“The women I dated?”
“Yep.”
“Um, let’s see. There was Lisa Blatacky. She was a shrewd businesswoman. We parted on mutual terms because we got caught up in growing our own companies. Then there was Valerie Rickshaw, who was nothing but a rich socialite. Killer pair of legs. Lived off Mom and Dad. And Gretchen Lancaster, who was in journalism school at the time. I met her at a fundraiser. She was smart as a whip but incredibly judgmental about my passion to be a businessman. She was always ‘fighting the man’ and ‘pushing back against the system’ and shit like that. Last time we spoke was around last year.”
“Do you know when you last spoke to the other two?” I asked.
“I’ve been too busy running a company to recall that kind of information. The only reason I remember her was because she was the most recent.”
“Seems she left her imprint,” I said.
“Like I said, she was the last so she’s easier to recall.”
But I knew better. Men didn’t always recall their last. But they did always recall their best.
“I get where Gretchen’s coming from. I’ve always been a warrior woman, of sorts. It’s why I haven’t dated much. If I wasn’t out in the field or training, I was intimidating men who didn’t enjoy the company of a strong woman.”
“It takes a special man to stand beside a woman like that,” Derek said.
“Plus, being in all my units, not much dating happened, period. No one ever wanted to throw off the cohesion of the group by introducing distracting outside influences.”
“Then why did you bring John into things?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Aren’t you attracted to him?”
I threw my head back and laughed at the thought of it all.
“What? Hell, no. He’s nowhere near my type. Yikes. Where the fuck did you get that notion?” I asked.
“The way you look at him,” he said matter-of-factly.
“I’ve known him for years. Worked alongside him in many ops and with many clients. I trust him. He’s probably the only person I do trust.”
“So you don’t trust easily.”
“In my line of work, can you blame me?” I asked.
We talked back and forth a little while longer before I had to get up to go to the bathroom. The restroom was so much bigger than any airplane I’d ever been on, and I grinned as I shook my head. Derek Steele was a lavish man who enjoyed his finer things, but I wasn’t going to complain about it. Whatever finer things in life he enjoyed, I could enjoy right alongside him to ease the work this detail was going to create for me.
I was making my way back to my seat when turbulence struck. I tried bracing myself on my feet, but then the plane hit an air pocket. I went falling to the side, right into Derek’s lap, and he wrapped his arms around me to keep us from going anywhere. His arms locked around me, and my eyes whipped up to him, and he held me there until the plane stabilized.
But once the plane was steady, his arms didn’t budge.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
I nodded, unable to speak as my eyes stared up into his.
His touch was warm. Soft, despite how strongly he was holding me. His entire body was positioned around me, curled up in case something else happened. He was trying to protect me, and I knew the instinct well.
I’d always been the giver of it instead of the receiver.
Whipping myself out of the trance, I scrambled from his grasp. I fell back into my seat, then buckled myself for our descent. I got off the plane quickly and scanned the car. Then, I checked to make sure the driver was who I’d vetted before this trip.
Then, we headed over to the hotel.
I swept his room for bugs and traps as he stood in the shared alcove outside the front door. I could tell he was annoyed at it all, but I wanted to make sure nothing was taking us by surprise.
“Why isn’t your backup doing all this?” Derek asked.
“I’m on my own this weekend so they can get the electrical hooked up,” I said. “Okay, the room’s clear. Come on in.”
I walked over to the door that separated his hotel room from mine.
“I’m just behind this door,” I said as I opened it. “I’ll keep it cracked at night in case something happens.”