Welcome to the Dream (A Celeste Cross Book, #1) (25 page)

‘
Jack, if I did join Knight,’ she
asked, voice hesitant, ‘whose team would I join?’

‘
That'll be up to you and
Knight.’

Celeste was always brave when
she needed to be, so she didn't hesitate at clearing her throat. ‘I
want to be on your team.’ Though she sounded awkward, she didn't
care; she wasn't going to be embarrassed about stating her
feelings. ‘I don't know anyone else, plus, it's the least I can do
considering you keep on fixing the hot water cylinder.’

A slow, wry smile spread across
his lips. ‘I really don't think you should base your decision
purely on that fact. You can go anywhere in the world, join any
team you want—’

‘
I know that,’ she admitted
simply. ‘I don't know any other team; Gresham City isn't all that
far from where I used to live. I could drive back and visit my
parents on the weekend sometime, pop my head in and see my friends
too.’

It was such a weird feeling
planning the rest of her life like this, but now Celeste had
started, she couldn't stop. It was giving her back a modicum of
control.

Jack looked as if he wanted to
say it was early days, and that she shouldn't start organizing the
rest of her life yet, but he didn't stop smiling. ‘If that's what
you want, then you could move to Gresham City.’

He hadn't said he was sure
she could move; his promise had been a qualified one. She knew why.
It wasn't his decision – It rested with Knight. If they decided, it
was better to have her at Headquarters, posted at the main doorway
to scare off any Yaoguai who wandered their way, then presumably
that would be exactly where she would be posted.

Still, it was nice to
dream.

‘
But the rest of your team hate
me,’ she suddenly remembered, saying it out loud for Jack's
benefit.

‘
They don't hate
you . . . they're just a little confused. And
frankly, McDougall is your number one fan now. If you hadn't scared
that Yaoguai off, he'd be dead – and you saved the rest of us too.
The next time they see you, they'll be less standoffish. Still, it
will take them time to get to know you. They’ve all lost someone to
a Yaoguai attack, and they are all dedicated to this cause because
of it. They are also . . . .’ He scratched his
neck.

It took her a moment to realize
what he wanted to say. ‘Don't tell me, they are not used to dealing
with your average, geeky computer girl. They are all army, and we
won't have a lot in common?’

Jack gave an uncomfortable
chuckle, but then nodded. ‘Your world is different. And it might
take some time to get used to them.’

She leant back and crossed her
arms, her t-shirt bunching up around her shoulders. ‘Hey, I've
played first-person shooters. I know what it's like to be a
soldier.’ She waggled a finger at him.

‘
My mistake,’ he raised his hands
in surrender. ‘You must know exactly what it's like.’ He started to
laugh.

She joined in. Then they
both flagged – a very uncomfortable silence growing instead. For a
moment, Jack kept watching her, and then he shifted back in his
chair, the legs of it grating against the carpet

Celeste found herself
watching him very intently. He looked awkward. He glanced her way
only to look back at some patch of carpet right in front of his
boots.

She wriggled forward, sitting
back on the edge of the bed, needing to do something in the
uncomfortable silence. When she stopped fidgeting, her legs came to
rest barely a half-meter from his. ‘Thank you, Jack, for everything
you've done,’ she said quietly, words punctuated with a heavy
breath.

He didn't stop looking at
her, and nodded without shifting his eyes. He leant forward in his
chair.

Tingles escaped over
Celeste's back, cheeks and hands, and though she had no indication
he was interested in her, she found herself shifting
forward.

And . . . then
his phone rang. The noise startled her, and she shifted backwards,
legs twitching, her ankles banging against the metal legs of the
bed.

Jack breathed through his
tightly pressed teeth and plunged a hand into his pocket, pulling
out his phone. ‘Yes?’

Oh my god, I'm
actually cursed.
Celeste
finally realized, her lips falling open with surprise. Every single
time she'd settled into a real conversation with Jack, his bloody
phone had rung. Seriously.

After a short conversation, he
shook his head sharply and told whoever was on the line he'd be
there shortly. He terminated the call, rammed the phone back into
his pocket, and looked back at her from underneath his eyebrows,
expression a pained one. ‘I kinda . . . have to
go.’

‘
You must be a very busy man,’
she conceded.

He looked rather glum about her
admission. ‘See you around.’ He pushed to his feet, looking down at
her.

He was standing a mere half
meter from her side, close enough that she had to look up and tip
her chin backwards to see his face.

Though he was still standing
so close, she got to her own feet.

He didn't shift back,
despite the fact she was definitely standing within his personal
space.

‘
Well, I'll be here, watching
cake decorating programs,’ she stated, though that wasn't exactly
what she wanted to tell him.

‘
Cake decorating programs?’ he
asked, still not shifting backwards.

‘
You'd be really surprised at how
interesting they are,’ she said, knowing perfectly well she was
talking rubbish.

He was close enough to her
that all she would have to do was gently reach out her arm to touch
his.

His eyes were wide open,
gaze fixed on her, his lips gently parted, and just watching them
sent more tingles racing through her belly.

What are you
doing, Celeste?
She
thought to herself quickly.
There are things that you need to sort out right
now; your world is kind of going to hell in that proverbial hand
basket.

She didn't sit back down on
her bed, she didn't step aside into the room to give him more space
– she simply watched and waited.

Then his phone rang
again.

She was ready to slap a hand
on her head and cry out in frustration.

Jack let out a sharp sigh as he
grabbed his phone. ‘Yes, I know, I'm going to be there as soon as I
can,’ he said, voice curt. He hung up the phone, turned to her,
shook his head, and then nodded towards the door. ‘I'll see you
when I can.’

‘
Good luck,’ she said, unable to
think of anything else to say.

He gave a silent nod, and
then walked out. The door closed behind him, and once again she
heard the bolts slide into place as it locked.

She pursed her lips and
let a slow breath push past them.
He's interested in you, he has to
be
. She tried to
convince herself.
Or maybe he isn't, maybe you're reading it wrong.

Hey, hold on,
seriously, what am I thinking about? I'm about to join
Knight.
She thought
quickly.
I
have far greater priorities right now. I can't be distracted by Mr.
Jack West.

It took Celeste a while to
settle back down on her bed and get back to her flower-arranging
program. To be honest, she couldn't pay attention, no matter how
fancy the arrangements were.

There was a lot going on in
her head right now, a lot indeed.

Chapter 15

Jack West

He didn't want to bring her
into this world, but he no longer saw any other option. It wasn't
going to be his choice: the rest of Knight had made up their mind.
They couldn't pass up an opportunity like Celeste Cross. She was
the very first human a Yaoguai had ever been afraid of, and they
couldn't ignore that. They didn't have the luxury of passing over
any potential weapon in this deadly war, even if Jack wanted to
keep Celeste as far away from his world as he could. That option
was no longer available to him.

He took a deep breath, his lips
curling into a smile. Beyond his brief and tantalizing interaction
with Celeste in her room, there was nothing to smile about; there
was a lot to get organized. He needed to find someone to replace
McDougall until he recuperated . . . . Yet Jack
smiled again. She'd deliberately stood close enough to him that he
could have reached out a hand and brushed his fingers over her
cheek with just the slightest of movements.

The sensible, rational part
of his mind was telling him he had no time for a relationship, and
what with the possibility of Celeste joining Knight and maybe even
his team, he had to be careful – very careful. Yet no matter how
sensible he tried to be, no matter how he martialed his thoughts,
he couldn't shift that smile.

She was a pleasant
distraction. Jack had never been attracted to someone like Celeste
before. Yes, she had a great body, a fantastic personality, and was
a genuinely charming girl. However, it was more than that; it was
the sense of ease and calm she had. He wasn't usually attracted to
women as laid back as her, but for some reason with Celeste the
attraction was electric.

Jack usually liked his women
to be plucky, not overtly aggressive, but still determined enough
that they would get what they wanted. Celeste, on the other hand,
was calm to the point of being unflappable. She'd bounced back
quickly from whatever had happen to her, and seemed always to
maintain a fairly steady and even countenance. She certainly didn't
get fired up, and she lacked the passion he was used to in his
women. That didn't stop him from being attracted to her
though.

For about the
10
^th
time, he tried resolutely to
shift his focus onto the matter at hand and away from Celeste, but
it didn't work.

He was walking down the
corridor, intending to give a briefing to his team. They'd been
here far longer than he'd intended, and it was high time to head
back to Gresham City. Without McDougall, they had to find a
temporary replacement. Jack liked to keep his teams balanced. Every
single member had a specialty in some area, and they rarely
overlapped. McDougall had strength and expertise with every single
weapon you could imagine. Gustaf was a technology whiz. Ami was
fantastic when it came to scouting out information. Cindy had a
fireball personality and the kind of passion that would get any job
done through sheer force of will. She was also a fantastically
trained operative, and pretty handy with a gun.

No, don't do
it, don't think about Celeste.
He told himself sharply. Because that was where his thought
process was going, wasn't it? She was the easy-going freelance
programmer who kind of had the ability to scare the living
daylights out of any Yaoguai. Obviously when it came to missions,
she would be like liquid gold. There was no one more valuable than
her. She would prevent the Yaoguai from attacking anyone in her
vicinity, and there was the added bonus that they would run from
her wherever she walked. She could give Squire the advantage they
needed.

He finally reached the room,
opened the door, straightened up, and walked in.

Gustaf was slouching on a
chair, scratching his beard, and sipping a cup of coffee. Ami was
sitting straight and poised in her chair, hands clasped in her lap,
while Cindy was pacing the room, hands planted on her hips. They
all turned to look at him as he entered.

‘
When are we going back to
Gresham City?’ Cindy snapped immediately.

He shrugged, choosing to ignore
her tone. ‘When everything is sorted out here.’

‘
They don't need us to shepherd
her any more. They've already got security here. She's hardly a
risk to them. She's tiny. She doesn't look like she could win in a
fight against a pillow,’ Cindy snapped quickly.

Jack had to admit to himself
that he found the thought of Celeste in a pillow fight a little
more distracting than Cindy would have intended. He cleared his
throat and straightened up. ‘Listen to me, Cindy, we're here
because Knight wants us here. We go back to Gresham City when they
deem it strategic. I'm here to talk to you about who we're going to
bring in to replace McDougall. I talked to the doctors, and it
looks like he could be out for a month; apparently the guy was a
great deal more injured than he let on.’

Gustaf gave a resounding sigh,
placing a hand to his beard as he shook his head. ‘He owes me
money.’

‘
He's not dead,’ Jack clarified
quickly. ‘This is only going to be for a month. We've got a few
missions scheduled, and they're going to be delicate ones. That's
why I'm talking to you. We need someone to replace McDougall, and
I've got my eyes on a couple of people.’

Cindy looked calculating as
he spoke, and Jack couldn't help but wonder what she was thinking.
Cindy had made no effort to disguise her feelings for Celeste.
While everybody else had mellowed after Celeste had saved them from
the Yaoguai, Cindy had not. Cindy still believed that Celeste had
to be working for Shadow, and if not then she had some other
terrible secret.