Alex watched Jackie move toward the truck and the guy. And he kept watching as they walked off toward the building that housed her office, laughing and talking in animated tones.
“I thought you said she was a hard nut to crack,” Alex said to Gage.
Gage offered a smile that bordered on a smirk. “That’s Bradley,” he said, as if the name explained their relationship in a word. “He’s got her number—you know, science, data, saving the world. Little things like that.”
Bradley. With his looks, the guy could’ve carried off any name. But still, Bradley? His mother must’ve known he’d be a scientist.
Alex watched until they were inside the building. Maybe he was wasting his time. But just being around Jackie and helping with her work made him feel worthy in a way he’d never felt before, had never known he’d wanted to feel. He stared at the door to her office and gritted back the jealousy flaring in him. He had no right to be jealous.
Gage elbowed him but didn’t laugh. And that was even worse, the speculative narrowing of Gage’s eyes without the man’s natural humor behind it. Alex couldn’t come out and say he wasn’t jealous, because then it would sound like he was jealous. And jealousy had never been part of his game plan.