before she headed to get ready for the day, his arm touching hers as they drove into Austin. He was driving her crazy, but she liked the anticipation.
“Ms. Romano,” a man called out as he fast-walked toward her.
She turned away from admiring Walker standing near a group of men, women, and children waiting for the zoo to open its doors to the man coming toward her.
“We need to change the time the food trucks will arrive because I was just informed the monkey demonstration will be starting at eleven.”
“It’s fine,” Gillian informed the harried man who’d been assigned to help her. She thought he was the company president’s assistant, but wasn’t sure. “Not everyone will want to see the monkeys, and there will be plenty of food for those who do.”
“If you’re sure…” the man said, his tone indicating that she was wrong.
“I’m sure,” Gillian said firmly. “If you can please go tell the employees at the ticket counter that we’re all ready out here and it’s two minutes past nine. It’s time for the doors to open.”
“Yes, ma’am,” the man told her, then hurried toward the main gate.
Taking a deep breath, Gillian tried to tell herself that she’d done all she could to make sure everything would go off without a hitch.
She felt an arm go around her waist and with one quick inhale, she knew it was Walker.
“Breathe, Di. It’s gonna be perfect.”
She chuckled. “You’re just saying that to calm me down.”
“Nope. You’ve done the work for weeks. Little things might go wrong, but no one’s going to care. They’re excited about seeing the animals and having a good time. They won’t even notice the little shit.”
“Thanks,” Gillian said, leaning into him for a brief moment. She was used to being on her own at these things. She occasionally might have assistants and people helping her, but ultimately, everything fell on her own shoulders, as it should since it was her business. But still, having Walker there supporting her made everything seem so much easier.
As the day progressed, and Gillian dealt with putting out small issues that kept popping up, she knew that no matter where she was, if she looked around, she’d see Walker. He was giving her space to work, but staying close. He’d brought her water several times, and around twelve-thirty, he’d made her take a short ten-minute break to wolf down one of the tacos he’d gotten from a food truck. Gillian usually skipped eating altogether at events like this, but couldn’t deny she felt a hell of a lot better after getting some calories in her.
Around two, when she was standing at the back of one of the auditoriums watching the president of the company give a short speech to his employees about how thankful and proud he was of his work family, Walker came up and bent down to whisper in her ear.
“Can we talk for a second?”
Surprised, she looked up at him. He looked somber and serious, and she knew immediately something was wrong. Nodding, she let him lead her out of the auditorium to a relatively quiet spot nearby. “What’s wrong?” she asked anxiously.
“I need to leave,” he said.
“Now?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“Is everything okay? Your friends? They’re all right?”
“They’re fine. It’s a mission. I need to go.”
A mission. They hadn’t talked much about his job, more because Gillian wasn’t sure what she was allowed to ask and what he was allowed to tell her, but now she was kicking herself. “Okay. When will you be back?”
A pained expression crossed his face. “I don’t know.”
“Can I ask where you’re going?”
Walker pressed his lips together and shook his head.
Well, shit. She’d known this time would come, and Gillian did her best to keep everything she was feeling off her face. She had to be strong about this. It wasn’t as if she didn’t know that Walker and his teammates did some pretty serious shit…look how she’d met him. And she’d known all along that he most likely wouldn’t be able to tell her where they were going. She just needed to suck it up.
Giving herself some time, Gillian went up on her tiptoes and hugged him, hiding her face in his shoulder.
His arms banded around her, and she thought he held onto her just a little tighter than usual.
She forced herself to relax her arms, but she kept hold of his shirt at his sides. “Be careful,” she whispered.
Walker looked down at her for a long time, his expression inscrutable.
“What?” she asked. “Say something.”
“You