12. Lee
12
LEE
S prawling in the soft leather recliner in the main cabin, I skimmed the Army’s letter on my phone again. I needed to decide if I was going to the ceremony or not. No question my teammates deserved the award, but what was my role there when I’d let them down? I should’ve spotted the bombers before we reached my building. It didn’t matter that chaos had reigned below. My unit had needed me to keep the enemy off their backs, and I’d failed to do that. Thanks to me, four of my fellow Rangers left with bullet souvenirs.
The bedroom door swung open, and I thumbed off my phone. Andrew, lounging beside me, jolted straight in his seat, swiping a hand through his wavy brown hair. I could see it all over him—the man had a crush. Viktoria didn’t seem to notice him at all, but I still had to swallow down the urge to pound on Andrew until the man recognized Viktoria was mine . That or laugh in his face, because Viktoria had chosen me , and I’d?—
Oh, crap . This wasn’t just caveman posturing, the need to mark my territory. My heart was getting more and more entangled by the second.
Mike rose from his recliner across from us and I got to my feet as well. I’d left Viktoria forty-five minutes ago and had spent every minute wishing I’d been able to stay.
Viktoria had fixed her hair, reapplied her makeup, and put on one of those designer dresses that made her look gorgeous, aloof, and unattainable. It made me want to mess with her just to ignite the fire and laughter that hid beneath.
“My friend Katrin is going to meet us at the airport,” Viktoria announced, stopping a few feet from me. Her wildflower perfume wafted my way.
I narrowed my eyes. “What do you mean, your friend is meeting us?”
“She left me a message while I was…preoccupied.” Viktoria’s eyes sparkled, and I knew exactly what she’d been doing—or, more accurately, who she’d been doing—when the call had come in. But I couldn’t dwell on that now.
“She’s meeting us,” I repeated, inching closer. “And how did she know where we’d be?” I couldn’t tower over her, thanks to her heels, but I could invade her space, and I did. “No one is supposed to know where we’re landing. That’s the whole point of changing the itinerary.”
“The—” Viktoria looked confused. “Obviously, Aleta knows. And my father, and?—”
“What?” I loomed even closer. Viktoria scowled.
“Back off.” She pushed me away, nails digging into my chest.
“No.” I purposefully stepped forward. “Who is this Katrin and how does she know where we’re landing? I’ve told you repeatedly , your safety comes first. Always . And that means keeping certain information under wraps.”
I held her gaze and told her the same thing with my eyes, doing my best to keep from showing her I meant it on a personal level now too. I didn’t want to think about the message our body language was sending to Mike and Andrew. They were too well trained not to notice the tension in my shoulders, her wide-blown pupils.
Viktoria remained silent for one heartbeat. Two. “I’ve known Katrin since I was eight years old,” she bit out, then let out a long breath as she tried to relax. “Her father is one of our company’s main suppliers of wool, and he and my father have been close friends since before I was born. She and I grew up together.”
“And how does that equal Katrin meeting us at an undisclosed airport?”
She paused as if considering whether to answer or not. “She reached out to Aleta. Aleta told her where to meet us.”
“Without asking you?” I frowned.
“She didn’t need to ask. Katrin is family .”
I clenched my jaw, holding tight to my temper. “And did Aleta update Katrin on the danger you’re in? On how important it is your location remain secret?”
Viktoria stiffened, and a muscle in her jaw ticked. “I don’t know. I didn’t ask her for those kinds of details. But I’d assume she did. And even if she didn’t, Katrin gets it. She grew up like I did. She knows the score.” She jabbed her finger just inches from my face. “Aleta’s not stupid, and neither is Katrin. I know them. I trust them. Or do you not trust my judgment?”
“I trust you,” I said, but a red flag wouldn’t stop waving in my head. “But bear with me a second. You’ve known Katrin a long time, but how close are you now? When was the last time you saw her?”
Viktoria made a low sound, almost a growl. “She’s like a sister,” she snarled, leaning so close her breath tickled my lips. “She has no earthly reason to want to hurt me, so whatever you’re going to say, I’m telling you, don’t.” She held up her phone. “I’ve already texted back. She’s on her way.”
“You did what?” I drew myself up to my full height. “You confirmed your location with a person I know nothing about, without talking to me first?”
“Yes,” she answered bluntly. “She knows exactly who I am and what my life is like. She wouldn’t do anything to put me at risk.”
I stared, dumbstruck. Viktoria had showed me the real her. The woman behind her cold fa?ade. She’d let the mask drop, and a lot more besides, and now she had the gall to act like it never happened? “You think I don’t know you?” I asked, my tone on the razor edge between ice and burning anger.
Emotion flashed in her eyes, there and gone before I could name it, but she didn’t back down or move away. Instead, she placed her hand on my shoulder and moved her lips to my ear. “Just because we had sex,” she whispered, low enough that Mike and Andrew wouldn’t be able to hear, “doesn’t mean you know me. It doesn’t put us on equal footing.”
If she’d physically punched me, it couldn’t have hurt more than those callous words.
“I never said it did,” I replied, moving away from her touch. I hadn’t been referring to the sex, though I’d thought it drew us closer. But the physical intimacy had just built on the emotional intimacy we’d established—or at least, that I thought we’d established—through sharing our vulnerabilities. Through leaning on each other, trusting each other in a crisis.
It seemed I’d been mistaken about all of that. I’d been mistaken about a lot of things.
Her hand lingered in the air, then she dropped it to her side. Her mask was back up, her expression closed off.
“ I’m in charge of your safety,” I said. “I don’t blame you for giving Aleta your location—that wasn’t your fault. But you should’ve told me when Katrin reached out. Any breach in security, however benign?—”
“Katrin is not a breach. And she’s not a threat.” The mask fell away and anger blazed through, darkening her eyes to a deep water hue. “I don’t need your permission to see my friend. You’re my security, not my chaperone.”
Guess that puts me in my place .
I composed myself quickly and turned to Andrew and Mike. “Ms. Jonsdottir may not see a threat, but as her lowly security team, we’re going to stay on high alert anyway.” I faced Viktoria again. “We’ll do our jobs as contracted by your father, ma’am.”
She stilled for a moment, then turned away. “When do we land?”
“We begin our descent in ten minutes,” Mike said.
Her blue eyes traced over my face one more time, then she pivoted and marched to the bedroom, leaving the door open.
How had I gotten everything so wrong? I dropped back into my seat and turned toward the front of the plane, a numb spot in my chest where my heart had once been. I’d thought we’d connected, but apparently not. Apparently, I was the help, at the end of the day—good enough to play with, but no more than that.