Page 76 of Holiday Hostage
Wait. Sunlight. Intense and bold.
It tracked across the room, illuminating the bed and the tall dresser on the other side.
I squinted and crept toward the window, my breath locked in my lungs.
Snow covered the ground and piled up in drifts taller than me.
But the wind no longer screamed her fury, and the snow no longer fell in sheets that obscured my vision.
Disappointment pitched my stomach to my toes, where it decided to stay.
The storm was over.
My time being snowed in the Mav, Reed, and Tarron had come to an end.
I shrugged into a sweatshirt, pushing the too-long sleeves up my forearms and dragging my hair from the collar, as I made my way downstairs.
Mav’s voice trickled up to me before I made it halfway.
“Yes, sir.” He paced to the window, the satellite phone pressed to his ear.
The window gave me a view of his expression. Drawn brows. Tight mouth.
He rested his elbow on the glass and leaned forward, the other hand settling on his waist.
He pinched his belt with his fingertips, and a light tremble shook his fingers. “Yes, sir. We can manage that.”
The tense posture and expression drove me the rest of the way down the stairs.
Dad better not be giving Mav a hard time because we missed our initial extraction date. It wasn’t his fault.
We couldn’t control the weather.
“Yes, sir.” Mav sounded tired, and when he dragged a hand down the side of his face, I fell in love with him a second time. “
She’ll be there, sir. Come hell or high water, she willnotmiss this extraction.” His head lifted, and he caught me watching him in the window.
My heart stuttered at the determination in his gray eyes. Our gazes clashed when he turned to face me.
I palmed the ache in my heart, hoping to push it away before it ruined the days we still had together.
I hadn’t asked how long it would take us to reach Anchorage.
I hadn’t wanted to know.
But now that we were so close to saying goodbye, I lost the ability to breathe.
My ears rang, the brutal sound cutting off Mav’s words.
He nodded, the movement crisp and certain.
When he pocketed the phone without offering it to me, I nearly melted onto the bottom stair. “He didn’t want to talk to me?”
Maverick hurried over and sat beside me.
Concern darkened his eyes, and he brushed his knuckles over my cheek.
The tenderness nearly undid me, but somehow, I managed to hold it together and keep the tears at bay.
