Page 22 of Fighting Salvation

Val blinked and yawned as she looked around the cabin of the plane. She must have dozed off just after take-off. The excitement and drama of the last few days had caught up to her poor body. Glancing up she saw Bás gripping the armrests of the seat across from her. Standing, she stretched, reaching her arms above her head and groaned.

“Feel better?”

Shaking off the sleepy feeling she cast her eyes to the man whose eyes were glued to her midriff where her top had ridden up and mentally threw a fist pump. Perhaps he wasn’t as immune to her as he made out. Not that it mattered, she didn’t want to be with a man who didn’t want to be with her.

Pulling her top down she caught the hunger he tried to hide. Ignoring it and the hope that always bloomed in her chest, she moved to grab herself some coffee from the station near the back of the cabin.

The first sip was like nectar from the gods and she groaned loudly, closing her eyes. A silent force at her back had her lowering the mug and glancing over her shoulder but she already knew what she would find. She could always sense where he was in a room as if her body was attuned to his like a tuning fork.

“Are you okay?”

His voice was low and husky and felt like it dragged against her skin, making her shiver. “Yes, why?”

She could feel the heat from his skin and see the tattoo on his biceps, which she knew wrapped around his shoulder and chest.

“You groaned.”

Val smiled and held up her mug. “Coffee.”

He nodded slightly but didn’t say anything else or make any attempt to step back either. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as the air seemed to change around them and became filled with sexual energy or maybe that was wishful thinking and she was the only one who felt it.

“I meant what I said, Valentina. I do value you.”

“Then why do you treat me differently?”

His hand lifted and he fingered a lock of her hair which had fallen from the bun she’d thrown her hair into earlier, not looking at her face. She was glad for it because she knew what he would see—desire and want and love.

“You’re different, Val.”

She wanted to ask what he meant by that but he turned on his heel and walked away, and perhaps it was for the best. They needed to work together and they faced a clever and cunning adversary in Hansen. With a sigh, she walked back to her seat and lifted her laptop from her bag.

Duchess had sent her an email with a video of her boys running around and playing with Sebastian and his niece Fleur. Emotion hit her hard and it took everything in her to bite back the tears of relief seeing them safe. Scout and Monty were more than pets or colleagues to her, they were family.

After checking her emails she had nothing left to do and she wasn’t in the mood for a new book. Reading about happily-ever-afters suddenly seemed unappealing. Standing, she went to talk to Hurricane in the cockpit. Bás had his head buried in his laptop, a sealed brown envelope beside him on the chair.

“Hey, you.”

Hurricane turned to her with a dazzling smile. “Hey, gorgeous, how you feeling?”

Hurricane was the epitome of a big teddy bear. Tall, with muscles for days and beautiful black skin but it was the smile he always had in his eyes that showed the real man. People said the eyes were the window to the soul, and his was pure and beautiful.

“Good, I needed that nap.”

“You’ve been through a lot the last few days.”

She laughed as she took the seat beside him. “Yeah, not quite how I saw the week going.”

“How’s boss man doing?”

It was well known amongst the team that he hated to fly although not why, but then Bás was hardly an open book. “He’s working on his laptop.”

Hurricane grinned. “Watchdog is keeping him busy as usual.”

Watchdog always made sure to send Bás plenty of files to review when he was flying so he could concentrate on that rather than the fear they knew he felt. It was just one example of why they worked as a team. They fixed a problem without asking, just because they could.

“How are you doing? Any news or updates?”

Hurricane’s jaw tightened a little but he forced a smile as he turned to her. “Nah, but I’m going to call my cousin later and ask her for the number of that doctor.”