Maylin nodded. “Got it.”
“You don’t seem surprised.” Gabe guided her beyond reception and down a hallway past a standard grey cube farm.
She clipped the badge to her shirt. “I’ve done catering for corporate luncheons. Badges are pretty standard. Some of them have an expiration date and some of them have this sort of visual thing to show the badge isn’t good anymore. Had these kinds of badges before but wasn’t expecting this level of formality in an organization like yours.”
“We do business with all levels of corporations and government.” Gabe led her to a small conference room at the back corner. The entire wall was glass, so anyone could easily see in, but it had a white noise generator and the exterior window was thermo-glass. Normal in appearance, but a secure place to put her for the time being. “Can you wait here? I’m going to report in and probably bring someone to come talk to you. Caleb will probably stop by in a minute to see if you need water or anything. Restroom is right next door.”
“Okay.” Maylin took a seat. She didn’t appear completely serene, but she wasn’t freaked out either.
Not bad considering he’d only told her they were coming to corporate to regroup and consider next steps. Not nearly as much information as she deserved, but he didn’t want to promise anything until he’d confirmed he had the go-ahead. She was putting a lot of trust in him so he hadn’t wanted to give her empty promises. He turned to leave and paused.
Ah, hell.
She looked up, eyes wide in surprise when he returned to her. He brushed a stray hair from her cheek. “You’re safe here. I want to be sure you know.”
She swallowed, her shoulders relaxing a fraction. “Okay.”
Her run-in with Jewel had hit Maylin harder than she let on. For all that her expressions gave away her surface emotions: confusion, surprise, anger—he really shouldn’t enjoy anger as much as he did—she was incredibly good at hiding her worries and insecurities.
He was going to need to see to it that he took those into consideration. Might have been easier for the other people in her life to just assume she could handle all the things, but he refused to leave her struggling. Recent intimacies notwithstanding, he found himself wanting to see her smile real smiles more often.
It was good for her to be wary of Jewel—there was no doubt which of them would come out on top in a fight. Jewel had the training and experience behind her to best most women and many men in hand to hand. But he needed to do something to reassure Maylin about what was between them, that he and Jewel were done. That might take a while. For the time being, he could address Maylin’s anxieties about what players were in the mix when it came to the kidnapping.
“And we’re going to get help for your sister. Edict complicates things, but it’s not a showstopper.”
“You haven’t told me much about Edict yet except that they’re another merc-...contract group.” Despite her assertion, her words came out in a whisper instead of a challenge. And he couldn’t blame her for thinking of mercenaries when it came to them.
It was a label. Most people had the worst meaning in mind when they thought of mercenaries. But he was what he was and he still made his choices based on what he decided was the right thing. Labels didn’t bother him much.
“There’s not a lot to tell you yet besides that. We’ll get facts here and as soon as I have them, I’ll share them with you. Trust me a little while longer.”
“Only if you promise to make the next long elevator ride more fun.”
She might have meant it as a joke, but desire roared through him, taking him by surprise. The visual of her with her head thrown back as he took her up against the wall of the elevator took over his entire mind for a full minute.
Down, boy.
“Careful what you wish for.” Wrestling as he was with the idea of the multitude of elevators he could take her to, he couldn’t be blamed for how gruff his voice had become. Right?
Desire sparked in her eyes. “Let’s table that for another time.”
Of course she had to mention tables. This conference room was looking tempting too, glass and all.
He watched her, wondering how he could be struck by how beautiful she was multiple times a day. Not as if he ever found her unattractive, but he just never got used to it. She took his breath away. And as he saw her own breath catch under the weight of his gaze, he had a hell of a time wrenching his mental processes back to the mission at hand.
“I’ll be back soon.”
*
“You look wound up tighter than a violin string.” The man behind the desk stood immediately and came around to pull Gabe into a quick hug, pounding him once on the back. “You need to go get laid or something.”