Jack (Eidolon Black Ops #8) - Maddie Wade Page 0,5

a turkey salad sandwich and grabbed some crisps, fruit, and a bottle of water before heading back to his office.

He was just tossing the core of the apple into the bin when the alert on his watch told him someone was at the gate. He glanced at the monitor and saw Astrid Lasson waiting for him to let her inside. It was tempting to make her wait, but the blasted woman would probably leave, and he’d have to chase her down.

He clicked the gate and continued to watch her as she walked through, making him wonder where her car was. She was tall and slim, with curves in all the right places. Her snug black jeans clung to her ass. Her biker boots and leather jacket should have made her look aggressive and unfeminine, but on her, it was the furthest thing from the truth.

She was sexy as hell with her blonde hair cascading down her back and her sexy smile that made him think of every sinful situation he could and how he could pry her secrets from her, and she had them. Her secrets were so deep it would take months, maybe even years, to find them all.

He knew some thanks to Will, but those weren’t the ones he wanted. He needed to know what made her tick, and that was dangerous because he had the feeling she’d want his secrets in return, and that wasn’t happening—ever.

Chapter Two

Astrid still couldn’t believe she’d said those things to Jack, but every time he was around, her mouth and other parts of her body went off on their own merry tangent. Which she had no control over if their conversation that morning was anything to go by.

A blush stole over her cheeks at the memory of what she’d been doing when Jack called. Instead of doing what an average person would do when she saw his number on her phone and ignore it, she’d hit answer and had literally been caught with her pants down.

Now he was watching her walk across the open area from the gate to the entrance where he was waiting with his arms crossed, looking typically pissed off. Astrid had no idea what it was about Jack that made her act the way she did. Just that when he was around, she constantly wanted to shock him and ruffle his feathers. Equally, she didn’t know why her presence, more than most, pissed him off.

“Jack, good to see you smiling as usual.”

A frown marred his handsome face, and she noticed the creases of tiredness around his eyes. A wave of sympathy rushed through her, and she buried it deep, not wanting to care for this man who seemed to dislike her so much. From their brief encounter earlier that year when he’d nearly kissed her in his office, she knew he desired her. He could hardly hide that thing in his pants.

“Don’t start, Astrid.”

“Fine, be a grump. You got any coffee?” She barged past him, not showing any of the hurt she felt over his constant dislike of her for no reason. His cologne wafted around her, and it took everything in her not to lean in and sniff him like a freak.

Eidolon was eerily quiet, and she found she missed the constant hum of noise that usually accompanied her on her visits to this base. She knew her way around and moved towards the kitchen, feeling Jack behind her, and added an extra sway to her hips.

Jack moved around her and made them both instant coffee. It would taste like shit compared to what she was usually treated to, thanks to Alex and his love of the dark java of heavenly goodness.

Taking her cup, she felt the air go static around her as their fingers brushed and her eyes shot to him to see if he’d noticed, but he was already walking away.

“Let’s go to the office and we can get this over with.”

Astrid rolled her eyes. “Way to make a girl feel wanted, Jack.”

He didn’t answer her but kept walking until he was seated behind his desk. “Take a seat, and I’ll go over the operational brief with you.”

Astrid slid into the seat opposite and crossed her long legs. She was tall for a woman at five feet eight inches, but around the men she worked with on occasion she felt tiny most of the time, which was a nice change. She got her height from her dad, but everything else was her mother. Her sister