TRIGGERED: A Romantic Suspense Bundle (5 Books)

by Evie Nichole

  Chapter 18

  Jack drove circles around the city until he was sure we weren’t being followed. Then, we stopped at small house in a not so great part of town. Jack locked me in while he ran in and grabbed two large dogs. When he came back, he let them into the backseat and gave them a command to lie down, which they immediately did. After licking my face a couple dozen times.

  “Who are these handsome pups?” I turned to rub their heads, instantly happier.

  Jack backed out of the driveway and then started driving in circles again. “The white one is Grumpy and the gray one is Happy.”

  I glanced up at him and laughed. “You named your dogs Grumpy and Happy?”

  He grinned. “No, the shelter did. They’re from the same litter of seven from a mom named Snow, hence the names. They were the last two left and no one wanted them. White Great Danes can have health problems, so people were skeptical of him. Then Happy was just… He was not a cute puppy. He had a skin thing that took forever to get rid of. My little sister found out about them and decided to get them for me for my birthday.”

  I stroked their velvet fur and sighed. “They’re beautiful.”

  “You like dogs?”

  I nodded. “There was a stray at the clubhouse that I took care of. The brothers were assholes to it, but I kept it away from them.”

  “What happened to it?”

  My stomach soured and I turned back around in my seat. “Snake killed it. He said one bitch was enough to feed and take care of.”

  Jack reached over and cupped the back of my neck. “One more thing to add to the list of things he deserves to suffer for.”

  “So, where’s this apartment?” I didn’t want to think about Snake anymore in that moment.

  “Downtown Memphis. It’s a few streets over from Beale Street, with a pretty view of the Mississippi. I haven’t been there in a while, but it’s safe. There’s security and keycard access only to the penthouse. We’ll be safe there.”

  I pressed my head against the window and sighed. My breath created a bubble of fog on the glass and I absently drew a heart in it. “I’m not sure anywhere is safe.”

  “You’re safe with me. And if I’m not good enough, you’ve got the boys. They’re vicious.”

  I glanced back at them and laughed. They were both already asleep, on their backs. They were so large that they had to be tangled around each other in the back seat. “Looks like they could really do some damage.”

  “Don’t let their goofy looks mislead you. They’re killers.”

  “Where were they earlier, when Snake attacked Brent’s place?”

  Jack looked over at me. “Asleep. They’re hard sleepers. I had Benson come and get them. His little sister stays with him and she loves them. They stay with her when I have to go out of town or take on a dangerous assignment.”

  “Killers, eh?”

  He laughed and pulled into a parking garage and parked in the middle of a cluster of cars. “Don’t get out yet.”

  I waited as he got out and walked around the garage. Only after he’d checked out the place, did he come back to my side and open my door. I tried to grab my bag but he took it and easily slung it over his shoulder.

  “Did breaking up with your fiancée make you more chivalrous, or am I just seeing things?”

  He rolled his eyes. “You think you’re so funny. Come on.”

  He opened the back door and woke Happy and Grumpy up. They lumbered from the car and walked beside us, without leashes.

  “Is that safe?”

  “I don’t do it a lot, but I didn’t have time to get their leashes. They’re okay, though. They’ve had some pretty intense training.” He scratched their heads. “Under this goofy exterior, they’re highly trained machines.”

  I watched as Grumpy burped and looked surprised by it. “Uh huh.”

  I followed him inside the large building and then into an elevator, where he swiped a card. The climb to the top made me feel slightly like throwing up. I braced myself on the rail behind me and blew out a shaky breath. “I’m not sure I’ve ever been this high.”

  He moved closer. “You’re okay.”

  The elevator continued to climb and I continued to grow more unsteady. “This can’t be safe, right? How high is this? Are we swaying? What if a storm comes up?”

  Jack pulled me into his chest and held me. “It’s safe. I wouldn’t bring you somewhere that wasn’t. It’ll take some getting used to, but you’ll be okay once we get out of the moving elevator.”

  I didn’t fully believe him. Nothing felt right about being up that high. I didn’t want to appear weaker than I already did, so I just bit my tongue and held onto his shirt.

  Once we were in the apartment, I felt slightly better. If I didn’t go near the windows, I could pretend that we were only a floor or so above the ground. The dogs had no problem getting comfortable. They went straight to the couches and curled up across from each other.

  Jack carried my bag into a bedroom and put it at the foot of the bed. “Do you need anything?”

  I shook my head and tried to move past him to get into bed but he caught my arm. I looked up at him and saw heat in his eyes. “What are you doing?”

  He tugged me into his chest and lowered his mouth to mine. “Getting a moment alone with you.”

  I couldn’t help but kiss him back. My body craved his. “You had a moment alone with me last night.”

  “You were sad.”

  “I’m sad now.”

  “You’re less sad now.” He unbundled my hair and let it fall down. “Just say the word and I’ll go to my own room.”

  I didn’t want to say the word. I wanted him to stay with me. Something about him called to me. I had to be sure that he wasn’t with Stacey, though, and just lying to me. “What happened with Stacey?”

  He sighed and took a step back. “You’re sure we can’t have this conversation after?”

  I climbed into the bed and pulled one of the many fluffy pillows onto my lap. “I’m sure.”

  “I ended it. It wasn’t a real relationship, but I’d been content just letting it happen for a while now. I didn’t have a reason to call it off before you.”

  My stomach did a funny little flutter, but I ignored it. “Why wasn’t it real?”

  “I do business with Stacey’s dad. He introduced me to his daughter and made a big deal about us going out. One thing led to another. It got out of hand. Stacey is a nice girl, but she’s not what I want. She also has a thing for her father’s partner. Much older man with even more money than my family could ever dream of having. She was pissed that I called the relationship off, but she’ll be fine. I heard Andrew has a thing for her, too.”

  “Why did you propose?”

  Jack moved my bag to the bench at the end of the bed and headed toward the connected bathroom. “What are you supposed to do when you’ve been dating the same woman for two years? I just followed protocol. Stacey let me know that it was time, so I did it. We both knew it wasn’t real. She was unhappy, as it was, because I wasn’t keeping up appearances. People at her country club were starting to notice that our once a week dinner had become once every few months dinner.”

  He stopped at the doorway and pulled his shirt over his head. “It was coming to an end, anyway, Red. Your walking into my life just helped me realize that I don’t want to pretend anymore. I’m sorry I didn’t do things in the right order, but I can’t seem to help myself when you’re around. I’m going to shower. You can join me, if you’d like.”

  I watched as he moved away and blinked a few times. Jack without a shirt… I clamped my mouth shut and fell back into the mountain of pillows, feeling like I’d somehow been thoroughly seduced in a conversation about his fiancée. How the hell did that work?

  My body wanted Jack. It remembered the devastating nights I spent under Snake, squeezing my eyes shut and picturing a different lover. It remembered the lonely nights in my apartment, the nights I’d let myself imagine I had a different
life. A life with a man like Jack.

  I sat up and blew out a rough breath. I wasn’t living a different life, but I was visiting Jack’s world. It would end eventually, but for the time being, I could let myself experience what it would be like to be with a man like Jack.

  In all honesty, I didn’t even know for sure that I was going to make it away from Snake alive. There was no way I wanted to die with Snake being the last man in me.

  I stood up and rushed to the bathroom. Jack stood under the spray of the rainfall showerhead, naked and hard. I bit my lip and watched as he braced his hands on the wall in front of him and let the water pour over his head and face.

  Everything about the man put my dreams to shame. He was solid and strong, every inch of him. His skin was marked in places with scars, but he was hotter for it. Tan and silky looking under the water, his back called to me.

  I lost any cool I had and pressed my body against his back. My clothes soaked through immediately, but I didn’t care. I wrapped my arms around his waist and pressed my lips to the center of his back. His skin was hot to the touch and felt smooth under my kiss.

  “You’re sure about this, Red?” Even as he spoke, his hands moved to mine and pressed them even more firmly into his stomach.

  “Yes.” I moved my hands up his stomach and over his chest, feeling his muscles tense and release as my fingers passed by.

  Jack met my touch with a barely audible gasp. He reached for me, but I wasn’t ready for that yet. I caught his hand and moved it back toward the shower wall. I wanted to touch and feel. I knew there was a possibility that it was the last time I ever experienced anything like the desire I felt with Jack. I wanted to fully experience it.

  I stroked my hands over his chest, feeling his nipples pebble under my touch, and then down his sides. His body was a playground of dips and rises and I wanted to find them all.

  “Red.”

  I pressed kisses into his back while running my hands up his back and across his shoulders. “What is it?”

  “I need you. Now.”

  Chapter 19

  I smiled into his back, glad to know that he was just as affected as I was. “I want to enjoy this. I want to take my time experiencing you.”

  He caught my arm and pulled me around his body so that I was between him and the wall. He looked down at my soaked clothes and groaned. “You have all the time in the world. Tonight, tomorrow, however long you want.”

  I pressed my body into his and tipped my head forward, into the water. I ran my tongue over his collarbone and tasted him. “I have a confession to make.”

  Jack caged me in with his arms on either side of me. He lowered his mouth and pressed it against my ear. “Tell me.”

  “I thought about you after that day in Jackson.”

  He lifted his head and met my eyes. “You thought of me?”

  I ran my hand down his chest and stopped just before I touched him. “I imagined what this would be like.”

  “How was it?”

  I met his eyes and brushed just my knuckles over the top of his shaft. “Smaller.”

  He laughed and hooked his hands under my shirt. He peeled the wet material from my body and tossed it out of the shower. His eyes trailed down my naked upper body and he moaned. “Jesus, you’re beautiful.”

  My cheeks heated and I looked away. My body wasn’t a secret, by any means, but having him see it and tell me that I was beautiful warmed me. I was embarrassed by how much it meant to me.

  He dropped to his knees in front of me and pressed his mouth to my stomach. “Absolutely perfect.”

  I gasped as he dipped his tongue into my navel and braced myself on his shoulders. Having a man as strong as Jack kneeling in front of me was surreal.

  With ease, he slipped his hands into my pants and pushed them down. “Lift your foot, baby.”

  I did and he helped me step out of them. Then, I was just as bare as he was. He looked up at me and zeroed in on my mouth when I licked my dry lips. I pulled my lower lip in my mouth and bit down on it, feeling slightly nervous.

  Jack cupped my ass in his hands and kissed the front of each of my thighs. His stubble tickled but then his teeth lightly scraped over my sensitive skin and my giggle died on my tongue. Slowly and softly, he moved his mouth to my core and devoured me there.

  I cried out and pressed my shoulders against the shower wall. I dug my fingers into his shoulders, needing him to slow down, but speed up all at the same time. I’d never experienced what he was doing and my brain wanted to overthink it, but it just couldn’t. My body was in charge. Jack was in charge.

  He moaned into me and continued to taste me. His hands moved, touching me everywhere. My breasts were his favorite. He lingered there as he pushed me closer and closer to my first orgasm given to me by a partner. He had no clue what he was doing to me.

  Above him, I was crumbling. Looking down at him, his face buried between my thighs, I started to fall into a million hot little pieces. When he opened his eyes and met mine, I was lost. I came apart. My body tightened and pulsed, greedily taking what he was giving me. I fisted my hands and my legs have out.

  Jack pulled back and caught me. He moved up my body and lifted me into his arms. While I was still reeling from the strongest orgasm I could ever remember having, he gently pushed into me. He kissed my eyes, taking away the tears that had come from what he was doing to me.

  I wrapped my legs around his waist, clinging to him. “Jack…”

  He kissed me, taking my mouth in a hot kiss. He held me against the shower wall and started a rhythm that drew out my orgasm. Little wisps of that blinding pleasure stayed with me as he moved in and out of my body, slowly at first and then more urgently.

  I wrapped my arms around his neck and let my fingers rake over his scalp. I sucked his bottom lip into my mouth and stroked it with my tongue before releasing it and kissing him again.

  We moved together, kissing and feeling each other until I felt the tingling start at my center again. I gasped into Jack’s kiss and let my head fall back. “I’m close.”

  He kissed down my throat and flicked his tongue into the hollow at the base. “Let go.”

  He nipped at my throat and it pushed me over the edge. I dug my feet into his back and arched into his body. Pulses of pleasure washed over me and then I felt Jack’s release. He growled into my neck as he came, his grip bruising. I cried out his name, feeling desperate to touch him even more in that moment.

  He wrapped his arms around me and held me as we came down. His lips never stopped moving across my face and throat. Then, he put me down and slowly washed me. He even washed my hair while slowly kissing me.

  It was something I never realized sex could be. I knew I was going to enjoy it with Jack. The chemistry between us was just too intense for it not to be good, but I hadn’t known it could be sweet and…romantic. We didn’t speak but I felt like we were connected in those moments.

  When we finished cleaning each other, we dried each other off and then fell into the softest bed I’d ever been in and took our time exploring each other more.

  *

  Good things never last. I knew that from my life and history, but it still came as a shock to me when the soft glow I’d been feeling with Jack came to an abrupt halt. I woke up, tangled up with him, to the sound of his phone ringing. Brent was calm as he told Jack that there’d been another attack. One that hadn’t ended as well as the others had for one of their men.

  Jack sat up and rested his elbows on his knees. “Who was it?”

  Whatever Brent said didn’t sit well with Jack. He cursed and threw his phone across the room. It slammed into the wall and landed on the thick carpeting silently.

  I moved behind him and wrapped my arms around him in a hug. “I’m sorry, Jack.”

  He shook his head and rubbed his hands over his head. “Fuck! I have to go in. I have to notify his family.”

  My arms broke free as he stood up and moved around the room, pulling his clothes back on.
I stood up and went to my bag. “Let me get dressed and I’ll come to the office with you.”

  “No, you stay here. I’ll have a couple of guys come over to keep guard.”

  I pulled on a T-shirt and frowned. “I don’t want to stay here alone, Jack.”

  He didn’t look at me as he yanked on his boots. “You won’t be alone. I just said that I’d have a couple of guys come over.”

  “You know what I mean, Jack.”

  “Raelyn! I don’t have time to argue with you! I have to go and tell a family that their son is dead because of your ex-boyfriend!”

  The words cut deep. I stopped moving and blinked away the tears that appeared instantly.

  “Christ. I’m sorry. I just… I have to go, Red. You’ll be safer here.” He walked over and tried to kiss the side of my head but I pulled away from his touch. “Don’t do that. I didn’t mean to yell.”

  I nodded and moved to the bathroom. “It’s fine. I’ll see you when you get back.”

  I closed the door and locked it before turning on the shower. I didn’t want to hear him leave. My chest ached as I glared at myself in the mirror. My body looked like it’d been ravished. Beard burn decorated my throat and parts of my chest, while my hair stood on end, pulled every which way in our last session of lovemaking. My lips were bruised from kissing.

  My mind was instantly a wreck, though. Another person dead because of Snake. Because of me. Jack knew the truth. It was my fault that people were getting hurt. Jack was going to have to tell a family their son was dead because of me.

  If I’d just stayed in Jackson, it wouldn’t have happened. Snake might not have even hurt Carly. Mark might’ve lived. Jack’s office wouldn’t be damaged. Brent’s home wouldn’t be destroyed.

  After I was sure Jack was gone, I took a fast shower and got cleaned up. The sun was coming in strong through the many windows in the apartment and I figured it was sometime after noon. I dressed in jeans and a tank top before knotting my hair out of my face.

  I moved to the door and opened it just as someone pushed it open. Jack stood there, frowning at me. My cheeks colored and I backed away. “I was just…”