“So what did you learn about adventures?”
She sucked in a big pull of the very air that in itself confused her. For being underground or in a concrete bunker, the air didn’t smell stale or musty.
“Cannon, sir, I just spent the last eleven years raising my three siblings. Among the things I taught them was that familycomes first. You stay in touch and never make them worry about you. And here I am. The first time I go away from them, I didn’t stay in contact.”
When he didn’t respond to a single word she said, she floundered on. “They gave me an adventure fund.”
His manly brow shot up. “An adventure fund?” He shifted positions. That was a good sign. It showed he was listening.
She nodded. “And a camera. Speaking of my camera, when am I going to get that back?”
“When you get to leave.”
She gave a little toss of her head as impatience took hold. She quickly checked her rising frustration before he caught it.
“And when will that be?” she pressed.
“When we say so.”
The answer felt like a slammed door. She straightened her spine, searching his face. Was he joking or trying to be the big man on a base that already seemed secretive enough?
His flat look told her that whatever this place was, they made the rules, and she wasn’t leaving until they decided she could.
“I can’t stay here. I have a life. A job to go back to. And I don’t exactly feel comfortable here.”
He leaned back farther, eyeing her. “I’m sorry about that, Jolie. We don’t get many visitors. In fact, you’re the first outsider to enter these walls.
“You mean besides the aliens.”
He smirked. “We’re not that kind of military base.”
She eased the tiniest bit at his response to her joke.
“The storm is predicted to last up to two weeks.”
“Twoweeks? I’m supposed to sit here for twoweeks? What am I supposed to do for that long?”
“The place’ll grow on you.”
She stared at him for a beat. “Fungus grows. I don’t want that either.”
For the first time since she’d walked in, he looked entertained. He didn’t give her anything resembling a smile, but she saw the change in his demeanor.
She rubbed her palms over her thighs, trying to hold it together. Two weeks. Her siblings were going to lose their minds. Her boss was going to think she’d vanished. Or worse, that she quiet quit, and she’d worked so hard to land her management position in the restaurant.
Now she was probably going to be fired or demoted to waitress again, scrabbling for tips and avoiding the dirty old men who tried to cop a feel. And all because her stupid need to capture a perfect photo opportunity landed her in the middle of a blizzard—and stuck in a place she didn’t understand.
Cannon set his elbows on his desk and loosely steepled his fingers. “Since you’ll be with us for a while, I encourage you to find something to do for fun. What would you do if you were at home?”
“I’d be working at the restaurant. I manage a restaurant. I started there as waitstaff, kept taking on more and more responsibilities, and now I’m one disappearance away from probably losing the first job I ever fought that hard to get.”
Saying it out loud made her stomach twist. She had worked too long and too hard to move up the ranks and get out of the cycle of just scraping by. Her siblings’ successes proved she’d done right by them, but her management job showed that she’d worked toward her own future. While that might seem silly to some people, it was a huge deal for her to strive for anything for herself.
He nodded once. “We have food here. Would you like to plan menus?”
She stared at him in awe and almost laughed. “Actually, I never have to do that. We have one menu.”
His mouth twisted at one corner. Not a smile. But the closest she’d come to coaxing one from the hardened man.
