would combust was a heady feeling.
They’d been staring at each other so long, Gillian suddenly felt embarrassed. “Um, come in,” she said, stepping back and gesturing to her apartment with her hand.
“Thanks,” Walker said, crowding her for just a second before passing her in the small foyer.
Telling herself to get a grip, Gillian tried to slow her heartbeat. She was giddy with excitement that Walker was actually here. That he’d tracked her down after all. Excuses to get out of her plans with her friends ran through her mind as she followed Walker deeper into her apartment. She tried to keep her eyes off his ass…without much luck. He filled out the back of his jeans just as well as he did the front.
She inhaled deeply to try to get control over herself and not jump on him, and his woodsy scent filled her nostrils. She didn’t remember anything about what he smelled like when she’d last seen him, but that was probably because she’d smelled like a fish head that had been sitting out in the sun rotting for a week or more. At the time, she couldn’t smell anything other than her own fear and sweat.
He stopped in front of the bar that separated her kitchen from the rest of the apartment and turned to face her. “You look great. Did I interrupt anything?”
Gillian was suddenly very glad she’d planned to go out with her friends that night. Otherwise she would’ve been wearing her fat pants—large, flowy cotton pants with an elastic waist—and no bra. Her hair would’ve been thrown up into a messy bun and she would’ve been mortified. At least now she looked her best.
“Thanks. And I was just heading out to a bar called The Funky Walrus to hang with my friends.”
Walker smiled, and Gillian had to lock her knees at the sight. Frowning and serious, he was good-looking. Smiling? He was lethal.
“The Funky Walrus?” Walker asked.
Gillian chuckled. “I know, the name is weird, but then again, a lot of Austin is weird, so it fits. It’s not a college bar, and most of the patrons are businessmen and women in their thirties and forties. It’s low-key and laid-back, and we try to get together at least once every few weeks to catch up.”
Walker nodded, and the ensuing silence between them stretched.
Gillian fidgeted. This was weird…and not at all how she’d imagined this meeting would go. She’d fantasized that she’d be witty and amusing, and Walker would tell her how he’d been thinking about her and he had to come see her.
Taking a deep breath, Gillian decided to make the first move. It seemed unlikely, but maybe Walker was nervous.
“I’m glad to see you.”
“We need to talk.”
They’d spoken at the same time, and Gillian flushed. Walker didn’t sound happy about needing to talk to her, and he certainly didn’t sound as if he were flirting, as she was trying to do with him. “Um…okay,” she stammered.
He ran a hand over his head and sighed, and Gillian steeled herself for whatever he was about to say.
“I stopped by because we’ve gotten intel that there was a seventh hijacker on the plane. Using the audio that you managed to record—that last time we talked, and you kept the phone line open when you handed the phone back—it was determined that a hijacker was posing as a passenger. Luis and another hijacker discussed him, but didn’t give us any clues as to who he might be.”
Gillian blinked—and she felt her heart drop into her stomach.
The only thing she could process was that Walker hadn’t come to ask her out, or to get to know her better. She’d been dreaming about him for three weeks, hoping against hope that the spark she’d felt between them hadn’t been one-sided. With his first sentence, he’d effectively crushed any hope that there might be more between them.
“Oh…” It was all she could say. Her throat was tight and it was hard to swallow.
“I wanted to warn you, let you know that you could be in danger. There’s no telling what this seventh person is thinking. We don’t know if he might want revenge for his friends dying, or if he might think you heard too much while you were onboard, or might be able to identify him.”
Gillian barely heard him. The disappointment and embarrassment she felt was overwhelming. She knew she should be more concerned that there was another hijacker out there, but her disappointment over the reason for Walker’s visit had