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EIGHTEEN

ZEKE

I PROBABLY SHOULD have argued with Savannah when she volunteered to come with me to Nashville, but I can’t do what Pierce wants on my own. Plus, I’d rather have her traveling with me than some asshole who will just get on my nerves the whole trip.

And I sure as hell don’t want to email Elise every five minutes.

The second Savannah leaves to go pack a bag, I rush to my suite, getting everything I need in record time. Fast enough I can make a stop by Intel’s office to give Isaac the name of the hotel to book us into before leaving him to work out the details.

I’m ready and waiting when Savannah pulls up out front. I roll my bag off the sidewalk, giving her a stern look when she opens the door and starts to climb out from behind the wheel. “Get back in there. I’ll put this in the back and then we can go.”

She ignores my demand, arms wrapped around her middle as she hurries behind me. “That’s fine, but I’m not driving when I don’t have to.”

She continues around the back of the SUV as I chuck my bag inside. I hurry to close the hatch before darting past her to open the passenger door. “Then I should have been the one to come get you.”

Savannah cringes. “But Sadie might have seen you, and then I would have had to tell her what was going on.”

“You didn’t tell Sadie you were leaving the state?” I scrub one hand over my face, knowing her sister isn’t going to react well to the news.

“It’s better to ask forgiveness than permission.” Savannah sits a little taller. “Plus, I’m an adult. I don’t need her approval to leave the state.”

She’s not wrong, but I don’t want her to end up with a pissed off sister banging on her hotel room door. “She’ll figure out where you are.”

“I’m not going to never tell her.” Savannah buckles herself in. “I’m just not telling her until we’re already in the air.” She reaches for the handle of the door I’m still holding. “I don’t have the energy to argue with her.”

I get that. Her sister is hell on wheels. She’s got a mama bear complex and, while she has the best intentions, tends to go overboard when it comes to Savannah.

Savannah lifts her brows at me. “Come on. Let’s go.” She tugs the door out of my hands, closing it.

I smother out a smile as I make my way to the driver’s side. The more time I spend with Savannah, the more open she is. The more I get to see all the sides of her. Including, apparently, the impatient one.

I slide behind the wheel and we pull out, making great time as we head for the private airport Alaskan Security uses. After parking inside our designated hangar, I unload our bags and carry them to the steps lined up to the smaller of our aircrafts. Rico is waiting at the top of the steps and greets Savannah, showing her to one of the plush leather seats as I bring up the rear, rolling our bags into the storage area.

When I join her, Savannah already has her coat off and a cold Dr Pepper in hand as she relaxes into the seat. “I forgot how nice this plane is.”

“Pierce must be trying to butter us up so we work extra hard to find a nice place.” I tip my head as I settle into the seat next to her. “Or he and Mona don’t have any trips planned.”

Savannah lets her head drop back against the seat. “It’s probably both.”

“Probably.” I’m not sure exactly what the head of Alaskan Security is looking for in this new magical place he thinks Savannah and I will discover, but hopefully I can get a better grip on it during our video meeting tomorrow morning. “He’s also in a hurry to make it happen.”

Savannah snorted. “Pierce is always in a hurry.”

I lift my brows. “Sounds like you’ve been paying attention while you’ve been helping Elise out.”

“I always pay attention,” she says softly.

There’s more to her statement. I can see it in the expression on her face, and it makes me shift in my seat, wondering what it is Savannah sees when she pays attention to me. Hopefully, she hasn’t been looking too close.

“We should probably start looking over what’s available now, so we can show Pierce a few options and let him pick which ones we check out first.” I change the subject because she’s looking at me a little too intently. “And you should probably text Sadie.”

Savannah groans, rolling her eyes closed. “She’s going to freak out.” Her lids lift as her head rocks toward me. “And that kinda makes me mad, you know? I’m not a child. I shouldn’t feel like I’m doing something wrong by getting a job and traveling.”

“You’re right. You shouldn’t.” A little of her softly curled hair got pushed into her face when she turned toward me, so I reach out to gently tuck it behind one ear. “So don’t feel bad.”

Savannah’s head tips the tiniest bit, bringing her cheek against my palm. “That’s easier said than done.”

My thumb drags across her soft skin all on its own. “I know.”

We stay like that for a few heartbeats, looking at each other. Then the intimate way I’m touching her registers, and I pull my hand from her face, closing it into a fist as I rest it on my thigh.

What the fuck am I doing? I can’t touch Savannah like that. It’s not right. I’m here to help her. Support her. Protect her. Not paw all over her.

Clearing my throat, I lean forward to pull out my laptop. “I’ll get our search started.”

I keep my hands to myself for the rest of our trip as we scroll through commercial properties and a few vacant lots, compiling a list of what we feel are the best options and why. Savannah receives a few text messages in response to the one she sent Sadie, but I don’t ask about them. If she wants me to know what they say, she’ll tell me.

We stop to refuel the jet at the halfway point, and Savannah takes the opportunity to use the bathroom and stretch her legs. I do the same, and then Rico takes us back up into the air. Savannah spends the second half of the trip dozing next to me, curled up under a plush blanket, her head resting on my shoulder.

It’s a more appropriate form of contact than before, but way too much of my attention keeps drifting to where her cheek rests against me. I stay as still as I can as I respond to emails and check-in with Isaac to go over Shadow’s current assignments, not wanting to disturb her.

Not wanting her to shift away.

Savannah finally stirs as we start to descend, pulling in a deep breath as her eyes lift to my face. “Are we there?”

She hasn’t moved away, so our faces are close when I answer. “We should be landing in a few minutes.”

I’m gifted with a sleepy smile. “Okay.” She still doesn’t move her head. If anything, Savannah cuddles closer, eyes going to the screen of my computer. “Did you get much work done?”

“Just responded to some emails.” I slowly lower the screen, putting as much attention as I can on the process, because the feel of more of Savannah’s warm body pressing against me is wreaking havoc on my conscience.

Spending time with her, I could explain away. Helping her pick out a car, unpacking her things, hanging curtains—all that was me doing what she needed. Helping her reclaim her life. But cuddling with her like this? That wasn’t included in our agreement.

Not that I mind. The issue is how little I mind. How much I like the way her scent surrounds me. How much I enjoy being the one she looks to not only for protection but also for comfort. Thank God we’re ready to land, because I’m getting dangerously close to letting myself enjoy this moment.

And that would be wrong. Real fucking wrong.

The seatbelt light clicks on and Rico comes over the speaker, letting us know there might be some turbulence. I make sure Savannah gets buckled in place before securing myself. As he promised, the plane starts to shudder, and Savannah stiffens beside me. I’ve flown with Rico enough times that I trust him implicitly to bring us down safely, but Savannah’s only experience with him at the controls was when she and Sadie went to pack up their belongings.

“This is normal. We’ll be on the ground in just a few minutes.”

Savannah nods, the movement jerky. When we’re jostled around again, she reaches for me, her small hand gripping mine tightly.

Again, I’m a fucking asshole, because I relish the way she reached for me. The way she knew she could rely on me to support her.

And it’s making me regret letting her come on this trip.

It’s not until we finally come to a stop that Savannah releases me, just as Rico comes out of the cockpit, greeting us with a smile. “That was exciting.”

“It was something,” Savannah grumbles as she collects her bag and coat.

I help her bundle up, then collect our suitcases before following her down the steps and into the hangar where a car is already warmed up and waiting for us.

Savannah turns to me as we cross the blacktop, breath fogging around her face as she says, “I thought it was supposed to get warmer as we went south.”

“I probably should’ve warned you that it’s been surprisingly cold here.” I’d been shocked when I first arrived in Nashville on Pierce’s snooping excursion. “Technically, it is warmer, but below freezing is still below freezing.”

I rest one hand against her back, juggling all our bags with one arm as I urge her to move faster toward the SUV. Once we reach it, I help her in first, then I load in our bags and get behind the wheel. It’s relatively late in the day, but neither of us has had anything substantial to eat, so I pull up the maps app on my phone. “What sounds good to eat?”

Savannah purses her lips, moving them from side to side as she considers. “I like just about everything. Did you eat anyplace good when you were here?”

“Actually, I did.” I tap in the name of the family owned restaurant I stumbled across. “As long as you like fried fish and chicken.”

Savannah beams at me. “Sounds amazing.” She tips her head to one side. “But I’m really hungry, so just about anything would sound amazing right now.”

“Then you’ll definitely like this place.” The serving style of this restaurant is different from anywhere I’ve been before, and since she’s really hungry, it’ll be perfect.

Uncle Bud’s is about thirty minutes away. When we finally arrive, I’m pleasantly surprised to find a few available parking spaces since the last time I was here the place was packed. It’s well after most people’s dinnertime here, so we’re on the right side of the evening rush, and get seated right away. I take the spot across from Savannah, watching as servers bring the automatic side dishes to our table and set them in front of her. Her eyes widen at the bowl of slow-simmered white beans and the pile of hush puppies.

“Here, you get unlimited beans, hush puppies, and coleslaw. You pick whatever main dish you want, and they keep refilling everything else.”

She grins at me, snagging one of the provided plates and scooping out beans. “I love it.”

Savannah orders chicken, so I order the fish. That way she’ll be able to try both. She spends the meal asking me all about Alaskan Security. It makes sense she’s curious considering she basically accepted Pierce’s job offer as we walked out the door, but discovering she hasn’t asked her sister makes me think their relationship is worse off than I thought.

“So what I’m hearing is, you like working there.” Savannah pops a bite of chicken in her mouth, chewing as she waits for me to answer.

“Alaskan Security provides everything I need. Income, insurance, a place to live. It’s the whole package.”

Savannah angles a brow. “You didn’t answer my question.”

I didn’t, technically. “I like working for Alaskan Security as much as I would like working anywhere. There’s good and there’s bad, but the good outweighs the bad most days.”

Savannah’s full lips press into a considering line, but she doesn’t ask any more questions.

“What about you?” I lean back in my seat and redirect the conversation. “Do you think you’ll enjoy working at Alaskan Security as much as you enjoyed teaching?”

Savannah’s brows pinch together as she thinks over what I’ve asked. “I loved teaching, but I don’t know that I would love it now. I think I’m like you. I’ll enjoy working for Alaskan Security as much as I would enjoy working anywhere.” She looks down at her plate, moving around the remainder of the beans there. “Honestly, for a while I was worried I might never leave my house again. There was nothing worth leaving it for. I couldn’t find anything to make me happy or excited.”

I don’t mind being unfulfilled. I’m used to having a life that’s more about existing than living. But I don’t want that for Savannah. She’s too good and sweet and kind to end up like me.

“And look at you now.” I pass off the company credit card I travel with because Pierce is sure as hell footing the bill for this whole trip. “More than halfway across the country and ready for an adventure.”

Savannah collects her coat and purse as I settle up. “I’d hardly call a work trip an adventure.”

I stand, helping her bundle back up. “That’s because you haven’t seen the hotel yet.” I’m almost positive Savannah is going to love it. If she does, it’ll be worth the lecture Pierce dishes out when he gets the bill.

We load back into the car and I set the GPS to take us to our final destination of the evening. The Gaylord isn’t far away, and we’re pulling up to the doors and I’m passing the keys off to the valet in minutes.

“Holy crap.” Savannah’s eyes are wide as she takes in our surroundings. “This place is beautiful.”

I take her hand in mine, so she can continue gawking without worrying about falling. “I had some time to kill while I was here last so I came to check this place out.”

Spying on Vincent wasn’t nearly as eventful as Pierce expected it to be. After three days of watching him watch someone else, I needed a fucking break. This place was one of the most recommended stops in the city, so I took an hour to decompress.

And I’m glad I did.

Savannah’s green eyes dart around as I lead her to the check-in desk and give them my name. She leans into me as she tries to take it all in.

And I watch her. Chest tight with pride that I gave her this moment.

“Sir?”

I force my eyes from Savannah to find the woman on the other side of the counter giving me an apologetic smile.

“I’m so sorry, but we only have one room booked for you.”