Chapter 10
James Hyatt
Ha! Fucking perfect. I stepped out of the elevator as Beckett walked by, presumably on his way to the cafeteria.
“You still limping, Beckett?”
“Fuck you!” he called over his shoulder.
I laughed and veered right instead, aiming for the lobby.
Kiera should be here any moment, and I kinda wanted to curse her out. I’d slept like shit last night, and it was her fault.
Was that the deal now? I needed her close by so I could sleep soundly?
That was fucked up.
All of a sudden, my condo across the street felt empty and lifeless.
I’d come home to not even an echo. No sound whatsoever.
No one greeting me. No one smiling at me.
Which… If that had happened two weeks ago, I would’ve had my gun out because someone was breaking in.
But now, something was missing. Everything I’d been content with before I’d left was now lacking.
I nodded once to Gina in the lobby, then positioned myself closer to the revolving door.
I’d fucking hate to have her job. Just sitting here all day in this giant void of a lobby.
Two stories tall, glass windows all around, nothing to look at…
It had to be big. We gathered classes of recruits and government personnel here before seminars and whatnot.
But other than that, it was a huge waste of space. Virginia’s biggest fish tank, possibly.
I checked my watch.
Had I ever missed anyone before?
My head snapped up when the doors started spinning, but it wasn’t Kiera. It was a damn Tenley. One of the twin brothers. River, maybe? Both had sworn up and down they’d never return once they’d retired several years ago, and look how that was going.
Yeah, it was River. Reese was more the kind who smiled and bumped fists. River offered short nods.
We’d been recruits together once upon a time.
“If it ain’t one of the many operators who retire and then come crawling back.”
He scowled. Definitely River. “Fuck you, Hyatt.”
I grinned. “That’s the second time I’ve heard that in two minutes.”
“Well deserved, I bet,” he muttered. “What’re you doing out here?”
“Waiting,” I replied. “You here to see Shay?” His partner. Hillcroft’s own martial arts instructor.
“No, I’m here because Darius won’t sit his ass on a plane and fly out,” he answered. “He asked me to go to a briefing because Shira won’t allow him to attend via link.”
Made sense, though. “Security level’s still elevated,” I said. “I presume it’ll stay that way until y’all take out the Iraqi threat.”
He nodded with a dip of his chin. “You seen Beckett anywhere?”
I jerked a thumb over my shoulder just as I spotted Kiera climbing out of an Uber outside. I gave her twenty seconds to cross the plaza. “Cafeteria.”
“All right, thanks. You…look like a dog who just spotted their owner holding a treat.” Asshole Tenley followed my gaze, then lifted his brows at me. “Is James Hyatt datin’?”
I shot him a quick glare. “Are you still here? You know I like you better when you’re quiet.”
He nodded. “I always appreciated that about you. You were the one person—and Darius, I guess—who never bitched about how little I talked.”
“And now you’re what, makin’ up for lost time?”
He smiled. “When Reese isn’t here to fill the silence, I have to do my own diggin’.”
I snorted. “Enjoy your briefing, Tenley.”
“I hope they have donuts.” He walked off.
Donuts? Un-fucking-likely for Shira’s briefings. More like…protein bars and some weird-ass water with chunks of shit in it. Aloe vera or whatever it was. Something that didn’t fucking belong in water.
I traced every step Kiera took, and fucking hell, she was gorgeous. She had her dark hair up in a messy do, a bit of makeup that she didn’t need, tight jeans, and an oversized button-down with a belt.
It made me wanna see her in one of my own button-downs. And nothing else.
I owned precisely two of those shirts, and one was reserved for funerals.
I had a few more flannels, but the rest were tees, hoodies, and Henleys.
Standard wear for walking around at Hillcroft—oh, and utility pants with multiple pockets.
God forbid I came to work in jeans. Someone would bitch at me.
Consultants and freelancers could wear jeans. Operators had a damn dress code for when we were at HQ.
Yeah, it was an issue I had raised with the bosses a few times.
At long last, Kiera came through the doors, and her smile widened.
“Hi, pilot.”
Christ, the way she made me feel.
“Hey, hellcat.” I smiled back and pointed to my feet, silently telling her to get here already. I’d missed her. I’d been robbed of a proper goodbye at the airport yesterday, and I hadn’t been happy. “I have a bone to pick with you.”
“Oh yeah?” She came over, and she was officially within reach.
I tugged her flush to my body and rested a hand along her lower back. “I slept like shit last night. It’s your fault.”
Her grin turned flirty, but I didn’t miss the relief that flitted across her beautiful face. “How’s it my fault?”
I leaned down, maybe an inch from her pouty lips. “You weren’t there.”
She exhaled a laugh and slipped her hands up my chest. “How awful of me.”
“Mm.” I pressed a kiss to the corner of her mouth.
“I guess I don’t have to ask if you want us to be discreet around your coworkers…”
No, fuck that. Unless she… No. No, she didn’t want that either. I looked her in the eye and saw all the heat and affection I wanted to see. It mirrored what I felt, which was still bizarre. And new. It was new. So damn new.
“There’s plenty of things I hide,” I murmured. “I don’t want you to be one of them.”
“Oof… Operator Hyatt, that’s how you score with a girl.”
I chuckled and closed the last distance, kissing her briefly. “Can I take you out to lunch?”
She sighed and ran her fingers through the hair along the back of my neck. “That sounds lovely. I need to let Dad cool down for a few hours anyway.”
I inched back, wondering what she meant by that.
Her mouth twisted into a smirk. “I told him that I’m gonna look for a job in this area.”
Fucking really?
“He’s not seriously angry,” she was quick to add. “But he doesn’t wanna be apart from me right now.”
“Understandable.” I tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “How far apart do you live now? He’s north of Baltimore, right?”
“Yeah, roughly an hour north of me. Or you know, my old apartment. Dad put everything in storage.”
Which was another way of saying she might end up living closer to me as well.
“Smack-dab in the middle of a Navy town,” I pointed out. “That ain’t right, being surrounded by squids all day. You deserve better.”
She laughed softly and grabbed my hand, threading our fingers together. “Take me to lunch, pilot.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Happy to. I wanted to know more about her thoughts on working in this area. Because that wouldn’t be a wonderful commute if she stayed in Annapolis. Traffic was gonna suck royally every fucking day.
We walked out into the sun together, hand in hand, and I just didn’t know who the fuck I was anymore. Or who I was becoming. Because this was the opposite of what I was used to, and yet, it felt damn good. Not to mention, as easy as breathing.
“What’s good around here?” she asked.
I blew out a breath and glanced around. “Not a whole lot, except for a Cajun fusion place the next block over.” I pointed behind the Hillcroft building. “Gumbo and jambalaya rice bowls meet different kinds of spicy sausage from all over the world.”
“Oh, wow. That sounds like a place I wanna visit.”
It was settled, then.
I kept her close as we walked, and I didn’t let go of her hand. I needed to revel in the feeling a bit. Analyze it, maybe. Hand-holding—what a thing, when it was with a certain person. The right person? Time would tell, but…
I cleared my throat. “So, how’s the reunion going?”
She smiled to herself. “It’s kinda weird. One part of me is like…I wanna get on with my life and pretend the past six months didn’t happen.” She bumped her hip to my—well, lower than my hip. “Except for the last week, of course.”
I grinned.
She wasn’t done. “Dad isn’t what one would call a talker either, so it’s been easy to act like we’re just…
I don’t know, out of town and sharing a hotel room.
After he demanded I map out the entire stay in Afghanistan—timeline and all, everything about Noura and how I stayed safe—he tried to process things.
He agreed that I should talk to a professional.
He’s very frustrated with how things went at home—that the authorities refused to do anything, because, let’s face it, there’s nobody in Afghanistan to work things out with.
” She paused. “He did mention that he’d started looking up private agencies before I managed to call him from that bazaar.
He called the agents in charge every day.
He was even ready to fly out himself. But…
” She shrugged. “It’s easier said than done to even enter the country. ”
True enough.
“I’m sorry—I’m rambling.”
“It’s fine.” I squeezed her hand. “I wanna know everything.”
She raked her teeth across her bottom lip.
“Either way, once I got all that out, he… He doesn’t really know what to say, you know?
Like, my dad’s always been great at showing he’s there for me.
Unless he’s been on deployment, he’s found a way to attend plays and recitals and spelling bees.
But he struggles with the talking part.”
The latter was relatable.
“In other words, he’ll make sure I get the help I need,” she went on. “But now that he has the details, he won’t talk about this much. He’ll check in, of course. I’ll notice it by how often he wants to see me and so on. I’ll find him keeping an eye on me more.”
“He’ll want you close,” I deduced.
“Yes. So, uh…he wasn’t happy to hear I was thinking about finding a job here,” she said sheepishly. “He went all, ‘Young lady, I just got you back—now you’re puttin’ another hour between us?’”
I chuckled.
“But the way I see it, strike while the iron’s hot,” she explained.
“He has no real attachments to the town he’s in now.
After Mom died, he felt he couldn’t stay in Texas anymore because everything reminded him of her.
So, with his ground job, he was approved for a transfer to Andrews.
” That was certainly closer to DC. “That’s where I graduated from high school.
I went to nursing school in Baltimore. This area became home to me. I have friends all over.”
“And a new manfriend.” I threw that out there.
She laughed and hugged my arm. “And a new manfriend,” she echoed.
“But you know, my dad has friends here too. I could easily see him buying a small house outside the city madness. Besides, he’s been complaining about the size of his garage for as long as he’s owned the place.
He wants a garage that fits two vehicles—the one he drives and the one he tinkers on. ”
I’d heard he had a speedy little Edge 540 too. One of my favorite planes to fly.
“In short, while he’s focused on spending as much time as possible with you, you’re gonna get him to sell his house and move,” I said.
“I mean… I’m gonna plant the seed,” she replied. “I have limits for how sneaky I can get.”
“Reassuring,” I laughed.
I’d come to the Cajun Lounge for lunch countless times since they opened a couple years ago.
The food was good. Everything came in a bowl, and I could just shovel the shit into my mouth.
Perfect for when I was on the go. But the interior had bothered me.
It was too dark, the tables and chairs were mismatched, and why the fuck would I want drapes hanging from the ceiling?
As it turned out…I did, when I was on a date with Kiera.
Those drapes—combined with olive trees in giant pots, because that made sense—turned the busy lunch spot into something much quieter and divided the establishment into smaller sections.
Weeks ago, I would’ve said our table was too small.
Now, it was perfect because it brought us closer.
I could essentially shut out the rest of the world and just focus on her.
“This is amazing.” She scooped up more gumbo on her spoon. “I love the chorizo. It’s got a nice kick to it.”
I nodded and dipped my bread in her bowl. My jambalaya was good too, but it didn’t have as much sauce.
“You can have this too.” She handed me her piece of bread. “I’ve seen you eat.”
I smirked and leaned in to kiss her cheek.
While I could never be accused of being a foodie, my portions were fairly big. A guy had to eat.
“I can think of only one thing that would make this lunch date better,” she went on. “If we had a puzzle to work on.”
Fuck me.
I stared at her.
That was the way to this man’s heart. I mean, she’d helped me with my puzzles in Afghanistan, but I hadn’t been sure if she’d just been bored. Even though she’d told me she liked puzzles and sudokus.
“That’s plain dirty talk, baby. Keep it up,” I told her.
She laughed and wiped her mouth with a napkin. “Anyway. How’s your day going?”
That topic was less dirty. And much less fun. “Nothing much to report. I spent the morning in a debrief, and I talked to Doc. He’s happy to speak to you.”
Kiera tilted her head, curious. “Is that a thing? Does he talk with people you’ve rescued a lot?”
I shook my head. “It happens, but it’s more of a transition thing.
If we’ve brought back someone who’s been held hostage, he takes over while arranging for a long-term recovery program.
” I shifted in my seat, and I didn’t fucking know why the next words just tumbled out of me.
“He was surprised I asked, though. He said, in his doctor voice, ‘This is unlike you, Hyatt. She must be special.’”
She smiled and let out a sigh. “James…it’s way too soon for me to have you firmly lodged under my skin.”
I grinned around a mouthful of food.
That boded well for me.
On that note… “Speaking of too soon,” I said, reaching for my water.
I finished chewing and swallowed. “I’ll give you a key to my place.
If you’re gonna be job hunting in the area—and hopefully move closer eventually—you don’t wanna drive all the way back to your dad’s house.
And, uh, I wouldn’t mind having you in my bed. ”
Frequently.
A faint blush bled across her cheeks, even as the look in her eyes turned wicked. It was one of the most intoxicating things about her, how she could be equal parts demure and salacious in one go.
“That’s incredibly generous of you. You said you live nearby, right?”
I inclined my head.
“And how long is your lunch?” she pressed.
Oh fuck. Uh. I checked my watch. I had a meeting with Quinlan in forty-five minutes.
“I gotta be back by one-fifteen,” I said.
She smirked and waited expectantly.
Fuck yeah, this was happening. “Finish your food,” I ordered.