The seat-belt sign went off, and Dylan used that as an excuse to get up and walk around. He needed a few minutes away from Jamie, not only to come to terms with these damn odd feelings of protectiveness but also to deal with the news that she was moving to Europe. It’d been easy enough to stay away from her the last month. He’d been away, working, and Jamie had been recovering. What was he going to do now that they would be living in the same city? How was he going to stay away from her when he hadn’t gone a day without thinking about her since they’d met?
Hell!
Jamie took one last sip of her now tepid tea and grimaced. Aunt Mavis had been a hot-tea drinker, and it irritated her that she’d instinctively requested what her aunt would have expected her to order. Though she’d had only five years of living with the woman, her aunt had worked hard to fit a lifetime of strict lessons into that time. Aunt Mavis had been gone for several years—she had died peacefully in her sleep. Jamie couldn’t help but wonder if she’d just decided to die that day and had then done it. The woman had had that much iron-willed discipline.
“You want to get up and stretch your legs?”
Swallowing a gasp, she jerked her head to gaze at the man standing beside her. He moved so quietly, she hadn’t heard him. “Quiet” was a good description for Dylan Savage. He didn’t talk a lot, and when he moved, he barely made a sound.
She smiled her thanks. “No, I’m fine.”
As he eased into the chair beside her, she noticed a slight wince, as if he were in pain. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, just a couple of bruises.”
“From a job?”
He nodded.
“Did I ever thank you?”
For the first time ever, Jamie saw a small smile at his lips. “Yeah, about twenty times that first day.”
“I wanted to send you something, but McKenna said that wasn’t necessary.”
He looked over at her, a slight softening in his eyes. “I don’t think anyone’s ever done that before. What were you going to send?”
“For saving my life?” She laughed, pleased that she actually found some kind of humor in referring to those dark days before her rescue. “I was torn between a fruit basket and a bottle of Scotch. McKenna said Scotch was your favorite drink.”
“You didn’t need to send anything. It’s my job.”
She ignored the sting of his comment. Of course that’s what she was to him: a job. How silly to think he’d be attracted to someone he’d rescued. “Are you married?” Oh God, had she just asked that question?
“No.”
Feeling like she’d opened a giant hole and was teetering on the edge, she added, “Me neither.”
“Yeah, I know.”
Jamie fought hard to control the blush that spread over her entire body, knowing it was useless. When she said stupid or inappropriate things, her fair skin glowed like a beacon. And this had to be one of her stupidest comments to date. Of course he knew she wasn’t married; they’d just talked about her ex-husband. Besides, there was little the man didn’t know about her life—at least, he’d heard about the awful parts. Whereas she knew next to nothing about his.
She looked up as Dylan stood again and pulled something from the overhead compartment. He handed her a small pillow and then, sitting back down with a pillow of his own, reclined his seat, put the pillow behind his head, and closed his eyes.
And just like that, all conversation stopped. Not that it was his responsibility to entertain her. Still, she couldn’t deny the sting. His response to her single status wasn’t exactly encouraging, even if it had been an inane statement.
Jamie looked out at the bright blue sky. Okay, so what if he had no interest in her. She had more on her mind than starting a relationship that could go nowhere. The news she’d received this morning before leaving—news she hadn’t shared with McKenna—was going to occupy all of her thoughts. Because if things progressed as they looked like they might, she was going to have to figure out how to not only hunt down and capture a fiend but also find a way to stay alive.
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