Before Reese could respond, the plane jarred against the tarmac with sufficient force to make them an inch shorter than they’d been at take-off.
Where the fuck had Hodges found this pilot?
Then Reese absorbed the fact that they were on the ground.
He looked at Hodges shrewdly. The damn man had managed to find a very effective means of distracting Reese from their plummet to the earth. “Clever.”
Hodges shrugged, painfully smug. “It worked, didn’t it?”
Reese was loath to admit that it had, and alarmed that Hodges looked like he had more he wanted to say. Now Reese waseven moreeager to get out of the goddamn plane.
Fortunately, the airport was tiny and deplaning was a three-minute process. As soon as they were in theverycompact rental car and on the road, Reese called Mati. She answered immediately, and he drew his first deep breath since take off.
Hodges drove well above the posted speed limit, but no one stopped him. Maybe no one realized this particular make and model of car could go that fast. It sounded as though the engine was about to burst, but the thing kept going and Hodges kept pushing it.
Sooner than should have been possible, they were flying through the gates at the end of the driveway. It was disconcerting to see them standing open, but they’d had no choice except to leave them that way, as well as unlock the front door, once the police had been called in. It made Reese feel unsafe in a way he hadn’t in a long time.
Hodges parked behind the marked police SUV in front of the house. Reese hung up the phone and leaped from the car. He noted the black fingerprint dust all over his front door and foyer but didn’t stop, hesitating only once he was inside to wonder if he should check in with the police before bolting through the house.
Hodges shoved him toward the hallway. “Go. I’ll take care of it.”
Reese ran, hitting the panic room’s all-clear codes on his phone as he tore into his office. The locks released with heavy thunks and the door swung open.
Mati burst from the room and ran straight toward him. He tossed his phone onto his desk and met her halfway, catching her as she leaped into the air and barreled into him. Her arms wound around his shoulders, her legs around his waist, her warm lips and the cool plastic of her glasses pressed to his neck. He clutched her to his chest.
Thank god.
He held her as tightly as he dared, even as some part of his brain screamed at him to put her down. To put some space between them. But that wasn’t what any fraction of his heart wanted.
Mati sighed and Reese lost a battle he’d been fighting since the day he’d met her. He threaded his fingers into her hair beneath the knot of dark curls at her nape and pressed his face to the side of her head.
She murmured against his neck and he nodded, not even sure what she’d said. It didn’t matter. What mattered was she wanted to be held, and he desperately,desperatelywanted to hold her.
“You’re okay. You’re safe,” he whispered, absorbing her heat and weight.
“I’m safe,” she agreed, her cheek to his, her lips to his ear. “You saved me.”
His knees wobbled and he hitched her higher—futilely trying to keep his hand on her back or her waist. Finally, he gave up and cupped it under her perfect, firm ass.
He swore he felt her smile against his cheek.
Hope bloomed where he’d never allowed it to grow.
The idea she might feel even an inkling of what he felt for her was staggering. Literally. He had to lean against his desk to be sure he didn’t drop them both to the floor.
He took another deep breath, saturating his head with citrus and lavender.
She curled her fingers into his hair and turned her head until their noses bumped and her lips hovered over his.
Her breath caught.
Reese stopped breathing altogether.
Mati had spent two of the longest hours of her life sitting in that horrible box, waiting to be let out. Waiting to see Reese. She’d watched the police arrive on the monitors, had known they were right outside the door at some points, but she’d stayed hidden. Reese’s voice had been her tether to sanity, which she’d clearly lost the minute he hung up and she’d watched him tear through the house to get to her.
His heat seeped into her, thawing the chill that had set into her bones when she’d realized she wasn’t alone in the house. His hands, big and wide, held her and soothed her lingering fear.
It was replaced with a host of new emotions that were warming her from the inside out.
