He sat back down against the tree, and thankfully, Olivia followed his lead. She didn’t go back into his arms, and he ignored the disappointment that caused. She didn’t need to hear about all of the gruesome things he sometimes saw when he closed his eyes at night, so he kept his answer vague.
“Sometimes, I dream about things I saw when I was still in the military. Ops that didn’t go exactly as planned. That sort of thing.”
She turned so she was facing him more, her shoulder leaning up against the rough bark. “You ever dream about Mikey?”
A knot instantly formed in his gut. “Used to. Not so much anymore.” A sad look came over her, and he couldn’t help but ask. “Do you?”
She lifted her other shoulder. “Sometimes. Not as often, either.” She settled back again, her head tilted up toward the jungle’s canopy of limbs and leaves. “God, I miss him.”
Fuck. He’d thought he’d be okay talking about anything she wanted, but shit. He didnotwant to talk about her brother.
“I always wonder what Mikey would be doing now, if he hadn’t died.” She looked over at him with half a smile. “I bet he’d be working with you.”
Jake forced one of his own. “Maybe.” He could see her wheels turning, and was relieved as hell when she changed the subject.
“Tell me about your team. What exactly do you do?” Then, she added, “The truth.”
Jake had never wanted her to know. For years, he’d lied to her about it.About so many things.
She obviously knew something was up, so it wasn’t like he could stick with the façade of being a military consultant. And it was better than talking about her brother, so Jake took a deep breath and told her the truth.
“I own R.I.S.C. It’s a private security firm.”
“Risk,” she repeated the word as if she were seeing how it felt on her tongue.
“R-I-S-C,” Jake spelling out his company’s acronym for her.
She studied him for half a second before raising a brow. “You do realize ‘risk’ is spelled with ak, right?”
He narrowed his eyes, but grinned. “Yes, smartass. It stands for Rescue, Intel, Security, and Capture.”
Olivia thought for a moment. “Clever. So, you do things like this? Rescue people like me?”
“Sometimes.”
Jake waited for the lecture he knew was about to come. It was one that was fully deserved. He would have bet his team’s next paychecks that she was about to give him hell for lying to her all this time, but as usual, Olivia took him by complete surprise.
Looking mighty proud of herself, she spouted off, “So, I was right. All of those trips you’ve taken weren’t conferences or consultation jobs at all. They were so you could do this sort of thing, weren’t they?” Clearly a rhetorical question, she immediately followed it with, “Iknewit.”
Jake felt his eyes widen as shock reverberated throughout his system. He remembered the wise crack she’d made earlier about his boring conferences, but didn’t think she truly suspected anything.How could she know?
“How could you—”
With an exaggerated roll of her eyes, Olivia interrupted him. “Give me a little credit, Jake. You didn’t actually think I bought the whole,” she deepened her voice, “‘I’m just a paper pusher for the military’ act, did you? Oh, wait. I’m sorry. You were supposed to be aconsultant.” She threw in some finger quotations for added effect.
Jake would have busted up laughing if he wasn’t still reeling from the fact that Olivia was already aware of what he’d thought to be a major revelation. What surprised him just as much was that the only thing he saw behind those gorgeous, moonlit eyes was acceptance.
There was no anger or judgment. Not even disappointment. She truly was astonishing. And clearly waiting for him to tell her more about his job.
“Right. So...uh...we deal with hostage rescue, but we also do other things, like set up high-end security systems for a few companies and some private parties. We provide protection and gather important intel.”
He hesitated but decided to share it all. If they were ever going to have a chance at a serious relationship, Olivia needed to know what she’d be signing up for. “My team has also been hired to capture or, in some cases, eliminate the enemy.”
She didn’t cringe as he’d expected. Wasn’t looking at him with the horrified expression he’d always imagined she would when hearing that particular truth.
Instead, Olivia simply nodded with understanding and said, “Jobs that would normally get the government into trouble or cause a rift with other countries, that sort of thing?”
Damn, the woman always was quick. Jake smiled wide. “Exactly. We have a handler from Homeland Security. A lot of the jobs we take are contracted through him, but we also work in conjunction with state and local departments, as well as the FBI and CIA.” R.I.S.C. also had a solid relationship with the DPD, Texas Rangers, and the U.S. Marshals.
