“How are you getting there?”
Roman paused. He respected his boss, but his personal business was just that. Personal. And he was off for the next few days so it wasn’t like this would interfere with his work schedule. Unless he was missing something here, Wyatt should have no reason to be asking about Taylor. “Respectfully, why do you want to know about Taylor?”
Wyatt let out a short sigh. “I’ve been trying to hire her away from Powers Group for years. Vadim’s assured me she’s innocent and I…I respected Hugh Powers. I just want to make sure Taylor’s all right.”
“More like you want to get a head start on the headhunting,” he said dryly. The words were out before he could censor himself. He liked and respected his boss a lot, but he was always very aware of their professional relationship. Unlike Jay, Wyatt’s right-hand man, Roman didn’t have that type of relaxed relationship with the billionaire where he always said what was on his mind.
To his surprise, Wyatt let out a sharp laugh. “You’re not totally wrong. She’d be a big asset to me if I could hire her, but Vadim asked me to help out.”
And Vadim never asked for anything. Wyatt didn’t say it, but Roman knew it was true and part of the man’s reasoning. Vadim was a fucking genius and someone Wyatt would never want to lose. “Fair enough. I’m driving her back. Shouldn’t take us more than five or six hours. And I’m taking her directly to the police station.”
“You can take the private jet. I’ll have Ellie set it up.”
“I thought Ellie was off.” Ellie was Wyatt’s assistant but Roman was sure she’d taken off work with her new husband, Jay. He had friends in town who hadn’t been able to make it to their wedding and Jay had wanted to show off his new wife. He hadn’t said the words but Roman knew Jay well.
“Damn it, I forgot. I’ll have her temp do it or I’ll just do it myself,” he grumbled and Roman figured he was counting down the seconds until the efficient blonde returned to work. “Just show up at the hangar when you can, I’ll make sure you’ve got a ride.” He disconnected before Roman could respond.
Not exactly surprising. When Wyatt was done talking, he was done talking and nothing else needed to be said.
The jet ride was a nice surprise, faster, and a whole lot more secure than him driving Taylor. He didn’t think she’d have an issue flying considering she’d mentioned taking her company’s jet, but he had a feeling she’d have an issue with him going. Not that it mattered, it was happening. Because he was making sure she made it to California safely and he wasn’t trusting her safety to anyone but himself.
Taylor was more than just an obligation. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t known her long, he found that he wanted to know every little thing about this woman. And he wasn’t letting her out of his sight.
Chapter 8
Taylor gratefully took the bottle of water the flight attendant gave her and tried not to wonder what Roman was doing at the front of the plane. The tall, slender woman was beautiful and looked runway ready even in her blue and white uniform. Her inky-black hair was pulled up into a complicated-looking chignon and her lips were a ruby red that made the woman look like freaking Snow White.
Meanwhile Taylor was wearing borrowed clothes that didn’t fit right, had no makeup on and was wearing her zombie heels. Okay, her heels were actually awesome and the only thing that made her feel better. But she felt like crap otherwise and the dull throbbing in her side wasn’t helping any. And she really didn’t like the flirty looks the flight attendant had been giving Roman when they’d first boarded. Even if she couldn’t blame the woman.
It wasn’t like Taylor had a claim on him and he didn’t even want to be with her so whatever. His brother had taken them to the airport so she’d mainly talked to him, basically ignoring Roman. She’d felt as if he wanted to talk more to her, but she just couldn’t deal with how he made her feel all manic. Shutting her eyes, she leaned back against the plush, leather seat and tried to relax even though it was impossible when she knew what was waiting for her at the end of the flight.
“What you heard me tell my brother was bullshit.” Roman’s voice startled her.
She hadn’t even heard him approach. Opening her eyes, she turned in her seat to find herself staring into his mismatched eyes and fought that increasingly familiar sensation of being swallowed up by the man just by looking at him. “Excuse me?” As soon as they’d boarded he’d headed up to the cockpit and she hadn’t seen him even during takeoff. It was clear he knew the pilot and co-pilot, probably from previous travel with his boss. A shockingly jealous part of her had wondered if he’d been on more than friendly terms previously with the flight attendant. Ugh, she didn’t like feeling like this.