“Really?”
Gil swallowed before he responded. “You shouldn’t be surprised to see Luke, Faith, Zane, or Tessa. At any time.”
“But ... why?”
“Why?”
“They don’t know me.”
“They like what they know.”
She didn’t respond for several bites and a sip of the half-cut sweet tea he’d ordered for her. “They’re doing it for you.” She didn’t say it in a whiny way or like she was fishing for a compliment or angling to get him to disagree.
“They’re doing it for us.” He modified her assumption. And when he saidus, he didn’t mind one bit the way her eyes widened and flicked to him before returning with overdone concentration to her sandwich. “They like you for you. They like you whether I’m around or not, as evidenced by girls’ night in and your plans for going to the movies and having lunch with Faith and Tessa during the week. That’s all about you, Buttercup.”
He set his sandwich back into the takeout box. “With that said, we’re tight. We take care of each other. And that means they want to help me take care of you, because they know it would gut me if anything happened to you. They know I’ll do whatever I have to do to protect you, and they want to be sure we both come out of this without any holes.”
“It would gut you?” Her voice broke, and he couldn’t look away from the questions in her eyes.
Before he could answer, an intercom buzzed. “Dr. Collins, Dr. Percy is here to see you.”
IVY CLOSED HEREYES.When she opened them, Gil hadn’t moved. But his expression, which had been open, slightly teasing, and achingly gentle, was now closed, hard, and possibly furious.
“Were you expecting him?”
“No.” Why was she whispering? “But he was here last week. Twice. And he’s in town. It makes sense that he would stop by.”
Gil frowned. “I don’t like this.”
“What do you think he’s going to do? Throw me over his shoulder and haul me out of here with you sitting three feet away?”
“I’m considering going with that move myself, so I wouldn’t put it past him.”
“Can you be nice?”
His eyebrows flew up at that. “What?”
“Be nice.” What was confusing about that?
“You want me to stay here while you see him?”
“Of course. He’s heard about you. He’ll be thrilled we’ve reconnected.”
“I wouldn’t hold my breath, Buttercup.” He stood and leaned over the small table between them, pinning her in place with his look. “If anything weird happens, you promise you’ll do whatever I tell you?”
She nodded.
“If I tell you to run? To get under your desk?”
“Gil, you’re scaring me.”
“I’m trying to.”
He wasn’t kidding. “Gil, Ab is not dangerous.”
“Ab is a Marine with a PhD in bioengineering. He is the very definition of dangerous.”
“How do you know that?”
