Hidden Impact (Safeguard #1)(40)
She had her eyes on the floor light indicator, watching the slow progression upward. “Sometimes. There’s usually a marathon of one series or another going on and I like to watch while I’m experimenting with recipes in my free time.”
The elevator finally came to a stop and the doors opened to an atrium of polished dark marble. No insignia marked the floor or walls. As they crossed to a set of glass doors, only a small removable plaque marked the office space as Centurion Corporation. “You messing with ingredients for your business or for home?”
It was fun to watch her in a kitchen. Always in motion, taking charge with a confidence he found irresistible.
The receptionist inside had seen them coming and the magnetic lock disengaged with an audible click. He reached out and pulled open the glass door, motioning for Maylin to precede him.
She answered as she walked by, her tone calm and still conversational. “I look for new recipes to add to my themed menus, but they’re usually made to serve a small dinner party. Scaling up to catering for between fifty to a few hundred isn’t always simple math. There’s practicality in food prep to be considered and approaches to presentation. Plus, deciding whether it can sit out as long as it would need to for a buffet. And every once in a while, kitchen chemistry can be unexpectedly exciting.”
He snorted as they approached the reception desk. “You make it sound like pots explode.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught her shrug. “Not saying they don’t once in a while. There’s also the occasional fireball.”
Huh.
“Hey, Diaz.” The young man at reception looked to be about sixteen. In reality, he was in his midtwenties and had been deployed with the Air Force as an officer once before deciding to move to the private sector. Caleb was doing his training with corporate before coming out to the Seattle branch to train with his new squadron. Officer training in the military had given him polish, the Centurion Corporation would give him seasoning. “We’ve been expecting you. Just need your associate to present a valid photo ID and sign in.”
Maylin gave Caleb a smile as she pulled out her real driver’s license. From over her shoulder, Gabe gave Caleb a warning glance as he caught the kid trying to get a better angle as Maylin leaned forward to sign on the electronic signature pad. Seriously, it was both attractive and infuriating the way she was unconsciously tempting. At least Gabe had confirmation her effect wasn’t exclusively on him.
Caleb snorted as he assembled and handed her a plastic visitor badge with a label affixed to it displaying her name and identifying Gabe as her escort, all business now. “Here you go. Wear this someplace visible at all times. It’s only good for the day. Red hatch marks come up on it after eight hours.”
His ability to do his job and remain unintimidated by the older Centurions without insulting anyone was part of the reason he had a good future with them. He knew his stuff, got along with everyone, accepted each of them with their relatively dangerous quirks. Good man.
Maylin nodded. “Got it.”
“You don’t seem surprised.” Gabe guided her beyond reception and down a hallway past a standard grey cube farm.
She clipped the badge to her shirt. “I’ve done catering for corporate luncheons. Badges are pretty standard. Some of them have an expiration date and some of them have this sort of visual thing to show the badge isn’t good anymore. Had these kinds of badges before but wasn’t expecting this level of formality in an organization like yours.”
“We do business with all levels of corporations and government.” Gabe led her to a small conference room at the back corner. The entire wall was glass, so anyone could easily see in, but it had a white noise generator and the exterior window was thermo-glass. Normal in appearance, but a secure place to put her for the time being. “Can you wait here? I’m going to report in and probably bring someone to come talk to you. Caleb will probably stop by in a minute to see if you need water or anything. Restroom is right next door.”
“Okay.” Maylin took a seat. She didn’t appear completely serene, but she wasn’t freaked out either.
Not bad considering he’d only told her they were coming to corporate to regroup and consider next steps. Not nearly as much information as she deserved, but he didn’t want to promise anything until he’d confirmed he had the go-ahead. She was putting a lot of trust in him so he hadn’t wanted to give her empty promises. He turned to leave and paused.
Ah, hell.
She looked up, eyes wide in surprise when he returned to her. He brushed a stray hair from her cheek. “You’re safe here. I want to be sure you know.”
She swallowed, her shoulders relaxing a fraction. “Okay.”
Her run-in with Jewel had hit Maylin harder than she let on. For all that her expressions gave away her surface emotions: confusion, surprise, anger—he really shouldn’t enjoy anger as much as he did—she was incredibly good at hiding her worries and insecurities.
He was going to need to see to it that he took those into consideration. Might have been easier for the other people in her life to just assume she could handle all the things, but he refused to leave her struggling. Recent intimacies notwithstanding, he found himself wanting to see her smile real smiles more often.
It was good for her to be wary of Jewel—there was no doubt which of them would come out on top in a fight. Jewel had the training and experience behind her to best most women and many men in hand to hand. But he needed to do something to reassure Maylin about what was between them, that he and Jewel were done. That might take a while. For the time being, he could address Maylin’s anxieties about what players were in the mix when it came to the kidnapping.