“What? Did we need to go that way?” Jason clenched his muscles in some bodybuilder pose and pointed his fingers. Faith lost it as he shifted into another pose and pointed the other direction. “Or that way?”
“Oh my God! Who knew you could be vain?” Faith gasped between peals of laughter.
“Vain? Woman.” Jason unfolded from his pose and swept a hand down his body. “This… this is yours. I should think you’d want me to take good care of it.”
“I do. I’m very attached to all those delicious muscles.” Faith pulled on a pair of his boxers. They fell to her hips but didn’t fall further. Thank goodness.
Jason coughed and pulled her toward the door. “I’m glad. Now I need some food.”
Faith followed behind him and sighed softly when he stopped outside Reece’s door and peeked in, giving a soft whistle for Tippy. The dog hopped off the bed and came into the hall instantly. Jason let the dog outside as Faith headed to the kitchen.
They ate dinner and visited about her day. She waited until they’d cleaned the last dinner dish before she broached the subject of her trailer. “Did anyone find out anything about who blew up my trailer?”
Jason leaned against the kitchen island and pulled her into his arms. His chin rested on her head and his hands ran up and down her back. Snuggling in, she let out a sigh of contentment.
“There is a lot I’m not able to tell you, but we do have a lead on who was responsible. How they connected you to me or Anna to Gabriel is still being researched. Jewell thinks she’s found a way to trace what data they accessed.”
“Jewell, your sister?” He nodded his head, his movement felt rather than seen. “Are we still in danger? I saw the men with the guns here earlier. Christian said that was normal?”
“Normal with Guardian is a relative term. You’ll always have a security detail on you now. For the most part, you won’t even notice they’re there. It’s their job to blend in, but they’ll be there to protect you and Reece should the need arise.”
Leaning back so she could see his face, Faith asked, “But are we in danger?”
Jason lifted his eyes to the ceiling, apparently searching for the answer. He stood away from the counter and took her hand. “Come on. Let’s go sit down.”
Faith followed him to the den and allowed him to pull her down onto his lap after he plopped down on the huge leather couch.
“Can you go out safely? Yes. Are you now a person who could be exploited to get to me? Absolutely, but we’ve taken every step to ensure your safety. I’ve assigned our best PSOs to you.”
“PSO?”
“Personal Security Officers. They will keep you safe from harm. But if you do go out, would you do me a favor and let me know where you’re going? I can ensure the team knows and they can work any logistical hitches in advance.”
Her fingers mindlessly caressed his chest and her eyes followed the pattern her fingers made in his t-shirt. “Honestly, I wouldn’t know where to go. I do need some clothes and so will Reece, but my last paycheck hasn’t been deposited yet, so we’ll make do.”
Faith felt him stiffen beneath her and glanced up at his face. “Princess, you don’t need your paycheck. We have plenty of money.”
“You have plenty of money.”
“Since you are living with me and will soon be my wife, that means you have plenty of money.”
“Jason, exactly how much is plenty? I mean, it must take a lot of money to pay for the mortgage on this house. And the car you drive is really expensive. Plus your suits and clothes are so nice. Are you sure there is going to be enough for Reece and me? I mean, I can try to get a job up here.”
Jason blinked several times before he smiled and bent her back against the arm of the chair with a slow, sensual kiss. Her lips tingled when he finally pulled away.
“Princess, I make eight figures a year not counting bonuses and incentives.”
“Counting the decimal point, right?”
“No. I don’t include the zeros after the decimal point.” His chuckle probably wasn’t meant to make her feel stupid, but the entire situation went from normal to bizarre in about three seconds flat.
Suddenly terrified, she scurried off his lap and sat on her knees on the couch facing him. “No. I can’t do this.”
“Can’t do what?” Jason looked at her like she was insane. And she so was! What part of her brain remotely thought she was the right type of woman for Jason? He was a freaking multi-millionaire! With his job, education and background, he needed someone he could be proud of… not… her.
Jason moved toward her and she flinched, moving backward against the cushion. He stilled and lifted his hand as if signifying he wouldn’t approach further. “Faith, what’s the matter? What can’t you do?”
She stood and waved her arms around, indicating the splendor of the room. “This! I’m not… this! I only have a GED and I worked hard to get it! I live in a trailer. I don’t cuss… much. I work hard. I pay my bills, but I live paycheck to paycheck. I don’t know who my son’s father is! Jason, I can’t be what you need. I’m not that woman!”
Jason stood but made no attempt to come closer. “And exactly what type of woman do you think I need?”
“Someone who can talk with you about your work? Maybe someone you can take to a fancy restaurant without worrying she is going to use the wrong utensil? Someone who can talk to your family and friends in an intelligent way? You’re a millionaire, Jason. A millionaire!”
“And?” He crossed his arms over his chest and waited.
“And? And? What does that mean? And what?” Faith put a shaking hand over her mouth. She loved him so damn much, and she was so wrong for him.
“Faith, come sit down.” Jason lowered back onto the couch and patted the seat next to him. She closed her eyes and shook her head. God, what a fool she’d been to think she could make him happy.
“Babe.” She opened her eyes and looked at him. All the anguish she felt had to be radiating around her. She couldn’t put a mask on it. Not when it was so powerful.
“Please, come sit with me.” He patted the cushion again and her feet moved.
He pulled her into his side when she sat down and tucked his arm around her, holding her. “Now let’s look at this logically, okay?”
Oh great, now he thinks I’m illogical, too.
“It doesn’t matter how much money I make. The only reason I brought it up was so you knew whatever you or Reece need, I can provide. You don’t need to get a job, but if you want to get one I will help you find one you like. Everyone has a first time at fancy restaurants. I don’t give a rat’s ass if you use the right utensil and I never will. I can’t remember all your other concerns, but the bottom line is I love you. I want you in my bed with me. When the world becomes too much, I want to call and hear your voice. I need to know that you and Reece are happy and taken care of, and I can’t think of another person with whom I want to spend the rest of my life. I plan on adopting Reece. I will be his father.” He cupped her cheek and lifted her face to meet his eyes. “You fill the darkness in my life. You stop the rage that boils inside me. You are the only thing that stills my soul. I’ll never want anyone else. Can you understand that, baby?”
Faith sniffed back the sob she wanted to release. Could she really be what he wanted? Needed?
“Stop doubting who you are, because, to me, you are everything.” Jason whispered the words on her lips before he took them in a gentle kiss. “Tell me you love me, princess.”
“I love you, so much. I don’t understand why you love me, and it terrifies me that you’ll wake up and realize you’ve made a mistake.”
He gave her a soft kiss and rubbed his nose against hers. The sensation sent a shiver down her spine. “You and Reece are my future. I’ll spend the rest of my life proving that you don’t need to doubt my love for either of you, ever.”
“I’m going to hold you to that.” Her hands snaked around his neck.
“How about I start right now
?” He lifted her off the couch like she weighed nothing.
“Now works.”
***
Jason’s eyes burned, his throat felt as if he’d drunk acid, but even the residual effects of the pepper he’d inhaled couldn’t diminish the need he felt for the woman in his arms. He made quick work of getting them into the room and her onto the bed.
His hand slid under the t-shirt he’d given her to wear. The soft cotton became a distant memory as he straddled her hips. The world stopped when he gazed down at the soft perfection of her body. Her hand skated up his arm to his neck, where her fingers tangled in his hair. As he watched her eyes travel over his body, his cock screamed for attention, for friction, or hell, for the velvet heat of her body, but Jason wanted to cement the image of the woman he loved into his mind. Of their own volition, his fingertips found the pulse point in her neck and traveled south.
A small shiver pulled his eyes from the dance of his touch back to her face. The pupils of her eyes were blown, her face was flushed and her mouth… God, that mouth. Her tongue peeked out and licked her bottom lip right before the corners drew up in a smile.
“Hey, handsome. How about I show you what I learned with that cucumber?”
Holy fuck.
“I don’t think there is a male life form in the known universe that would turn down that offer.”
Her laugh turned into a shriek when he rolled and brought her up on top of him. Her soft full breasts pushed against his chest. The invitation and current visual limited his thoughts to the heat of her mouth and how fucking hard he was. Her hair draped his sides as she started to kiss her way down his chest. Okay… one more thought… he was one lucky son of a bitch. Her tongue dipped into his belly button and he clenched, tightening his abs against the assault. Instinctively withdrawing from the tickling sensation, his body jerked away, pushing into the mattress.
“Hold still, Superman,”
“Impossible.” His words seemed guttural even to his own ears. His hands somehow tangled in her thick brown hair and guided her sexy-as-fuck mouth down the fraction of an inch needed to reach the tip of his cock. Her tongue swirled its head, sending lightning bolts of sensation straight to his balls. Then the minx blew on the saliva-moistened head, earning her a growl that originated deep inside him.
Her big brown eyes lifted to look at him. She licked her lips and then, while still keeping her gaze on him, deep throated all ten-and-a-half inches of his hard-as-fucking-steel cock. The tip of his cock hit the back of her throat and she pushed further. He felt his cock head push into her throat, and that’s when his eyes rolled into the back of his head. He died, met God, and was reincarnated—just so he could do it again when she hummed while he was buried in her throat.
As she pulled away, her tongue swirled against the underside of his cock. His balls drew up tight and all the stars in the universe couldn’t compare with the fireworks that were going to blow if he allowed Faith to swallow him again. Instead, he lifted her, rolled and pinned her to the mattress in under two seconds. He knew how long it took because, all joking aside, if he wasn’t buried balls deep in her in three seconds he would spontaneously combust and die, minus the reincarnation shit.
Her legs lifted around his hips and he settled over her. His lips found hers as he thrust into her. Fuck, she was so tight and hot. Jason drank in her responses. Her softly sucked-in gasp accented the force of his thrust into her body. Her body arched under his, bringing the silky skin of her breasts against his chest. He lowered to capture all her sumptuous curves against his body. The perfection of the sensations intensified with each long, hard stroke of his cock.
Jason worshiped her body. His fingers traveled blindly over skin that his lips and tongue mapped and memorized. Each nip soothed by a kiss, a lick or a hot breath of air. He stilled her shivers caused by his touch by the firmer brush of his body against hers as his hips thrust forward. Jason clenched his muscles, straining against the inevitable end of the dance they performed. Her fingernails dug into his skin and scored shallow furrows down the length of his back. The bite of pain pushed him to the edge of sanity. He lifted her legs and himself in a fluid move a split second before he lost the ability to control his thrusts. Her words, gasps and prayers echoed his own.
The tight confines of her core gripped around him, milking his cock. Faith’s entire body clenched and he drove deep inside her. Her body stuttered against his, looking for what it knew he’d give her. He slid his hand to her core, found her clit and rubbed it hard. Her teeth bit into his shoulder, stifling the cry that erupted from her. The tiny jolt of agony/ecstasy opened the floodgates. His orgasm surged, slamming him with the force of a Category Five hurricane. He lost the ability to breathe, to see… hell, to exist. Breathing… fuck yeah, he needed to breathe. His eyes blinked open at his first full lungful of air. He sucked air like a newb at their first CrossFit session. Sweating like one, too. Faith pushed against his chest.
“Shit… sorry.” Jason propped his weight up on his elbows and dropped his head back down onto her chest.
“’S okay.” Her tiny reply came between her own labored breaths.
“You okay?” He didn’t move, but kissed the top swell of her breast as it rose and fell under him.
“Okay? No… way… better.” The words came spaced between inhales.
Jason had to chuckle at that one. “Yeah, me too. You’re going to kill me.”
“With pepper.”
Their combined laughter didn’t help the breathing thing. Finally, Jason flopped over and pulled Faith to his side. Her hair fanned over his arm and he pushed the fall off her face. The events of the last forty-eight hours took their toll on his woman. Within minutes, her breathing regulated and became shallow and steady. Her muscles twitched and jumped as they relaxed into a deep REM sleep. Jason stared up at the ceiling, fighting his own exhaustion. He’d wait for a few moments before he got up to check on Reece one more time. Even with the mountains of bullshit being dumped on them right now, Jason was at peace. He had the woman he loved in his arms, his son asleep in the room next door, and a position within the company that would give him room to grow. He’d deal with the Russian threat. He pitied the ones they’d catch and question. And the ones that were responsible for attacking his family? He’d send them to hell.
Chapter Twenty
Jason took another swallow of the chamomile tea he’d asked Sonya to get for him this morning instead of his usual coffee. Her immediate look of disbelief forced a chuckle.
“My throat is sore.” It wasn’t a lie. The pepper had fucked up his throat but good.
“Are you getting sick?” Sonya took a step forward, concern written all over her face—the mom in her bursting front and center.
“No, must have been something in the air last night. Maybe an allergic reaction.” He snorted into his mug at the memory of the conversation. Yeah, something was in the air, in his nose, down his lungs, and in his eyes. Lord, living with Faith was not going to be boring.
Sonya’s voice floated over the intercom, jerking him back to reality. “Jason? Jewell is here.”
“Send her in.”
He leaned back in his chair and waited. The door burst open and Jewell stopped about three steps into the office, looking around. “Hey, great room. When did you get this?”
“When I agreed to take over as CEO for Gabriel.”
“What?” Jewell twisted back around to him.
“What, what?”
“When?” Her eyes swept the walls.
“When, what Jewell? Could you please, for once, talk like a normal human being?”
“When did you take over as CEO?”
“We are in transition now. Hence, you copying both Gabriel and myself on all reports and memos for over a month and a half.” How could someone with such a scattered brain be so damn smart?
“I thought you were just coming back as Dom Ops. Well, hell. Congratulations. Does the rest of the family know?”
“The entire organ
ization knows. Seriously, how do you not?”
“Oh, you know me. If it isn’t directly related to what I’m working on I don’t really care. But seriously Jace, that is really cool. So you’ll be my supervisor, huh?”
“Yeah, and I’m not going to put up with your tardiness just for the sake of a few cookies.”
“Oh. No worries, I’ll bring chocolate from now on.”
“Damn.”
“Yep. I know how to get my way.” Her snicker should have made him mad, but what the hell, he was going to be getting a regular influx of chocolate.
“So what brings you out of your hole today?”
“Oh! I set up a chat room for me and the guy in Russia.”
He did a double take. “You mean the hacker?”
“Uber-hacker actually. Best I’ve ever seen.”
A cold chill touched his soul. “You’ve talked to him?”
“No, silly. I’ve, well… let’s just say I think I’ve enticed him and given him a place to contact me.”
“And the benefit of this would be?” Jason could see several, but he wanted to know where Jewell was going with this.
“Wow, they made you CEO and you can’t see the possibilities?” Jewell laughed and held up a hand. “Kidding, Jace. Well, besides the obvious chance to track him and possibly locate him, which I don’t think will happen because he’s got mad skills…” Jewell leaned back in the leather chair across from his desk and chewed on her fingernail as she stared out into space. Scattered? Nah… try ADD.
“Jewell.”
“Huh?” Her head whipped toward him.
“You were going to tell me the benefit of setting up a chat room?”
“Oh, well, depending on the guy, I can try several angles. We can attempt to establish a rapport and recruit him. Guardian can throw some serious cash at the guy. But I’d like to try something else.”
“And what would that be?”
“If this guy tries, and I suspect he will, I want him to think he can recruit me. That way I can try to access his systems, find out about those children the bastards are selling. Like where they are getting them and why they’ve been able to quadruple in numbers in the last three years.”
Jason (Kings of Guardian #4) Page 15
