by Lori Ryan
Jesse cleared her throat. “And what exactly do you feel for me?”
Zach brushed the back of his hand down her cheek, tugging her close to him with his other hand. “I love you, Jesse. I love you so much even though I know I shouldn’t.”
Before she could figure out what to say to that, Jesse heard a voice shout through the door. “Tell him you love him too, Jesse!”
Jack. Good grief.
Zach banged on the door with his fist. “Shut it, Jack. I got this.”
The sounds of Kelly and Jill trying to usher Andrew and Jack away came through the door, but Jesse didn’t take her eyes off Zach.
Turning to Jesse, Zach lifted her hands to his mouth and kissed each one. “Yeah, Jesse. Tell me you love me too. Please?”
He looked so hopeful, Jesse didn’t have the heart to make him wait any longer.
“I do love you,” Jesse said calmly, then narrowed her eyes at him. “And, someday I’ll forgive you for being an idiot. But I think I’ll make you pay for a while first.”
Zach grasped her hips and pulled her in tight to his body, pressing against her with need.
“And what did you have in mind as payback, Jesse?”
Jesse laughed and tossed her head back.
“Let’s start with a massage. Then maybe dinner in bed.”
Zach dove for Jesse’s neck, caressing with open-mouthed kisses. “Then maybe…” Zach said as he blazed a path over her collarbone and down between her breasts, “…then maybe, you’ll let me love you all night long. Again and again and again.”
Jesse gasped as she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him tighter, willing him on. “Or we could skip the massage and dinner...”
Zach slipped his hands around to cup Jesse’s bottom and lifted her as she wrapped her legs around his waist with a small yelp of surprise. And then his mouth was at her neck, doing those crazy things that drove her wild and sent heat to every part of her body. Zach carried her to the bedroom and stripped them both so quickly, Jesse felt like she blinked and they were standing naked in front of her bed. And, oh, how she loved being naked with this man.
Zach laid her down, pulling her hips to the edge of the bed as he sank to his knees in front of her. Almost instantly, Jesse was teetering on the edge of an orgasm, and he had yet to truly touch her.
Jesse moaned the second his lips came in contact with her. He kissed and nipped and teased, but didn’t touch the one spot that would take her over the edge in a heartbeat. Jesse felt the sweet, achy build of an orgasm overtake her senses. Zach slowly slid one finger inside her, making her cry out and beg for more. She felt wanton and needy as she pushed down on his hand, trying to take what she so desperately needed.
She felt rather than heard a low rumble of laughter, and then Zach gave her more. Just as he slipped a second finger inside of her, he clamped down on her clit with his mouth, sucking as the sweet ache crescendoed into an orgasm that left her breathless and lightheaded.
And then Zach was there, sheathing himself and plunging into her, tripping off another orgasm as she clung to him, trying to keep some semblance of her wits about her, but with very little success.
When she finally floated down off the cloud he had thrown her onto, Jesse found him grinning like a damned Cheshire cat as he still moved slowly inside of her. Still hard. Still building spirals of pleasure back up in her.
“Am I forgiven yet?” The whispered words sent more shock waves through her body as he plunged deeper and deeper. Jesse could do nothing more than gasp and dig her nails into his shoulders for several seconds before answering.
“You’re certainly making some headway.”
And then Zach sent her up and spiraling off into oblivion a record-setting third time, coming with her this time, before they collapsed on the bed in a tangled snuggle of arms and legs.
Chapter Sixteen
Jack officially fired Zach and his company, and Jesse and Zach moved back into the penthouse so Jesse could have a kitchen again. Other than that, not much changed. Well, that’s not true; there was a lot more touching, and kissing and Zach did enjoy trying out Jesse’s desserts in all new ways now. He was right about the chocolate sauce. And the caramel.
Jesse made Zach understand that he needed to talk to her next time, instead of making assumptions about what she was feeling or thinking. A week after finally taking their relationship from baker and bodyguard to dating and living together, Jesse was insanely content. Zach continued to walk her part of the way to school and to meet her after school got out. They spent a lot more time at the hotel together, and Jesse cut her therapy sessions back to once a week. She would likely switch to every other week soon.
There were still moments when she felt uneasy when she didn’t have Zach by her side, but her therapist’s relaxation techniques managed to ward off any full-blown anxiety attacks, and Jesse felt hopeful again. She knew she was coming back around to the person she’d been before.
As she waited for the light to change on her way to meet Zach after school, her mind played back the scene from the night before. They’d made love lying under a sheet out on the chaise lounge on their balcony, high above the bright lights of New York City. It was a little more subdued than some of their previous lovemaking, but it was no less hot. In fact, it was steamy and sexy, and just thinking about it again had Jesse heated and flustered. It was then that she realized she didn’t have her purse with her.
Oh hell. I mean, monkey butts.
Jesse had grabbed her bag with dirty clothes from the day but had left her purse in the locker room at school. With her phone in it. Jesse cast a glance over her shoulder toward the school as she nibbled on her lower lip. She couldn’t text or call Zach to let him know she’d be late. Should she run back on her own or go up to the coffee shop and grab him first?
After a second of indecision, Jesse squared her shoulders. She could do this on her own. She turned and walked quickly, making brisk work of the two blocks back to school. She entered the quiet building and marveled at how silent it was after hours. There were still a few people in the offices, but once she reached the kitchens, all was eerily still.
As Jesse walked through the empty kitchen area, with the individual work stations all closed down for the day, she felt the hair on her arms and the back of her neck stand up. Suppressing a small shiver of unease, Jesse kept walking.
I will not let my fear overtake my life.
She began her breathing exercises and continued through the kitchen and into the adjoining locker room. Once inside the small area, Jesse went to her locker and spun the lock.
32 left.
16 right
7 left.
Jesse grabbed her purse and shut the locker, then grabbed her cell to check her messages and texts. Yup. Two texts from Zach.
everything okay?
getting worried...two more minutes and im heading ur way...
The last one was sent one minute ago. Jesse quickly sent a text back.
sorry! i’m okay. left purse and phone at school. omw now.
Jesse threw her phone in her purse and turned toward the door of the locker room. She froze mid-stride. There were voices coming from the kitchen. Angry voices. Jesse peered through the door and recognized one of her classmates, Sharon. The man, she didn’t recognize.
“No, Michael,” Sharon hissed as she grabbed the man’s arm. “This is too much. We can’t do this.”
Michael shook Sharon off his arm and continued toward the set of ovens closest to where Jesse stood. Jesse pressed against the wall of the locker room, listening but no longer watching through the crack in the door. There was no other way to get out of the room other than going past them. And a solid, bitter mass in the pit of Jesse's’ stomach was telling her not to let them see her here. Whatever was going on, it wasn't right. It was definitely very off.
“Michael,” Sharon sounded desperate now. “This is arson. We can’t do this. We’ll go to jail if we get caught.”
“No
one will catch us. No one even knows we’re here. We just need to rig one of the ovens and leave. If you’d taken care of things earlier like I told you to, we wouldn’t be here, so just watch the door and quit bitching.”
“No. I can’t do this, Michael. I won’t do this. It’s too much.” Sharon was crying now. Jesse could hear it in her voice.
Jesse’s heart raced as she tried to hold still. She just needed to stay still until they left so she could get out of there.
She heard a guttural sound of frustration come from Michael. “Fine! Just go wait outside. I’ll take care of this by myself.”
Jesse heard footsteps as Sharon left the room and ran down the hall. She held herself rigid against the wall, steadying her breathing. And then she began to plan. She thought through the scenarios Zach had taught her. The things she’d practiced in her self-defense classes. She took into account her position by the door and planned her defense if he stumbled on her location. He wasn’t a particularly large man. Jesse prayed she could use that to her advantage.
Her heart felt like it would jump out of her throat any minute. She listened to the man she now identified as Michael swear as he tampered with the ovens only eight feet and one door away from her hiding place. And then the unthinkable happened. Jesse froze in terror as the familiar blast of Zach’s ringtone piped out of her cell phone. The room went deathly quiet on the other side of the door, and Jesse knew she had only seconds to prepare herself.
She pressed the answer button on her phone and screamed.
“Locker rooms through the kitchens, Zach! Help!”
Then the door burst open and arms reached for her as she dropped her phone. Jesse didn’t think after that. The motions came automatically as she whipped herself around, striking out at a forty-five degree angle just above her assailant’s knee. Her instructor hadn’t prepared her for the sickening crack and tearing sound that came from...what? Ligaments? Tendons? Jesse didn’t know. As the man went down, Jesse brought her knee up to connect with his face, but it glanced off, and she lost her balance and toppled back onto the floor.
Michael screamed in rage, his face contorted in anger and pain above her as Jesse braced herself. She scrambled backward and brought herself up to a crouching position, waiting. Hoping she had it in her to get past him. As Michael charged, she held her position and prayed his knee was hurt as badly as she hoped it was. When he was almost upon her, Jesse lowered herself, preparing as her self-defense instructor had shown her. When he threw himself at her, she came up under him, using his own momentum to throw him over her shoulder. Then Jesse ran.
She ran like hell and didn’t look back. And, thankfully, as she cleared the locker room door and came through the kitchen, she ran straight into the safety of Zach.
Zach didn’t break stride as he tucked her behind him.
“Police are on their way. Get outside and wait for me.”
And with that, the door to the locker room opened. All hell broke loose as Jesse ran for the doors.
Jesse didn’t want to leave Zach, but she trusted him. If running is what he needed her to do, she’d do it. With what felt like lead feet, she ran through the kitchen and down the long hall to the door leading outside. The sunlight felt good after the stretch of moments trapped inside the locker room, but the fear Jesse felt during the attack didn’t end when Jesse got outside. Even though she felt proud that she’d fought off Michael, she was frightened knowing Zach was still in there with him.
That fear didn’t last long. Minutes later, as police cars arrived at the school, Zach led Michael from the building. His hands were restrained behind his back and he was no longer fighting to get away.
Jesse watched in awe as Zach spoke to police officers, who placed Michael in the back of a patrol car. Then Zach’s arms were around her holding her steady as she gave her statement to the police. The police would round up Sharon and bring her in for questioning. Jesse and Zach promised to come to the station the following morning to make official statements. From what they could gather so far, it appeared that Michael owned a rival culinary school that wasn't faring all that well. He planted Sharon in the class to try to disrupt things and chase students out the door. When she wasn’t as aggressive as he would have liked, he planned to rig the ovens to blow up overnight.
As the officer walked away, Zach turned to Jesse and pulled her into his arms. “You did it, Jesse! You did it!”
Jesse pulled back and looked at Zach. “Did what?”
Zach laughed and hugged her tight again. “You stayed calm. You defended yourself. You got out of there without a panic attack.”
Jesse let Zach’s words and the feel of his arms around her sink in.
Yeah. I did do that.
And a small smile quickly grew into a big grin as Jesse absorbed the meaning of that. She’d fought back. She’d won. She was finally free.
Acknowledgements
I’d like to thank my husband and children for the never-ending patience. You truly amaze me. Thank you to my beta readers on this project, Susan Smith and Patty Parent. You guys are invaluable on every project I work on. And thank you to Bev Harrison for her input and editing services.
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