by Katie Knight
“Morning, Lisa.”
“How was your weekend?”
Amazing, Hanna wanted to say. And then awful. She was still reeling from Jake’s rejection. She realized she should have seen it coming, but after the night they’d had, she had been hopeful that something between them had changed.
Apparently, Jake was still committed to everything he’d said to her earlier that night, about not getting romantically involved while he was still in active service. And it was going to take a lot more than making love under the stars to get him to commit.
“My weekend was fine,” Hanna said with a shrug. She wasn’t in the mood to talk about Jake and the way he had let her down yet again.
“Just fine? Weren’t you in that charity auction thing?” Lisa asked.
Hanna nodded. “Yeah, but it was a bust. The guy who won the date with me isn’t marriage material. He just wanted a fun night out.”
“Oh, that’s frustrating. I’m sorry, honey.”
“It’s okay. I’m looking for a certain kind of man, and I’m sure once I find him, I’ll realize he was worth the wait.”
“That’s the right attitude to have,” Lisa said. “He’s out there. He just happens to be with all the wrong women right now.”
“Thanks,” Hanna said, though she didn’t feel reassured.
Lisa looked at her watch. “My next client should be here in five,” she said. She looked at Hanna. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Of course. I’ll be fine.” She had told Lisa about the auction on Friday. She had been so hopeful that she’d meet an eligible bachelor that she’d gushed to Lisa about it all afternoon. She shouldn’t have been surprised that her friend was worried about her reacting badly after the night had ended up being a bust.
She made a mental note not to get her hopes up like that in the future—or at least not to tell anyone about it.
Hanna thought work would provide just the distraction she needed, but getting Jake out of her head that morning proved harder than anticipated. As she spooned out some sugar, she found herself wondering what he would think about how she liked her coffee—she always joked that she added coffee to her sugar, instead of the other way around—then reminded herself it didn’t matter because they were never going to spend another night together.
Hanna tried to convince herself that was for the best as she made her way back to her office. What she’d told Lisa was true, after all—Jake wasn’t marriage material—and she needed someone who checked all the boxes on her list.
After completing two therapy sessions, Hanna headed to the deli about a block away to grab a sandwich. As she walked back to the office, she thought about the client she would be meeting for her last appointment of the day.
Gordon was an art dealer who bought and sold incredibly valuable and renowned pieces of work. He also played a role in securing financing for major restoration projects at historical sites around the globe. With so much pressure to preserve precious cultural artifacts, Hanna wasn’t surprised when he first came to her for help. He had a high-stress job to begin with, and because he worked with people all around the world, he was always on the clock. He had seemed excessively nervous during his last few appointments, though. At one point, he had even given Hanna the impression that he was in some kind of physical danger, but it was as if he stopped himself from giving any conclusive information as soon as he realized what he was saying and refused to elaborate. Since she was unaware of the full scope of the situation, Hanna could not give specific advice, so she simply urged him to go to the police if he truly thought his life was in jeopardy. That was during their last session, and she wasn’t sure what to expect from this appointment.
Fortunately, when Gordon showed up, he seemed in much higher spirits than he’d been during their last meeting. Hanna was relieved, especially since she was about to leave for three weeks and wouldn’t be around to help if he actually was in some kind of trouble.
“How are you doing today, Gordon?” Hanna asked after he’d settled in on the plush chair across from her.
“I’m doing much better than last week, thanks,” Gordon said.
“And that issue you mentioned? Do you still feel like you’re in some kind of danger?”
Gordon shook his head, smiling. “No. Everything’s been resolved.”
“Excellent.” Hanna made a note of his mental state in her notebook. Hopefully whatever had been bothering him really had been taken care of. Since he didn’t go into detail last week, though, she didn’t want to press the issue this week.
It didn’t help that she was distracted. In the margin by last week’s notes, she’d written a to-do list regarding the auction (paint nails, apply clay mask, pluck brows). She considered the list as Gordon spoke about some of the major projects he had coming down the pipeline. She had been so hopeful about the stupid auction. Thanks to the palm reader, she’d been all but certain that her husband was going to be in the crowd. And yet here she was, on the Monday after the event, no closer to meeting Mr. Right than she’d been the Friday before.
Hanna sighed.
“I know,” Gordon said. “It’s a massive undertaking. And I’m not sure where to even start regarding the renovations.”
Hanna truly valued her clients and realized she wasn’t being fair to Gordon. She crossed off the to-do list she’d been staring at and tried to give him her full attention for the rest of the session. It was relatively uneventful, but Gordon seemed to feel good about the progress they’d made together, and that was all that mattered to Hanna.
“Thanks for coming in today,” she said as she walked him to the door. “Remember, I’ll be gone for our next three sessions because I’ll be in Tokyo, but I’ll see you four weeks from today.”
“Right.”
“And my colleague Mark will be happy to see you if you need anything between now and then. Do you still have his information? I gave it to you during our last session. His office is in the plaza just down the street. You can also call or email me directly.”
“I haven’t made an appointment with him yet, but maybe I will. Thanks.”
After Gordon left, Hanna ordered a ride to the airport and then wheeled her luggage outside. As she waited for the car, she checked her phone. No calls or texts from Jake. Not that she was expecting to hear from him. Although she wasn’t all that excited to spend so much time in Tokyo, she realized it was probably for the best. Putting some distance between them would surely make it easier to forget all about him.
Chapter Seven
It’d been a few weeks since the charity auction, and Jake was trying to make the most of his time off. He had about two weeks of leave left before heading back to work, and even though a trip hadn’t panned out, he’d been incredibly productive on the home front. He’d be lying if he said Hanna didn’t cross his mind from time to time, but he was able to brush aside such thoughts—for the most part—and go about his normal routine.
When he was running in the park one afternoon, though, he got a call from Tyler.
“Hey, man,” Jake said, answering his phone. “You back stateside?”
“No, I’m still downrange,” Tyler said. “That’s actually why I’m calling.”
“What’s up?”
“I just got off the phone with Hanna.” Jake’s heart jumped. Had she told Tyler what had happened between them? Was he upset about it?
“Oh yeah?” Jake tried to play it cool. “What’d she say?”
“Nothing really,” Tyler said. “I mean, we were just catching up like we usually do whenever I get a chance to call, but this time she sounded different.”
“Different? Different how?”
“It sounded like she’s really stressed out. Like there’s something she’s not telling me. But when I pressed her for more, she just kept reassuring me that everything’s fine.”
Jake was in a tough spot. Was she stressed over their night together? He supposed it was possible—and if that was the case, Tyler would want to know.
But if what had happened between him and Hanna really had been a one-time thing, did Tyler really need to know about it? After all, if she hadn’t already told him, maybe she preferred him not to know. He certainly didn’t tell his sister about all his hookups. And he wouldn’t want to know about hers, either.
Jake sighed. All that aside, the honorable thing to do was tell Tyler what had happened. “I actually saw her at one of Brody and Natalie’s events,” he said. “A few weeks ago.”
“Yeah, she mentioned that. But hey, I can’t talk for long,” Tyler said. “I just wanted to see if you could pick her up at the airport tomorrow. It’s a long flight from Tokyo, and I think it would do her some good to see a familiar face waiting for her at baggage claim.”
“You want me to pick her up at the airport?”
“Yeah, do you mind?”
The idea of seeing Hanna again made Jake’s heart jump. In other words, it probably wasn’t wise. He suspected he wouldn’t be able to keep his hands off her once they were alone together. But hooking up with her a second time would only complicate things more.
He’d tried to ignore the longing that had been welling up inside him ever since their rendezvous after the auction. And he thought he’d been doing a fairly decent job. His reaction upon hearing from Tyler, though—and making plans to see Hanna—proved otherwise. But regardless of his feelings, he would do anything for any one of his fellow SEALs, and that included Tyler.
“Yeah, man,” Jake said. “I can pick her up.”
“Thanks. I’ll email her flight info. I gotta go.”
“Sure thing. Be safe.” Then he added their usual sign-off when someone was downrange. “And if you can’t be safe, be deadly.”
Hanna was happy to touch down in San Diego after what felt like the longest flight in her life. She was used to traveling for work, but the past three weeks had been more stressful than any other conference she could remember.
She had thought the trip had started on a bad note, thanks to Jake’s (second) rejection, but that was nothing compared to how it was ending.
While in Tokyo, Hanna had missed her period.
Her cycle was usually like clockwork, which meant she’d been instantly suspicious. She’d taken a pregnancy test as soon as she realized she was late, and she thought the results had come back positive. Considering they were in Japanese, though, Hanna wanted to take another test just to be sure. And even though she wasn’t 100 percent certain she was pregnant, she had spent the entire flight thinking about the (potential) baby and what it might mean for her. And for Jake.
And for them.
Would he want to be part of the baby’s life? Considering the fact that he barely wanted to part of her life, she thought the answer would likely be no. Then again, he prided himself on being honorable and loyal. Surely such a man would step up for his child, even if the pregnancy hadn’t been planned.
Hanna sighed. When had things gotten so complicated?
She tried to convince herself there was no point in worrying about anything until she was sure she was actually pregnant. In other words, she had to take another pregnancy test. Preferably immediately, and preferably one that was in English. Otherwise, she would go crazy wondering “What if?”
Surely one of the little shops in the airport sold pregnancy tests. As she made her way to baggage claim, Hanna kept an eye out for a store that might carry what she was looking for. When she found one, she popped in and looked for pregnancy tests among the pain relievers, travel-sized toothpaste tubes, and condoms. She found what she needed, and the lady behind the counter rang her up quickly.
As she continued on toward baggage claim, she wondered how she was going to tell Jake if she really was pregnant. She had a feeling that conversation was either going to be really easy or really hard. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be a middle ground with him.
Of course, in these kinds of scenarios, there rarely ever was.
While waiting for the baggage carousel to start, Hanna checked her phone. She had one new voicemail. She held the phone to her ear and listened.
“Hi, this is Gordon. I just wanted to let you know I wasn’t totally honest during our last session. Everything wasn’t resolved yet, but I’m finally doing what you encouraged me to do. There shouldn’t be any cause for concern. If anything happens to me, though, I left something for you at the place where I had my first date with my ex-wife. I mentioned it during one of our sessions. I hope you remember. Thanks.”
Confused, Hanna listened to the message a second time and then a third. What had she encouraged Gordon to do? And what might happen to him?
She decided she would call and check on him tomorrow, when she was in a better state of mind and had caught up on some sleep. As she slipped her phone back in her purse, the baggage carousel started. When her luggage finally came around, she grabbed it and then pulled out her phone again to schedule a ride. While the app was loading, she glanced up and saw Jake walking toward her.
Chapter Eight
Hanna looked downright flustered to see Jake at the airport.
“Hey,” he said as he approached. He didn’t go in for a hug because he was determined to keep things platonic. Before she could read too much into his being there, he added, “Tyler asked me to pick you up.”
“Of course he did.” She rolled her eyes.
“He said you sounded kind of off the last time you talked,” Jake explained. “He just wanted me to make sure you were okay.”
“I’m fine, thanks. Just tired.”
“Fair enough.”
“You don’t have to do everything Tyler asks, you know,” Hanna said, clearly exasperated. “I can take care of myself.”
“I know you can,” Jake said. “But I wanted to come. I feel bad about how we left things so abruptly. At the very least, let me give you a ride home. Save you some cab fare.”
Hanna sighed. “You may have won me at a charity auction, but I’m not a charity case.”
She had every right to be annoyed, but Jake hadn’t anticipated such a hostile reunion. Granted, he had little experience in such scenarios. He could count on one hand the number of women he’d run into after they’d hooked up. His endless training in covert operations was to thank for all the clean getaways he’d had over the years.
Nothing in his arsenal had prepared him for this scenario. Jake was usually pretty good at diffusing tension, but he couldn’t seem to navigate this situation.
Hanna might have crossed his mind countless times over the past three weeks, but nothing had changed since they’d last talked. He wasn’t ready to give up being a SEAL so he could pursue a romantic relationship.
Not even with Hanna.
“Look,” he said, choosing his words carefully so as not to give her the wrong idea. “I’m here, and you need a ride. So will you come with me? You never have to talk to me again after I drop you off. I promise.”
Now it was Hanna’s turn to sigh. “I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s been a long day. And you were the last person I was expecting to see here.”
“I get it.” He held out his hand to take her luggage. “Come on. I’m in the parking garage across the street.”
As he wheeled her suitcase outside, she followed. The same black van passed them twice as they walked to his car, and it made Jake uneasy. He told himself the driver was just looking for the exit, but something felt off.
“Get in,” Jake said as soon as they reached his car. “I’ve got the luggage.” He popped the trunk and put the suitcase inside as Hanna climbed in the front seat. He glanced around before closing the trunk, but there was nothing amiss. The van was nowhere to be seen, and nothing else seemed out of place in the crowded parking garage. Jake told himself he was just being paranoid as he climbed in the front seat. As soon as he started the engine, though, he heard gunshots.
The back passenger window shattered, and Hanna screamed. If the shooter was aiming for her, it wouldn’t take more than one or two more shots before they made cont
act. Not for a skilled marksman at least.
“Get down!” Jake yelled as he put the car in reverse.
Hanna ducked just as the passenger-side mirror shattered.
“Stay down, and hold on!” He peeled out of the space in reverse, and that’s when he saw the same black van off to their right. Two men in blue ski masks were hanging out the back door and shooting at the passenger side where Hanna was sitting. Jake headed left as he tried to remember the fastest way out of the parking garage.
He turned left and then right and then left again, but the van was in hot pursuit. The men continued shooting at them on every straightaway. Fortunately, their aim was so bad and Jake’s driving was so good that they didn’t hit his car again. So far, Ruby’s only two casualties were the backseat window and the side mirror. It was hard making evasive maneuvers with a missing mirror, especially in a crowded parking garage, but they eventually made it to the ground floor. Fortunately, they seemed to have lost the van along the way.
Jake careened through the pay station without stopping and winced when the bar struck the front bumper. Poor Ruby. She had already been through hell. He’d make it up to her when all of this was over—but until then, he needed her to get them the hell out of Dodge.
There was no sign of the van behind them. It seemed, at least for the moment, that they were safe. Once they hit the freeway, though, Jake realized he didn’t know where to take Hanna.
“What the hell was that?” Hanna asked, still hunched over in the front seat. “Are you in some kind of trouble?”
Jake checked his rearview mirror as he raced down the highway. Still no sign of the black van. “You can sit up,” he said. “For now, at least. But keep an eye out and duck again at the first sign of trouble.”
Hanna sat up and surveyed the damage.
“Are you in trouble?” she asked again. “Why were those guys after you?”
“They weren’t after me,” Jake said. “Look at the broken mirror and window—look where they were aiming. They were after you.”
