She sighed, keeping her eyes averted. “I’m going to talk to the commander when we get back to headquarters to see if he can place me with the team in Seattle. I already know the men there because of my father, and—”
“Twenty minutes until we land,” Luke announced abruptly from where he was stretched out on the plush leather sofa across from their bank of seats. “If you’ve got any unfinished business, better take care of it now. Just got a text from Finn letting us know that Will’s meeting us at the hangar.”
Jack’s attention abruptly shifted to Luke, even as he made a mental note that this conversation was far from over. “Will is coming out to meet us? Damn. He never debriefs until we get back to headquarters.”
“He’s gotta know we’re keeping something from him,” Luke said. “I understand not telling him about Ian over the phone. But why not share the name of Ralston’s reporter friend?”
He’d known Will for far too long to deliver that kind of bombshell over the phone. And, lucky him, he’d have to break that shitty piece of news to him right after telling him one of his best hadn’t made it home.
Jack leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes, walling himself off from both Luke and Maddie, dreading the moment when he’d have to face his commander and best friend and tell him why only three of them got off the plane . . .
* * *
Maddie sat in silence the rest of the flight, even though she was dying to know what it was about Claire Davenport that had Jack frowning so fiercely that he forgot all about his fear of flying—or their conversation about her leaving the Chicago commandery. At that moment, though, she had her own thoughts to untangle.
Reaching for Jack’s hand had been instinctive, a simple gesture of friendship. But she hadn’t expected it to affect either of them as much as it clearly had. After all, she’d been the one to put the brakes on their relationship last time. Too afraid to have her heart broken again by a man whose top priority was his vow to the Alliance, she’d decided it would be better for both of them if she insisted that they keep their relationship platonic.
And it had worked—to a point. She’d at least had the benefit of his friendship for the last several years. Long-distant though it was, it had beensomething. And she’d told herself that it was enough, that what they’d shared had been amazing, but it was over. Then one touch had dispelled all of her flimsy self-delusions. She was as much in love with Jack as ever.
Her determination to ask Commander Asher for a transfer had been a spur-of-the-moment decision. She’d just thrown out the first idea that had come to mind. She needed to put some distance between her and Jack. And fast. She could feel his desire for her in the warmth of his gaze, the gentleness of his touch as he’d smoothed her skin.
And it was torture.
Maddie was trying desperately to ignore the nearness of him and how it made her heart pound and her senses come alive, when the slight lurch of the plane landing forced her to get her shit together and shove her emotions down deep. Everyone was already talking, she knew, speculating about what was going on between her and Jack. They didn’t need any more fuel forthatfire. She just needed to walk away. Maybe then they could just go on pretending that they were over each other . . .
“Maddie?”
She glanced over to see Jack staring at her expectantly. “Yeah?”
“We’ve arrived,” he informed her.
She glanced around to see Luke had already left the plane. She gave herself a mental shake and stepped into the aisle to grab her bag, but, ever the gentleman, Jack rose to his feet and reached for her bag at the same time, his body brushing against hers. They both paused, the contact bringing them up short.
Maddie raised her eyes to Jack’s, her gaze holding his as he lifted her duffel bag from the bin and slowly brought it down. Maddie swallowed hard, suddenly finding it hard to breathe. And for one crazy, dizzying moment, Maddie thought he might actually kiss her. Dear God . . . shehopedhe would, longed for it. The thought of his lips against hers again consumed her in those few, heavy seconds.
But a quiet cough broke the spell and she jumped away as much as the narrow aisle would allow, practically sprinting toward the door, where Luke stood looking a little embarrassed at intruding upon their moment.
“We’re coming,” Maddie mumbled. As she tried to squeeze by him, her future brother-in-law gave her a searching look, asking a question she didn’t even know how to answer.
As she raced down the steps the landing crew had provided, she nearly collided with their commander, his unshakable, muscled frame making for an impressive barrier to her escape.
“Jack and Ian coming?” he demanded, his scowl far more ferocious than usual.
She hesitated, then nodded, knowing it should be Jack who broke the news to their commander about losing a member of the team.
“You and Jack good?” he asked, apparently misreading her hesitation.
Maddie cursed the heat she could feel creeping into her cheeks at his question.Great.Now shereallylooked guilty of something inappropriate. What the hell was her problem? She’d been able to go up against suspects who would make even the most hardened law enforcement officer nervous, and yet she was acting like a silly schoolgirl with a crush on the captain of the football team.
Fortunately, before she had to answer Will’s penetrating gaze shifted above her head to where Jack was unhurriedly coming down the steps behind her. “What the hell’s going on, Jack? What’s with all the cloak-and-dagger bullshit?”
Jack met his old friend’s furious gaze and held it for a moment. “Ian’s dead, Will.”
A myriad of emotions seemed to play out on Will’s face in the next few seconds before he finally hung his head, his hands on his hips as he took a moment to absorb the information. Finally he hissed a series of curses and lifted his gaze. “How?”
“Shot by the cartel,” Luke supplied. “He got separated from us trying to draw them away from Jack.”
Maddie’s attention shifted briefly to Jack. The implication that Ian had lost his life in order to save one of his brothers wasn’t lost on him. She could see it in the way his eyes clouded over with regret and sorrow.
