by Leslie North
The three men continued to barrel toward her and she paused as if finally noticing them closing in. The lead man quickened his steps and opened his arms.
Son of a bitch. Lee charged forward.
“Sven!” Viktoria cried, throwing her arms around the guy.
Lee veered to the right, breaking off and slowing his steps.
“You need us, boss?” Mike asked in Lee’s comms.
“Gunner, Emil,” Viktoria continued as she shook the hands of the other two men. “What are you doing here?”
“No,” Lee answered Mike, spying him and Andrew halfway to Viktoria. Lee headed back to the railing he’d been holding up. “False alarm. She knows them and I don’t sense a threat.”
Viktoria carried on a lively conversation for fifteen minutes with the men before she moved on after more hugs and handshakes. Group after group, she networked to the max with the wealthy movers and shakers. And not once did she glance his way or even seem to remember he existed. Instead, she smiled, flirted, and charmed in a way that was nothing like the woman he’d gotten to know. This fake version wasn’t who she should be.
She’d have them eating out of the palm of her hand if she showed them the real her. Her quick temper, workaholic tendency, and being stubborn as a mule on top of being funny and fierce, would bring this crowd to its knees.
Like she did to him.
Son of a bitch. What a time for an epiphany. He’d idiotically fallen for a woman who only thought him good enough to fuck in private but not associate with in public.
16
Viktoria climbed out of the limo behind Katrin, absolutely exhausted and exhilarated at the same time. Thanks to Lee calling ahead, the pilots were deep into their takeoff checklist. Lee hadn’t said anything else the entire ride back.
“The show was amazing.” Viktoria beamed at her friend.
“I’m so glad you got to come.” Katrin kissed Viktoria on both cheeks. “It was good to see you.”
Lee fell in step behind Viktoria when she let go of Katrin. Mike and Andrew had already boarded and after saying her last goodbyes to her friend, she hustled up the steps to keep her promise to Lee that they could take off immediately.
Nervous energy filled her, and she wasn’t sure what to do with the foreign feeling. Striding down the center of the plane, she passed Andrew seated in a recliner and heard Mike helping the copilot seal the door closed.
Lee dogged her steps but remained suspiciously quiet. Had something happened? She thought he’d be celebrating they’d had an outing that didn’t end in a kidnapping attempt. And the after-party had been a big success for her, though it had been more of a struggle than usual.
It had taken everything she had the entire night not to look Lee’s way. If she’d paid him any attention, the tongues would start wagging, and she already had an uphill battle restoring the perception that she was an ineffective businesswoman…
Her steps slowed. Now, that she thought about it…no one treated her as if she was inconsequential. To be sure, the crowd was full of fashion people, not business people, but of the ones who knew of her company, no one seemed to care she hadn’t been at her father’s side. Katrin had been wrong…
Regardless, Viktoria had avoided Lee because she wasn’t sure what she and Lee had between them, but it didn’t need to be dissected by a bunch of strangers who would seize the opportunity to put him on the spot or make him uncomfortable. One thing she knew for sure, he’d burrowed into her heart farther than she should have allowed and she had no clue what to do. Her father expected her to marry advantageously, which meant whatever she had with Lee had no long-term potential. But on the other hand, she couldn’t treat Lee like an emotionless fling. Lord knew she felt way too many emotions around him.
The plane rocketed down the runway, then lifted into the air.
Unable to take the silence, Viktoria started babbling the second she crossed the bedroom’s threshold. “The party was so much fun. I don’t know if you noticed, but a few of my friends from university showed up.” She cringed at the height of her voice. Clearing her throat, she continued, “And they’re interested in contracting with the new division.” Excitement pumped in her blood. “Isn’t that great? The networking paid off. Not only did they want to talk negotiations, but so did two other companies.”
He remained close to the open door, as still as a statue. His hands clenched on his waist and his face gave nothing away.
Dread leaked through her excitement and she slowly retraced her steps toward him. “Thank you for agreeing to stay.” Placing her hands on his delicious shoulders, she leaned forward to thank him in a much more fun way—
A hard grip encompassed her hands, and he pushed her off him.
Wha…Her brows furrowed, and she searched his expressionless face as tiny stabs pierced her heart. “I don’t understand,” she whispered, not meaning to say it out loud.
“I’m not a toy you can play with when it’s convenient for you,” he answered, his voice devoid of emotion. “But don’t worry, I won’t forget where my proper place is again. The Neanderthal, or—what did you call me once? The socially stunted heathen finally gets the message that he’s just the lowly help.”
The stabs turned into full out slashes across her heart. Oh no. He’d overheard Katrin’s viscous assessment. And he thought she agreed with it. “Lee—”
He jerked his chin back to keep away from her touch. His amber eyes flashed, then hardened again. “That means I do nothing more than protect you until I can deliver you to your father.” The muscle in his jaw ticked. “You should get some sleep. I’ve ordered the pilots to fly straight through to New York. Once I hand you over to Jon Aronsson or his security, we won’t have to see each other again.”
She couldn’t inhale or breathe around the pain squeezing her heart to pulp. Wrong. He had it all wrong, yet everything he quoted had been said, and thanks to her stupid lashing out earlier, he assumed the worst. Assumed she felt the same as Katrin which was far from the truth.
We won’t have to see each other again? The pain intensified. No…
Twice, she tried to call his name, to say something to stop him from closing the door behind him so she could fix this, but nothing came out.
Lee dropped into the recliner and shut his eyes to keep from talking to Mike or Andrew. He should be filling out an After-Action report for Boom, but he could barely see straight let alone write anything down.
Goddamn it. He clenched his hands. How the hell could he have allowed himself to fall for Viktoria? He hadn’t even realized he’d fallen until she’d ripped his heart out at the party.
Pain sliced through his teeth and he forced his jaw to relax. If Boom found out just how many lines he’d crossed on this assignment, he’d be out of a job, and then what would he do with himself? He didn’t feel like he belonged anywhere.
Would Mike or Andrew rat on him? Those two were trained observers. They had to have figured out at least part of his interactions with Viktoria, if not all of it since he was stupid enough to allow his heart to get involved—
“We’re at our designated cruising altitude,” the pilot stated through the comms still in Lee’s ear. “The flight plan has been submitted on a secure transmission and accepted. Our next stop is New York.”
Lee turned his mic on. “Thank you.” Clicking the mic back off, he slumped in the chair.
At some point he must have fallen asleep because he snapped awake to feel the plane bucking violently.
“MAYDAY,” the pilot shouted. “MAYDAY.”
From the bedroom, Viktoria cried out and Lee bolted from the chair, tuning out the pilot giving the plane’s tail number and flight details on the emergency frequency. Grabbing onto everything he could to stay upright, he barreled into the bedroom and found her on the floor.
“Lee,” she shouted, her pupils huge in the dim lighting blinking on and off. “What’s happening?”
Falling to his knees, he crawled to the side of the bed and grasped on
to the mattress while she grabbed onto him.
The plane twisted sharply to the right, slamming him into the nightstand. Grunting, he accepted her weight, and tightened his hold on her.
Static crackled over his earpiece, then the pilot spoke. “Lee, the right engine has a catastrophic failure.”
The spine-tingling scream of metal on metal echoed in the plane, then the jet dipped to the left.
“We just lost the left engine,” the pilot yelled in a panic.
“BOSS!” Mike yelled in the comms at the same time as Andrew.
“The left engine’s literally gone,” Andrew shouted, peeking his head into the bedroom on his hands and knees.
“And we’re leaking fuel,” Mike tacked on.
“You’re about to lose cabin pressure,” the pilot announced. “We’re going down.”
Flashes of combat missions streaked through Lee’s brain, and he immediately clicked into Ranger mode. His mind entered a calm zone just like he used to before an engagement.
“What’s our altitude and rate of descent?” Lee demanded, muscling to his feet with Viktoria.
The copilot rattled off the information.
“Everyone, evacuate,” Lee ordered. “Pilots, we’ll blow the emergency hatch ourselves. You evacuate now.”
The jet dipped forward and Lee ran to the front wall to keep from tripping and flipped to press his back against it so he cushioned Viktoria. “Mike, Andrew, open the exit and jump. Now. Don’t wait for us. Take care of the pilots once you’re grounded.”
“We’re jumping from the plane?” Viktoria shouted above the alarms and wind, terror lacing her voice.
“Only way to survive,” he answered, moving steadily to the door. “Follow me. Be careful, shit’s fallen out of the cabinets, so watch your step.”
Oxygen bags hung from the ceiling like gruesome decorations, and he let them hit him as he led the way to the galley, fighting the turbulence and gravity trying to knock them down while alarms screeched. Snagging his duffel bag skittering across the aisle, he made sure the zipper was closed.
She still had on the cocktail dress from the party, but no shoes. That was a blessing and a curse. Those heels could break her ankles on the landing, but she then had nothing to protect her feet once they started crossing the terrain. A problem for later, not now.
Grabbing two parachutes and portable oxygen masks from the closet in the galley, he strapped one on himself and then Viktoria, turning the oxygen canisters on. The cocktail dress gave her no protection from the thick nylon, but he couldn’t worry about chaffing. Her staying alive was more important than a rash. The jet didn’t have the proper tandem harness, so he did the best he could to latch them together. Not that they could stay that way for long. The chutes weren’t rated to hold two people, and they’d get tangled if he pulled them while he and Viktoria were still attached. He kept that bit of information to himself.
With her back secured to his front and his duffel bag dangling on a short lead by his side, he forced her to walk to the open door. Her body shook violently, but he couldn’t do anything to help her. They had to jump or die. Period.
Wind roared and pulled them toward the opening. He couldn’t hear a damn thing Viktoria said and knew she couldn’t hear him. Verifying his knife was still strapped to his ankle, then marking the time on his watch so he could calculate when to pull the parachutes, he wrapped his arms around her tightly and jumped.
17
Viktoria blinked awake. Disorientation fuzzed her brain, and she stared up at the clear night sky through a canopy of leaves. Leaves? Where the hell am I? What happened?
Bits and snatches of memories played in her mind like a psychotic, twisted dream. A dream that made no sense but had her heart leaping from her chest.
The jet violently shaking.
The engine shearing off.
Lee strapping her into a harness.
Wind tearing at her hair and dress as she plummeted—
OH MY GOD. She lurched up, then clutched her stomach. Nausea rocketed up her throat, and she swallowed hard to keep from throwing up.
The jet. She had jumped from the jet. It had happened for real.
Lee. Yanking the oxygen mask off, she didn’t see him anywhere around her. LEE!
Jerking her head left, then right, she searched for him, groaning at the thundering headache it caused. Tree trunks greeted her eyes. The forest wasn’t thick, but it went on farther than she could see. Squinting in the dark, she scanned the ground. Where did he go?
Hysteria edged her panic and she couldn’t get enough air. Rolling to her knees, she yelped at the pain piercing her hips and knees—everywhere, really. Strings from the parachute tangled into her arms and something pulled at her body. Peering behind her, she spied material billowing in the breeze. The parachute was still attached to her. Unease shot through her. Couldn’t it still lift her in the air if it caught enough wind? OFF! With shaking fingers, she slid her hands down her body and snagged on two frayed ends on the harness.
What? Then another vision hit her: The glint of Lee’s knife disappearing behind her as he cut them apart right before he pulled the cord on her parachute…then nothing. She didn’t remember gliding down or dropping through the trees, or landing.
Unsnapping everything she could find, she shucked the harness and the weight pulling on her disappeared. Her shoulders slumped.
I have to find Lee. Gritting her teeth, she forced her legs to hold her weight. Finally, a large lump that didn’t fit in with the rest of the terrain caught her eye. “Lee?” she whispered, lurching toward him, stumbling with every step. Twigs, rocks, and god knew what bit into her feet but she refused to stop.
“Lee.” Tears spilled over her eyelids as she dropped to her knees. He lay in a heap with his eyes closed, unmoving. Should she touch him? Was he hurt?
Risking it, she took the oxygen mask off and kissed his forehead and his cheeks. She tried to wake him up, but he didn’t move or react. “Lee, please,” she whispered, straightening his legs and arms to more natural positions. “Wake up.” Kissing his lips, she shivered at the cold stiffness. “I need you.” On so many levels and more than you know.
His chest rose and fell steadily but he remained unconscious.
“I need you,” she whispered again, resting her cheek on his heart. Her father’s words now made so much sense. Lee was her perfect match. He embraced her fire and spirit and helped lift her to soar, and she wanted to pull him up beside her—
Leaves crackled, rocks skittered, and heavy footsteps vibrated the ground. Snapping her head up, she searched the woods for the cause. Lights danced in the distance as if from flashlights. Lee had given the order for the rest of the security team to take care of the pilots. Maybe they’d done that already and now Mike and Andrew were looking for her and Lee instead?
Hope surged through her chest and she sat up. “We’re over here!” she yelled.
The crunching leaves and footsteps stopped.
“Mike! Andrew!” she tried again. “Over here!”
A deep male voice carried to her, clamping her mouth shut. Icelandic. The man had uttered, ‘I hear her,’ in her mother tongue.
Not Mike or Andrew.
Then another surge of hope rose. Father sent men?
No. Her intuition immediately rejected the thought. It couldn’t be her father’s men. The plane crash might have made the news by now, but how would he get a search team here so fast? The actual crash site had to be miles away, yet men were searching close to where she and Lee landed.
Snatches of a conversation with Lee filtered through her head. After they escaped the theater, he’d mentioned believing her attackers were from Iceland.
Fear shot through her veins, making her shiver. Her attention jumped to Lee. Vulnerable. Unable to protect himself from the people approaching.
Hell no. “This time,” she murmured against his ear, “I’ll protect you.” She gave him a soft kiss.
Working as quickly as she could
, she unsnapped his harness and grunted at the struggle of taking it off his heavy frame without any help from him. “Good Lord, you weigh a ton,” she wheezed.
Her aching body screamed and quivered, and her head pounded harder, but she yanked on the strings to pull the bright red parachute in. Now what do I do with it? Her gaze landed on the harness and she dropped to her knees, wincing at forest debris digging into her skin, and stuffed as much of the material as she could into the pouch it originally launched from. Since she hadn’t folded it right, the parachute refused to pack in all the way.
“Kúkalabbi,” she snarled, using her favorite Icelandic curse word. Adrenaline pounded through her body, whispering the men would catch them any second if she didn’t hurry. No. Whoever was out there couldn’t find Lee.
The duffel bag still attached to the harness shifted with her movements. Yes. Unzipping the top of the bag, she stuffed the rest of the parachute into the duffel and then piled the harness on top. Sweating and almost out of energy, she pushed it against Lee’s body, then rested his left arm on top. Please let his arm be heavy enough to keep the harness from falling off the bag and revealing the parachute.
A different male saying something in Icelandic drifted to her.
I’m out of time. “Stay safe, my heart,” she ordered softly into Lee’s ear. “I’ll send help as soon as I can, and when this is over, you are going to listen to me.” She pecked near his earlobe. “Do you understand me, you stubborn man? I know exactly where your proper place should be.”
Hoisting to her feet, she did her best to ignore the aches in her abused body as she moved away from him. Limping and cursing, she stumbled as fast as her bare feet would let her. Peering over her shoulder, she checked to see if she had gotten far enough away to keep Lee out of the range of the flashlights heading in her direction. She couldn’t see him but still felt too close.
She had to protect Lee and thanks to the sparkly silver sections in the stupid cocktail dress, she’d become a giant reflector if the men caught her in a flashlight beam.