Page 5 of The Comeback Road
“What time will you be home? You can show me all the outfits you want, and I won’t complain once,I promise.”
“Wow, you must really be happy for me,” I joked, but Magnolia reached over and grabbed my hand with hers andgave it a squeeze. “I really am,” she said. I couldn’t help but get choked up at her words.
“Thanks, babes.” I gave her hand a squeeze back.
The rest of lunch passed by with relatively easy conversation, and a little update on how the build was going. Magnolia finally decided on calling itTheBar-k-eryand they were currently arguing over the spelling. I wish she would have let me help her with funding, but it only seemed to set her off. If Magnolia knew how much money I had,maybeshe wouldn’t be so hesitant to accept it. But I knew that would lead to questions I really couldn’t answer.
Once I had devoured my pancakes and we had finished a pros and cons list over the spelling, it was time for me to head back to the office. Once I pulled in, I realized I still had a few minutes left of my break and decided to call Luke back.
After thirty seconds of ringing with no answer, I hung up, once again ignoring the nagging feeling that something wasn’t quite right.
Chapter Four
Lexie
I made my way into the office, trying my best to tamp down the anxiety that was gnawing in my gut. Briefly lost in my thoughts about not answering and what it could possibly be about, I didn’t realize that Jace was sitting at my desk, waiting for me. A smile involuntarily crossed my face when I took him in, leaning back with his arms above his head and eyes closed. He looked very at peace.
Almost as if Jace sensed my presence, he slowly opened his eyes, his gaze taking me in from head to toe. I couldn’t help but feel my entire body heating. I almost choked on my tongue at the look he was giving me when his eyes met mine. I couldn’t help myself when I started to close the distance between us, and he matched my strides, meeting me halfway.
“You’re late.”
“Lunch ends at one.” My breathy voice sounded foreign to my ears.
“It’s 1:02.” Jace’s intense gaze had me one hundred percent focused on him. I’d thought he had been joking about me being late, but I suddenly realized I was wrong. I raised my eyebrow at him in question.
“Don’t do that. I was worried.”
I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped, even though I knew he was deadly serious. “It was two minutes, Jace.”
He’d beenextremelyoverprotectiveafter what had happened with Magnolia, and I had a feeling it was only going to become more intense now that we were doingwhatever this was.
“You didn’t answer my phone call or my text,” he ground out.
“I turned it to vibrate over lunch.”
“Don’t do that. I need to be able to get a hold of you. I need to know you’re safe.” The fierce expression on his face made my knees weak. Instead of arguing, I found myself nodding in agreement.
“Good.” He reached for me. I leaned in, but before his hands could reach my hips, a voice rang out from somewhere within hearing distance. I was so caught up in Jace, I didn’t even try to decipher who or what it was they were saying.
“Hey, you two! Make eyes at each other some other time. We have that meetingyourequested, Lexie.”
It’s Dexter. That is Dexter’s voice.
Pulling myself out of the bubble I constantly found myself in with Jace, I focused on my brain making sense of what Dexter was saying.
“What meeting?”
He shrugged his shoulders in exasperation. “I have no idea. You brought it up a week ago? Said you had something you wanted to talk to us about, and madesurewe made time and put it on the schedule.” His expression was one of almost exasperation.
Oh, yeah!
His words brought me out of my Jace-induced haze, and I smiled and clapped my hands together. “Let’s go to the meeting room. Grab your laptops, please, and meet me there in five minutes.”
Dexter gave Jace awhat gives?look, and Jace looked just as confused as him. But in no way was I going to ruin the surprise by giving anything away.
They knew I had worked in some sort of technical field, but hadn’t asked many questions, and for that, I was thankful. Magnolia had mentioned I worked for myself. It wasn’t a lie,per se. I did work for myself. However, I also did contracts for the government—more specifically, the FBI—when the need called for it. For a few years, there were alotof contracts until I told them no more. But it wasn’t like I couldn’t tell people about my job.
While I could tell them that I worked for the FBI—it wasn’t against the rules—I couldn’t go into specifics. I’d seen the way the lies and evasiveness had ruined all the relationships my coworkers had. So, I kept it to myself. Plus, I figured it kept those I loved the most as safe as possible. I figured the less anyone knew, the better. It was hard enough keeping it to myself when it was just Magnolia and me before we got there. But it would be nearly impossible to disappear for weeks at a time without notice. Magnolia was always busy with school or work and never pried much about myworktrips. While I was a damn good hacker, I also had a way with coding to build whatever software was needed.Hence, my meeting.
