Baby.
The breathy way he says it melts me from the inside out. Luckily, he’s holding me plastered to his broad chest when my knees give out.
“We’ll follow you,” the security guard says, and that’s when I remember we have company.
Adam doesn’t say anything else on the way to my brother’s, but he doesn’t let go of my hand either.
Chapter Twenty-Four
ADAM
“Logan and Derrick are already in the air. Should land soon. Carter’s picking them up on the way.” The edge of the kitchen island bites into my back as I lean there, watching Jackie pace. She’s frantic, playing the part of someone calm very, very poorly.
“OK,” she says, clipped, opening and closing the wood cabinets.
“Eliza had an emergency meeting. She’s not here.” My head follows her back and forth. It’s hard to stand back and let her process everything. Not cross the room, scoop her up, and curl around her on the plush living room couch until she feels safe.
Afternoon sun streams through the tall windows, caressing her strained features, waving through her golden strands. Her heart must be beating out of her chest, just like mine when I heard her shriek.
The ground collapsed under me with every shuttered breath she panted into the phone, a bucket of gasoline on my biggest fear, tumbling me forward into the car.
“Mm-hmm.” Jackie clenches and unclenches her fists, brows drawn together, staring into the void.
I’ve seen her do this before finals, or when she finally gathered the courage to ask her dad to let her join the company. She took out her agitation on every bookshelf in her home. And mine. Reorganizing them by color.
Today, it appears Eliza’s collection of teacups is her next victim.
“Jackie….” I try tentatively, slowly closing the distance between us.
She stretches like a cat, rising on her tiptoes, and grabs the closest cups. “Yes, yes. I’ll get myself together,” she mutters.
“That’s not…” I don’t want to say the wrong thing, but the core of my soul vibrates with the need to comfort her. “Can you please leave Eliza’s cups alone?”
“I have to do something,” she growls. “Since I’m completely useless and can’t help in any other way.” Every clank of the cups on the counter thunders in the open space.
My soul aches for her. “Nobody thinks you’re useless.”
“They don’t have to. I know it. I’m the company’s CEO. I’m supposed to have the answers. Come up with a plan—”
I step into her space at last. Her back hits my chest and goes still. My fingers ghost hers. She startles at the contact, swallowing a small gasp. Gently, I pry a purple cup from her death grip and put it back on the shelf.
“You are in danger. It is not your fault.” I’m not ready to step away yet. “It’s Derrick and Logan’s job to deal with this kind of stuff.” My words brush the crown of her head, and the shiver going through her vibrates in my chest. “Use that big, beautiful, annoying brain of yours for what you love. Not this.”
My hand has a mind of its own, reaching for a wayward strand, tucking it away, grazing the shell of her ear. “Nobody’s expecting you to take down a gang of hackers.”
Jackie anchors her hands on the edge of the countertop, head dropping between her shoulder blades. “But…” All her protests are drowned in a deep sigh.
I can’t take seeing her defeated. There’s something so unnatural about it. I want to shake it out of her, but she’s too close to the breaking point.
With every ounce of patience left in me, I gingerly tilt her head up, fingers cradling her jaw, until her big blue eyes, fullof uncertainty, meet mine over her shoulder. “There are a lot of people who care for you. Who’d do anything to keep you safe. Have a little more patience. You’ll get back to your old life.”
For a moment, her gaze searches mine.
“Is that what you want?” she whispers. “Do you want everything to go back?” Her lips part, questioning, pink and full.
The version of reality where we are strangers. The reality that breaks me down into pieces. I don’t know how to answer that and reach for her again instead.
“You can hate me all you want once this is over,” I murmur, thumb finding the velvety underside of her lower lip, slowly grazing it. “But let me hold you until then.”
