Page 12 of Shielding Instinct

Finally, she said, “Yes, I need to sleep.” There was a goodbye smile. She pulled her mask into place, inserted her earbuds, and rested her hand protectively on Cooper’s head.

Cooper’s tail wagged against Hawkeye’s leg.

And Hawkeye was left to contemplate her and wonder what the hell had just happened to him.

Chapter Five

Petra

Petra roused when Cooper pressed his paw into her thigh in a series of “it’s time to get up now” taps.

With her arm trapped between her torso and the wall, she had been leaning on it long enough that she’d lost circulation. Rubbing her fingers over her eyes to rouse herself before dragging her mask to the top of her head, she shoved it in her pocket and out of the way then shifted her shoulder to get her blood flowing. The fingers on her right hand were hesitant to move. But even just lifting herself to a seated position, her arm began to wake up with the buzzing pins and needles pain of a limb that had gone to sleep.

Petra tried to lift her hand to shake her arm and speed things along, but it was heavy and needed more time, so she let it drop back into her lap.

She must have been really out of it.

Reaching across her body, Petra slowly raised the shade just as the flight attendant announced that she would be preparing the cabin for landing.

Her eyes felt dry and scratchy from the stale air.

When had she ever slept seven hours straight? Petra chalked it up to having Cooper in her lap and the Iniquus operator sitting sentinel in the aisle seat.

Petra ran a tongue over her teeth behind closed lips. She wished she had a breath mint in her pocket. Avery had been right with her assessment of Hawkeye on the phone. She had enjoyed their brief chat before exhaustion overwhelmed her.

Changes in plans often drained her, making her zone out and need a nap, no matter how handsome or intriguing she found the person sitting next to her. And today had been a day of switcheroos and mayhem.

But they were landing, and she had no obligations of any kind for the next few days. Petra wondered if, perhaps, Hawkeye might like to join her for dinner during that time.

Deciding that there was no harm in asking, she was stopped when Cooper jumped to the ground and sat facing her with a paw on her knee. He turned his head to find Hawkeye.

Did Cooper need something from her?

She shifted around to see how Hawkeye would respond to this, perhaps giving her an explanation.

Hawkeye’s gaze traveled from his dog to her. “You’re awake.” He stalled as she caught his gaze, and she watched as the man, without actually moving, shifted in front of her.

His demeanor had changed from bored and relaxed to something else.

“Will you do me a favor?” he asked. “Would you smile for me?”

By habit, Petra let her lips slide down her face into a frown, melting her features. She’d practiced this look in the mirror. It wasn’t necessarily a frown. It was just letting her facial features go lax. It was her response when men told her to smile. Though clichéd, it happened with alarming regularity. Probably because her resting face was once described to her as “schoolmarm.” Not that she knew exactly what was meant by that, but it seemed to make people—men—uncomfortable. Men preferred to be smiled at and fawned over. She couldn’t believe an Iniquus guy—on the clock and in uniform—would be so gross.

“Shit.” Hawkeye’s response was formed on the exhale, but Petra had always had exceptional hearing, too good at times, and she’d heard it clearly.

So good, she thought, Hawkeye got her message; she wasn’t the smile-on-demand kind of woman.

He reached up and pressed the attendant’s light overhead.

There was a ping, and the flight attendant rounded the corner.

“I believe we have a medical issue,” he told her quietly, then turned back to look at Petra.

Petra stilled.What?

The attendant leaned in for a moment, then squatted in the bulkhead’s extra space.

“Could you smile for me, please?” She, too, changed her tone.

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