Bedded by Her Bodyguard(4)

He swept his arm to the side. “You are free to go.”

An exhale of relief shot from her lungs. “Thank you.”

“A mistake.”

Wait. That was their big whopping explanation for separating her from the only person in the country she knew for two hours, while bullying her into admitting something that wasn’t true?

When they released her from the tiny dark room, she blinked to adjust to the bright lighting in the main customs area. Isaac raced up and took her into his arms in a much-needed hug. He slid his hand along her stiff spine, his warmth easing her tension slightly.

Then he drew back to look down at her with an expression of regret. “We’ve run into a complication.”

She groaned. “What now?”

“Our luggage has been…misplaced.”

Dropping her forehead against the palm of her hand, she wondered if this trip would be nothing but one disaster after another. If this went badly, she knew Cade wouldn’t give her a second chance to represent their company. Not because Cade was a mean boss or hugely results-oriented, but because she wanted this to work. This offered her a wonderful opportunity to shine, to prove herself. So far, all she’d proven was her lack of grace under pressure.

“Dang it.” Her instincts had proven right. “I should’ve known better than to travel during Mercury Retrograde.”

“You should’ve…” Isaac shook his head as if to clear it. “Mercury what?”

“Mercury Retrograde.” She stared at him solemnly. “In astrology terms, four times a year the planet Mercury appears to spin backwards.” Her personal astrology had warned her about this problem. She’d thought, falsely, she might be immune to the planetary influence. But, as always, she’d been wrong to assume the planets couldn’t dictate her life. Time and time again, the stars aligned in ways that were uncanny. “See, Mercury is the planet of communication. It rules all things to do with communication, including travel plans, communications, computers, email, basically anything to do with making this sale going through.”

“Are you serious?”

As she looked up at him, she crinkled her nose. “Well, yeah, I’m serious. Look what’s happened so far? Absolutely everything the planet Mercury presides over has gone awry. That’s not a coincidence. Our flights were delayed. I got detained in customs. We lost our luggage. We’re late for our appointment with our contacts. What more proof do you need?”

“Um. Does it matter if you don’t believe?” Isaac wasn’t big on mysticism. He preferred the facts.

“Nope, it still hounds you. Like it has with us. You can’t escape the rotation of a planet, Isaac.”

If he’d wanted to laugh, her last comment stopped him. Hey, who was he to disagree with a planet’s rotation? He wasn’t an astronomer.

All he cared about was the sale.

If his partner in this deal doubted that they’d make the sale, then they would fail. It had nothing to do with a planet reversing orbit. It had everything to do with her own self-doubt, turning into a self-fulfilling prophesy. He’s seen this pattern play out time and time again with his salespeople over the years.

Although she was adorable when she got all worked up, the pink stain on her cheeks making her clear blue eyes pop. He’d never met anyone with eyes the exact color of a cloudless sky in summer. She even smelled like summertime, like a field of untouched wildflowers filled with daisies and lavender. Right now he wished they were surrounded by nature and nothing else. He would lay her down on a blanket hidden by tall grasses and taste her lips. Slide between her thighs. Make love to her for hours.

The image made him hot, made the blood flow heavy in his veins, in spite of the wind whipping around them as he guided her out onto the platform where their personal car was supposed to meet them. While he shouldn’t have been shocked, the weather this far north in St. Petersburg—whereas he’d grown up closer to Moscow—in mid-October the wind proved bracing coming in off the Baltic Sea. He looked up and down the row of vehicles without spotting the one that had come to retrieve them to a warmer sanctuary.

Cold rain sheeted against them. Under the shallow awning the airport provided, they received no shield from the driving rain. When he heard Mindy’s teeth chattering, he said, “Let’s meet the car halfway.”

The relief in her eyes silently thanked him. He cupped his arm around her waist and led her along the line of cars a brisk pace.

“How will we know which one is the right car?” she asked, her voice muted by the pouring rain.

“There’ll be a driver with a furious expression after we kept him waiting two hours.” When her eyes widened with concern, he winked. “Just kidding. I know the license plate. Hard to forget the name Markov.”