He smiled wide enough to show off his crooked left incisor, and the lines around his eyes deepened, which somehow only made him sexier to look at.
“Does Elka like her?” At the mention of her name, Elka pushed her head between the seats and let her tongue loll out in pure bliss when Nasa gave her a firm neck massage.
“Not even a little bit. I think she takes as much pleasure in making Cher flinch or jump by growling or snapping at her as I do.”
“That's because Elka is a badass, yeah? You made me flinch when we first met, yes you did.” At hearing that praise from him, said with such sincerity, Dillon was somewhat surprised her mammoth dog hadn't gone belly up for Nasa.
He rubbed her neck and dug at the exact spot Elka loved behind her right ear, which made her give doggie groans of ecstasy every time.
Nasa went on, not shying away from the affectionate swipe of Elka's tongue across his cheek.
“I'd be willing to bet a hefty chunk of change Cher feels the same way about you, Tiger Lily. You probably intimidate the fuck out of her, and I'm not ashamed to say I'd be pleased as punch for Cher to come up with all sorts of wild assumptions about you and me, and suffer the perpetual unanswered question of why I'm not into her.”
“So, it's not that you want to hold my hand, so much as make Cher feel insecure.” Dillon bit into her cheek, struggling to keep a straight face.
“Oh, I definitely want to hold your hand,” Nasa admitted with a big wolfish grin. “There's nothing but side benefits for me in this scenario, but I'm also hoping it'll make you feel a little steadier today.”
There was no attempt to hide his ulterior motive, which ruled out Dillon's suspicions that Nasa was manipulating her into holding his hand.
He would get something out of it, but he was also giving something in return, and it was much more than simply a hand to hold.
It felt important, and it felt big. Not his hand, but the intention behind it. At a loss now for words, Dillon agreed with a nod, and saw the honest, open flash of happiness that warmed his gaze.
“Good. That door opens to the rear hallway that runs the length of the building. We're going in and to the right, Elka can run ahead to lead the way if you'd prefer, but the security here is every bit as tight as at the compound, and I've got eyes everywhere.
"Well, almost everywhere. I tried to put cameras in the therapy rooms, but Teague and Collette both refused. So, wear this.”
This was a smart watch Nasa pulled from one of the many pockets inside his vest. He showed it to her, but didn't hand it over for her to put on.
He waited patiently for Dillon to extend her arm, and then clasped the cobalt blue band around her wrist.
“There's a GPS tag synced to my phone, so you won't be able to go more than a thousand feet away from me without the watch giving me an alert.
"There's a sensor that measures your pulse, and if it doesn't pick-up your heartbeat—say you were grabbed and someone forced you to take off the watch—an alarm is programed to go off.
“It also maps, so if by some miracle whoever grabbed you could get through both gates, I can track where you've been and hack whatever satellite is closest to find you.”
“You can hack a satellite?” Dillon asked incredulously, her body starting to relax with the assurance she was still safe. Nasa had taken steps to ensure it.
He chortled wickedly and shot her a wink. “If it has a computer, I can hack it. Can't stop the signal. Everything goes somewhere, and I go everywhere.”
“Mr. Universe,” Dillon said with a short laugh. “I get it now, but why Nasa? Surely that's not the name your parents gave you.”
Nasa shook his head and deliberately searched the area around them before unfolding himself out of the truck.
“It's not. Hang on. Let me get the door.”
His long legs had him around to her door in five strides, standing close enough to use his body as a shield, but not so close that she and Elka didn't have room to exit the vehicle.
As he set his big hand on her waist and gently guided her toward the building, he briefly glanced down at her before returning his attention to their surroundings.
“It says Viktor Magnussen on my driver's license, but I haven't been that person in over a decade.”
Nasa paused at the steel door and pressed his palm to what looked like a flat piece of metal. Once the machine recognized his hand print, he still had to input a ten-digit code to unlock the door.
A loud buzz and a heavy click sounded, and Nasa pulled the door open, poking his head past the threshold to look up and down the hallway before moving aside to let her enter.
Once the door shut, he curled his enormous hand around hers. It struck her as odd, having not held hands with a man in... way too long to recall how good it felt.
Nasa's palm was enormous, big enough to grip a basketball with no problem, but was the perfect size to curl around hers.
Just as he'd said, he turned right to walk down the nondescript hallway with only a door at either end of the long hall, and two more doors set close to one another in the center.
The signs painted on those two doors identified the men’s and women's locker rooms, which struck her as odd. The building was huge. How many patients did Dr. Thompson and Dr. White have?
It was a question Dillon put aside as Nasa continued the story of how he got his nickname.
“When I was filling out my paperwork to join on
