What He Bargains (What He Wants, Book Nineteen) (30 page)

He was just sitting there, his face a dark mask, with no clear evidence on his face as to how he felt about what he’d just heard.

Here it comes
, Raven thought.
The big kiss off
.

There was no way Jake wanted to deal with Club Alpha and certainly not just to defend her. She wasn’t important enough to him and never would be.

He stood up, still just wearing his boxer shorts, and walked to where his pants were, picking them up and putting them on.

“Are you leaving?” she asked him.

He looked at her and didn’t say a word, just pulled his cell phone from his pocket and dialed it.

Raven had no idea what was going on.

“Hey,” Jake said into the cell phone. “It’s Jake. Get Scott on the phone right away.” There was a short pause and then Jake’s teeth bared. “Max, you stupid ugly pile of dog shit, did you hear me? I told you to get your master, get him on the phone now. I’m not wasting my time with you.”

Raven could hardly move or even think.

Was that Max, as in Max Mendez, that Jake had just spoken to like that? She couldn’t imagine it—it must have been a coincidence. And then Jake simply waited, his face unchanging, his eyes far away and cold.

A minute later, he spoke again. “Scott, it’s Jake Novak. Remember me?” He sounded friendly but his expression was anything but. “Haha, yeah. Yeah. That’s fine, my man. Anyway, listen, I just wanted to give you a little heads up, Scott. Raven Hartley is with
me
now, understand?” His jaw set and the muscle flickered beneath the skin. “No, you little slimy fuck, you listen to me. I will bury you if you try to threaten or harm her in any way.” His voice was raising a little as he spoke. “Raven is with me and that means you and your trash organization have nothing—I mean nothing to do with her or with me. And if something happens to her—I don’t care if she gets a goddamn paper cut. I am coming for you, you got that Scott?”

“Please,” Raven said, terrified now, even though her heart was soaring that Jake was actually standing up for her. She felt love for him that almost burst her heart, but she was also afraid for him, too.

Club Alpha wasn’t some tiny little company that would run away from a fight. She knew that. She knew it deep inside. They would never just walk away from this situation if they thought it might hurt their organization.

But Jake wasn’t responding to her, or even seeming to see her.

Jake listened to the phone for a brief second before speaking again into it, and his every word seemed to be a promise and direct threat to Club Alpha. “I’m coming for you and everyone you know, motherfucker,” Jake growled. “So get ready, because you have no idea what I’m capable of.”

J
ake Novak tossed
his cell phone on the bed and then turned his attention to Raven.

His eyes locked on hers as he stood naked from the waist up, his pants hanging low on his hips, showing off his six pack and then some. He was finely chiseled stone, completely perfect in every way physically.

“That’s that,” he said, his voice even and calm, the scar above his eyebrow indicating that he knew how to fight and wasn’t afraid of it.

Jake was more than just some gorgeous pop idol without substance—he’d stood up to the frightening and powerful men who wanted to hurt Raven. Club Alpha was dangerous, and yet he hadn’t backed down from them.

Quite the opposite.

Jake had finally taken her side, and he’d done it when his reputation and career were already on thin ice. In fact, Jake had just told the CEO of Club Alpha that he was going to come after him.

His last words to Scott were still ringing in Raven’s ears.

You have no idea what I’m capable of.

Perhaps they didn’t know what Jake was capable of. And perhaps she didn’t either, but Raven was beginning to suspect that Jake Novak was capable of just about anything.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Raven asked, as she tried to process what had just happened. She was still sitting in bed, clad only in panties, bathed in sweat from Jake’s warmth from when he’d held her close.

Jake’s mouth turned up at the corner, a tiny smirk. “I’m sure as I’ve ever been,” he said. “But what about you?”

“I don’t know,” Raven admitted. She pulled the covers up to her chest, covering her breasts, even though he’d certainly seen and even touched them plenty by now.

“What don’t you know?” Jake asked her, coming over and sitting on the edge of the bed.

“I feel like I’m complicating your life,” Raven said. “That wasn’t the idea.”

Jake’s tiny smirk turned into a full-fledged grin. “No, it wasn’t. But I like surprises.”

“I’m supposed to help you reform your image, not get you into trouble with some shady underground company run by billionaires.”

He laughed at that. “I’m not scared of billionaires,” he said to her, leaning across the bed and stroking her hair.

“Well, I am. They seem like nasty people. I think they meant what they said about kidnapping me and making me disappear.” She shivered as Jake stroked her hair, loving the way he was touching her, completely overwhelmed that he was suddenly willing to fight for her.

“Nobody’s going to make you disappear,” Jake told her. “Look at me, Raven.”

She did look at him, and his liquid brown eyes were like nothing she’d ever seen. This was
the
Jake Novak, the man that millions of women and teenage girls lusted after, and he was far sexier with her then she’d ever seen him act in any movie.

“How can you be sure, Jake? You can’t watch over me 24/7 and at some point, Club Alpha will make sure to get me back for screwing them over.”

“Remember what you said to me?” he asked her, his hand moving to caress her cheek and then her shoulder.

She shivered again. “What exactly did I say?”

“You told me to trust you,” he replied.

She sighed. “I’m trying, I really am.”

“Nobody’s going to hurt you, Raven, and anyone who tries is going to wish they’d never been born.”

“Club Alpha isn’t messing around, Jake. If you’d seen the look on that guy Scott’s face when he told me to sit down or he’d put my head through the window—“

“Wait a minute,” Jake said, standing up again. “You didn’t tell me that, Raven.”

She bit her lip, wishing she hadn’t said anything. “He didn’t do it, obviously, he was just trying to scare me.”

But Jake’s entire demeanor had changed now. He slipped on his shirt. “Come on,” he told her. “I’m going to show you something important.”

Raven was nervous. “What? What is it?”

Jake gave her a grin. “You’ll like this, I promise.”

T
hey were sitting
in the back of a sedan with Jake’s driver in front, calmly navigating the busy Manhattan city streets. Jake was relaxed, legs outstretched in the roomy backseat, his window slightly open.

The paparazzi had given them hell between the hotel exit and the car, but it was just a few steps and Raven was almost—almost—getting used to the yelling and incessant pictures being snapped.

The car seemed strangely calm and quiet after all of that, and now they were apparently driving to some fancy restaurant called Koan—Jake assured her that Koan was some of the best Japanese food he’d ever tasted.

“I’m not really that hungry,” Raven said. She was dressed in black slacks, heels, and a black tank top with a white blazer over it.

It was true, she wasn’t really very hungry and especially didn’t want to dine out at some trendy New York hotspot after everything she’d been through that day.

But being with Jake was enough to make Raven want to try her best, to go out on the town if that’s what he wanted. After all, he’d stood up for her like a daring white knight, and he was making her feel like a princess because of it.

What kind of princess doesn’t accept her valiant knight’s invitation to dine with him?

Even if Raven was afraid that the rug could be pulled out from her at any moment, even if she wasn’t certain that Jake would continue to stand up for her, she didn’t want to assume the worst.

Maybe this change is real. Maybe he’s actually falling for me. Miracles do happen.

But when Raven looked at Jake he seemed oddly quiet and distracted. She thought it might be that he was angry about everything she’d revealed to him earlier.

“Are you freaked out about all of that stuff I told you about Club Alpha?” Raven asked him. Jake was behaving as though everything was fine, but she sensed a coiled tension beneath the surface, like a snake waiting to strike.

“I don’t freak out,” Jake said, looking out the window. “I just make moves.”

“What kind of moves?”

He glanced at her. “I think you know my moves pretty well.”

She flushed and looked away from him. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

“I don’t see the difference. Making moves is making moves. When I decide I want something, I make it happen. And if someone goes against me, they’ll live to regret it. Period.”

“I just don’t want you to get yourself in trouble over me,” she said. “You seemed really angry when you yelled at those guys from Club Alpha today and I’m afraid you’ll do something without thinking it through first.”

Jake glanced over at her, his expression incredulous. “You think I should let those guys get away with what they did to you today? Threatening you? Telling you they were going to kidnap you if you didn’t listen to them?”

“Of course I don’t think they should get away with it,” Raven said. “But I’m worried that you’re going to do something to get yourself in trouble.”

“Don’t you worry about me,” Jake replied. “I’ve done just fine for myself, I got through Afghanistan—I think I can deal with a couple of rich chumps from the business sector trying to intimidate my...” he trailed off.

Raven wondered what he’d been about to say. Had he almost called her his girlfriend and then reconsidered?

“I do worry about you,” she told him. Then she looked at him, refusing to back down from the challenge.

Jake made eye contact too. His brown eyes were unwavering. “Let me take care of everything, Raven. Let me take care of you. That’s the way this whole thing works.”

What whole thing? This completely fake relationship we’ve started for your PR campaign to make everyone realize you’re really a nice guy?

Or is this finally becoming something else?

Raven wanted to ask him that very question, but she hesitated at the moment of truth. Jake’s eyes lingered on her for a moment, and then he went back to looking out the car window again.

She continued watching him, wondering how he could all at once seem as though he was ready to lay down his life for her, and then the very next second he could act as though Raven was some stranger that had intruded on his life simply to cause problems.

Jake was wearing a cream colored suit, and he filled it out perfectly, and he smelled perfect, and he was everything that a woman could want. Just sitting next to him was a turn-on, and then when Raven thought about the way he’d touched her and the way she’d touched him, stroking him, making him come…Jake Novak was actually hotter than he even looked, which was saying something.

Add to all of that, the fact that he also possessed a smoldering bad boy side, the danger that he’d exuded when he’d yelled at her tormentors over the phone—and Raven wanted him more now than ever.

And that was scary, because she was already losing control, losing her ability to keep any sort of distance between herself and Jake Novak.

Jake had repeatedly told her that he wasn’t capable of being a normal boyfriend, had repeatedly made it clear that he was damaged goods (for some mysterious reason he didn’t care to explain).

Why did she insist on wanting more from him, hoping for more from him?

It could be that I’m just a glutton for punishment.

All of these thoughts ran through Raven’s anxious mind as she watched Jake staring out the car window on the way to the restaurant.

Finally, the car pulled up to Koan and one of the attendants stationed out front opened the back door for them.

Jake got out and then extended his hand to Raven to help her out of the car, his grip gentle yet firm.

She nearly lost her breath as she stood up straight and caught sight of his handsome face as if for the first time.

Jake Novak just smiled at me, just touched my hand. And now Jake Novak is taking me out to eat at a fancy restaurant.

Jake Novak touched my pussy, made me scream.

She shook her head, her gaze dropping to the pavement.

“Mister Novak, we have a table ready,” the attendant said softly.

“Thanks,” Jake said, handing the young man a tip.

“Wow, thank you sir!” the young attendant replied excitedly, and then he held open the door to the restaurant for them, where they were met by a beautiful hostess with long red hair and striking blue eyes.

She led them into the strange, post-modern restaurant that seemed to be part minimalist chic, part ancient Buddhist temple. If she hadn’t seen the place with her own eyes, Raven wouldn’t have believed it existed.

The restaurant was crowded, and nearly every table was already taken, but the hostess led Jake and Raven to the back, where she sat them in a booth that gave them greater privacy then the other diners.

“This is perfect,” Jake told the hostess, as she handed them the menus.

Already, even with the privacy of this booth, the other patrons were starting to buzz and whisper, and glances were being furtively thrown in Jake’s direction. He seemed completely unaware or disinterested in the attention, fixing his eyes on Raven alone.

“Do you like sushi?” he asked her.

“I guess,” she said. “I’m not all that hungry, to be honest.”

“You will be when you eat this stuff,” Jake told her. “Best sushi in the country. And all of the wealthiest, most powerful people come here to eat. You can see a lot here if you keep your eyes open.” As he said this, he swept the room with his gaze.

Something about the way he said this last part gave Raven a chill, as if he’d just physically touched her, even though he hadn’t. “What can I see if I keep my eyes open?” she asked him.

He looked at her again and his lips twitched, and then he broke into his world famous grin just for her. “Oh, you’ll see plenty, Raven. And it’s very educational, too.”

“I feel like you’re about to play a prank on me,” she said, her eyebrows rising.

“Not at all,” Jake replied.

“Then what? What are you getting at?”

“It’s simple, Raven. This is the place where everyone who’s anyone comes to eat, schmooze, and look important. A lot of these people have standing reservations, you can practically set your watch by it if you had any interest in running into the right person at the right time.” That famous grin had turned cold, but Raven still wasn’t sure what he was driving at with his cryptic comments.

The waiter came over and Jake ordered for both of them, which was a relief since she hadn’t had time to look over the menu and didn’t particularly care what she ate.

Was Jake really being strange or was it her imagination? She wondered, as he interacted casually with the waiter, then gave Raven a quick wink and flashed yet another grin.

Beneath his glib attitude, she was sensing something darker and more dangerous. He continued to scan the restaurant, as the waiter came back quickly with drinks and fresh green salads with a tangy orange dressing.

Raven picked at her salad, appreciating that it was actually quite good, while at the same time she couldn’t get past the sense that Jake was up to something.

He put a forkful of lettuce in his mouth and chewed, once again looking around, checking the room.

People were looking back at him. Some had started using their camera phones, even though they tried to be cute and hide it. Raven supposed the rich were just as in awe of Jake as anyone else, since these diners were all supposedly the richest of the rich.

And then she noticed Jake stiffening, as if, like a panther, he’d suddenly spotted his prey.

One moment he’d been smiling, seeming to be relaxed and at ease, the next he was still as a statue, and his eyes were locked in on what he was seeing.

Raven followed his gaze to where the hostess was leading a man and woman over to one of the last unoccupied tables in the restaurant.

At first, she was too surprised to realize who the man was and why Jake seemed to care so much, but then she caught a better look at his face and everything changed.

It was Scott, the CEO of Club Alpha—the same man who not long ago had threatened to beat her and have her kidnapped and made to disappear in some foreign country.

He was with a tall, leggy blond wearing a short pink dress that featured her abundant cleavage to the point of absurdity. Her giggle could be heard across the room as they sat down and made goo-goo eyes at one another.