inside air was fresh and clean. There was a flat-screen TV in the living room and a phone on the desk by the window.
“There’s Wi-Fi,” she told him. “And we also have laundry service. Just phone the front desk, and someone will come get your laundry and deliver it when it’s done. No room service. But we do have a dining room, and we serve breakfast, lunch and dinner.” She pointed to the desk and said, “A list of our amenities is on the desk, along with a TV guide and how to access our Wi-Fi. Oh, we also have a lounge, nothing special, just a place where you can kick back, have a drink and listen to the jukebox.”
Jake stood still and watched her as she walked around the cabin pointing things out. He wondered if he made her nervous, or if all that pent-up energy he sensed coming off her was normal for her. “Mina,” he said softly, “I want you to know I’m not a stalker or anything.”
She looked startled for a second, but quickly replaced that expression with a slow smile. Her dark-brown eyes met his. “I’m not going to lie and say the possibility hadn’t crossed my mind,” she stated honestly. “You’re still a mystery to me. But, rest assured, I’m more than capable of taking care of myself.” She cocked her head, continuing to smile at him. “Okay, you’re not a stalker. What are you?”
“I’m a man who’s very interested in getting to know you better,” Jake said. “I like you, Mina Gaines.”
“That might be because I pulled you out of a downed plane,” she said with a grin.
“It might be,” he admitted. “Then again, it might not.” He crossed the room to her. As he got closer to her, Mina’s body responded to his nearness. She felt a magnetic pull toward him. Even though she still hadn’t fully tossed out the idea that he was a criminal.
He reached up and gently touched her cheek. “I’m here because when we were in the mountains, I looked into your eyes and I recognized a kindred spirit. We’re both lonely, aren’t we, Mina?”
Mina grasped the hand that touched her cheek and squeezed it. Her emotions were so intense at that moment, her heart so full, that she didn’t dare speak for fear something ridiculously sentimental would come out. How could he know how alone she felt without Keith? How desperately she wished she could go back three years in the past and change the outcome of that momentous day that had ended with him gone forever.
No, she couldn’t say any of that to a man she’d known barely seventy-two hours. A man she was physically attracted to—but she wasn’t yet sure what kind of man he was.
So she smiled at him and said, “I’d better get back to work.”
She let his hand drop and made for the door. “You can come to the front desk and sign in at your leisure,” she said in parting.
“All right, I’ll do that,” he said, smiling.
Mina felt his eyes on her as she left, but she didn’t turn back around. That would have encouraged him further.
* * *
Mina was kept busy around the lodge the rest of the day. She did a little bit of everything, filling in when an employee failed to show up for work, doing minor repair jobs, even helping out in the kitchen.
She glimpsed Jake a couple of times during the course of the day. Once she spotted May Crowe, the young Cherokee woman who worked at the front desk, flirting outrageously with him. Jake had looked up and seen Mina, and given her a friendly wave as she passed through the lobby with a cart full of clean linen.
She’d seen him once more, in the dining room when she was helping to serve the meals. He was eating alone with his laptop open on the table. Many of the guests were either texting, talking on their cell phones or, like Jake, working on their computers while enjoying a meal.
Mina sighed as she headed back to the kitchen after serving a couple from Charleston, South Carolina, who were celebrating their fortieth wedding anniversary. Everyone was in their own world.
* * *
Jake surreptitiously watched Mina out of the corner of his eye. He wondered what he’d said to make her run away from him this morning. Admitted that he was lonely and he’d recognized the same thing in her? Had he been too presumptuous?
He’d enjoyed the sirloin steak, baked potato and garden vegetables, and now he was checking his emails. He would much rather be somewhere with Ms. Gaines. In his profession it was sometimes hard to maintain personal relationships. He could be on assignment for months, during which he would not be in contact with a significant other. Not many women would put up with that kind of life.
He had been lucky once. Her name was Jamesa, but everybody called her Jami. They were married fresh out of college. She was a brilliant attorney, and it was his intention to work his way up to Special Agent in Charge in the DEA. They wanted children but agreed to wait five years before starting a family. He regretted that decision today, because they never made it to their fifth anniversary. Jami was killed in a car accident in their fourth year. It was Christmastime, and she was driving up to New York to be with her family. He was going to join her later. The police report said she was driving across the Brooklyn Bridge when she had to brake suddenly, hit an ice patch and spun out of control.
After Jami’s death, Jake’s only salvation had been work. He’d asked for the toughest assignments. He’d gotten his first undercover operation and helped bring down a Colombian drug lord. The Betts case was his second time undercover. But now, after more than five years without Jami, he was seriously craving a real life again. He wanted to be in love and go home to the same woman every night. He wanted the happiness that adoring someone more than life itself brought. Was he lonely? Damn right, he was lonely as hell.
That night he sat on the porch of the cabin where he was staying and looked up at the night sky. Out here, where there were no streetlights, it seemed the sky was somehow bigger than in the city. Tonight the velvety black canopy was graced by a huge yellow moon. Next to its illumination the stars faded into the background. The temperature had dropped a good ten degrees since sundown, and he felt the bite but was too transfixed by the sky to worry about a jacket.
“Had a nice day?” Mina asked as she strolled up. Earlier he’d seen her going into a cabin that sat several yards behind his and figured she must live there.
“One of the best days I’ve had in a long time,” he told her truthfully. He rose and offered her his hand as she climbed the steps to the porch.
His nostrils flared at the feminine scent of her skin. She smelled freshly showered, and a faint, clean flowery aroma wafted from her. This was also the first time he’d ever seen her in a dress. She had killer legs.
After she was seated in the chair beside his, she took a deep breath and said, “I’ve been thinking about what you said about both of us being lonely, and I think I ought to tell you, just so you’ll know—yes, I’m lonely. But it’s because I’m mourning someone. I was engaged to him when he was killed in action three years ago. Since then I haven’t dated anyone and, frankly, I think I’ve forgotten how the process works.”
For a moment or two, Jake was too stunned that she would open up to him like this to say anything. His heart went out to her. He felt her pain because he’d been exactly where she was. In some ways, he was still there. He didn’t think he would ever stop mourning the loss of Jami. But after five years he had learned to compartmentalize. Jami resided in a corner of his heart reserved only for her. And getting on with day-to-day living took precedence, because it was how he survived. He knew Jami wouldn’t want him to fall apart because she was gone. She would want him to get as much out of life as he possibly could.
He reached out and grasped Mina’s hand in his. “I know we’ve just met, Mina, but the dramatic way we met makes me feel as if we’re already friends. Do you know what I mean?”
Mina smiled at him. “As if we’ve gotten the preliminaries out of the way,” she said softly.
Jake was nodding his agreement. “Yes, so maybe you would feel comfortable