He’d told her he would only call if it was important, so he ignored the impulse to text her to say hello. What kind of stupid idea was that, anyway?
You lonely, man? Tough shit.
He was used to being alone. Yes, he’d had his share of lovers, but nothing that had lasted. He’d never managed to go the distance with a woman. He’d told Jenna that his work was to blame. Truth was, he had trouble getting close to people and dealing with the messy complexity of relationships. The women he’d been with had wanted him to open up, but he didn’t know how. Or maybe he just hated being vulnerable.
An image of Jenna’s face, her cheeks flushing pink, flashed through his mind.
Damn.Yeah.
She was pretty—clear skin, bright green eyes, long dark lashes. When she’d blushed, he’d felt it down to his balls.
“It’s not personal,” she’d said.
But the color in her cheeks had said otherwise.
He caught himself, shook his head at his stupidity.
What the hell was wrong with him?
You’re attracted to her.
Yeah, okay. So what if he was? He was as human as the next man.
And you wouldn’t mind being the next man, would you?
That wasn’t going to happen. He left his dick in his pants when he was working. Even if he was willing to break that rule, which he wasn’t, Jenna was Jimmy’s little sister. He owed the man his life. He couldn’t repay that debt by getting Jenna naked. Fucking her would be a serious violation of the Man Code.
Before he could start trying to imagine what she might look like beneath all those layers of loose clothing, he walked to his Land Cruiser, which he had parked near the gate, and started unloading halal MREs. He’d just set the first box on the ground when his satellite phone buzzed. He pulled the phone out of his coat. It was nine in the morning in D.C. Corbray was probably calling to—
Senator Hamilton.
Fuck.
“Tower here.”
“I spoke to your partner this morning. He says you haven’t yet managed to convince Jenna to come home and that you’re planning to leave soon.”
Yeah, the man was pissed.
“She refuses to leave before she has completed her contract, and I can’t stay here for eighteen months. I can find someone—”
“I thought I made it clear that I want you either to bring her back or to stay and watch over her yourself.”
“I never agreed to stay here for eighteen months. I suggest you read the contract.”
The bastard spent the next minute yelling into his phone until Derek was tempted to hang up on him. Hadn’t he watched Jimmy deal with this same bullshit? Hamilton had tried to procure an honorable discharge for Jimmy while he was in basic training and had spent no small amount of time shouting in Jimmy’s ear just like this.
“Senator Hamilton!” Derek put a hard edge on his voice. “You can’t intimidate me. If you don’tshut up, I’m going to end this call.”
“You wouldn’t—”
“Try me.” Derek took advantage of the silence. “I’ve investigated the security team here. I’ve also installed cameras in various positions to give hospital security a bit of advanced warning if—”
“It’s not ‘if,’ Tower. It’s ‘when.’ It’s only a matter of time, and you know it!”
The man was paranoid. There were NGOs all over the country. Though there were occasional attacks, most of the aid workers who came to Afghanistan went home in one piece. He started to say this, but the senator cut him off.
“I warned James not to join the army. I told him he had a different purpose in life, but he didn’t listen. He died over there without ever having lived up to his potential, and now Jenna—”