Page 39 of An Epic Voyage

With one last look, he closed the door behind him.He was both relieved and bummed when he heard the lock slide into place.

#

“Why are you still inyour office?”

Jackson glanced up at Evangeline, her arms crossed as she leaned against the doorframe.“I could ask you the same thing.”

With a sigh, she walked inside and collapsed into one of the chairs in front of his desk.“When did we become total workaholics?”

About the time you left me.

Jackson didn’t say the words on the tip of his tongue.Instead, he reached into a drawer and pulled out a bottle of Maker’s Mark and two glasses.He poured the amber liquid and slid one over to Evie.She slammed it back.He refilled her glass before downing his shot.Liquid fire traveled down his esophagus, and he savored the burn.

“I think we’ve always been that way.”

Evie twirled her glass idly.“I think you’re right.”

Damn, she was beautiful, especially when she let down her shields, which wasn’t often.All these years later and she still had the power to bring him to his knees.

Jackson cleared his throat.“To answer your first question, I was monitoring the storm.”

Pale-blue eyes met his.“It’s going to cause problems for Indy, isn’t it?”

Jackson nodded slowly.“I fear it is.”

“Do we pull her out?”

He’d been thinking about it but didn’t have a definitive answer.Finding the nuke was a top priority for the president, but Indigo’s safety was his.“Let’s see what it looks like in the morning when the yacht reaches the island.We should get a better idea of what the hurricane will do.I can arrange for a helo to pick her up if needed.”

“Won’t that blow her cover?”

“I’d rather that happen than have her caught in a natural disaster.”

“I agree.”

#

Evangeline hadn’t plannedon going to Jackson’s office, but her feet had carried her there nonetheless.Being around him was dangerous.He made her feel things that frightened her.That’s why she’d broken off their relationship ten years ago.She’d regretted it every single day since.

When he’d been shot protecting the future president, Evangeline had reacted as if the bullet had pierced her flesh.Then she’d sat beside his bed and couldn’t fathom how she would go on if the unimaginable happened and he didn’t make it.That’s when she decided he had too much power over her.She was a strong, capable woman who needed to reclaim her independence.

Biggest mistake of her life.

People had thought she’d been an Ice Queen before, and yes, she’d heard the whispers behind her back.After learning that Jackson was marrying another woman only a few months after their breakup, she’d become the most frigid bitch who’d ever walked the earth.

If her heart was encased in permafrost, then it couldn’t be broken, right?Wrong.

Evangeline wondered if one reason the president had assigned her to a new department was because her fellow Secret Service officers had complained about working with her.She didn’t blame them.She had a hard time living with herself.

To make matters exponentially worse, Jackson had been appointed as her equal.

“Evie, where did you go?”

Evangeline shook her head to clear the memories.“What was that?”

“What’s going on in that head of yours?”

She had no idea how long she’d been lost in the past.“I was thinking about Indigo and the situation.”