Chapter 5
Savvie slept three of the four-hour flight to Montana, waking when the wheels touched down at the West Yellowstone regional airport.
The sun had just eased up over the horizon like molten lava. A bright orange ball of flame brightening the sky with each passing minute.
When the plane stopped, Hunter left his seat to open the hatch and lower the steps.
He stepped aside, allowing Stone to descend first and then help Kyla to the ground.
“I could do this much easier if I could actually see my feet,” Kyla grumbled.
“I know you like your independence,” Stone said, “but let me help. It makes me feel like I’m a part of this pregnancy, even though you’re doing all the work.”
“Fine. I’ll let you help as long as you promise to get me some food.” Kyla stretched her arms in the air and then rubbed her hands over her belly. “I’m so hungry I could eat half a side of beef.”
“If you’re not too tired, we can stop at the diner on the way through town,” Stone suggested.
Kyla glanced at Savvie as she climbed down from the plane. “Hungry?”
Savvie’s stomach rumbled, and she laughed. “I guess that answers your question. I haven’t eaten since I had a cup of yogurt yesterday morning.”
Kyla nodded. “I couldn’t eat much the days I worked missions. I didn’t want my body working on digestion when I needed all my focus on the task ahead.”
Savvie felt the same. Being focused and aware of her surroundings at all times had kept her alive.
When she lost focus, she got sloppy. Like almost letting Marcus Caldwell choke her to death.
The only good thing about what had happened was that Marcus’s death, which should have been a targeted assassination, aka murder, ended up being self-defense.
Stone hooked his hand around Kyla’s elbow. “I could use a strong cup of coffee.”
He led her toward a building on the east side of the runway. As they passed through it, Stone waved at the young woman behind the counter. “Good morning, Lily.”
“Welcome back, Mr. Jacobs, Ms. Russell.” The woman smiled and waved.
“Thanks.” Kyla smiled. “It’s good to be back, even though we weren’t gone long.”
“Not much longer until that baby gets here, is it?” Lily asked.
“Not soon enough.” Kyla lifted her chin. “When are you headed off to college?”
“Not for another month,” the brunette grinned. “Maybe you’ll have that baby while I’m still here.”
“I hope so,” Kyla said. “Did you get all the classes you wanted?”
Lily nodded. “Thanks for helping me go over the schedule and lay out my degree requirements. It all seemed so confusing. Now, I can see a clear path to getting my degree.”
“Glad to help,” Kyla said. “Just promise me you’ll stick with it and see it all the way through.”
Lily held up a hand. “I promise. I wouldn’t have even considered going to college if not for you and Mr. Jacobs. Now, I can’t wait.”
They continued through the building and out the other side to a parking lot.
Stone stopped beside a black SUV and opened the passenger door for Kyla, handing her up into the seat. When she was settled, he stepped up on the running board and secured her seatbelt over her lap and beneath her baby bump, stopping to plant a kiss on her lips.
Savvie couldn’t help but stare at the couple.
Kyla, the most driven female in her training class, who could take down any of her classmates, male or female, seemed to be an entirely different person now.
And there was no denying that she was completely in love with Stone, and he with her.
Savvie wondered what that felt like. She’d never bought into the whole concept of love.
Lust, yes. The internal chemistry that drove the urge to fornicate was built into the DNA of every living creature.
But love?
She’d considered it a fantasy marketed to the masses to sell romance movies, valentines, jewelry and expensive weddings.
Her mother had claimed she’d fallen in love with the handsome Ralph Welch, dragging her teenage daughter into a marriage from absolute hell. The man had promised to love, honor and cherish her mother. He had done all that in the beginning, hiding his true colors.
Her mother had been so happy, thinking Ralph loved her, and they’d live their own happily-ever-after like in the fairytales.
It had all been a lie. Love was supposed to be kind and caring, like in the Hallmark movies. Her mother’s love had been painful to herself and Savvie.
When things hadn’t gone the way Ralph thought they should, he got mad and took his anger out on his wife and stepdaughter. He started out yelling at them. The yelling progressed into slapping. Eventually, he’d used her mother as a punching bag and almost beat her to death.
“Savvie?” A hand touched her arm.
She flinched and turned sharply to defend herself, her pulse racing.
Hunter stood there with his hands raised. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
She stared at him for a long moment, pulling herself back from the past to the present. “I guess I’m still a little punchy.”
He stood beside the SUV and waved a hand toward the open door. “After you.”
As she moved past him, her shoulder brushed against his chest, sending a spark of awareness through her.
There it was. That feeling that made her core heat and her body crave the carnal pleasures that ultimately resulted in procreation.
Lust.
She’d felt it when she’d had her arms wrapped around his middle and her body pressed to his as they’d ridden the waves off Miami Beach, the wild, untamed ocean as primal as those natural urges coursing through her veins.
The man was a fine specimen of the male gender.
Savvie could imagine having sex with him. It would satisfy her body’s needs. Lust and need weren’t love.
Love didn’t exist.
As she settled into the seat behind Kyla, she couldn’t help but notice her former classmate was holding Stone’s hand and smiling into his eyes.
How long would it be before the pair realized love was an elaborate hoax? Kyla was a smart woman. She’d figure it out soon. And then what?
More marriages ended in divorce than seeing it through to the death-do-us-part conclusion.
Savvie’s chest tightened. How sad for their child. Divorce left casualties in its wake, no matter how hard a parent tried to shield her child from the aftermath.
For years, Savvie had blamed herself for her parents’ divorce.
At first, she’d blamed herself for her stepfather’s wrath.
After Ralph nearly killed her mother, she’d blamed Ralph.
She couldn’t have done anything differently to make him nicer to her mother.
She’d learned that some people were bad and not redeemable.
That experience had made her life as an assassin easier. She’d studied her targets. Each one had irredeemable flaws that caused harm and death to others. The only way to keep them from continuing to hurt people was to eliminate them.
Hunter settled in the seat beside her and leaned close. “Are you okay?”
“Of course,” she answered, once again pulling herself back to the present. She hadn’t reminisced this much ever. Why was she doing it now? “I’m just tired.”
“After breakfast, we’ll go to the lodge. Stone’s father will fix you up with a room.”
Savvie sighed. “Thanks. Hopefully, I won’t impose for too long. Now that I’m unemployed, I need to figure out my next career and place to live.”
“Did you have an apartment somewhere?” Hunter asked.
Her lips twisted. “I did back in Virginia. I rented a one-bedroom furnished apartment over a garage. I was rarely there. The old woman who rented the apartment to me didn’t care as long as I kept it clean and didn’t have wild parties.”
Savvie shook her head, a little sad that she wouldn’t be back to check in on Mrs. Smallwood.
Before she’d left, she’d paid her rent through the end of the year and had left a potted gardenia for her landlord.
It was her favorite flower. The woman had shed tears when Savvie had said she wouldn’t be back.
Savvie had to admit, she’d miss the old lady. She’d always been smiling and singing softly to herself as she’d worked in her garden. Whenever she’d baked cookies, she’d brought some over to Savvie.
Mrs. Smallwood had invited her to Thanksgiving dinner, claiming she’d made a feast and would just have to throw it away if Savvie didn’t help her eat it.
She hadn’t had a happy Thanksgiving since she was a little girl—before her parents had begun arguing. Before their divorce. Back when they could tolerate each other’s company and showed some affection toward their only daughter.
“Do you have anything in storage you want to go get or send for?” Hunter asked.
She shook her head. “I donated everything to a woman’s shelter. I only have the clothes on my back and some money stashed away. I left my apartment in Virginia knowing I wouldn’t be back.”
“It’s hard starting over,” Kyla said over her shoulder.
“I came to West Yellowstone the same way. Just the clothes on my back. There’s a great second-hand store with some things that might work for you here in town.
You can order almost anything online. Or you can have one of the guys drive you up to Bozeman.
Better yet, some of the guys’ gals would love any excuse for a shopping trip.
” Kyla half-turned with a smile. “I’ll pass.
Shopping’s not my thing. That and my ankles swell if I’m on my feet for too long a stretch. ”
The thought of a shopping trip with giggling females horrified Savvie. What did she have in common with normal women? Nothing. “I can make do with the consignment store. I’ll need things I can wear to work.”
“Have you thought about what you want to do for a job?” Kyla asked.
Savvie shook her head. “Not really. I have enough savings I could go a year or more before I have to find a full-time job.” She shrugged. “I have no idea what to do or what I want to be when I grow up.”
“Like you said, you have time to decide. You might want to join Lily and go to college for a degree.”
Savvie shook her head. “No thanks. If I go back for something, it will be a trade. Maybe I’ll learn how to weld, or operate a bulldozer or become a plumber.”