Zane leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. Like Jeff, he wore a suit and tie to the office. Unlike Jeff, he tended to relax during the day, rolling up his sleeves and loosening his collar. He tapped the pages in front of them.
“I can do this myself,” his partner said quietly. “It’s time to let me take charge. You know, leave it to the younger guys.”
“Why?” Jeff knew he wasn’t getting old or soft. What was Zane’s point?
“I can do this,” Zane insisted.
“That was never a question.”
“Wasn’t it? Then why do you take all the dangerous assignments for yourself? You leave me babysitting the wives, while you stake out the trouble spots.”
Jeff studied his partner. The man was only three or four years younger, but sometimes the age difference felt like decades. Zane had a lot of the same experiences, but he was a sharpshooter and a tactician. He’d spent most of his military years planning the operations or taking out the enemy from a distant location. Zane had had his share of kills, but less experience with the horror.
“I don’t have family,” Jeff said. “The guy who has nothing to lose volunteers for the most dangerous job. It’s an old habit. One I’ve had trouble breaking.”
Zane’s dark eyes never wavered. “Like I have a family to go home to?”
Jeff shrugged. Zane didn’t have anyone in the world, either. “So we’re even.”
Zane frowned. “I thought—” He hesitated. “Hasn’t that changed? I mean with the woman and the kid.”
“Nothing’s different.”
Jeff’s voice and words were firm. It was true, he told himself. Absolutely true. Having Ashley and Maggie in his life didn’t change anything. He ignored the whispering voice deep inside that reminded him he was lying. Nothing had changed, he insisted to himself. He couldn’t afford to let circumstances be different. He had to remember what had happened with Nicole—and the dream. Always the dream.
“I’d like the chance,” Zane told him. “You owe me that.”
Jeff looked at him. “Free license to kill yourself?”
“Isn’t that what this job is about? Putting it all on the line for the client?”
Jeff knew that was true, but what he couldn’t explain was why it made sense for him to do it over and over again, but when Zane wanted the same, Jeff couldn’t help thinking it was a waste.
* * *
“I was at the bookstore at lunch,” Jeff said, standing in the entrance of the kitchen and shifting his weight from foot to foot.
Ashley stopped stirring the pot of spaghetti sauce. Her boss actually looked nervous. He wouldn’t meet her gaze and there was a distinct hint of color tingeing his cheeks. The mighty hunter embarrassed about something? She moved toward him, both intrigued and charmed.
“I had long suspected you could read,” she told him. “But thanks for the confirmation.”
His mouth twisted. “That’s not the point. I have a trip coming up in a few weeks. I wanted a book for the flight home.”
She started to ask about the flight there, then realized he would probably spend that preparing for whatever assignment he might be involved with.
“Okay,” she said. “Well, I hope you enjoy your book and thanks for sharing the information with me.”
“You’re mocking me.”
She couldn’t help smiling. “Maybe just a little. Why are you telling me this?”
“Because there was a display of kids’ books and I bought one for Maggie.”
He moved his left arm. As he did so she realized that he’d had his left hand tucked behind his back. He held up a pink-and-white gift bag overflowing with glittering pink-gold tissue paper. Obviously he’d not only bought the book, but he’d had it wrapped, as well.
“Is it okay?” he asked.
She knew he wasn’t asking about the presentation, but instead about the gift itself. Which left her with her own questions. Did he want to know if it was okay to give Maggie a book, or okay for him to give her daughter a present at all? Maybe he didn’t know which he was asking, either.
