Trusting The Boss

by Mallory Crowe

  “Then let’s do this for more than a week.”

  He stood stock-still as he studied her. But she didn’t look confused or wavering.

  She shrugged under his scrutiny. “It’s not like we’re getting married. But I don’t have any pressing plans in the near future. And from what I understand, after this job, you’re unemployed. So why not see where this goes?”

  Jace ran a hand through his hair and tried to force himself to think clearly. “Emma, I don’t think you or I are in the right frame of mind to be—”

  Emma stepped forward and pressed her lips against his. And for a fraction of a second, Jace really did try to pull away. But then a tentative hand rested on his bicep and what tenuous control he had snapped. He covered her mouth with his, meeting her tentative kiss with his deep, possessive one.

  Was she serious? After everything he’d done, she wanted to give him another chance? But then she wrapped her arms around his neck and all he could think about was getting her naked as quickly as possible.

  His hands ran down her back and settled in the curve of her waist and he lifted her against him so she could wrap her legs around his waist as he moved back into the room. God, she felt good against him. She ever so subtly rubbed her hips against his and he groaned in a mixture of pleasure and pain as his cock strained against the fly of his jeans.

  He set her down on the bed and reluctantly took his mouth from hers. “Damn it, Emma,” he muttered as he pulled away. He reached for his fly as she pulled off her shirt. As quick as humanly possible, he extracted a condom from his back pocket and shucked the pants off, which was good because Emma was reaching for him and pulling him down.

  He happily complied with her demands as he rested his hips between her jean-clad legs and kissed her. Her breasts brushed his chest in an erotic friction and he groaned as he bit back the urge to thrust against her.

  No. She was giving him another chance and he wasn’t going to screw this up by going too fast with her. Emma deserved slow and sweet lovemaking that would last all night until she was nothing more than a quivering, moaning mess.

  And he was going to try his best to get her there. Jace gently palmed her breast as he trailed kisses along the side of her neck, paying special attention to the sensitive crook where it met her shoulder. Her hands roamed along his back and ran through his hair.

  He continued lower, finally getting a chance to appreciate Emma’s perfect chest, running his tongue quickly over each nipple before he teased the tip with the edge of his teeth. Emma flinched beneath him even as she pulled him closer, her legs wrapping tightly around him. He smiled at her reaction as he gave the opposite peak the same treatment.

  As soon as Emma seemed as though she couldn’t take anymore, he moved lower. His palms traced the curve of her waist downwards until he reached the waist of her jeans. After pressing a soft kiss right below her bellybutton, he sat back just long enough to undo the pants.

  Emma must’ve been just as eager as him to remove the barriers between them, as she lifted her hips immediately to allow him to pull the denim and panties off in one smooth motion.

  She held a hand out to him, but he wasn’t ready to enter her yet. Well, his cock was more than ready, but he wanted her to be falling apart well before he ever thrust inside. Instead, he gently parted her thighs and exposed her auburn curls fully to his view. When he met Emma’s eyes, he saw that her face was officially redder than her hair and he couldn’t help but grin.

  Before she could stop him, he parted her inner lips with his thumbs, running them over her clit and down to just below her entrance. Emma gasped as her head fell back and Jace took advantage of her momentary distraction and leaned forward to softly suck on her clit. Her reaction was instantaneous as her entire body jerked, her thighs pressing against his shoulders as her fingers tangled in his hair. He pushed two fingers deep inside as his tongue and teeth worked in tandem until Emma’s soft gasps turned into uncontrollable moans and her body seemed to move of its own volition.

  Right before she started to come apart, Jace couldn’t hold himself back any longer. He shot up her body and met her mouth for a deep kiss right as he thrust his cock completely inside her. As soon as her warm, wet heat enveloped him, he let out a guttural moan. Even though they’d been together less than two days ago, it somehow felt like forever since he’d been in Emma’s arms.

  “Jace,” she moaned, and hearing his name on her lips spurred him on.

  He rested his forehead in the crook of her neck as he started to thrust. She met every inward stroke of his cock with her hips, leading him into a frantic, primal rhythm before her head fell back as tremors shook her body.

  Her sexy as hell moans were all he needed to push him over the edge as his orgasm rocked through him. Jace held her close as wave after wave hit him hard. As the aftershocks finally started to subside, he realized how tightly he had pulled her against him and loosened his grip. “Sorry,” he muttered.

  Emma laughed as she relaxed beneath him. “No apology necessary…trust me.”

  He pushed himself up just enough to look down at her. “Does that mean you haven’t come to your senses and decided that you’re never sleeping with me again?”

  Emma weakly hit his bicep. “Oh no. We’re definitely doing that again…”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Emma woke to the sound of a ringing blaring through the room. She jerked as Jace twisted to pull the receiver to his ear. He didn’t move like someone blurred by the haze of sleep. She had a feeling he’d been in some stage of alertness the entire night.

  She was rather surprised she’d gotten any rest. The mattress wasn’t exactly winning any awards and she’d never liked sleeping in strange places, especially places where the flickering parking lot light shone through the crack beneath the door. But it was hard to feel uncomfortable when Jace was next to her. On top of her. Behind her…

  “What?” he snapped. “Are you kidding?”

  Emma scooched closer as she tried to hear what was happening on the other end, but couldn’t tell anything except for that it sounded like a man on the other end.

  “I’m not moving anywhere.” Jace rolled off the bed and reached for his pants, the phone squeezed between his ear and shoulder so both hands were free. “Fine. We’ll check out then. Can’t I leave the key on the dresser? Fine.” Jace slammed the phone down and quickly pulled on the rest of his clothes.

  Emma sat up, covering her chest with the sheet. “What was that all about?”

  “That was the front desk. Apparently there’s a water leak or something above us and they wanted to move rooms.”

  Glancing up, Emma didn’t see any sign of water damage. “Really?”

  “The whole thing sounds fishy.” As he strapped on his holster and gun, his suspicions were pounded home.

  “Michael said everything should be taken care of this morning.”

  “I’ll believe that when I see it.” Jace crossed to the door and took a look out the peephole. “Either way, we’re going to head out. I just have to drop the key off at the front desk.”

  “Should I go with you?” Emma scrambled around until she found her own discarded jeans and her gray t-shirt with a large orange flower pattern.

  “You stay here. If there is anything to worry about, I’d rather you stay behind the bolted door. I should only be gone about a minute and then we can take off and get breakfast.”

  “One without all the waitresses trying to find out every single detail of your life,” said Emma with a grin.

  Jace slid his jacket on and smiled back at her. “Maybe we can actually have a quiet meal to ourselves?”

  She widened her eyes in mock surprise. “Jace Lance. Are you asking me out on a date?”

  Jace set his hand on the doorknob before he leaned in for a quick, breathtaking kiss. “That depends. Are you saying no?”

  “I would love to go on a date with you.”

  She tried to keep the stupid grin off her face, but it was impossible no
t to smile. Here he was, half convinced someone was trying to kill her, and they were joking about going on a date. Well, the date part was serious. “I’ll be ready when you get back. Hurry, okay?”

  He opened the door and took a step outside. “Will do. Remember, only open the door for me and chain it behind me.”

  “I know the drill,” she said. He narrowed his eyes as though he debated saying more, but instead just gave her a quick nod before he turned to head to the front desk.

  As quick as she could, Emma shut the door, and slid the chain in place. They’d left her home without packing anything, so there really wasn’t much to grab. Just her shoes, phone, and—

  The door slammed inwards, shards of wood spraying the front of the motel room.

  Emma jumped back and stared in terror at the hole in the door, but her horror only increased when she saw the hand come in and reach for the chain.

  No. If this guy got in, she wouldn’t have a chance. Emma grabbed the first thing within reach, the empty ice bucket, and ran to the door. By then the chain was undone and his fingers inched toward the deadbolt.

  Emma slammed the ice bucket into the man’s arm, but besides a flinch, it didn’t stop him from finding the knob and turning it in one deft motion.

  Then the door swung open. Emma felt as though everything moved in slow motion as Dave stood before her. Somehow she’d expected him to look more evil than she remembered. Maybe even victorious as he slammed in the door.

  But all she saw was pure determination. His short brown hair was slicked back and he wore a nondescript buttoned-up shirt and jeans.

  She stepped back. There was nowhere she could run, but maybe she could put up enough of a fight that Jace would be back?

  But then she noticed what he held in his hand. He lifted the gun up and pointed it squarely at her. “You have two seconds to come with me.”

  The choice was easy. “Fuc—”

  She had no memory of him pulling the trigger or a gunshot. One minute she was telling him off, the next, she had fallen to her knees, clutching her arm. Even though she could see the blood seep between her fingers, it didn’t hurt. Was that strange? Getting shot was supposed to hurt, wasn’t it?

  Dave grabbed Emma’s arm, the wounded one, and hauled her up. In a flash, the numb haze she had been in fled and agony rushed through her. She tried to bite back a moan as she was dragged out of the room. The harsh sunlight hitting her eyes brought her back to reality. If she got into this guy’s car, that was it. There would be no Jace to protect her. No ice buckets to futilely use to defend herself.

  Acting on pure instinct, Emma tried to pull away and make a break for it, but the second she tried to yank her arm free, the pain shot through her again, and her knees buckled under the pressure.

  But Dave just put an arm around her waist and hauled her into the passenger seat of his truck. As soon as he shut the door, Emma tried to open it, but the latch was rigged so she couldn’t open it from the inside.

  And then he was in the driver’s seat, driving her farther and farther from the motel and Jace.

  ###

  Jace couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling as he rang the bell at the front desk for the third time. He’d just spoken to someone, so why the hell wouldn’t he be there? He started to ring the bell again, but stopped with his hand in the air. Putting his palms flat on the counter, he pushed himself up and jumped over. If someone walked in on him back here, he’d be in trouble, but he didn’t give a fuck. All his mental alarms were blaring and he’d been around long enough to know when to trust his gut. The closed door behind the counter was marked Employees Only and Jace pounded on the wood to get someone’s attention. He gave it ten seconds before he opened the damn thing himself.

  Behind the door was the crumbled body of who Jace assumed was the front desk attendant. The man had a trickle of blood down the side of his face, but Jace could tell he was still alive by the rise and fall of his chest.

  And if he was out of commission, that meant that whoever called him and lured him out of the room didn’t work for the motel.

  Jace slid back over the countertop and ran for the glass door, but when he turned the handle, the thing didn’t budge. He peered through the cloudy glass pane in the upper part of the door, and could just make out someone in front of the room he and Emma stayed in. He squinted and his heart froze as he realized the stranger was pulling someone out of the room with him.

  His adrenaline kicked him into high gear and Jace pulled back. Instead of working on the handle, he gave the door one solid kick and that was all it took for the aged wood to give in and collapse in front of him. But by then it was too late. He scanned the parking lot for any sign of movement, zeroing in on a truck as the engine turned.

  Jace’s legs pumped as fast as they could as he ran to the truck, but it backed out before he was even halfway there. Instead of running after a vehicle he knew he could never catch, Jace stopped to take on a stable stance, pulled out his nine millimeter and aimed at the truck. He could see Emma in the front seat and tried to focus past the pounding of his heart. At this distance, he couldn’t aim for the driver without the possibility of hitting Emma.

  “Shit.” Instead, he aimed lower and fired three rapid shots at the back tire. The satisfying pop of the air pressure rapidly escaping was almost as loud as the gunshots, but the truck didn’t stop. After it swerved and jerked, it turned onto the road and down the street.

  He ran toward his SUV and hopped in, and jammed the key into the ignition. He didn’t even bother closing the door, letting the momentum of the car slam it shut as he peeled out of the lot.

  How had this happened? Obviously this wasn’t the most secure location, but for one night they should’ve been fine. No one had followed them here. He’d made sure of it. And judging by the state of the motel room door, Emma had locked the doors just like he told her to do.

  Son of a bitch! He was supposed to protect her. He’d promised her. Promised himself. His one job was to keep an eye out for her. He should’ve brought her with him to turn in the key, but she should’ve been safe for two fucking minutes while Jace was gone. He’d been so careful. Victoria almost died because Joslyn’s hired guys got the jump on him, but he’d been on high alert this entire time.

  Jace slammed his foot on the gas and pushed the SUV to its limit. No. Emma wasn’t going to get hurt. He wouldn’t fucking allow it. He was going to find who had her and when he did, he would shoot the bastard square between the eyes.

  ###

  Every bump and curve the truck took jarred Emma’s arm even more, but she bit back her moans of pain. She was huddled against the door, as far from her captor as possible. Her mind replayed the past few moments, thinking of all the ways she could’ve handled herself better. Other things she could’ve used to keep his hand from reaching the lock. That she should’ve screamed once she was in the parking lot. She should’ve fought harder. Worked through the pain.

  But she wasn’t out of options yet. She glanced in the side mirror and saw that Jace’s SUV was still behind them. Dave took a sharp right turn and Emma had to brace her legs against the center and hold onto the handle over the door for dear life so she didn’t go flying into Dave.

  His eyes constantly scanned between the road in front of him and the rearview mirror. His gun was securely holstered on his right side, so if she wanted to reach it, she’d have to crawl over him.

  “You don’t have to do this,” she tried to say as calmly as possible, but the blood pounding through her caused her calm, rational voice to sound breathy and panicked.

  “All you have to do is give me what I want and you can go.” He sounded just as relaxed as he had when she first met him at the café. As though he hadn’t just shot her and wasn’t being chased by her pissed-off boyfriend.

  “What you want doesn’t exist. Call your boss. My cousins were meeting with him today. All this should be sorted out within the hour!”

  That at least earned her a considering look from th
e madman in the driver’s seat. But before he seemed to make up his mind, he swerved to the left and slammed Emma against the door. As he straightened, Emma regained her balance and reached for the seat belt. Though the blood on her hands made it harder to grip anything, she managed to calm her shaky nerves enough to get the belt locked in place.

  As soon as she was buckled, Dave tossed an old-school flip phone into her lap. “Dial the last number on there. Put it on speaker.”

  Emma took a deep breath. She’d been bluffing when she said that within the hour her cousins would be meeting with his boss. They’d told her jack shit, so she had nothing to go on. Emma picked up the phone with her good hand and flipped it open. Probably good it wasn’t a newer model, because her bloody fingers would never work with a touchscreen.

  Internally, Emma laughed at the stupid thought, but when Dave made another sudden turn, she was snapped back into the severity of the situation. She found the last number dialed and put the speaker function on.

  After one ring, a man’s voice came on the other end. “I thought I told you not to call me.”

  “I have Emma Devereaux with me,” he said casually, as though they were just hanging out together. “She says you’re meeting with her cousins today.”

  “Shit. Yeah. The Devereaux situation is taken care of. Let her go.”

  “Got it.” Dave reached across the seat and grabbed the phone, snapping it shut.

  Emma took a nervous swallow. “So you’ll let me go, right?”

  Dave’s glance flickered between the road and rearview mirror and for the first time she saw a flash of nerves flicker over his features. “If I stop the car, your boyfriend will kill me.”

  She shook her head frantically. “He won’t. I’ll reason with him, I swear!”

  He didn’t look at her. Just drove faster. “Guys like him start thinking they’re in love and all sorts of shit goes haywire. There is no reasoning with him.”