“We haven’t eaten,” Gus said, ignoring her question. “We came straight here from the airport. How about we go downstairs to the restaurant and grab something? We can talk about our next steps while we eat.”
Reese opened her mouth to say she wasn’t hungry, but her stupid stomach chose that moment to growl. Loudly.
“Right, that answers that. You’re probably dehydrated too. Tiny, you want to head down and get us a table? Reese and I will be right there.”
His friend smiled and nodded before turning toward the door. Reese couldn’t help but wonder why Gus wanted to speak to her in private.
As soon as the door shut, he turned to her and reached for her hand. Oddly, she wasn’t mad about it. If he’d been anyone else, she would’ve pulled her hand away and asked where he got off touching her without permission. That was her usual reaction to anyone who acted overly familiar. But…this was Gus. She knew him. Kind of. More importantly, he was there because of his concern for her brother.
And she could secretly admit that having this man touch her was anything but offensive.
When he ran his index finger over the pulse point on her wrist, goose bumps broke out on her arms. She prayed he didn’t notice as she did her best to control her reaction.
“Are you really okay?” he asked quietly. “I’ve been there. We were on a mission to Venezuela and I stupidly accepted a drink from a local we were trying to impress. Spent the next two days wishing I was dead. I couldn’t go more than ten feet from a toilet. The guys were sympathetic, but they also gave me so much shit…no pun intended.”
Reese was too distracted by his grin to respond.
“Anyway, it took a while for me to feel normal again. Don’t be embarrassed about this. Seriously.”
Okay. Not embarrassed. Not a chance in hell of that happening. “Okay,” she said as breezily as she could, trying to act like a woman unashamed of discussing diarrhea issues after eating food in a foreign country. Yeah. Right.
“We’re gonna find Woody,” Gus told her next.
Reese was well aware he hadn’t let go of her hand, but she wasn’t going to be the one to interrupt this…moment…or whatever it was they were having. “Of course we are,” she said as confidently as she could.
Gus smiled. A full-blown smile this time. Not just a twitching of his lips or self-deprecating grin. Then he sobered. “Will you trust me and Tiny to find him and bring him back to Missouri?”
“Yes. But if you’re asking me to leave while you do that, the answer is no.”
He sighed. “I had to try.”
“You knew I’d say no?” she couldn’t help but ask.
“Yeah. From everything Woody has said about you, I had a feeling you would insist on being in the thick of things.”
It felt both good and weird to get confirmation her brother had talked about her to his teammates. To this man. “I’m not stupid. I know I don’t have the skills you or my brother have. But I’m not helpless either. Sometimes people are more comfortable talking to a woman than a man. And no offense, but you are a little intimidating. Maybe I can be an asset to you and Tiny.”
She appreciated that Gus didn’t immediately dismiss her words. “Maybe. Let’s get something to eat, make sure you’re properly hydrated, and we can plan our next steps. I hope it won’t offend you if Tiny and I head back to Isabella’s and do our own knocking on doors.”
“Not at all. Maybe she came back in the last two days. She and Woody could’ve been off on some sort of vacation or something and now they’ve returned.” She didn’t really believe that, but she could hope.
Gus didn’t dismiss her thought, but he didn’t agree with her either. Reese had to admit that he was being very diplomatic, and she appreciated it. “Hopefully we can get some more information after being there…or my friend back in the States who’s doing what he can on his end will get back with me. Come on. Let’s go get some grub.”
He stood, still holding her hand and using it to tug her to her feet. Reese didn’t protest as he led them toward the door.
To be honest, she was relieved Gus was here. Not only because she felt safe with him—which was a weird thing, since she hadn’t spent that much time in his presence; since he’d been a Delta with her brother, she cut herself some slack for being so trusting, so fast—but also because she had no idea what to do next to try to find Woody.
She was out of ideas, and since she didn’t speak Spanish, her options were limited. Having Gus and his friend here was a blessing. Her hope increased that they would be able to find Woody, and Isabella, and they’d all be okay.
CHAPTER THREE
Spike did his best not to stare at Reese. She was even prettier than the picture Tex had provided. Maybe it was that she was older and seemed to have more confidence in herself. Maybe it was the way she’d blushed so adorably while trying to sidestep around what she’d been doing for the last two days. Whatever it was, Spike had to keep reminding himself that he was here to find Woody…not seduce the man’s sister.
Besides, Reese lived in Missouri, and he was in New Mexico. Even if they hit it off, there weren’t too many engineering jobs he was aware of near The Refuge.
Although…Los Alamos National Laboratory was just down the road. It was one of the largest science and technology institutions in the world. The employees conducted research on national security, space exploration, nuclear fusion, renewable energy, medicine, nanotechnology, and probably a lot more things he had no clue about. Spike knew from talking to Woody that Reese was one of the top engineers in her field. He suspected a place like Los Alamos would jump at the chance to recruit her.
Mentally shaking his head, he concentrated on the here and now. They had to find Woody and get home before he could even start to think about anything else…namely, seeing if the intense spark he and Reese seemed to have could go anywhere. He didn’t miss the way she’d stared at him when she opened the door to her room. The way her shoulders relaxed when he took her hand. Nor the goose bumps that rose on her arms when he brushed his finger along her wrist, trying to reassure her.
They’d ordered lunch, and Spike couldn’t help but remember another time and place when he’d shared his steak and fries with her. Today she played it smart, considering the state of her stomach, and ordered soup and rolls.
“Right, so, Woody came down to visit with Isabella. What do we know about her?” Tiny asked.
Glad for his friend’s question—Spike was having a hard time taking his attention away from Reese—he took out his phone and pulled up the information Tex had sent. “She’s twenty-eight and has worked for the Colombian government for about a decade,” he said.
“She was young when she started,” Tiny observed.
Spike nodded in agreement. “I thought so too. But when we met her, she was extremely professional and competent, even though she was still pretty young at the time. She was raising her brother on her own, and her job allowed her to make fairly decent money in order to do so.”
“Woody said Angelo, her brother, was struggling. It was one of the reasons he said he was coming down here,” Reese added.