“You two do realize we’re over here to work, not sightsee, right?” he interrupted before either of them could pepper him and Jes with more questions.
“We know that,” Zoe said, rolling her eyes in the way only a teenager could. “But you’ve been over there for days. You haven’t had any time off at all?”
“No, we haven’t,” he said.
“You haven’t been doing anything dangerous, have you?” Chloe asked, her expression serious now, like she somehow knew how close his entire team had come to getting killed mere hours earlier. Then again, maybe she did know. Chloe was crazy intuitive like that.
Jake hesitated. He couldn’t be honest without freaking the twins out, but he didn’t want to sugarcoat the risk this job entailed, either. He never wanted to lie to the girls. But as he opened his mouth to try and find the right words, Jes nudged him in the ribs with her elbow.
“We definitely aren’t doing anything dangerous,” she told the twins, a bright smile lighting up her beautiful face. “In fact, we went to a big charity event tonight in a castle. The kind with a red carpet, fancy waiters carrying trays of champagne, and lots of those puff pastries everyone oohs and aahs over. I’m pretty sure I saw Zac Efron there.”
Jake had no idea who Zac Efron was, but the name grabbed the girls’ attention, not to mention put a smile right back on Chloe’s face. For no other reason than that, Jake was completely fine with his teammate stretching the truth a bit when it came to tonight’s adventures. After all, Jes hadn’t actually lied—except maybe about Zac Efron.
“Why didn’t you tell us you went on a date?” Chloe demanded, her expression a mix of surprise and excitement.
It wasn’t until a moment later when Chloe turned to share an all-too-knowing look with her sister that Jake realized where their minds were headed.
“It wasn’t a date,” he said quickly even as Jes shook her head. “It might have been a charity event in a castle, but we were there to work.”
“With Zac Efron?” Zoe questioned, looking dubious. “And champagne?”
“What did you guys wear?” Chloe asked, her expression going from amused to calculating.
He didn’t know where they were going with that question. Or more precisely, he didn’t see the point. But the intent expression on both girls’ faces made him think it important for some reason. “I wore a suit. Jes had on a dress.”
Thinking about how stunning Jes had looked in the aforementioned gown with her shoulders bare, cleavage on display, and slit up the side to expose all that leg was enough to distract any man. Which was probably why he didn’t realize Zoe and Chloe were staring at him like he was stupid. Shaking their heads in unison, they turned their attention to Jes.
“What kind of dress was it?” Chloe asked, her face as eager as her sister’s.
“This crazy gorgeous Oscar de la Renta number in a shimmering blue color,” Jes said, sounding almost as giddy as the girls. “I have no idea how STAT got their hands on the thing, but I’m pretty sure it was worth as much as my car back home in DC. And the Christian Louboutin heels they found for me? They were killer sexy and even more comfortable than my running shoes. I’m going to miss them.”
“They didn’t let you keep them?” Zoe squealed. “That’s cruel!”
Jake was pretty sure those heels—which had admittedly made her calves look scrumptious—had never made it out of Darby’s manor. She definitely hadn’t been wearing them when he’d caught her coming off the balcony.
Of course, Jes didn’t give that nugget of information away. Instead, she shrugged her shoulders with a sorrowful expression. “I guess it just wasn’t meant to be. But that dress, those shoes, and I will always have that one night together. We’ll never forget what we meant to each other.”
Now it was Jake’s turn to roll his eyes at all the fashion drama as Jes and the twins bemoaned the end of a relationship that could have apparently changed the world. They were talking about a pair of frigging shoes. He’d be the first to admit Jes had looked smoking in them, but still, they were just shoes. How could a woman get that attached to a bit of leather and some buckles in just a few hours? There’d been a particular pair of combat boots he’d worn every single day during a nine-month deployment to Iraq that he remembered being pretty fond of, but when the soles had split on one of them, he’d tossed them into the garbage without a second thought. Okay, he’d missed the old pair for a few days until he’d broken in their replacement, but that was the closest he’d ever come to developing feelings for his footwear.
“What did Jake wear?” Chloe asked, leaning forward to eagerly continue the interrogation about all things fashion.
Jake groaned silently. Christmas at their place was likely going to be much more complicated than he’d anticipated. Gift cards probably weren’t going to cut it.
“I told you,” he said. “I wore a suit.”
“It was a Brioni,” Jes told them. “A classic two-button style, perfect for the part he played tonight.”
“Part?” Zoe prompted.
“I was a rich socialite and Jake was my tall, mysterious, menacing bodyguard.” She gave him a sidelong glance. “He played his role to perfection and looked deadly in that suit.”
The girls laughed at that, asking for details, which Jes was more than happy to provide. Jake had to admit he was impressed by the way she weaved the narrative of them having a thrilling time at the high-class charity event without ever mentioning the danger. She kept the twins riveted.
“Are you guys going out together again?” Chloe asked when Jes finished.
“I know where you’re headed with this, Chloe, and it isn’t like that,” Jake said, jumping in before Jes could answer. He didn’t want his teammate to tell them anything that was blatantly untrue or mislead the girls. Especially Chloe. Of the twins, she was the one who’d latched on to him the hardest after the death of their parents. She’d also been the one most worried about him working for STAT. She might support him in his desire to work there, but he knew it scared her all the same. “Yes, Jes and I went to a charity event last night, and while there were parts that were fun, we really were there for work. Going forward, that’s what we’re going to be focused on—work.”
Zoe and Chloe looked at each other in that way they always did, their faces serious again.
