Jace (7 page)

“This is bad,” Mara said.

Jace was staring at the concrete
lost in thought.

That gave her a moment to study
his shirt. He had a white polo on with an open collar. It wasn’t what he’d been
wearing earlier that day. It looked good on him, showed off his golden skin.

“I know you hate me right now, but
we can’t stay here any longer out in the open like this. Let’s go.”

Mara found herself inside his
big black truck with him behind the steering wheel. It didn’t feel nearly as
comfortable as it had the first time she sat in it. In seconds they took off. A
part of her almost leapt for joy—finally she was going home.

“I’m not hiring you. I won’t
use your services, free or not.” She couldn’t. It was too risky. What if she
lost her heart to him and wound up with another Corey? What an idiot she’d be,
how weak.

“Fine.”

She turned to face him, her
voice loud from anger. “What do you mean, fine?”

“I don’t need your permission
to protect you.”

She snorted. “I’ll call the
police and have you arrested for harassment.”

He gave her a sideways look
that said
try it
. “First off, you wouldn’t do that because you’re a good
person and that’s too mean for you—” she blushed fiercely at the strange
compliment, “—and secondly, you won’t be able to shake me. I’m too good and if
for some reason I lose you, I have a whole team of professionals available at
my call.”

“Oh, aren’t you fancy,” she
said under her breath.

Jace strangled the steering
wheel. “Mara, damn it, I’m sorry for what you saw back there. But when I walked
in, I saw him a man hit you. He needed to be put down, so I did it. Next time,
he’ll hesitate before making an ass out of himself.”

“Are you even listening to what
you’re saying? ‘He needed to be put down.’ This isn’t a rabid dog you’re
talking about, it’s a human being.”

His eyes flashed irritation “I
guess you’d prefer I stood by and watch him hit you again? Maybe wait until he
broke skin open before I intervened? Then maybe I could politely ask him to
leave the building, buy him a free drink to calm him down, and escort him
outside while patting his back. Yeah, I’m sure that would have worked,
sweetheart.”

Mara sucked in a breath and
faced him. “I hate you!” She wanted to say so much more. She wanted to say she
wasn’t
that
mad about him saving her. Not really. But she couldn’t tell
him what this was really about. No way, ever. Because the reason it hurt so
much to be sitting next to him right now was the disappointment.

He was not the kind of man she
thought he was.

“Yeah well, that’s too bad,
because I’m not going to drop this. You need protection, Mara. This guy is bad
news.”

“You really don’t need to tell
me that,” she said with a growl.

His eyes snapped to hers, just
as angry. “I know that, but I don’t think you really understand just how bad
this is.”

She sputtered. “The man beat me
for almost as long as we were together. For two very long years. You have no
idea what that’s like.”

He squeezed the steering wheel.
“I grew up watching my mom take beatings from Ray. I was on the receiving end
of it a few times. I do know what it’s like, Mara.”

She blinked, dumbfounded. He
was so big and strong. How could anyone have ever hurt him? Is that why he grew
up to become a bodyguard?

“I’m sorry,” she found herself
saying.

“Don’t be sorry. Just tell me
you’ll take my help.”

She wanted to say yes so badly…
“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

They arrived at her house. Her
cute little one-story tucked away at the top of the hill under her great willow
trees.

“Because I don’t want to be
around you.” The words held a grain of truth making them hard to say.

Jace ground his jaw but didn’t
say anything for a minute. “I’ll be out here tonight, but I need to do a sweep
through your house first. If anything goes wrong, I’ll be here.”

He got out, then said over the
hood of the truck, “Get out, Mara.”

She did, feeling haughty with
him telling her what to do.

“Open the front door.”

Now her jaw slid side to side.
“I do not take orders.” Yet, she found her unlocking the door for him.” Corey
used to control her with disgusting, humiliating ease. Being with him had
warped her mind. She’d sought his approval and would do anything to get it.

“Open the front door, Mara, so
I can check out your house.”

Muttering under her breath, she
unlocked the damn door. When he started to go through her house, she followed
on his heels. “Where are you going?”

He didn’t stop. “Checking your
windows and doors to make sure no one’s here.”

“No one’s in here,” she said.
Of course, she had no proof of that.

“Excuse me, but I’m a security
specialist. I’ll be the judge of that.” He tested all the windows and the front
door with disgust. “This is awful. You have bedroom windows which don’t open
more than halfway, then living room windows that open so quietly you’d never
hear someone enter. Your back door has a decent deadbolt on it but your front
door doesn’t. That can be picked by someone who knows that they’re doing in
about three minutes.”

“Someone who knows what they’re
doing like you?”

“Or anyone who has Internet.
Nowadays, there’re all kinds of videos online showing people how to do
everything—even break into locks.”

Wasn’t that a scary thought?
“Well now you’ve seen that my house is perfectly safe. Will you please leave?”

“I think we should spend the
night at my place. It’s significantly safer.” He took one lingering look into
her bedroom and she wondered what he was thinking about. Too bad she couldn’t
ask him.

“No way. Now get out, please.”
She held the front door open for him. She was probably letting in all sorts of
flies and mosquitoes but she didn’t care. So long as he left her house, that’s
all that mattered. Seeing his big form filling up her small home only made an
ache grow around her heart.

He paused a few feet away.
“There’s something I should tell you.”

Her eyes slid closed. “Please
just go. It’s been a very, very long day. I need to be alone.”

It looked like he was about to
say more but he finally nodded. “I’ll be outside if you need anything at all.
Sleep well.”

Chapter
6

Hours later, Mara growled in
frustration and threw the covers off her and stormed into the bathroom to put her
favorite vibrator away.

“You suck today, Mr. Kinky. Ha.
Mr. Kinky, more like Mr. Sucky.” God, that was lame even for her. Mara blamed
it on her exhaustion.

She just couldn’t get to sleep.
She’d tried everything she could think of. There was soft jazz playing on her
radio, a delicious apple cinnamon candle making her bedroom smell like pie, and
she’d bathed in the tub until her skin looked like a raisin. Still, sleep
eluded her.

That’s when she’d turned to Mr.
Kinky. Four months back, she’d tested him at work and gave the product ten very
excellent stars. She also bought one as soon as they were available. Just like
all good pets, she’d named him. Mr. Kinky. Tonight, Mr. Kinky was not doing his
job. No matter what she thought of or how fast it vibrated. None of it made a
difference.

She killed the music and
switched off the dim lamp by her bed, encasing her in darkness. Her body felt
energized, like she could run two miles backward without getting winded. She
couldn’t do it forward without getting winded. Mara had never been one to
prefer exercise. She’d much rather wear a nice dress, some pumps, and light
makeup.

There was no struggle to figure
out why she couldn’t sleep. She knew that. Because of Jace. Yeah, she was
awful, she knew it. It wasn’t even the fact that Corey had been in her house
last night messing with her that kept her awake. Not at all. It all had to do
with the big bear of a man sitting in his car outside.

It was terribly difficult, but
she managed to not peek out the front window to see what he was doing. As she
was lying in bed staring up at the shadows on her ceiling, she pictured herself
army-crawling to the front window then slowly pulling back the curtain to spy
on him. But knowing him, he’d see the little bit of movement and bust her. Then
he’d know she was unsure about where they stood.

That kiss earlier today had
been magical. Mara wasn’t one to normally forget a kiss like that. In fact, she
knew she never would. There had been something different and special about it.
It was like their souls just lined up making the kiss taste even better.

But no matter how badly she’d
like to be kissed by him again, she had to resist him. He was no good for her.
How long would it take for him to lose his temper and treat her how he did that
drunk man tonight?

Mara wasn’t planning to find
out.

Without the nightly orgasm that
Mr. Kinky usually provided, her body refused to wind down. Yet her eyes grew
weary from exhaustion, sitting at half-mast.

Jace Mathews. She shouldn’t,
but she let her thoughts drift to him. In her mind, she saw alternate realities
where she’d never had the problem with Corey. In that scenario, she dated Jace,
fell in love with him, then married him after he proposed. Mara soon felt her
eyelids droop. The muscles in her body gradually relaxed while she pictured the
could-be
between her and Jace.

She finally fell asleep.

Sometime later, Mara bolted
awake. Her eyes took in her dark surroundings feeling terror clutching her. She
panted as she reached to turn on her lamp. Dim yellow light flooded the room,
casting back shadows. Her heart finally stopped racing. There was nobody here.
Corey wasn’t here.

That relief was short lived.

Somebody was knocking on her
front door. Mara grabbed the Taser from her nightstand and headed for the front
door on quiet footsteps. Her heart raced while her mouth turned dry as sand.
Taking a deep breath, she searched through the peephole. Her porch light was on
and lit the doorway. Jace stood on the other side.

Her heart raced for an entirely
different reason now. She cracked the door, squinting up at him through the
light.

“You woke me up.”

“Sorry. I need to use the
bathroom.”

“Oh, okay,” she heard herself
say.

He went to use the bathroom
while she leaned against the wall. Her eyes slid shut. She was so tired. She’d
been in the midst of heavy recuperation before he’d awakened her.

“You’re so beautiful standing
there.”

Mara’s eyes sprang open. Jace
stood close, so close that if he wanted to pull her into his arms, he could.

“You might hate me in the
morning, but I’m going to kiss you.”

Her breath caught.

And then he slid his arms
around her, pulled her into his heat, and kissed her. The kiss started smooth
and slow, tender. In a daze, Mara wrapped her arms around him to feel that big
warm chest even closer to her. He pressed up against her in the best way. The
way he held her made her feel safe, like he’d protect her from everything. It
was beautiful and shattering all at the same time.

The kiss grew wet slowly. One
dart of a tongue here, one open-mouth kiss. It became a pattern, a voracious
feeding that made her body tingle with sensations. His arms curled tighter
around her, groaning.

Mara became wrapped up in his
touch. He was such a good kisser. She wanted to stay locked like this forever.
Arousal stirred between her legs in a great rush. Her earlier failed pleasuring
felt multiplied. She was growing wet as his tongue rocked across hers,
mimicking the motion of his hips pumping into her.

Things grew heated. She didn’t
know who took them to the next level; maybe it wasn’t just one of them, but
both. He pressed her back into the wall and let his hands slide around her
body. He cupped and caressed, rocked her hips against his. Mara kissed him
harder.

The ache in her belly was deep
and seemed untouchable.

Oh god, please
, she
thought, wishing she could tell him what she needed.

His hips pumped, letting her
feel his rigid shaft wanting her. She whimpered, aching to grab hold of his
velvety cock to feel him in her palm…in her mouth.

“Sweetheart,” he groaned,
burying his lips in her neck. He kissed and licked, setting fire to her body.

She was so wet, her hips
writhing with need. “Please,” she begged.

All she wore was a baggy
T-shirt that had to be ten years old and her underwear. So when he reached down
to touch her outer thigh, she stilled awaiting the pleasure of his touch.

He breathed hard against her
neck then claimed her mouth again. Fingers trailed up her thigh, then moved
inward to cup her sex. It was either break the kiss to breathe or kiss him
harder and there was no way she was going to stop kissing him so Mara ate at
him.

Then his fingers petted her.
She was so wet, so sensitive, her folds plump and pink for him. She thought he’d
tease her forever and never touch her how she needed to be. But then he did.

He slipped his hand down the
front of her panties and touched her skin to skin. Finally she couldn’t kiss
him anymore. She buried her face in his neck and inhaled his rich, male scent
as his fingers slipped along her folds, learning her. She was so wet, he glided
around easily. The muscled cord of his neck tempted her, so she bit and sucked
on the flesh hoping to mark him.

He was breathing hard, his lips
parted as he finally, finally circled her needy bud. The touch was electric.
She was swollen and hard there, needing him to make her come so badly, to ease
the painful ache in her loins.

Their mouths came together
again. He worked her with that one hand. She humped his hand, moaned wildly.
Sweat drenched her skin as a fever took hold of her. She wanted to whip the
stupid shirt and panties off and be skin to skin with him, to feel his silky
cock slide hard and deep inside her.

Their tongues were locked in a battle
when the first tremor hit. It was building and building at his rapid touch. Her
moans were eaten by his kiss. She rocked faster as her muscles tensed for the
pleasurable onslaught. When it came, it was so much more spectacular than she
thought it could be. She tore her mouth away and cried out as her body rippled
and waved at his touch, all-consuming pleasure riding through her like tidal
wave.

His touch gentled, slowed. The
kiss became soft again, mostly smooches and pecks, moist kisses across cheeks.

It was so good. She was so wet.
But she needed more. She had to feel him.

Still kissing him, she reached
between them. A gruff sound came as she pulled open his jeans to free him. Her
hand found silky boxers. They were incredibly soft. His hard length poked at
her and she pulled him free from his underwear. Jace shuddered at the touch.

They worked together then,
minds made up in unison.

Jace reached beneath her shirt
to tug her panties down. They slid to her ankles and she listlessly slid out of
them. Now nothing separated them. Her heart raced like galloping horses.

Jace grabbed her thighs and
lifted her. She rose into the air and clung to his bare hips with her thighs.
He took them down to the floor, pressing her back into the wood. He didn’t
bother taking off his clothes or taking her shirt off, he simply shoved his
jeans down to his knees and climbed between her widespread legs.

Yes!
This is
what she wanted, what she needed, to feel his thick length driving into her
over and over again.

He settled himself between her
legs and she found his sexy mouth again. She couldn’t get enough of kissing
him. It was like his lips were an aphrodisiac. His hips rocked against hers,
gliding his shaft back and forth over her wet sex. The sensations were erotic
and wonderful. She knew she could come again. That first one had robbed her of
breath but now she had a second wind.

He leaned back to poise his
cock at her entrance. He slowed the kiss for this, just barely letting their
lips touch. Mara looked into his eyes. Arousal and need drowned in his eyes. It
was the sexiest thing she’d ever seen.

Lips clinging to each other,
their eyes locked as he began to enter her. A gasp stuck in her throat. He was
spreading her so wide. He was so thick, so big. Her tissues spread to accept
him, her wetness a gift for him.

His eyelids shuddered halfway
in and he groaned, finally slamming all the way in. Her body rocked with the
thrust, breasts jiggling. His hips were connected to hers, pressed flush
together. He circled his hips in little, unrelenting motions that tweaked her
aching bud. His actions seemed involuntary, like he couldn’t help himself.
There was no keeping still once he was inside her.

“Mara,” he groaned.

“Jace.” She wrapped her arms
around him, tugging his shirt up so she could feel warm skin. His was covered
in sweat too.

He started moving then,
spearing through her tight, wet flesh with driving urgency. He was by far the
biggest man she’d ever been with…in every way. His cock felt wickedly
delightful, stuffing her repeatedly.

It was so good. Too good. Mara
rocked into his pounding thrusts, and kissed him back thoroughly as they clung
to each other, her breasts smashed against his chest. He groaned, arms wrapped
around her back, caging her in. She felt so incredibly tiny, like a little
woman being fucked by a big, strong warrior.

The pleasure grew too intense.
It had to go somewhere. His rhythm faltered as his release neared. She could
see it in the flush that darkened his cheeks, his heavy breaths, and the hard
rutting of his hips. He was taking her now, ready to find release.

Their lips caught and held on
as a hot rush swept her up. It came crashing through her making her hold onto
him with fingernails buried into his back as he pumped his hips faster. The
shudders from her clenching sex were too much for him. He buried his face in
her neck and slid deep one…two…three more times before holding himself there.
Hot liquid spurts filled her as he trembled.

The aftermath was something
else entirely. As he slowly sat up, Mara was completely awake now. The
realization of what she’d done struck her. She found her panties by the front
door. She put them on as he righted his clothes. Her pulse still raced and her
blood felt like warm goo. She wanted to pull him back into the bedroom for a
nice cuddle and sleep, but she couldn’t do that.

“I’m not sorry that happened,”
Jace said. His voice was hoarse. He was flushed and rumpled and absolutely the
sexiest man she’d ever seen.

Mara looked away, swallowing
hard. “I am.” Because now it hurt even worse knowing what she was missing out
on. She couldn’t be with a man like Jace. She couldn’t be stupid and take the
risk that he’d turn out like Corey. What if he was just another Corey in
disguise?

His eye twitched. “Now that
you’re up, I want you to pack a few things. We’re going to my place for the
rest of the night until we get your alarm system installed.”

“I already said—”

“Don’t argue with me, Mara. I
got a call from my friend on the police force tonight. A man going by the first
name Corey, matching your ex’s description, is wanted for questioning by
police. Apparently he robbed a gun store tonight and stole guns and ammunition.
His actions are getting more impatient and wilder. He’s escalating. We need to
go. Now go pack some clothes and personal items. We’re leaving in five
minutes.” He left, closing the front door after him.