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He turned to find five large men and one woman in a semi-circle around them, guns drawn. “Hotel security.” He looked over their shoulders to see Allegra and Damon huddled together by a parked car. Standing next to them was Booker Hayes, one of his Team Eagle brothers.
His knees wobbled. Allegra was okay. Better than that, Booker was here. Jesus, he’d never been so happy to see someone in his entire life. He grinned like a fucking loon.
“Drop the gun,” one of the security team yelled.
Xavier gladly complied. He lowered the pistol to the concrete floor. He nodded his head toward Haywood. “He has a gun too. He hired these assassins. And you might want to call an ambulance. That guy”—he pointed to Connie who was on the ground, groaning and blinking slowly—“is having a heart attack.”
Booker shook his head. “Can’t leave you alone for a minute. Vacation means rest and relaxation, not get shot at.” He grinned. “On second thought, your idea of a vacation sounds like more fun.”
Xavier flipped him off, but he knew he could breathe easy now that his teammate was here.
CHAPTER19
A knockon her hotel room door drew Allegra away from the window she’d been staring out. She opened it to find Xavier. “Hey.” She backed up to let him in. “How’s it going?”
“Good.” He sauntered into the room and sat down on the sofa positioned in front of the fireplace. “Nice suite.”
“I think Damon is trying to make things up to me. It’s a start.”
He grinned. “How’s all that going?”
She rocked her head back and forth. “Okay for the moment. We have a lot to do to keep NoVoGlobal out of trouble. It’s going to be a lot of hard work and, honestly”—she shrugged—“I’m not even sure we can do it.” She sank onto the chair across from him. She couldn’t let herself sit next to him or she might crawl into his lap and never leave. “How did your conversation with the cops go?”
“Fine. I think they’re finally finished with me. Security footage from the hallway and the parking garage backed up what I said. Your statement and Damon’s helped. They aren’t thrilled they’re left with three dead bodies but that’s their problem.”
“Three?” She tried to focus on what he was saying.
“Simon. Turns out they were all ex-Austrian military. Not surprisingly, they’d all been dishonorably discharged.”
She laced her fingers together. “Oh.”
“Yeah. And my usual co-pilot for a lot of my international runs…Joey? Simon knocked him unconscious and tried to make it look like he died by suicide. Put him in his garage and turned the car on.”
“Oh my God. Is he okay?” She bit her lip.
“Yeah. His garage has a couple of large holes in it so he eventually came to and got out. He’s going to be fine.”
“That’s a relief. I am glad it all worked out.” Her stomach knotted.
“Me too.” Xavier stared at her.
She needed to bite the bullet and just get everything out there. “I really want you to know I appreciate everything you did. I mean, you saved my life more than once. I don’t know how to thank you.”
A slow smile slid onto Xavier’s face. “I can think of a few ways.”
She shot to her feet. He was not going to make this easy. But it was for the best she reminded herself. “Um, I’ll pay you for the clothing and stuff. Leave me your address and I’ll send you a check.”
“Allegra—”
“Like I said, I have a lot of work ahead of me and there’s really no time for…anything else. I promised you the other night that I wouldn’t make a scene when this was all over. That you would be in my rear-view mirror and I want to keep that promise. It’s the least I can do.”
* * *
The least she could do?Did she really just say that? Xavier’s shoulders tensed, triggering a tingle in his arm. He forced himself to relax. She was telling him nicely, but in no uncertain terms, to get lost. He stared at her. Did their time together—their physical and emotional connection—mean so little to her? His brain was short-circuiting. She’d brought him back to life and now she was turfing him like he was just a fuck boy. Oh hell no.
“I see,” he managed to mumble. He stood, surprised his knees could hold him. “You’re right. You were perfectly clear the other night. Sorry if I misread the signals.”
Jamie’s voice shouted in his mind.Aw, brother. Don’t make this mistake. She’s worth fighting for.
