said furiously. "It's barely been 48 hours."

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