Free Day's End by Colleen Vanderlinden Page A

pulled me into his arms.
    “We have tomorrow night off,” he said quietly.
    “Theoretically.”
    He chuckled. “No, actually. I was wondering if you wanted to do something.”
    “Oh, I want to do something, Mr. Lucas,” I said, and he groaned.
    “I’m so glad to hear that, Ms. Faraday,” he said, nuzzling me. “I need to ask you something.”
    “Hm?”
    “I want you to meet my grandparents,” he said quietly. “I promised them I’d finally come home for a visit since I have tomorrow off. Will you come with me?”
    I turned around in his arms so I could look at his face. This was… well. This was a big deal. Ryan had his grandparents hidden from everyone, including StrikeForce. He was extremely protective of them, and most people didn’t even know they existed.
    “I mean, if you’d rather not, it’s okay,” he said quickly.
    “I’d love to meet them,” I said. “Are you sure, though?”
    He held me tighter. “You are the one thing in this world I’m completely sure of,” he said. “Now sleep. I’m keeping you up late tomorrow night.”
    “Promises, promises,” I said, smiling. I nuzzled his neck and fell asleep curled in his arms and thinking that for all its craziness, my life was really not half bad.

Chapter Four
     
    I spent most of the next day busy with Jenson, but also nervous as hell about meeting Ryan’s grandparents. I changed my outfit about seventy-four times and managed to poke myself in the eye putting my mascara on, but eventually it was time to go. The sun was just setting as I met Ryan on the flight deck. He looked too good, wearing dark gray pants and a black shirt that emphasized his broad shoulders in a way that made it almost impossible not to stare at him. I glanced down at myself, at the black skirt and heels I’d finally settled on, with Jenson’s help.
    I felt like a girly girl and the heels were too high. I was going to kill Jenson for this.
    “You look gorgeous. But you also look like you want to hurt somebody,” he said in greeting. He bent down and kissed me, a brief kiss that turned into more. When he pulled away, I nearly forgot what he’d said before the kiss.
    “Oh. I’m just not used to the heels and skirt thing,” I said.
    “I can wait if you want to change. I want you to be comfortable.”
    “Well. I want to look presentable,” I told him.
    “Jolene, you always look way more than presentable,” he said. He ran his hands firmly over my hips, and I shivered against him. He bent his head and kissed and gently nipped at the sensitive skin just below my left ear, and I shivered again. He let out a low laugh.
    “I love this. Nobody else ever sees this side of you,” he murmured.
    “Nobody else has ever made me feel the way you do,” I told him. Ryan kissed the side of my neck again.
    “Good,” he said, his lips grazing my ear before he pulled away. “Are we ready?”
    I nodded and climbed up the stairs to the mini jet, and Ryan got in, closing the door behind us.
    “There’s a place to park this near your grandparents’ house?” I asked as I strapped myself in.
    “Yep. Their place is in the country. Acreage. I tried to plan ahead a little when I moved them.”
    “Always thinking,” I said. He reached back and squeezed my bare knee briefly, and the second he withdrew his hand, I wanted him to touch me again.
    “I try,” he murmured. He went through his pre-flight check, and a couple of minutes later, we were in the air.
    “Are you sure about this?” I asked when we were about ten minutes into the trip.
    “They’ll love you,” Ryan said.
    “Not about that. I know you want to keep them protected and out of our craziness. I get that. You know I do. Are you sure—”
    “I trust you, Jolene.”
    “I know. But there was a flight plan or something, right? The plane has tracking on it —”
    “David disabled the tracking for me before you arrived on the flight deck. There was no flight plan. I trust David as much as I trust you, which