Page 18 of Discretion

“You don’t look fine.” He turned to me. “Does she look fine to you?”

He seemed…on edge, and his obvious concern wasn’t going to help the situation. I placed my hand on his arm, and his muscle twitched. “Hey. Take a breath.”

“I—” He locked his eyes on mine, and I nodded slowly, encouraging him. He inhaled deeply. Let it out slowly. “I. Yeah.” His shoulders relaxed a fraction. “Thanks.”

I nodded, retracting my hand. “Sloan, do you feel well enough to contact your doctor, or do you want me to do it?”

She groaned. “This seems like overkill. It’s not like I’m going into labor. I’m just a little light-headed.”

“Just to be on the safe side,” I said.

“Fine.” She sighed. “I’ll call her.”

“Great.” I turned to Jasper, sensing that he needed something to do before he spiraled. “Can you give Jackson a heads-up?”

He nodded and started typing on his phone.

“What about the appointment with the art dealer?” Sloan asked. “You need someone at an SVP level or above to sign off on the financials.”

Before I could tell her that I’d reschedule, Jasper blurted, “I’ll go.”

“Isn’t your calendar packed this afternoon?” Sloan asked.

Jasper waved a hand through the air. “It’s always packed. But it’s fine. It’ll be a good test for my new temp. We can see how well she does with rescheduling. I’m going to email her now.”

Jackson rushed through the door, laser focused on his wife. He was a former Navy SEAL who was now the head of Huxley Grand security. For a man who was usually so calm and collected, he looked as if he might lose his shit.

“Hayati?” He rushed to her side. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Sloan insisted. “I wish everyone would stop making such a big fuss. I got a little light-headed. I’m already feeling better.”

“Here.” Jackson pulled a protein bar out of his pocket. “Eat this.”

“Come.” I grabbed Jasper’s arm, trusting that Jackson had the situation well in hand. “Let’s give them some space.”

“Are you sure we—” Jasper asked, seeming reluctant to leave.

“Come on.” I tugged on his arm. “Sloan is going to talk to her doctor, right?” She nodded, chewing some of the protein bar. “And Jackson—” I met his gaze “—will let us know if they need anything.”

Jackson nodded then returned his attention to Sloan.

Jasper hesitated a moment more then followed me into the hall. I shut the door to Sloan’s office softly behind me.

“Is this normal?” he asked, and I could see the concern etched into his features. “It doesn’t seem normal.”

“It’s not abnormal,” I assured him. “When I was pregnant with Kai, I experienced light-headedness. Especially during the third trimester. She’s going to be okay.”

“You don’t know that,” he said. “You can’t promise that.”

“You’re right. I can’t.” I placed my hand on his arm, wanting him to know that I was listening. I wasn’t dismissing his concerns, but I also wanted to calm him. “But Sloan has a good medical team and a loving partner. All we can do is support her and hope for the best.”

“I know.” He blew out a breath, his shoulders relaxing. “I need a distraction. What’s this meeting I promised to attend?”

“Sloan and I were supposed to meet with an art dealer to select some art for the newly refurbished presidential suite and the new Golden Key Penthouse.”

He nodded. “Ah. Yes. Okay. Where do we need to be and when?”

I pulled up the Maps app on my phone and typed in the address. A quick peek at the estimated arrival time as well as the amount of red snaking over the traffic map, infecting it like a virus, had me squeezing my eyes shut.