“You said that out loud,” he answers with a smirk on his face. The knowing fucker. “Well, it was really more of a mumble.”
“Sorry,” I reply. “A job? Makeup isn’t really my thing.”
“With Cole Security,” he says, rolling his eyes again. “Although now I’m rethinking it. God, I forgot how annoying you can be.”
“I really appreciate the offer, but I’m not getting any younger,” I tell him honestly. It’s only a matter of time before my body gives up the ghost. Knees and shoulders aren’t things that can be replaced easily and mine are starting to creak and groan more than they used to. He should know what he’s getting with me up front and that’s not my only concern either.
“I know that, which is why switching to stateside jobs and a slightly slower pace with more paperwork can keep you in the game longer,” he explains.
That’s a damn good offer. Not to mention if I get out of the military, the fraternization rule will no longer apply to my relationship with MacKenzie. And why am I even considering that anyway? It’s been two weeks. Fuck me, I’m being a ridiculous girl. The guys would have a field day if they could hear my thoughts right now. I run my hand over my cropped hair and let out a sigh.
“It’s tempting,” I admit hesitantly.
“But…?” he finishes my unspoken thoughts.
There’s more than just MacKenzie at play here. There’s more than one person that I need to consider in any decision that I might make.
“But I can’t leave Tube behind. If he’s staying with the team, then so am I,” I reply.
“I like that loyalty,” he says. “I have to admit that’s been part of the appeal of hiring you. Which is why I made him an offer yesterday, and he said the same thing. He comes only if you do.”
Jackson’s words take a huge weight off of my chest and I breathed a little easier for the first time since he called me the other day wanting to meet with me on my way home from work.
“Then I’m in,” I say, letting the smile spread across my face.
“Welcome aboard,” Jackson says, holding out his hand to shake mine again, this time not in hello, but in a gentleman’s agreement.
“Thanks,” I reply, shaking his hand.
“I just have to ask you one thing,” he says hesitantly. “Or maybe I shouldn’t but my curiosity has got the better of me.”
“What’s that?” I ask. Other than the secretive nature of our missions, not much with me is a secret. I’m an open book and always have been so the detour in this conversation has my spidey senses tingling.
“How tight are you with the president’s aide-de-camp?” he asks, and I bark out a laugh. Why in the hell would he think I know someone that high powered. Not to mention he’s like twelve years older than me and is a marine, we’ve never even come close to swimming in the same circles.
“I’m not close with him at all,” I answer, still smiling. “I don’t even know the guy. Why would you ask?”
“Because I have it on good authority that you’ve been warming his baby sister’s bed for going on two weeks now, and I have to know how serious it is upon hiring you,” he replies.
I’m frozen in place. Mack? She can’t be related to the president’s right-hand man, right? And then it dawns on me, how private she is—she said she never picks guys up. The weird way that she clams up every time I ask about her family or she accidentally mentions something about her siblings. Her squeaky-clean life.Holy fuck. MacKenzie Black is not only related to Ryan Black; she’s his kid sister. And I’m royally fucked.
“I see you didn’t know.”
“I didn’t,” I admit, and I hate how hoarse my voice sounds right now. “She didn’t tell me.”
“Can you trust her?” he asks me, and I wonder if I can. But as moments with MacKenzie flit through my head, I know the answer without a single doubt in my mind.
Her smile in the bar and the way she rolled her eyes at me when I lied to her about what I do for a living. Her reactions to me are one hundred percent genuine.
Her sassy attitude as she led me to her home.
The way her body fits mine perfectly, like she was made for me, and the way she lets me take her hard and fast one minute, and slow and sweet the next. The way her pussy grips my cock like a vice when she comes for me.
Sitting on the beach when she told me that she had only ever wanted to be a pilot and the way she’s been flying with her grandfather since she was a baby.
Laughing over burgers in a dive bar and that disgusting way that she mixes condiments on her plate like a toddler.
Lying in bed with her talking about her dreams. The way that she feels free only when she’s flying.
