Kace (Allen Securities) (13 page)

She felt Kace tense even more. Jessica laughed at Finn.

“I don’t think she would be very appreciative of that.” She grinned.

“I’ll have the station do a few runs a night on the street,” Kace said and relaxed next to her. “I have friend that might be able to stop by and check on her when he’s not on assignment.”

Jessica nodded and smiled to him. “Tell him to bring some groceries and make up a story about it. Mainly meat would be best. She’s on a limited budget and too proud to ask for help.”

Kace patted her hand and smiled. “I’ll tell him,” he said quietly.

She smiled. It was nice to have someone else to share the responsibility with.

“So that should about wrap it up,” Finn said to the group.

Jessica turned to Meg, but she was already on the phone. She pulled out her own phone and scrolled through the text. Her sister was blowing up her phone.

“I’m just going to go in the main room and call Victoria back,” she said.

Kace nodded at her, and she slipped out the door.

“A word,” Finn said to Kace.

People slowly made their way out of the office, and after a few moments, the room was clear. Kace walked over to the desk and stood in front.

“If this is about my job,” he said. “I choose Jessica.”

Finn held up a hand and looked around the room.

“Jessica’s father has been asking about her,” he said.

Kace’s blood ran cold. If he wanted to talk to her, it meant that the Russians had already gotten to him. Or someone else.

“How do you know this?” he said quietly, looking over his shoulder.

“I’ve got a guy that hears things,” Finn said. “Word is that he wants to get a hold of her.”

Kace’s muscles clenched as he thought about her having to see that piece of shit.

“For what?” Kace rubbed the stubble on his chin.

“Your guess is as good as mine.” Finn shrugged. “You going to tell her?”

Kace paused and then nodded. “I have to. I’ll wait until tonight.” He walked to the door and searched until he found her, laughing in the corner as she talked on the phone.

“This is going to be hard on her,” Finn said from behind him.

As much as Kace wanted to hate him for knowing her so well, Finn was right. This was going to be tough. Ando Tamm was not a man to fuck with, and if he was looking to rekindle his relationship with his daughter, it was because she was useful to him somehow.

He’d never met the bastard, but his file was clear enough. Drugs, theft, armed robbery. The man knew no shame and had been in all walks of the criminal world. No murders that they could pin on him, but Kace wasn’t putting it past the man. Ando was one of those guys that was very good at his job but not so great about cleaning up.

With Ando involved in all this, it didn’t bode well for Jessica. Something he wasn’t going to allow. If this prick wanted to see her, he was going to have to get through Kace first.

“We’ll deal,” he said to Finn and strolled over to her.

Jessica sighed as she hung up the phone. Her sister seemed to be holding it together better than she would have thought, but then she never did give Victoria enough credit. For all the shit they had been through, she weathered it just the same as Jessica despite being a number of years younger.

Things were quiet over at the shop, and she was glad to hear it. If she could keep all of this away from her, that would be ideal. Victoria’s schooling was why Jessica worked so hard. It wouldn’t be good if she got side-tracked because of this crap.

A prickling sensation spread through her. When she looked up, she found Kace staring intently at her with Finn across the club at the door of her office. His eyes stalked her and when he moved her way, her heart raced. Just being near him set her on fire, and she ached to be with him again.

Jessica cleared her throat and glanced around the room. Several watched him with interest, and she knew it wasn’t just her who saw this change in him. Kace had claimed her body and was very close to claiming her heart.

He backed her into a dark corner of the room and wrapped her in his arms.

“I think we should get out of here and go back to bed,” he said quietly in her ear. She felt the pulse beat there as his rumble send waves to her clit. “I’ve got something I want to show you.”

She gasped when he bumped her with his growing erection.

“Stow it,” Reed said, and she jumped away from Kace. “If you don’t show up for dinner tonight, Mom’s just going to stop by later.”

Kace groaned, and she looked between the two.

“Dinner?” she asked.

Kace looked her in the eye and winced. “Tonight’s dinner at my parents.”

Jessica smiled and tried not to look disappointed. She had really been looking forward to more time with him since she was off.

“Oh well, why don’t you just drop me off over at Irene’s shop? I can catch dinner with them,” she said and pulled her phone out of her pocket.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Kace took her phone from her hand and frowned.

Reed chuckled and walked toward the door. “See you there,” he called.

Jessica frowned. These men made no sense.

“Tonight’s dinner at my parents’ house,” he said. “A family dinner.”

Jessica swallowed. “Right,” she said. “So I’ll just go to Irene’s.”

Kace chuckled when she sighed dramatically.

“Let me rephrase.” He leaned in and kissed her lightly. “I’d like it if my girlfriend came with me.”

Jessica sucked in a deep breath. “Girlfriend?”

Kace grinned. “Unless you’d rather I introduced you as my sex goddess.”

Jessica rolled her eyes. “I didn’t realize we were at the introducing stage already.”

He shrugged. “Life is short.”

When she stepped back, he grabbed her hand. “Listen, it’s dinner. My mom is a great cook, and Olivia will be there.”

Jessica perked up. It had been some time since she was able to see her last. With both of their jobs and life, they just never seemed to have the same time off.

He pulled her closer until his arms wrapped around her.

“I say girlfriend because that’s what you are.” She opened her mouth to object, but he kept going. “I don’t date causally. You’re it, and I’m pretty sure I’m it for you.”

“I’m pretty sure you’d know if you weren’t,” she grumbled.

Kace chuckled and pulled her back to look into her face. She blushed as he started intently at her. “I don’t go half way with things.” The seriousness in his voice made her chest tighten. “I can wait for you to catch up, but don’t ask me to not feel what I do. You make me feel more alive than I ever have, and I’m going to do whatever I need to make you feel it too.”

The world went slightly fuzzy around her as she stared into his eyes. She was close to telling him how her feelings for him kept bubbling over but choked on the words as they hit her mouth. He was everything that she ever wanted in a man, but having him just seemed so unreal. She was always on the lookout for the other shoe to drop.

She looked into his hopeful eyes and felt her heart melt just a fraction. Maybe, over time, she would be able to say those words to him.

“Let’s go eat dinner,” she said quietly and followed him to the car.

He smiled and when it didn’t reach the corner of his eyes, she knew her lack of words had hurt him. She ached to soothe his pain but couldn’t bring herself to be open like that. Maybe someday, but for now, this would have to do.

Chapter Thirteen

Jessica walked in the warm house and looked around. It was just like she would expect a well-loved house to look like. Everything was clean but comfortable. There was a certain bit of old-world charm that she always loved in the older houses of the area.

When she looked around, she felt the air whoosh out of her lungs and her head spun. So many people in just about every corner of the house. The lack of women around was noticeable. The men were gathered in groups watching the latest game or huddled over a video game.

Kace squeezed her side as he guided her through the house to the sound of women laughing. As they rounded the corner to the kitchen, she spotted Olivia at the center of all the hustle in the kitchen. She stopped when Jessica came into view.

Olivia raced to her and crushed Jessica into a big hug.

“I’m so glad to see you,” Olivia said, her tummy just starting to poke out.

“I’m sorry I haven’t had a chance to see you,” she said into Olivia’s light brown hair.

Olivia pulled back and glanced to Kace. “Reed said you’d been busy.” She raised a brow and winked when Jessica started to blush.

“Well, Kace,” said a short woman with curly salt and pepper auburn hair. “Who’s your friend?”

Kace took her hand and pulled her over to the older woman.

“This is Jessica, my goddess.” He grinned at Jessica.

Without thinking, she swatted his hard stomach with her hand and laughed when the other woman did the same to his arm.

They looked at one another, then laughed.

“You’ll do just fine,” she said. “I’m Marilyn. Kace’s mom.”

Jessica smiled and took her hand. “Nice to meet you.”

“Are you really a goddess?” A little blonde girl said to the side of her.

“Yes,” Kace answered.

“No.” Jessica turned to glare at him. “Don’t listen to him. He’s an idiot.”

“Mom,” the little girl shouted. “She said Uncle Kace is an idiot.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time he was called that,” Marilyn mumbled.

“What’s that, Mom?” Kace came behind her and wrapped his arms around Jessica’s stomach.

His mother rolled her eyes. “You get that from your father.”

“Get what from me?” A large man stood at the doorway to the living room, his dark hair similar to the other men in the house.

“That smart mouth of yours,” Marilyn said.

“I thought you liked my smart mouth,” the older man said and waggled his eyebrows.

“James,” she shouted. “The children!”

“Are fully grown. They will live.” He winked at Jessica, and she giggled.

Kace’s arm tightened around her middle. She leaned back on his shoulder and looked up at him. He watched his father as he went back to picking on his wife. Jessica loved that his face softened when he final looked down at her.

He kissed the top of her head, and she felt a warm tingle where his lips had touched her.

“Gross! Now they’re kissing,” the little blonde girl shouted back to her mom.

“No, we weren’t,” Kace shouted back.

His mother cleared her throat and blushed.

“Gross,” Kace hollered like the little girl. “They are kissing!”

Jessica snorted.

“Oh hush,” his mother said. “Why don’t you give her a tour of the house?”

“Show her the boat house,” a blonde woman from the kitchen said. The baby in her arms stirred at the noise.

James choked on a laugh.

“Shut it, you,” Olivia said from the kitchen.

Kace cleared his throat and ushered her along. “On that note, we’ll take our tour.”

“What’s up with the boat house?” Jessica whispered.

Kace grinned. “That’s about as far as Olivia and Reed got on their tour.”

Jessica laughed. “I’d believe it.”

She followed him upstairs and down the hall. The stopped outside the last door at the hall.

“First stop, my bedroom.” He wiggled his eyebrows.

“Trying to carry on the tradition?” Jessica laughed.

Kace grinned when she opened the door.

He watched as she slowly walked around the room. She picked up a few track and field trophies he hadn’t brought over to his house and flipped through a childhood book. His mother had insisted on keeping the room as it was. Her thought was that they would all have kids one day, and it would be nice to stay in their dad’s old room.

When she stopped in front of a picture, he knew this was going to be a little harder than he expected.

“Your friends?” She held up the picture.

The smiling faces staring back were still hard to look at, even ten years later. He stood behind her and pointed over her shoulder.

“That’s me, my cousin Johnny and Paul,” he said.

He watched as she ran a thumb over his smiling face.

“You and your cousin look so much alike,” she said. “Same blue eyes like your mom.”

Kace smiled. She would notice that. “Cousin’s on our mom’s side. He stops in when he’s on leave sometimes.”

Jessica turned in his arms and grinned at him. “Ah, a man in a uniform.”

Kace straightened up a little. “Hey, I wear a uniform.”

“Not when it counts.” She winked.

He frowned. “Behave, or I’m going to show you some of the other elements of my uniform.”

Visions of her at his mercy, cuffed to the bed, flashed through his mind.

“And what about Paul? Those dimples and shiny blonde hair, I bet he broke a lot of hearts.”

Kace laughed. “Paul had a way with people. His boyish looks were only part of it though. He was charming and just so great, you couldn’t help like him.”

Jessica placed her hand on his chest, her smile soft and coaxing.

“Had? What happened?” she said softly.

Kace sighed and sat down on the bed. He was surprised when she sat on his lap and laid her head on his shoulder.

“Paul was just amazing. There really was no one like him, and everyone knew it. So when he moved in the neighborhood, it made sense that we’d be friends with him. We were twelve then.” Kace ran his hand absently in her hair concentrating on the feel of it. “Johnny’s my age, so we quickly became inseparable. It just made sense.”

He took a deep breath and tried to steady his nerves. It was rare he even talked about Paul was glad for the chance. Despite how hard it might be.

“Paul always said he wanted to go into the military and then be a cop like his dad. It was just who he was, and no one doubted he would. If someone had a problem, he was there to help,” he said.

Jessica placed a hand on his cheek and soothed out the tension there.

“What happened?” She continued to stroke his neck and cheek as he talked.

“We were fifteen then. Still having to hoof it around on our bikes. Didn’t really matter much to us, but Paul had responsibilities. On the weekend he’d babysit his sister for a few hours. His older brother took the morning hours, and he took the afternoon before his dad got home from work.”