Remember Jamie Baker (Jamie Baker #3)(40)
“That was before. I don’t even remember it.” I groaned and threw my head down onto the table, burying my face in my arms to hide my traitorous blushing cheeks.
Ryan’s arrogant voice rang out above the chuckles in the room. “I’m allowed to superkiss her. I’m her fiancé. The superkisses are mine. None of you better even think of trying it. Jamie, if any one of these guys comes anywhere near you, you be sure to zap ’em good.”
His voice was playful, but my annoyance still spiked. I snapped my head up and glared at Ryan. He was watching the group of men, trademark smirk in place, leaning back in his chair with his hands laced together behind his head, puffing up his chest rather obnoxiously.
“You—you—” The fact that I couldn’t get any words out only made me even more flustered. I took a deep breath. “You are not my fiancé. You agreed you’d try to be just friends.”
Ryan’s bright, laughing eyes slid sideways to meet mine. “Did I?” His grin widened to show all of his perfect teeth. “I guess you’re not the only one here with a sketchy memory, Sunshine.”
My jaw fell to the floor while every man in that room fell apart, roaring with laughter until they had tears in their eyes. “What do you say, babe?” Ryan asked over the ruckus. “Should we give them all a demonstration of just how hot the superkissing is?”
The lights above our head didn’t just flicker out; they pulsed blindingly bright until they each went out with a series of quiet pops. I had a feeling all of the lightbulbs in the room would need to be replaced. When Major Wilks entered the room demanding answers, the ACEs were all laughing so hard none of them could speak.
A set of emergency lights clicked on, lighting the briefing room once again. Major Wilks looked around and released an exhausted sigh as he rubbed at his temples. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what had happened. “Romeo, will you please try not to provoke her?”
“I’m sorry, sir. I honestly can’t help it. I missed her too much, and she makes it so easy.”
This set the team off again. The worst part was, I couldn’t even be mad at him. When I glared at him, his response was to pick up my hand and kiss it. He looked so happy that I couldn’t pull away. I let him kiss my hand, and then I cracked a smile when he laced our fingers together as if he intended to hold onto me through the rest of the meeting. His touch sent tingles shooting through my body, and I found myself suppressing a shudder.
“Are we all finished messing around?” Major Wilks asked as he took his place at the front of the room. His voice was stern, but there was amusement in his eyes that he couldn’t quite hide from us. “We have some serious business to discuss, and I need your heads in the game.”
We sobered up at the reminder, and it quickly became all business in the debriefing room. Ryan’s hand never let go of mine. He really was just going to hold it as long as I let him. He caught me looking down at our interlocked fingers and squeezed his grip lightly as he gave me another smile, this one having lost its cocky edge. He wasn’t teasing me anymore. He was simply a guy in love, happy to be holding his girl’s hand.
No matter what he claimed, Ryan Miller was incapable of toning down his feelings for me. He couldn’t do “just friends.” What scared me so much about that was how intensely each simple, honest display of affection thrilled me.
Dr. Haggerty, Blake, and Geek came into the room then, taking the last open seats at the table. Ryan’s posture turned rigid. He let go of my hand to put an arm around me in a protective gesture that made no sense. His accelerated heartbeat and grinding teeth were a bit baffling, too. What in the world had him so tense? “You okay?” I asked.
“Fine.”
He was lying. I followed his frightening glare across the room to Blake. Admittedly, the ex-Visticorp scientist that wanted to study me made me a little uncomfortable no matter how much Teddy had talked him up, but the hostility Ryan showed him was something else entirely. It reminded me of Tyson’s reaction to him as well. “There’s a story here that I’m missing.”
Ryan didn’t answer me. His glare was fixed on Major Wilks. “What’s he doing here?”
Major Wilks’s returning stare was stern but not angry. “We need his opinion, Ryan.”
It was the first time I’d heard the major use Ryan’s real name. This was serious. Blake cast a surreptitious glance my way, almost as if he couldn’t resist. When I met his gaze, he quickly looked away. I asked again. “What is going on here?” My voice became as hard as Ryan’s and the major’s. “What am I missing?”
Blake sighed, and Ryan began to shake with anger. “I’ll explain later.” He glared again at Blake. “Now isn’t the time for that story.”
“No,” Major Wilks agreed. “It isn’t. Right now, we have a plan to discuss. Angel, how committed are you to finding Donovan and getting your friend back?”
Committed enough that his question had me itching to unleash a lightning storm. “I’ll do whatever it takes.”
“I hope that’s true.” Major Wilks pinned me with a fierce gaze. “I have a plan that I believe will draw Donovan out, but you aren’t going to like it.”
Major Wilks paused, waiting for some sort of reaction from me because of his statement, but I refused to be intimidated. Teddy was captured because of me. Abiodun and Tyson’s friends were an innocent old woman and a little girl. There was no one else capable of fighting against Donovan’s superthugs. This responsibility was mine, and I had to get it done. I had to help them.