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It took a long time before Jack finally answered and said, “Yeah, me too.”
Chapter Ten
Jack
I had never told anyone about why I left the Navy before, but with Nina, I wanted to bare my soul. I was enjoying our time together so much that I even forgot about all my earlier resolve.
Nina’s hand on mine filled me with warmth, and I liked it so much that I didn’t move away from her.
“There was a kidnapping and I lost two friends there … I can never forget them, or how close we were,” I said, then began explaining without the details of our operation why the emotional trauma had been too much for me.
“Leaving was the best choice for me,” I added, then sighed and pulled my mind out of the painful memories it was sinking into. I didn’t want to think about that right now.
The sheikh’s men were still watching us, and I needed to find a way to contact my CIA team and find out if they had made it to Jeddah as planned. It was only three days till D-day now, and I had to give them the information they needed so they could plan for the night.
Of course, I didn’t want Nina to notice either, so I had to do it in private while I was away from her.
“You know what we should do?” she asked suddenly, and the excitement in her voice brightened the mood. “We should do something fun. First, we should try and ditch these men following us. It’s so boring with them behind us like this.”
“You sure you’re ready for something that bold?” I asked as I looked at her, and she nodded before her lips widened into another smile that made my heart flutter.
Nina made me feel warmth in places I never thought I would feel again, and even though I was scared of letting her in because I didn’t want her in harm’s way, I still couldn’t bring myself to stay away.
“All right then,” I said and took her hand. “I’ll ditch them, just follow my lead.”
We started a fast walk around the park so we could blend in with the crowd of passersby strolling close to us at that point. I glanced over my shoulder several times, to make sure the men were still following us but far enough behind, before we ducked into the first bend and then took another one. I didn’t know where we were going, but the goal was to make sure none of the sheikh’s men were around us.
When we entered an alley that looked more like a local market, I took off my black jacket and handed it to Nina. “Put this on,” I said to her, and she did it immediately before we stepped out of the alley and reached the main road again.
Nina glanced over her shoulder at the same time that I did, and when she looked at me again, she said, “That was easy.”
“I know, right.”
I matched her grin, then tightened my grip on her hand. “But they might still catch up, so let’s take a cab from here.”
I flagged down the first one I saw, and once we hopped in, I told the driver to move.
“Where are we going?” Nina asked amidst her small chuckle after we had driven for a while.
“Let me think of something.”
She tossed her gaze to one side again while I admired her for a second and tried to think of what I really wanted to do with her. The afternoon was far spent, and the heat had started to dwindle.
Nina glanced back at me and the small smile on her pursed lips made me flutter all over. My throat tightened, and I couldn’t find words at first because the heat spiraling inside me was spinning out of control.
“We should go on a date,” I blurted out before I could stop myself.
“Like a date-date or …”
“Yes. We should go on a real date, Nina. Just you, me, and the sunset. I’m guessing it’ll be very lovely to spend time with you like that.”
She didn’t say anything, but her eyes lit up, and she gave me a soft smile before nodding her answer. “Okay,” she mouthed.
I noticed our hands rested close to each other on the seat, so I inched mine closer to hers and covered her palm with it.
I told the driver to take us to the sheikh’s address, and we stayed that way for the rest of the ride.
Once he dropped us at the entrance, we started the fifteen minute stroll into his estate and had to pass all the security checks at the entrance before we finally made it to the palace.
