She obviously knew something was up, so it wasn’t like he could stick with the façade of being a military consultant. And it was better than talking about her brother, so Jake took a deep breath and told her the truth.
“I own R.I.S.C. It’s a private security firm.”
“Risk,” she repeated the word as if she were seeing how it felt on her tongue.
“R-I-S-C,” Jake spelling out his company’s acronym for her.
She studied him for half a second before raising a brow. “You do realize ‘risk’ is spelled with a k, right?”
He narrowed his eyes, but grinned. “Yes, smartass. It stands for Rescue, Intel, Security, and Capture.”
Olivia thought for a moment. “Clever. So, you do things like this? Rescue people like me?”
“Sometimes.”
Jake waited for the lecture he knew was about to come. It was one that was fully deserved. He would have bet his team’s next paychecks that she was about to give him hell for lying to her all this time, but as usual, Olivia took him by complete surprise.
Looking mighty proud of herself, she spouted off, “So, I was right. All of those trips you’ve taken weren’t conferences or consultation jobs at all. They were so you could do this sort of thing, weren’t they?” Clearly a rhetorical question, she immediately followed it with, “I knew it.”
Jake felt his eyes widen as shock reverberated throughout his system. He remembered the wise crack she’d made earlier about his boring conferences, but didn’t think she truly suspected anything. How could she know?
“How could you—”
With an exaggerated roll of her eyes, Olivia interrupted him. “Give me a little credit, Jake. You didn’t actually think I bought the whole,” she deepened her voice, “‘I’m just a paper pusher for the military’ act, did you? Oh, wait. I’m sorry. You were supposed to be a consultant.” She threw in some finger quotations for added effect.
Jake would have busted up laughing if he wasn’t still reeling from the fact that Olivia was already aware of what he’d thought to be a major revelation. What surprised him just as much was that the only thing he saw behind those gorgeous, moonlit eyes was acceptance.
There was no anger or judgment. Not even disappointment. She truly was astonishing. And clearly waiting for him to tell her more about his job.
“Right. So...uh...we deal with hostage rescue, but we also do other things, like set up high-end security systems for a few companies and some private parties. We provide protection and gather important intel.”
He hesitated but decided to share it all. If they were ever going to have a chance at a serious relationship, Olivia needed to know what she’d be signing up for. “My team has also been hired to capture or, in some cases, eliminate the enemy.”
She didn’t cringe as he’d expected. Wasn’t looking at him with the horrified expression he’d always imagined she would when hearing that particular truth.
Instead, Olivia simply nodded with understanding and said, “Jobs that would normally get the government into trouble or cause a rift with other countries, that sort of thing?”
Damn, the woman always was quick. Jake smiled wide. “Exactly. We have a handler from Homeland Security. A lot of the jobs we take are contracted through him, but we also work in conjunction with state and local departments, as well as the FBI and CIA.” R.I.S.C. also had a solid relationship with the DPD, Texas Rangers, and the U.S. Marshals.
She thought for a moment. “So, you’re not actually part of the military or the government anymore?”
“No. I completed my time with the Army, then almost immediately started building the business. It’s something I’d wanted to do for a long time, so I saved every penny I could while still active duty. Don’t get me wrong, we did a lot of good in the military, but there were also times when our hands were tied. Too many things that needed to be done faster or should have been done differently, but because of red tape or bureaucratic bullshit, they didn’t go as well as they should have. By going private, the end-goal is still the same, but we’re able to bypass a lot of the crap and just go in and get the job done. With the government’s blessing.”
Olivia assessed him a moment. “You like what you do.” It was a statement, rather than a question.
“Yes.”
She looked away for a moment then back to him. “It’s dangerous.”
Another statement. Again, Jake didn’t hedge. She needed to know. “Sometimes, yes.”
“And Trevor’s part of your team?”
Jake grinned. “He is. He’s also pretty pissed at you, by the way.”
Olivia’s brows rose high. “Me? Why is he mad at me?”
“Because he’s your friend, and he thought he’d lost you, too.” Jake looked at her pointedly. “Not to mention, the whole, traipsing off to a dangerous country without so much as a heads-up first.”
She frowned in an adorable, almost pouty way. “I called you.”
It was his turn to do the eye-roll. “You left a voicemail right before you left. Not really what I’d call advanced notice, sweetheart.”
“Yeah, well it’s not my fault you were off somewhere playing Mission Impossible. But, go ahead,”—she held out her arms in a welcoming gesture—“let’s get the lecture over with.”
Jake laughed, “Nope. No lecture tonight. I’m putting that one in my back pocket and saving it for a rainy day.”
She rolled her eyes again. “Can’t wait.” Her next question took him a bit by surprise. “So, did Mikey know about R.I.S.C.?”
This time it was Jake who broke eye contact. He couldn’t look her in the eye and lie anymore. Staring out into the jungle’s darkness, he answered with another half-truth.
“Mike was...gone before I finished my time in the military. I wasn’t out of Delta until about five years ago.” He looked back up at her and gave her a half-smile. “We talked about it, though, me and Mike. During our first deployment, we’d already seen enough to know that, while the military is absolutely invaluable, we could help them out this
