Page 123 of Storm and Tempest

“No, I’m not.” Once he got over whatever he’d been given, things would be back on track. He’d start going to meetings again, figure out his job, get back to that happily ever after they’d been enjoying.

“What if I like it? You’re…edgy. Or I just missed you and you’re having a rough day. But you’re still hot, by the way.”

Jax frowned. “That’s a lot to unpack.”

Instead of responding to that, she said, “You are different.” She eyed him. “You’ve been through a lot.”

“How can you say thatI’vebeen through a lot?” He twisted in his chair to face her. “After everything you’ve been through. My stuff doesn’t even hold a candle to that.”

“Doesn’t mean you didn’t go through something huge.” She squeezed his knee. “I’m just processing, and I’m doing it out loud. Sorry. I’ll keep it to myself.”

“No, don’t do that.” He leaned over and kissed her. “Tell me whatever you want to say. It’s okay.”

“I was just realizing there’s a lot we need to tell each other, and some of it might be really hard.” She sighed. “It’s going to take us time to work everything out.”

“It’ll keep.” He squeezed her hand. “Elizabeth can help.”

She nodded. “I haven’t had coffee in months.”

“What? That’s insane. Those monsters.”

Kenna’s eyes flashed, and she burst out laughing.

Ramon sat up suddenly, groaned, and slumped back in the chair. “Ouch. What’s going on?” He looked at them. “Oh, never mind. You guys need to get a room?”

“Maizie first,” she said. “Then the RV.”

“We could pick it up on the way,” Jax suggested. “But I think they’d know it was us coming if we roll up to the house in the RV.”

And that urgent feeling was back again. The sense there was a ticking clock, and they had to get moving fast or they would lose their window to catch up and rescue the two women.

Ramon looked at his phone while the pilot opened the exit door. At the door Ramon said, “Bear’s here,” and went first down the stairs.

Jax frowned. “He’s moody in the morning.” Maybe he was moody all the time, except with Maizie. He wanted to tell Kenna how he and Ramon had developed a friendship the past few months. About the FBI. All of it. Instead, he said, “Hold on to me, or the rail?”

Kenna said, “What willyoube holding on to?”

Jax hesitated, because she made a good point.

“Geez, both of you look terrible.” Bear pulled back from giving Ramon a back-slapping hug and came to the stairs. He jogged up wearing fresh tactical gear and looking like he’d been here long enough to shower and freshen up.

“Thanks a lot,” Jax said.

Bear gave Kenna a hug. “Look at you. Sight for sore eyes.”

“You, too. I’m glad you’re back.” She hesitated. “Youareback, right?”

“It’s been a while, but yeah, I’m back.” Bear headed down the steps. “Come on. I have a car waiting. Thanks for the ride from Alaska, by the way. Normally I’d call in to the office and have them hook me up with transport, but in this case…”

They’d actually chartered two planes from Alaska, but Bear had been so far offshore it had mean he took a different route entirely. One that apparently got him here faster. Probably because he hadn’t had to explain to the doctor they were leaving.

A huge commercial plane hurtled down the runway behind them and took off. Jax could hear traffic on a nearby road over behind the hangar and the fence beyond it. Mount Rainier in the distance, no snow this time of year.

The stark contrast between the Pacific Northwest and his home in Arizona made him want to pack up his life there and hit the road just for a change. After all, Jax had nothing waiting for him there. Not when everything he needed was right next to him.

Kenna had become nomadic after her life took a tragic turn, and he could see the appeal of the open road. Maybe it was because his life had almost gone the same way, and all he wanted to do was never take what he had now for granted. That might mean finding a new home base somewhere else, and it might mean living in the RV year-round.

What mattered was that they could figure it out together.