Page 25 of Securing Jane

“Well, good,” she said with a small nod. “I ordered from Leroy’s Kitchen and Lounge. They know me very well there, since I love me some fancy food. I got you the house-made bucatini…pork sausage, mushrooms, basil, pesto, and ricotta salad. I got myself the whole-fried branzino, which has basmati rice, red African curry, chili oil, and cilantro. It’s very spicy, but I love it. If you don’t want the bucatini, though, I’m happy to switch with you…or we can just order a pizza. I’ve got our meals warming in the oven because I wasn’t sure exactly when you were going to get here… Why are you looking at me like that?”

Storm didn’t have to ask her what she meant. He knew he was staring at her as if she had two heads. “You aren’t going to ask me for more details about the guys’ mission?”

She frowned as if confused. “No. I know you can’t tell me. I appreciate you saying as much as you did. Why…should I?”

“No,” he said quickly. “I just…most people aren’t as…accepting as you are when I can’t tell them details about my work.”

“Storm,” Jane said gently. “I get it. I might be only a mail chick, but I do understand confidentially and top-secret clearances.”

“Don’t do that,” he scolded.

“Do what?” she asked with a small tilt of her head, genuinely oblivious.

“Don’t belittle yourself. You aren’t ‘only’ a mail chick. You’ve worked hard to get to where you are. Own it. Be proud of it. You run a tight ship, and I, for one, am very thankful I don’t have to track down correspondence that I know I should’ve received, and I never worry about my reports and other documents getting to where they need to go safely and securely.”

“You’re right,” Jane said a little sheepishly. “I just…you’re larger than life to me, and I still have to pinch myself that you’re here. Sometimes my insecurities get the best of me.”

“Well, you have nothing to worry about. And…bucatini? You really got me bucatini?”

She smiled. “I did.”

“Damn,” he said on a sigh. “I could get used to you ‘cooking’ for me. But honestly, it’s too much. Leroy’s Kitchen isn’t cheap.”

“Can I tell you a secret?” she asked.

“Of course,” he told her immediately.

“Leroy feels sorry for me and gives me a kick-ass discount,” she told him with a grin. “I think I’ve put at least two of his kids through college with how much I eat there, so it’s only fair.”

Storm laughed and felt his muscles relaxing for the first time that day. “Red, I do believe you’re talking out of your ass,” he replied, quoting Shawshank.

Jane looked confused for a millisecond, then she threw her head back and laughed. “I’m not, I swear I’m not. And…good usage of the movie quote.”

Storm felt ten years younger just standing in her foyer bantering with her. Just the thought of how she could’ve been badly hurt if the bomb that had exploded in her hands had been anything other than tear gas physically hurt his heart.

And remembering how he’d decided he was going to take things slow, get to know her at work before attempting to ask her out, made him shake his head in disbelief. If he’d done that, he would’ve missed out on this right here. And missing out on one second of time with Jane Hamilton suddenly seemed like the stupidest decision ever.

“I needed this,” he said softly.

“What?” she asked.

“This. You. Preparing dinner, even if that preparation was ordering it from one of your favorite restaurants. Quoting Shawshank and having you know what the hell I’m talking about. Forgetting about work for a few hours and simply relaxing with a funny, beautiful, and charming woman who doesn’t get pissed when I can’t talk about my job.”

Her face gentled, and Storm could see how much his words meant to her. “Me too,” she said. “I mean, I didn’t have to deal with the aftermath of a mission like you did today, but NCIS came down to talk to me again after I was in your office—and they scared the shit out of me, giving me all sorts of dire warnings about how the bomber might come after me, that the news made it seem like I’d foiled his great plan of getting to the rear admiral. Basically saying the same thing as Dag.”

“Come ’ere,” Storm said, pulling her even closer into him, resting his hand on the back of her head as she rested her cheek against his chest.

They stood in each other’s embrace in her hallway for a long moment, taking solace and comfort from one another.

“I’m sorry,” he said after a while.

“Not your fault,” Jane returned immediately. “And it’s not that I don’t believe the investigators, it just doesn’t make sense that someone would get upset with me. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, collateral damage.”

Storm pulled back and put his hands on her face. He was only a few inches taller than her, and so they were almost eye to eye. “Even so…be careful, okay?”

“Of course.”

“I’ll tell you if I find out anything else about who he might be.”