CHAPTER 20
Claire
Claire’s jaw dropped. “Jake!”
Ian swore under his breath. “What is he doing here?”
“No idea.”
Ian gave her a skeptical look but said nothing as Jake closed the distance between them and opened his arms.
“Claire!” His hazel eyes glowed with warmth. “So glad you’re home safe.”
Beside her, she thought she heard Ian snort. Claire gripped Jake’s forearms, keeping him away as best she could before he could envelop her in an actual hug. “Jake! What are you doing here?” she asked, echoing Ian’s question.
“I was told you were flying into this airport and needed a ride home.”
“That was nice of you. Who—” Claire cut short her question, realizing who could have told him. “Mom.”
He chuckled. “Yeah. There are two FBOs at this airport. I picked the right one. Guess I got lucky.” He held his hand out to Ian. “Hey, man, we meet again.” Surprise in his eyes, he took in Ian’s uniform and tipped his head. “Captain?”
Ian had donned a navy suit jacket with three gold stripes adorning the sleeves. He looked so handsome, Claire’s breath caught as she looked up at him.
“Not quite.” Ian clasped Jake’s hand with a decidedly fake smile. “First officer.”
“Ah.” Jake winced, making Claire wonder just how firm a handshake Ian had delivered.
“Well, thank you for bringing her home early. Her mom is excited to see her. And so am I.” He raised a brow. “I thought Claire said you were an attorney.”
Ian smirked. “I still am.” He didn’t elaborate, regarding Jake with a steely look.
“Oh, OK, I get it. I have a few friends who own jets. A couple of them even fly their own planes. I thought I would take some lessons myself but never got around to it. Looks like a fun hobby. But you, you’ve gone the whole uniform route, huh?” He chuckled.
“Ian is going to fly for his brother for a while. He owns a charter company.”
“Is that right? A charter? Based in Kissimmee?”
Ian clenched his jaw. “Las Vegas.”
“Las Vegas! Great!” Jake suddenly appeared to be in an even better mood.
The door to the tarmac swung open, and Adam strode in, followed by Angie, who instantly flipped her chestnut hair and beamed at Ian.
Adam’s sharp gaze settled on Jake, then moved to Ian’s face as he assessed the situation.
Apparently, he decided he wanted no part of what he saw because he spoke to Ian in passing.
“We’re all topped off. Wheels up in ten. ”
Ian nodded curtly. Angie flashed her winning smile and gave Claire a little wave as she hustled to the ladies’ room, hips shifting, her high heels clicking on the tile.
Jake’s appreciative gaze lingered on her retreating butt for a beat before turning back to Claire. “Where’s your luggage?”
Claire turned questioning eyes to Ian. He motioned toward the glass entry doors, behind which her suitcase rested on a luggage cart.
Jake grinned. “Great, already at the curb, that’s convenient.” A touch of impatience tinged his voice. She felt his hand at the small of her back, giving her a subtle push. “Ready to go?”
No. I haven’t talked to Ian yet.
A feeling of unease spread in her chest. She swallowed.
Beside her, Ian took a small step back. “Well … I guess this is goodbye.” His voice was lower than normal as if he spoke through a tight throat. He smiled, but it didn’t reach his blue eyes, usually so expressive, now completely unreadable. “Take care, Claire.”
Claire, not Penny.
He started to turn away.
Claire grabbed his jacket sleeve. “Wait.”
Ian paused, his brow furrowing as his gaze dipped to her hand. “Claire, I’m—”
“Please?”
He hesitated but then nodded stiffly.
Claire turned to Jake. “Give us a moment?”
Jake’s mouth twisted. “You heard the other pilot, Claire. They’re in a hurry. And I’m kind of in a time crunch.”
She hadn’t even asked him to pick her up; now he was rushing her. Part of her was tempted to tell him to go without her.
She fixed Jake with a stare. “Can you please wait in the car? I won’t be long.”
“All right,” he grumbled. “But hurry up. Take it easy, man,” he said to Ian over his shoulder, already heading out before Ian could reply.
Claire let go of Ian’s sleeve to grip his arm. “You said you wanted to talk to me. What were you going to say?”
“It’s not important.”
“It is to me.” She slipped her hands inside his open jacket, feeling his heart beat hard and fast, quickening beneath her fingertips.
Who knew when she would see him again? She pressed into his hard body, fitting herself against him, breathing in his clean scent, and gently nipped his neck. “I’m going to miss you.”
He tensed. “Don’t do this.”
“Don’t do what?”
“I don’t like long goodbyes.”
She slid her hands behind his neck, pulling him to her. “So make it short, then.”
For a beat, he stood there, arms at his sides, but then he reached for her, pulling her close even as he muttered, “This only makes it worse.”
And then, his mouth slammed over hers. Ian gripped her head, his fingers weaving through her hair as he plundered her mouth with an aggression she’d never felt from him before.
It was a kiss just short of angry, and she kissed him back, her hands gripping his shoulders for support as her entire world tilted.
Then, just as suddenly, he pulled away. His eyes were blue fire, looking deep into hers as if trying to commit their color to memory. From outside, a horn blasted, and Claire looked to see the bright green Urus idling just beyond the doors.
“You’d better go,” Ian said.
“I don’t want to.”
“But I have to.” He still held her firmly against him.
“OK.” She buried her face in the crook of his neck, inhaling deeply. “Safe travels.”
“Gotta go!” came Adam’s deep voice from behind them, urgency in his tone.
Ian sighed. Unclamping her hands from around his neck, he closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, they were distant. “Goodbye, Claire.”
·
Claire glanced nervously at Jake, who gripped the steering wheel with his left hand.
His right hand and his eyes were on his phone screen as he rapidly texted not one but several people.
He’d done that the entire way from the airport to the hospital, pausing the messaging only to answer a couple of calls.
Although he seemed adept at texting and driving, her stomach still twisted with nerves.
She just didn’t feel safe with his attention diverted.
He’d barely exchanged a few words with Claire since he’d tossed her luggage in the rear, and she had seated herself in the Urus.
He hit the brakes too hard, and she lurched forward, bracing herself against the dashboard.
Claire inhaled sharply. He’d narrowly missed rear-ending the Honda in front of them. “Could you please—”
“I’m doing something.”
Claire closed her mouth and clenched her teeth. She wished she’d called an Uber.
By the time they reached the hospital, she felt irritated and frazzled, growing increasingly so as he walked briskly to the elevator, leaving her struggling to keep up with his long strides.
The doors slid open, and they stepped inside. Jake finally turned to look at her. “Sorry about all that. I have a VIP patient arriving for a highly complex case this afternoon, and I needed to coordinate with a couple of other doctors. Logistical nightmare. Anyway, I was going to update you on—”
His phone rang again, and Jake immediately answered. “This is Dr. Lang.”
Was he going to tell her something about her mother?
She had to wait to find out. Claire resigned herself to listening to him speak and tuning out what he was saying as she watched the numbers on the panel ascend.
The elevator doors opened, and Jake seemed to be in a rush again.
But instead of heading toward her mother’s room, he turned the corner and motioned for Claire to follow.
They passed several rooms in the hallway until they reached one at the very end. He pulled up on the handle to open the door and ushered her inside.
She eyed the twin bed, a small nightstand with a single lamp and phone, and the desk in the corner, on which sat an ancient-looking computer. “What’s this?”
“Physician on-call room. Residents use it to try to get some shut-eye when they’re on twenty-four-hour shifts.” He smiled. “‘Try’ being the key word. Not much sleep is to be had in here.”
Her eyes widened. “Why did you bring me here?”
“It’s private. I wanted a word with you alone before you go to see her.”
“OK.” Her voice came out sounding as wary as she felt. “Is something wrong?”
“I have good news and bad news.”
“What’s the good news?”
He lowered himself to sit on the edge of the bed and patted the space beside him. She hesitated but then sat a good distance away.
“They found a near-perfect match,” he said.
“Oh my God!” Her heart flipped. “That’s—”
He held up a hand. “Don’t break out the champagne yet.”
She waited expectantly, her eyes trained on his unsmiling face.
“They will need to do a medical and blood work and a repeat test before they can determine if this is indeed the right donor. That takes a few weeks.”
“Okay.” Her stomach clenched. A few weeks. That long?
“The problem is, they haven’t been able to contact this person.”
Oh no. Her stomach plummeted.
“They called and left voice messages, then sent emails but still haven’t received a response.”
She inhaled deeply. “What happens now?”
“They’re going to send a letter to see if they can connect with them that way. There might be a chance that this person isn’t responding because they’ve changed their mind, so there’s that possibility, as well.”
Claire digested this for a moment. “Does she know?”
Jake nodded. “Dr. Dawson has discussed everything with her, yes.”
And her mother hadn’t said a word. Typical.
“Thank you for letting me know. And thank you for picking me up from the airport. That was nice of you.”
Claire started to rise.
He gripped her wrist. “That wasn’t the only reason I brought you in here.”
“Oh?” She saw the tight set of his jaw, and nervous butterflies shifted in her gut.