He withdrew, and her inner muscles contracted, not wanting to let him go.
“I’m gonna die a happy man,” he muttered. He repeated over and over how fucking good she felt and matched it with the careful way he concentrated moving in and out. Slowly at first, but as her body adjusted and accepted his girth, he thrust in a steady rhythm. She clung to him, fingers clutching at his shoulders, marveling at the solid muscles, his pure maleness making her feel feminine and craved. Their union exposed every nerve, reducing them to a primordial need. His need to possess and her need to be possessed. All their hang-ups were a memory.
Here and now.
Their chemistry burned away their insecurities, but it was something more.
Her heart wanted this.
“Look at me,” he demanded as he moved inside her. “You’re mine now.” He sped up his thrusts. “Fucking mine.” As the words left his lips, he appeared to lose control and his thrusts became forceful, every inch of him delivering exquisite sensations she never thought possible. Stella vaguely remembered his warning about hard fucking and if this was a sample of what that meant, she welcomed the pounding.
Delicious.
Addictive.
Stroke by devastating stroke.
They torched the sheets. Dampened them with their wildly rocking bodies until she hit another orgasm and Jake reached his.
He stiffened, drove into her one more time and dropped his head, muffling his roar at the crook of her shoulder. She felt the tremors ripple through his body, his struggle to keep from crushing her until he grunted and rolled away, taking her with him. A void took the place where they lost connection as he settled her on his chest, hugging her close as they both tried to catch their breath and slow down their heartbeat.
“That was …” he mumbled in her hair. “No words, fighter girl.”
Stella didn’t say anything. She fought against reading too much into after-sex words but she was feeling pretty incredible herself, thoroughly sated and boneless. She wished she could say it was all about the size, but that wasn’t all true. Sex between her and Jake was inevitable given how she tried not to jump his bones every time he was near. Now that she’d explored that possibility with him, she wanted more.
“I can hear your mind turning,” he murmured above her head.
“Oh, what is it saying?”
“You’re thinking of a million reasons why we shouldn’t have done this.”
“On the—”
“And I’m telling you now, babe, that’s not gonna work.”
“You didn’t—”
“You’re not pushing me away. Not after you let me have a taste of you. This thing between us? It’s happening.”
“I was going to—”
“Uh-huh. No way—yow!”
She pinched him hard and, on Jake who had very little body fat, she was sure it hurt.
“What was that for?”
She looked up into his aggrieved face and rested her chin on his chest. “That’s so I can speak, you dummy.”
“You’ll have to kiss it better.”
She rolled her eyes, but had to keep herself from laughing.
“Stop being such a big baby,” she said. “If you didn’t try to steamroll me with your caveman ways, I wouldn’t have pinched you.” She took a deep breath. “Anyway, I feel the same. I’m very possessive of this.” Her hand wrapped around his still erect cock and smiled inwardly when his lids lowered.
“Is that so?” he drawled, his mouth tilted in a half-grin. “Well, it’s all yours, fighter girl. In fact, pretty soon, it’s gonna want action again.”
Her eyes widened. “It will?”
Jake sighed, got out from under her and off the bed. He started walking to the bathroom to get rid of the condom. “Not sure I want to be objectified that way.”
“Please … my eyes are in danger of rolling out of my head.”
Jake barked a laugh, stopped and glanced over his shoulder. “Be right back and you can objectify me all you want.”
They were lying in bed. It was probably round three and a half. Stella considered oral sex ‘half sex.’ She went down on Jake and he happily went down on her again and wrung out her seventh orgasm of the night, but they needed to talk about serious things and not bang away their problems.
“We need to talk,” she started. She had her head on his chest, drawing circles around the sparse hairs that inhabited the planes of hard muscle.
“Is it about earlier?”
“Yes. I didn’t come to your room for sex—believe it or not.”
He snorted and she smacked him lightly.
“I came to apologize,” she continued. “Because you must have misunderstood what I meant.”
“Probably,” he conceded. “But you weren’t wrong even if it was what you meant.”
“I wish you wouldn’t say that. Caring for people doesn’t mean you’d be a shit undercover agent.”
“You need a level of apathy.”
“Which is clearly not you.” Feeling at a disadvantage while lying down, Stella pushed up, much to Jake’s protests and sat cross-legged on the bed facing him. “Doesn’t mean you can’t do a fine job. I think to be able to protect the country we love, we need to have something at stake.”
“Makes you weak.”
“Then what’s our military fighting for then?” Stella argued. “We hold them to the highest moral compass. Having an M4 doesn’t give you a license to kill. No. We can’t just give guns to people who have no conscience. I think the strongest men have the highest stakes. They’ll die to protect who they love. Otherwise, we’re no better than our enemies.”
“While we’re on the subject of apologies, I want to do the same.”
She held his eyes, waiting.
“I turned this over and over in my head. If it were a Guardian at the scene with Sal, I wouldn’t have interfered and had gone along and followed Schneider.”
This was the moment where she should get pissed at him all over again, but something in the way he was looking at her stilled her tongue, made her heart race.
“I’m sorry if I made you feel you weren’t capable of doing your job. I was afraid for you,” he admitted. “Guess I was selfish in a way. I couldn’t bear to see you get hurt. It’s not the same as not trusting you to protect yourself, it was more to protect my heart—”
“Jake …”
“I think I’m falling in love with you.” He gave a wry smile and a shake of his head as if he couldn’t believe it. “No, scratch that. I am in love with you. Ever since I saw you at that convenience store, the pull I felt for you was different. When you stepped in front of Gould, I knew you were the kind of woman I would die to protect.”
“Could it be just gratefulness?”
He chuckled darkly and sat up on the edge of the bed, turning slightly so they were face to face. “It’s not. As Guardians, we have each other’s back—doesn’t matter if you’re a man or a woman. Sexism isn’t in play. It’s not a situation I haven’t encountered before. Everything with you is different. If you hadn’t come to my room, I would have pounded on yours and confessed how I felt, convinced you to take a chance on this Nebraska farm boy.”
“I have a thing for this Nebraska farm boy.” She smiled. Her heart was soaring.
His mouth quirked into a grin and he leaned forward to give her a kiss, but before their lips could touch, Jake’s phone rang.
“Ignore it,” he said as their mouths grew closer.
“It could be important,” she whispered and broke their moment. “You’re still waiting to hear back from Tex, right? Regarding Sal’s files?”
He grimaced and leaned over to grab his phone off the charger. “Tex, what you got? Took you long enough.”
Stella went over to grab his shirt and put it on, wincing as every muscle of her body protested.
“What?” Jake growled and the tone in his voice had her whipping her head around. Anxiety clutched her heart as she took in his grim expression.
/> “What is it?”
“Which hospital?” He held a finger up, and the muscle working on his jaw told her he was barely holding it together.
Goosebumps raised on the back of her neck as a sense of foreboding set in.
“We’ll be right there. No man, jig’s up. Arrest us if they have to, but we’re going to the hospital. Call Viktor.”
He thumbed his phone off. “Get dressed.”
She was already pulling on joggers but if they were leaving this hideaway, she’d have to put on something more substantial. “Tell me. Please don’t keep me in suspense.”
“There’s been a drive-by shooting at your house.”
Her heart dropped to her gut. “Gram?”
“She’s in surgery. We need to leave.”
Jake didn’t have to repeat himself a second time.
15
Stella and Jake burst through the emergency room doors and immediately made for the triage station, but they were intercepted by Detective Morris—a detective Stella had worked with in the past.
“Where the fuck have you been, Hunt?” he demanded.
“Are you seriously doing this now?” Jake snarled and if she didn’t put herself between them to intervene, there would have been more trouble in the ER waiting room. She noticed the other plain clothes detectives on sight, including two officers.
They knew she was going to show up.
“Arrest me later,” she said. “But please … wait until I make sure Gram is all right.”
Morris’s mouth flattened and gave a brief nod to the approaching law enforcement personnel scattered around the waiting room.
“For what it’s worth, I had a reason for taking those guns—”
“We know and we’ve been ordered by the Chief to help. We’re not here to arrest you,” Morris said. “You gave us Desmond, and Salvatore told us what happened. Apparently, the bartender had dirt on him and though the ATF dropped the ball on their informant, it’s a done deal. DA is getting ready to charge Desmond. We just need you to corroborate.”
“Was Gram payback for the guns?” The thought wouldn’t leave her mind, her heart. She put the people she loved in danger.
“Stella,” Jake said fiercely. “Don’t, babe. Don’t torture yourself.”
The detective glanced at Jake, then returned his attention to her. “I’ll ask questions later. Let’s get you through this first.” He stepped back and talked to a uniform.
When Jake extended his arm to lead her to the sitting area, a reaction she couldn’t control had her flinching away from him.
His brows drew together. “Stella …?”
A strangled sob rose in her throat. “I can’t, Jake,” she said morosely. “Not with you. Not right now.” She couldn’t bear his touch. Her logical mind told her that this wasn’t his fault, but her heart rebelled against what he represented. If she’d never met him—no … her heart balked at that too.
Conflicted, she wandered the waiting room, looking for Tex and Caroline. They’d been with Gram when the shooting happened. Jake trailed behind her, giving her space but not abandoning her. That gave her a strange comfort, knowing he understood her need for distance from him.
The ER doors slid open again and this time, Wolf, Drake, and Marcus walked through.
“How’s Pearl?” Wolf asked brusquely, his eyes sweeping across the ER. “And where are Caroline and Tex?”
“Here.” A voice said to the right of them. Tex and Caroline were being escorted out of a room.
When they reached them, Wolf’s wife said, “They didn’t want us alerting Stella that they were waiting for her. Took our phones.”
Wolf tagged his wife around the waist and held her close. “You okay?”
“Yes.”
He turned to Stella. “You?”
“I will be once they tell us Gram’s okay.”
The ER doors opened again to let Viktor and a red-haired woman through. She reminded Stella of Black Widow from the Avengers. Could this be Maia?
Resentment bubbled up inside her. Did it take Pearl getting hurt before Viktor deemed it important enough to clean up the mess he started? From what Jake gleaned from Tex, Gram sustained a gut shot and had lost a lot of blood, but Tex and Caroline were able to stem the bleeding. The officers tasked to patrol their house were just turning on their street and were able to immediately summon an ambulance. Wolf, Marcus, and Drake were running down a lead on Schneider at the time the shooting happened and weren’t at the house.
But how did the Guardians get here so fast from DC? They must have already been on their way.
Tex assured her Pearl would be fine. But a gut shot? Stella rubbed her arms as the possibility of losing Gram sank in. All her enmity right now was directed at Viktor. Her training taught her that shit happened, but the Guardian boss better have a good damned reason for showing up belatedly.
But Jake beat her to it. He was halfway across the room invading Viktor’s space. The Guardians exchanged looks and moved off to a corner by the noisy vending machine.
Stella waited patiently.
“Whatever you’re thinking, Stella, Viktor has his reasons,” Tex said beside her.
“I’m sure he does.” But were they good enough for her?
Four hours after they arrived, Jake sat alone in the waiting room. Pearl made it through surgery. No vital organs or aortas were damaged when the bullet hit her left side. She wasn’t allowed many visitors since she was still heavily sedated, but the people closest to her were cleared to see her. Stella was with her, as well as Caroline.
Viktor and Tex were outside in the Guardian’s van, checking out properties owned by Schneider. Wolf and Marcus went back to the house to make sure it was secure, while Drake was talking with Detective Morris.
Viktor got the go ahead from the feds to form a task force with the VBPD to hunt down Schneider given the urgency of a chemical weapon in play.
Movement caught in his peripheral vision and he turned his head to see Maia approaching, holding a tray of coffee.
“I made a coffee run. Figured we all deserved better than a hospital vending machine.”
Jake accepted the tall Styrofoam cup and took a sip.
She sat beside him. “Viktor’s busy with Tex. I figured you needed company.”
“Do I look pathetic?”
She made a funny face. “Pathetic, no. But it looks like you need to talk to someone.”
Had he been that transparent? He had a strong urge to snatch Stella into his arms and soothe her pain and fear, but animosity radiated in her body language—language she was attempting to conceal because Jake could see her struggle. Which was why he bided his time and hadn’t forced his presence. Hopefully seeing Pearl out of danger would enable her to find her bearings and look at the situation with a clear head.
“Stella’s blaming herself for getting entangled with the Guardians.” Jake leaned forward in his seat, resting his elbows on his knees. “I don’t know how to help her.”
“You care for her?”
“I love her,” he responded without hesitation, turning to look at the redhead as if waiting for her to challenge his declaration.
Maia arched a brow. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but how long have you known her?”
Jake chuckled and gave a shake of his head. “Three days? Crazy, right?
“Not really.” Her gaze grew distant, a fondness lurking in her smile. “I know what you mean.”
“I think circumstances fast-tracked everything … I don’t know … it’s hard to explain.”
“I agree. Life and death situations do that. Cut through the bullshit and all you’re left with are honest feelings.”
“You should be a shrink.”
At this, Maia laughed. “No. I have no patience to psycho-analyze lovesick alpha males. They’re onerous and one-track minded stalkers.”
Jake stared at the back of his fingers. Despite the circumstance, a small grin marked his face. Maia couldn’t have nailed it more accurately.
If Stella wanted space, didn’t want to be around him, he’d most likely find ways to be in her life that would clearly be defined as stalkerish.
“You didn’t get a chance to tell her Pearl was on Schneider’s target list all along?”
“No,” he said fiercely as self-recrimination flared through him. “I don’t know how I missed this.”
“Don’t blame yourself. The man wasn’t on our radar until this last shipment. Guardians don’t deal with local criminal organizations until they get too ambitious and start to fuck around with chemical and bioterrorism agents. If Viktor didn’t push for the CIA to release their files, we wouldn’t have known that the German lab experimenting with chemical weapons was shut down when the Chemical Weapons Convention made a sweep.”
Jake learned that, at that time, Pearl Hunt was an active member of the board. Caught in the sweep was the general who’d been Schneider’s commander when the latter had been in German Special Forces. The Guardians’ intel didn’t suggest that Schneider held a grudge against Pearl the whole time, but most likely recognized the chemist after the Virginia Beach Tribune published an article about Stella’s brother, Sam Hunt. The recorded conversations between Schneider and his crew supported the timeline when the man had become obsessed with getting revenge.
He and Maia were discussing the possible threats against the upcoming conference when Stella emerged from the ICU. She looked so bereft and exhausted, his heart twisting at the sight.
They got up and approached her.
She could still be blaming the Guardians for what happened to Pearl. If she rejected him, he would continue to try without being pushy. He extended his arm and, when she stepped into him, he didn’t give her any time to pull away. He held her close and held tight. She didn’t utter any words, but the rapid rise and fall of her chest revealed the emotional stress she was under. Jake would support her through anything she needed.
After a minute, Stella leaned back and stared up at him. “I’m sorry for earlier. I lashed out and—”
Jake put a finger on her lips. “You were worried about Pearl, and we were the idiots who got you into this. Don’t apologize for being human.”
Protecting Stella (Special Forces: Operation Alpha) Page 12