“Nightmares?”
“Yeah.”
Derek cursed softly, his hands on his hips as he rocked back on his heels. “At least we got her out of there. I can’t imagine what she must have gone through.”
Jake appreciated his teammate’s concern. “It sure as hell wasn’t good, but at least she wasn’t raped.”
“Thank God.”
“Yeah.”
It was all Jake could manage to get past the knot in his throat. Every time he thought about what could have happened to Liv, he lost his ability to breathe, let alone speak.
Derek cleared his throat. “I’ll let you take care of things, then. We’ll see ya in an hour.”
Jake lifted his chin as way of saying goodbye and walked back into the darkened room. Using the heel of one foot, he shut the door behind him and turned, surprised to find Olivia’s eyes glued to his.
She was lying on her side, and Jake quickly searched for any signs of regret. He was relieved as fuck when he found none.
“Hey, there,” he said softly.
She smiled sleepily. “Hey, yourself.”
Her voice was still rough and husky from sleep. It reminded him of the way she’d spoken to him during their lovemaking last night, and damn if his cock didn’t stir behind his jeans.
Holding the sheet up to her chest, Olivia made her way into a sitting position. “Who were you talking to?”
Jake wanted to run to her, rip the fucking thing off, and claim her again. Instead, he sat the two cups down onto the table, shoved his hands into his pockets, and planted his feet where they were.
“Derek,” he answered, adding belatedly, “The blond one.”
She smiled. “I remember.” With one hand still clutching the gathered sheet at her breasts, Olivia used the other to brush away some hair that had fallen into her eyes.
Holy shit,she’s beautiful first thing in the morning.
“What did he say? Are we going home soon?”
Still keeping a safe distance—if there was such a thing, when it came to her—Jake walked over to the other bed and sat down across from her.
“We’re leaving here in an hour. We’ll drive to a small airstrip, where a plane will be waiting to take us back to Texas.”
Her relief was palpable. “Then, what?”
This was the part she wouldn’t like, but he had to be straight with her.
“Then, we’ll be separated. You’ll go with a government official, most likely Jason Ryker, the handler I told you about. He’s going to ask you a lot of questions. Some more than once. You’ll have to tell him everything you can remember.”
He could see the trepidation in her eyes and wished he could do something to ease her concern. Resting his elbows on his knees, he let his hands hang loosely between them.
“I’m sorry, Liv. I know you don’t want to talk about it with anyone, let alone some guy you don’t even know. But it has to be done.”
Her grip on the sheets tightened, inadvertently pressing her breasts together even more. Jake started to wonder if he’d be left with a permanent indention of his zipper.
“Can’t,” she licked her lips nervously. “Can’t you at least be in the room when they question me?”
Seeing the fear come back into her eyes instantly took care of the issue with his zipper. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. They have to separate us to make sure our stories add up.”
Her eyebrows shot up, and her voice rose an octave. “Ourstories?”
