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“Xavier,” she started but he waved her off.
He ignored the voice in his head. “There’s nothing left to say. You take care of yourself. Good luck with everything.” He turned and made his way out the door.
Two minutes later, he walked back into his hotel room.
“That was fast.” Booker was lying on one of the beds. “You okay?” His friend asked. “You don’t look so good.”
“I’m a lot of things right now but okay isn’t one of them.”
Booker got off the bed. “What do you need? What can I do?”
“What I need is something I can’t have.” Or someone.Fuck, this hurt. Deep down in his soul. This pain was worse than when he’d lost Jamie. Allegra’s dismissal of him cut so deep it took his breath away. “You can buy me a drink and just keep them coming.” The only way he was going to get through the next few days, or weeks was by being numb. Not just his arm, but his entire body. He might as well start now.
CHAPTER20
Allegra raisedher hand to knock on the door, clenched her fist and then dropped it again. Nerves whispered under her skin. She had no idea why she was so damned anxious, but she was. She’d put on the green sweater she’d bought from Lena’s store because it brought out her eyes. And he’d looked at her with desire when she’d worn it before. She had paired the soft sweater with a short dark-gray pencil skirt which showed off her legs. She’d even had her hair down around her shoulders. She wanted to look good. So good that Xavier would forgive her.
She raised her hand again and then paused.
A voice came from her left. “Do you want some help knockin’ on that door?”
She turned to find Xavier leaning against an SUV in the parking lot, arms folded across his chest, staring at her with a cautious expression on his sexy features.
“Um…I just…That is… You look good.”
More than good. Delicious. His hair had grown some and curled over his ears. The cowboy hat on his head made it hard to see, but she knew those waves would be soft under her fingertips, if she got the opportunity to test them out. His gorgeous eyes were the color of steel. A gray sweater outlined his powerful chest, and a pair of jeans hugged his thighs like a second skin.
He looked so damn fine that drawing a breath was difficult.
“Can I help you with something?” His neutral expression was killing her. Was he happy to see her? Who the hell could tell?
“I just wanted to…thank you,” she finished lamely. They were standing outside the Yellowstone offices of Team Eagle. The December air was crisp. Her coat was open and she should’ve done it up to fight the cold but she wanted him to be able to see her legs. She’d thought, perhaps foolishly, it might help.
“You did already. You told me in Geneva and sent me a check for the clothes with yet another thank you note. You don’t have to thank me anymore. We’re good.”
The door opened and Allegra jumped. A tall man with dark hair stood there staring at her. Without taking his eyes off her, he said, “You okay, Xav?”
“Fine, Wyatt. I have it handled.”
Wyatt gave Allegra the once over. “She doesn’t look too scary but you’re a bit of a cream puff, so yell if you need help.” He barked out a laugh, then stepped back and closed the door again,
She nodded. “So, how have you been? How’s the shoulder?” God, she was grasping at straws. Anything to stay here talking to him.
“Shoulder is good. How about you? I read the story in the Times.” He cocked his head. “Not exactly the truth.”
She bit her lip and shrugged. “It was close to the truth, sort of. The end result was the same. Cytoxine didn’t make it to market, so all those lives were saved. And NoVoGlobal’s stock didn’t take too much of a hit. We’ve already bounced back.”
“Uh-huh. But a secret joint investigation by the FDA and the FBI? Who came up with that story?”
She smiled. “I did. I pointed out to the FDA that they were about to approve a drug that would kill a large percentage of people, and if that news got out no one would trust them. They’ve taken enough PR hits recently that they were happy to go along with the plan. The FBI was a bit of a harder sell, but Damon has friends in Washington and in the end, it made everyone look good.”
“Including you.”
“Yes.” She sighed. “Including me.”
Her stomach fluttered. Was he disappointed in her? “I had to do something to save my career. I’ve worked too hard to let it be blown out of the water because someone else was a corrupt asshole.”
He chuckled a bit, and her heart leapt as she took it as a positive sign.
