Keeping You: KJ Elite Inc. (4 page)

“Let me get the doors, sug.”

“I can open the door for myself, you know?” She exclaimed half-heartedly with that thick as molasses, Brooklyn accent; so heavy, it was sometimes hard to understand what she’d said.

“You’re in the south, now, darlin’. Where real gentlemen live and we open doors for ladies, regardless of their age or feminist stance.” I bowed and waved my arm dramatically, indicating the exit. I didn’t meant to seem so stupid, but I needed an excuse to get out of her eyesight to adjust myself while still keeping her close. It was always easier to keep suspicious eyes from prying.

There were still things a lot of people didn’t know about me and I wasn’t exactly ready to wave a flag with them all written down for the world to see.

I lay there, just outside her door for no more than five minutes after showering and changing, before I realize – there was no lock tango tonight (or today, whatever). When we got home it was just after five in the morning and the whole house was still very dark. I debated with myself on whether I should sleep in the hallway or the bedroom, but mostly whether I should check her door. Maybe she just forgot and wanted it locked but fell into bed, overtaken by her absolute exhaustion.

My reasons for staying outside her door seemed irrelevant now that Diesel had taken up claim on Jamie; though I refused to acknowledge anyone or anything could keep her as safe as me.

Eventually I pulled myself up on the banister and scooped up her bed things, before ever so silently sneaking into her door.

When I saw that her nightstand light was on and she was sitting up in bed, staring at me, I froze.

“Hello, Tom.”

The fuck?

“Do you have a sudden bout of amnesia? Tom is my brother.” My eyes narrowed at her.

“Of the peeping variety.” It was all the answer she was going to give me.

“Har, Har.” A regular ole’ comedic genius this one was.

That sharp tongue of hers though had me stiffening in all those dearly beloved places a man had.

Hint, there’s only one.

I motioned to the laptop with her bed things in my hand.

“Catching up on your social media?”

“That would be a no. I don’t do that stuff. I’m going through my emails.”

“Ah.”

“What’s up?”

Somehow, I was so entranced with Jamie that I hadn’t noticed the tiny silver frames sitting atop her nose. She quickly removed them and shoved them under the blanket as if that would have made them go away from my memory, too.

“So you aren’t perfect!” I joked, taking a step forward.

“I’m far from perfect.” Jamie snorted in protest.

“That was adorable.” She threw her hands up to her face when it came out, causing a blush to creep up her neck and spread over her cheeks. I couldn’t help but laugh harder.

I had to be slap happy because it just wouldn’t stop coming.

“Alright already.” Jamie chided, but she joined in, chuckling softly at first.

“You are so unprofessional. And definitely not a gentleman.”

“Fuck professionalism.” Just six months prior, I had been uttering those same words to Taylor when she got home. The fact that I had to repeat them or even hear the initial statement that made me reply had me wondering if I really was unprofessional.

Insert raspberry here. Like I gave a rat’s ass.

I had stopped laughing only to realize I moved from her door to a foot from her bedside.

By her silence, it wasn’t hard to figure that she’d noticed, too.

A quick shake of my head and I began to take a large step backward when something tiny and delicate tugged at my hand.

My whole body froze. It felt like someone stuck a lightning bolt in my hand, or firecrackers.

Taking a peek down at our joined hands, I felt stuck. I should move, speak, do something to keep her calm, but nothing was making it past my dick.

Jamie must have come to her senses as she tried to pull her hand back; I held firm and instead of stepping back, I perched half my ass awkwardly on the edge of the bed.

Still holding her hand.

Jamie cleared her throat and pulled her knees up enough to make the laptop slide forward on her upper thighs. With my “free” hand, I flung the pillow and blanket over to the opposite side of the bed and moved her laptop to the bedside table. It was awkward but got the job done without having to drop her hand.

“Noah?” She asked, steel in her voice.

It was about damn time. I mean, I don’t want her to put on a brave face for me, but I definitely want her to sound the part if she ever needs to. No one wants to feel or look or sound weak – no one.

The way she said my name, made it sound more like, “What the hell, asshole?”

That made me smile which confused her more if it didn’t terrify her.

“I just needed a sit for a minute. You calm me.” It wasn’t lie.

“You seemed fine when you came in.”

“Did you enjoy the party?”

Jamie tilted her head to the side, debating if she was going to allow my change of topic.

“About as much as a crazy outsider who is perpetually terrified of virtually everything, could have.” Her lips twisted to the side in distaste and thought.

“You’re none of those things.” I said pointedly. I needed her to hear me, to believe me. Her road to recovery and loving herself was going to be quite a long one. That was okay though, as long as she got there and let me straggle along on her journey.

She just shook her head and rolled her eyes at me.

She rolled her eyes at me. Me.

“Did you just roll your eyes at me?” I couldn’t believe it.

“Who, me?” Jamie mocked me further by looking around the headboard and the rest of the room.

Sassy, sarcastic Jamie was my favorite so far.

We shared a chuckle and she gave another tug at our hands.

“I’m not letting go.”

Jamie let out a little sigh. “I just want to adjust my hand. Yours are really large and my poor hand is feeling a little crushed right now.”

“No take-backs.” I warned her before loosening my grip on her. I really did dwarf her, though she was at a sturdy five-nine-ish if my calculations were right.

“Promise?” She hitched a perfect brow at me.

Her meaning was loud and clear.

I needed this to be very clear, so despite the aching pleas and warnings, I twisted my body, lifting a leg onto the bed; facing her fully, my left leg sat on the floor. My change in position had her sitting up straight and pulling her knees more fully into her chest.

“Give me your other hand and look me in my eyes, right now.”

I wasn’t saying please this time.

She obeyed quickly, no hesitation. I hated that, even though it was what I wanted.

“I am tellin’ you right here and right now, Jamie Sue Wright, so listen closely. There is not one force on this planet who will control your fate anymore. I will fight, I will kill, and I will die, to keep you safe and free. No one will ever hurt you again, I swear to you. No woman or child should ever have to endure the things you’ve been through in your life and never again will you ever worry about it happening, EVER. Now that we are in your life, you are the most well protected woman on this planet – right next to my mother, Taylor and her mama. I put my life on it, Jamie.”

When I finished, she had a tear rolling down her cheek; letting go of her hands, I slowly raised my hands to her face, using my thumbs to swipe the tears away.

“You understand me?” I asked, hands still on her cheeks.

Jamie softly nodded her head, then opened her mouth and let out a silent, “I understand.”

“C’mere.” I chucked my head back minutely.

Only by an inch or two did she lean forward when I wrapped her into my arms and kissed the top of her head.

Her body shook into me as she let out silent sobs. The crying didn’t bother me so much as the pain that had given her a reason to cry.

When this life was over and I got where I was going, someone was going to have some serious hell to pay for what Jamie had been through; I was really hoping it’d be Hell, because I was going to be nasty and chances were likely – I was gonna be tossed outta those golden gates when I was through, if that was my destination.

We sat there, together, for close to a half hour when I got up to check all her windows; I made sure the blackout curtains were pulled tight and blinds behind them were down. She needed all the sleep she could get.

Looking down into the dog bed I’d surrendered to Jamie’s room for the deserter, I snapped my fingers and the heathen came running to lay down. It was no more than two feet from her side of the bed but he kept trying to sneak up beside her in the middle of the night. Honestly, it surprised me that she didn’t scream when he did it; their bond really was incredible considering her infinite fear.

“Nice try.” I laughed, quietly.

Diesel raised his head to me and I swear if he could talk, or use his middle finger, I would have gotten a great big, “f you, too, buddy.”

“You brought my pillow back.”

I could hear the question in her tone.

“I did.”

I am going to make her work for it from now on.

Just because I could understand her little nothings, didn’t mean I should let her get away with it. Well, not all the time. Eventually she is going to have to be able to vocalize her wants, likes, dislikes, questions and so on. Plus, I really liked hearing that Brooklyn accent on her tongue.

This woman was so far outta my league, I needed a telescope to check her out.

Jamie rolled her eyes again and huffed when I refused to answer her unspoken question.

“Why?”

“I’m sorry, why what?” I grinned at her.

When teasing a potentially explosive woman, the Kane signature grin is a go-to.

“Why did you bring back my pillow and blanket, Noah Kane?”

“Oh, so saucy. I like it.” I winked at her before coming to sit in front of her again.

“I brought them in here because I figured I wouldn’t need them, being in the next room and all. It has plenty of pillows already.”

Her face fell.

“Oh, you’re leaving?”

“Not leaving. Just moving. Right there.” I hitched my thumb to the left, towards the bathroom.

“The connected bedroom?” Again, it sounded like a question, when she was really just processing.

“I will leave my bedroom door open for you – always. If you need anything at all, all you have to do is speak a little louder than your normal whisper and I’ll be right here.”

I stood to go but when I reached the bathroom door she yelled rather loudly, “Noah!”

Before I turned around fully, she snickered and covered her mouth with both hands, laughing into them.

“You rang?” I laughed, striding back over to her.

“Too loud?”

“Well, if I were in the kitchen, that would have been perfect – or say, Timbuktu.”

The picture of her laughing with abandon, was everything. It didn’t take me any longer than .348 seconds to realize I would do anything to keep her like this.

As I took another step toward her, smirking, she held out her arms and surrendered.

“Goodnight, Noah.”

I was just too tired to push her comfort limits right now, so I turned back around and answered over my shoulder, “Goodnight sugar.”

* * *

Waiting for the sound of Noah in the connecting bedroom, I slumped down in the bed and threw my arms over my eyes. Letting out a deep breathe, I starting flailing my body parts around the bed like a freakazoid when I felt him there again; looking up, I saw him standing there. Arms crossed, that perfect smile on his face, laughing silently at me. How could a man look so fine just by leaning up against a door frame or wall?

I didn’t even have the energy or humility to pull myself back up.

“Um, yeah?”

“Oh, don’t stop on my account. Unless you were practicing having a seizure; I know CPR – I excel at mouth to mouth.”

When I refused to answer him and his stupidly sexy wiggling eyebrows, he walked to the end of the bed and grabbed my pillow back.

“Don’t mind me, I’ll just take this and get out of your hair.”

He winked but I stopped him with a look. “Hey! What happened to, ‘I have plenty of pillows over there.’?”

Noah laughed at my horrible impression of him and shrugged his shoulders.

“Sorry sug, I like yours best. Can’t sleep without your sweet smell.”

What a line.

“And what about me?”

“You’ve been without it for a week, I bet you won’t even notice.”

“I don’t even think so.” I shook my head at him in defiance.

“We could always share if you want.” He only said that to get a response out of me, but he would be disappointed.