Page 17 of Freeing Savannah

That pulled the faintest, pained smile from her. “Still bossy, I see.”

“And you still don’t tell the truth about how you’re really feeling,” he said gently.

After handing her the pills, he opened the water bottle and then gave that to her as well. A grateful smile played on her lips as she popped the pills into her mouth and followed by a long, deep drink of water.

Standing again, he opened the overhead compartment and pulled out the tactical bag he always carried. Digging through it, he found the travel-size bottle of peppermint oil. He didn’t know why he carried it with him. Even during his deployments, the small bottle of peppermint oil traveled with him. Maybe it had been wishful thinking they’d be reunited, and that’s why he’d always kept a bottle on hand.

He held it up like an offering. “This still help?”

Her eyes softened. “You remembered.”

“Told you, I remember everything,” he said, quieter than before.

She didn’t respond to that, nodded. Raising the armrest between them, he patted his thigh. Thankfully, the private jet’s seats were wide enough she could easily maneuver until her head rested in his lap. He gently uncapped the oil and rubbed a drop between his fingers, then pressed it lightly to her temples, slow and careful.

As he massaged the oil into her temples, she moaned and the sound shot straight to his cock. “That feels like heaven.” He barely heard her words as he struggled to keep all the blood from rushing south. He’d been fifteen when she left. Just learning to traverse the minefield of puberty’s confusing sensations, so he’d never experienced such a reaction to her before. But now, as afull-blooded adult male with a beautiful woman moaning on his lap, he couldn’t help his reaction. If he couldn’t keep this sudden desire under control, the next three weeks were going to be hell.

Shaking off the lust, he watched as her shoulders relax by degrees. “Close your eyes. I’ve got you.”

She obeyed, and for a while, the silence between them wasn’t heavy. It was comfortable. Protective. Like when they were kids, hiding in his backyard treehouse during storms, reading books by flashlight while thunder rolled overhead.

“I remember the first time you did this for me,” she said quietly.

“Drove me nuts to see you in pain.”

“It did?”

He smiled at the tone of disbelief in her voice. She never did think she was worthy of anyone’s care and attention. “Yeah. After I saw you suffering through that first migraine when you were nine, I wanted to learn everything I could about them . . . so I could help you.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“How did you think I got the tip about the peppermint oil?”

“I don’t know. I just figured it was something most people knew. I didn’t really think about it.”

He tweaked her nose. “Silly. My mom thought I was nuts, but I asked her to make a doctor’s appointment for me so I could ask him about them. He’s the one who told me about peppermint oil. Made my mom help me get a bottle that same day.”

“Oh, my God, Sawyer. Why would you go to so much trouble?”

“Because you were important to me. My best friend. And, like I said, I didn’t like seeing you in pain.”

She was quiet then as she absorbed what he’d just told her. He could practically see the gears turning as her perceptions shifted. He’d never hidden from her how important she was tohim when they were little. He guessed she just hadn’t realized how far he’d go for her.

After a little while, she murmured, “I’ve been thinking about what that man said.”

Sawyer sat back in his seat, eyes never leaving the curve of her face in the dim cabin light. “Me too.”

“He said I wasn’t safe,” she whispered. “And thatsomeonewas using me.”

Sawyer’s jaw clenched.

He’d already replayed the man’s words a dozen times. Haley had filled him in just before takeoff. The man’s name was David Greer. Former senator’s aide, not one of McNabney’s. No active employment now. Diagnosed PTSD, possibly paranoid delusions. Butdamnif his message hadn’t been unnervingly direct.

“I don’t think he was crazy,” Savannah said.

“I don’t either.”

She opened her eyes again, barely. “Then what are we going to do?”

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