Her Secret Service (Jane Roe 1) by Jason Letts (sites to read books for free TXT) 📗

through with the emergency landing. I hope you’re managing alright,” she said. He looked at her curiously while she wondered whether apologizing would’ve been appropriate or if it would’ve somehow gotten back to the Inspector General’s agents. She knew better than anyone how closely they were being watched and how people were listening in on every word that they said. She dared anyone on the detail to chastise her for expressing a little human sympathy after being on a plane where a bomb went off.

“Been better,” Alex said, shifting away from her and turning the pedals to move himself along. Jane lowered her eyes, realizing that now it was his turn to be terse and reserved. Of course he wasn’t doing great considering everything that had happened and everything on his shoulders, and it was ridiculous to think that she was entitled to hear about any of it. She was nothing to him and couldn’t fathom what was going on in his life. They were only near each other by complete happenstance.

As they continued on, the wind against her face and arms as she pushed her bike around the loop, Jane was surprised at what a big difference Alex’s tips made. She supposed subconsciously she’d often resisted going to lower gears out of the belief that they were a sign of weakness, but the next time up the hill she was going roughly the same pace she did before but without the crippling level of exertion.

That allowed her to attack the top of the hill and catch up to Alex on the back stretch without him needing to wait at all. When she pulled up alongside him, he glanced over at her and smiled. In a way it was exhilarating, wanting to do better and seeing her body respond with just a little more knowledge about how to do it. They cruised around a corner neck and neck, the springtime forest coming to life in new ways with each loop around. Robins this time and squirrels chasing each other that time.

But regardless of what gears she used, she found herself running out of steam in the last couple of laps. Even though her speed had to be dropping, she wasn’t ever that far behind Alex as she might’ve expected. If she didn’t know any better, she would’ve thought the president was aware that if he left her in the dust she’d end up getting replaced with someone else.

By the time they reached the end of the loop right around the two-hour mark, Jane’s entire body was tingling and the fatigue had gotten all the way down into her bones. Stiff and with her back aching, she awkwardly unclipped one of her shoes so that she could step onto the road, nearly falling in the process.

Alex looked like he was barely getting started. And unlike her, when he took his helmet off his dirty blond hair didn’t seem like a complete mess.

Jane squeezed the last drops out of the water bottle like she was in the middle of a desert. She watched the president prop his bike near a small unpainted wooden shed they’d been using to store them, wistfully thinking that in another minute she’d be hobbling off toward her car. Whatever else, at least she did a semi-decent job on the ride, even if they hadn’t been going nearly twenty-five miles an hour for most of it.

“Thanks for the ride,” she said, sensing when he turned in her direction he was about to say it to her. “And the tips.”

“You’re already a great rider and with a little more know-how I’d have trouble keeping up with you,” he said.

“Thanks,” Jane added as she set her bike in the shed so that Alex couldn’t see that she wasn’t fooled by his comment, which rung hollow. Despite the moment’s when she was feeling good, she wasn’t going to be setting any records on a bike. But they all lived through it, and that was what was important.

After taking a second to stretch her hamstring against the shed’s doorway, she was ready to give him the polite smile of a Secret Service agent before signing off. Dedan and Royer were already approaching through the woods in the distance, and the Beast was idling over on the road.

“So next weekend then,” he said. She didn’t look back at him.

“If I’m still here.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Jane’s eyes widened as she realized she’d blurted something out that was better kept in. At least in her current exhausted state she wasn’t making any sudden movements and could try to paper over it as she loped away.

“Nothing,” she said.

For a second she thought they’d concluded the conversation and her eyes drifted to the parking lot and her car down the ways, but the sounds of footsteps behind her made her stop. Alex was jogging to catch up to her, looking like he was ready to put in a triathlon after their two-hour ride.

“Hey, you’re not really leaving, are you? Back in school my riding club would always finish out Saturday morning rides with pancakes and waffles covered in maple syrup. They’re making it inside. Might as well be IHOP,” he said.

Jane had to admit she was taken aback at the offer, but she’d been working with the Secret Service more than long enough to know what the proper answer was.

“I really can’t, but I hope you enjoy them. It was a great ride on a beautiful morning,” she said.

About to turn away, she found that she couldn’t break his gaze as a furtive glance took to his face. He had one hand on his hip and was looking at her as if he couldn’t decide if she were real.

“There’s not a bone in your body that wants to come, is there? See, that’s what I’m talking about. I can’t tell you how refreshing it is to bump into someone who isn’t absurdly fawning.”

Jane squinted at him, gathering that the thing he felt he’d been talking about