Chapter Fifty
I was up, showered and dressed but Jackie was nowhere to be found. At first I was a little annoyed, then I started getting nervous. I found Bridgett watching a movie upstairs and asked her where she’d gone.
“She’s at Kyle’s. She wanted to talk to him and Ethan before the meeting tonight. She took your turbo.”
I thought about jumping in the SUV and tearing over there, but yanked myself back to reality. No one was trying to hurt or kidnap her. She was safe. It was fine for her to take the car over to Kyle’s house or to the mall or to Maya’s or anywhere else. I took a breath and called one of my donors.
When I got back an hour later, Jackie was home and had joined Bridgett upstairs for the end of the movie. I sat on the couch next to her and snaked an arm around her shoulders, pulling her a little closer. When she was nearby, I couldn’t stay away from her. My protective instincts were in a constant state of high alert. “How did it go?” I asked.
Instead of speaking out loud, she sent, “He’s staying with the team. He’s upset but he’ll be fine. I told them about everything. Ethan said the best thing for me to do now would be to get involved in a juicy case. Kyle said I’m his hero.” She grinned at me and it was obvious spending time with her friends was exactly what she’d needed. “Have you looked at the cases on your desk yet?”
“No, I’m doing that with Sasha in twenty minutes. He went out to feed an hour ago.”
“He’s not with Sinc?”
“She dumped him.”
“That’s what I figured she’d do. Ethan says he’s done with her, that he can’t trust her. I hope they try to work it out.”
“Sweetheart, look at me.” She stared at me with those glorious green eyes, a wry smile curling her lips. “We will not interfere. They are adults and will work things out, or not, on their own.”
“Okay, boss.” She reached for the hand I had resting on my leg and brought it up to her lips to kiss gently. “Thank you, for taking such special care of me last night.
“And every night, forever, my love. Do you remember last night’s nightmare?” Her body grew tense and she shook her head. I dropped the subject.
We settled back in to watch the very end of the movie, when the handsome hero finally gets to kiss his beautiful sweetheart. Bridgett sighed and got up. “I think I’ll go downstairs and start dinner.” She walked past us and headed down the stairs, humming the movie’s theme song.
“That’s just too cute. She’s in love.” Jackie watched her disappear. I shut off the movie credits, and taking shameless advantage of our sudden alone time, I pulled her into my arms to kiss her. She responded and pressed herself against me, making me wish I could put off going through the stacks of requests on my desk. I pulled away and she grinned at me. “At least I never have to wait until the end of the day for a kiss from my handsome hero.”
“My kisses are available to you at any hour of the day.”
She laughed. “I may test that theory tomorrow around ten a.m.”
“Ten a.m. kisses will be slower and sleepier, but will contain just as much love and affection.”
“Well, that’s all right then. You go do your work and I’ll help Bridgett.” We walked together down the stairs and parted ways at the bottom, me heading toward my office on the right and Jackie hanging a left into the kitchen. Sasha was waiting for me, comfortable in a leather chair that faced my desk.
“Run down and get your laptop, please.” He was back in about twenty seconds and had it booted up and ready in another thirty. I grabbed an assortment of requests off the top of the pile and handed them to him. “You go through those while I go through the next bunch. Divide them into top priority requests, requests we might consider at a later time, requests to be forwarded to someone else and then rejects which will just get a polite letter back saying…whatever.” I shrugged. “Make a note of each.” Sasha nodded and we began.