“Cupcake, you’re all I ever want too.” He seems surprised and I wonder why.
I release the crumpled invoices I just now realize I was fisting and let him help lift me up from the desk.
“I’m sorry about your desk,” I grin as he hands me some tissues to clean up with.
His dark eyes fly to mine. The way he looks at me—like I’m on the menu at his favorite restaurant—does nothing to help me want to pull up my pants. In fact, his heated stare makes me want to strip down and let him fuck me against the door next.
“I’m not,” he says smoothly. “Now, throw on some clothes before all I’ll only ever want is you to be forever spread across my desk like a fucking Thanksgiving feast of a woman. I’m seriously considering taking you again, J.”
Our naughty plans are interrupted by a knock on the door.
“Newbie? Get dressed and come help me. Fuck break is over.”
We both grin at each other but begin dressing quickly. Slade finishes first and plants a chaste kiss on my forehead.
“We’ll continue this on your next break.”
Once we’re decent, he takes my hand and opens the office door to guide me back into the bar. When he stops dead in his tracks, I bounce off of his massive, stone-hard back.
“Get back,” he hisses.
Something in the tone of his voice scares the shit out of me, so I scramble back into the safety of the office. His hand swats the light switch off and almost closes the door. Then he peers through the opening and scowls at someone out there.
“What is it?” I whisper. My heart is wildly flopping around in my chest as anxiety seeps into my veins.
“People who don’t belong here. People who could be after you,” he murmurs cryptically.
My eyes dart around the dark office as panic sets in. Did Bruce find me?
“Four Asian men, most likely those North Korean thugs, all dressed in expensive, matching suits. They don’t belong in our Podunk town.”
He’s right. Everyone who comes to the bar dresses in simple clothes. Just like the people at the church. This town is the epitome of the casual dressers. Our old skirt uniforms were considered fancy.
“Shit. What do we do?” I question quietly.
Slowly, he eases the door closed and locks it. When the light comes back on, it blinds me. As I blink away the brightness, I see that Slade’s eyes are focused and determined. He strides over to a safe on the wall and begins turning the dial like he’s done it a thousand times. Once he’s put in the combination, he twists the knob and tugs open the door.
“We stay quiet. Then we move.” He pulls out a menacing hand gun and my eyes widen. “Your dad and I were already thinking—”
“You talked to my dad?” I interrupt. I know my father entrusted me under Slade’s protection, but I didn’t realize they were in communication.
“Yes, and he thinks—”
I interrupt him again as he loads bullets into the chamber of the wood framed revolver. “How do you know my dad?”
His eyes lift from the gun and panic briefly flashes across his features before he hardens his stare. I hate the look meant to push me out.
“He hired me to keep you safe.” Vague much?
I sigh in frustration. “Clearly, Slade. But how did you meet him? My dad isn’t exactly in the business of knowing people who can protect his daughter from North Korean thugs.”
He lifts his shirt and slides the gun into the back of his jeans before meeting my questions with a glare. “Goddammit, J. I asked you to fucking trust that I would keep you safe. Enough with the questions.”
Tears sting my eyes at his harsh tone, but I understand. Even though he’s hurt my feelings, he’s right. There could be men out there coming for me, so I need to stop grilling him about it.
“I’m sorry, but let’s not do this right now. Please stay quiet and behind this door. I’m going to go check things out.” His voice is softer this time, and I know he feels bad for barking at me.
“Be careful,” I whisper.
He nods and slips stealthily out of the office, flipping the light switch on the way out. And I’m left in the dark—in more ways than one.
“Did you pack everything?” Slade asks without lifting his eyes to mine. He’s been on his laptop since the moment those ‘thugs’ left earlier, taking care of paying bills for the bar and communicating with my dad on where he is supposed to take me.
I bite my lip because he’s so incredibly sexy all sprawled out on the bed in nothing but a pair of black boxer briefs and his glasses. The laptop is perched on his lap covering up his only clothing, making him look completely naked.
“Yep,” I reply as I peel off my nightgown.
His eyes remain glued to his screen. “And your computer?”
I slide my panties down my legs. “Yep.”
“We’ll leave at daybreak so we can make it there at a decent hour.” He’s all business and completely distracted.
I miss our connection that seems to have disappeared the moment he set eyes on those men. At that point, Slade became obsessed with protecting me. Because of that, I ended up spending the entire evening locked away in that office until I heard the sound of the alarm beeping, indicating that he’d closed up and everyone had gone home. Even in the dark bar, he attempted to sneak me upstairs just in case anyone was peeking in the windows.
I feel trapped again.
A burden.
And while actually trapped in that dark office, my mind swirled with ideas of how my dad and Slade knew each other. He has yet to offer up that information, and I’ve been too chicken to ask him again. I want my sexy lover back—the man who seems hell-bent on tasting every inch of my body. Not this warrior. It was a brief flash, but I saw the words emblazoned on his gun.
Warrior.
I want Derek back.
Prowling over to him and crawling onto the bed, I attempt to distract him. I want to get find what we had.
“Derek,” I purr as I slide my hands around the laptop.
His eyes finally lift and the serious man disappears as my lover rejoins me. Heat floods his eyes as they skitter down my naked tits. Then I snap the laptop closed and lean over to the nightstand to set it down.
“My kitten. So soft and sexy,” he growls as he hauls me to him.
He rolls us over so that I’m pinned beneath him and begins kissing me as if at any moment I might disappear from his arms. My kisses are just as frantic as his. We both seem to require the other as we would air, and our bodies become a tangled mess of flesh and limbs. Finally, his hand manages to squeeze between us and pull his boxers down enough to get his cock out. When he pushes himself into me and stills, I moan in need. His eyes are almost black now when he rocks purposefully into me as if he’s discovered a way to mold us into one person.
Earlier today, we fucked in his office, but what we’re doing now is different. He’s searching my eyes for something, and I sure as hell hope he finds what he is looking for.
“You’ll never get away from me, Cupcake. I’ll always protect you no matter what.”
My heart fills with an emotion so strong that it brings tears to my eyes. It’s an emotion I never came close to feeling with Kent.
“Always?” I murmur as my body tenses up with an orgasm.
Thrust. Kiss. Growl. Explosion.
“Always,” he whispers as we both submit to our ecstasy.
I believe that he will.
After I clean myself up and turn the lights off, I attempt to snuggle right back underneath him—where I feel the safest. As I drift to sleep, my mind ponders if those men were truly after me which makes me feel guilty that I kept Jack at arm’s length. He is a good guy unlike those men. I could have been more than friends with him had Slade not been entrusted with my care. Right now, I could be cuddled with Jack.
It wouldn’t be the same.
It would be like Kent.
Jack, like Kent, wouldn’t crush me with his sleeping self. Jack, like Kent, wouldn�
��t be able to make my body disobey my mind and submit to the sleeping bear in my arms. Jack, like Kent, would have treated me like a normal guy treats a normal girl.
Unlike Slade.
Joss could have loved Jack.
But Jill couldn’t because she loves someone else.
Slade, with his explosive personality and unmatched passion, somehow seems perfect for me—the Joss-and-Jill combo I’ve become. He brings out an edge I never knew I had and I soften the brutally sharp sword that is him.
We belong together.
Forever.
On that thought, I drift into sweet dreams of white churches, swollen bellies, and Derek Slade.
“You’re a good Jossy girl,” Bruce coos.
Jossy girl.
“She’ll never play piano again, William. Are you sure you want to make that decision for your sweet daughter?”
Excruciating pain slices through me as Bruce snaps my finger like a twig with the pliers. Horrifying, otherworldly screams tear from me as he rips my finger right from my hand. I have no finger. And then he begins on the next finger in line . . .
I wake myself from sobbing in my sleep, but I almost cry out in relief when I realize Slade’s heavy arm has me pinned. I’m safe. Protected.
I’m about to dry my tears and submit to the sleep that threatens to pull me back under when he murmurs his reassurance in my ear.
“I’ve got you, Joss.”
My heart stops for a brief moment. “I’ve got you, Joss.”
He knows my name.
Of course he does, idiot. He works for your father.
“I’ve got you, Joss.”
I’m J. Cupcake. Kitten. Baby. Sweetheart. Beautiful. But to Slade . . .
I am not Joss.
“I’ve got you, Joss.”
His words are a dagger straight to my heart. I know those words. I know that voice. The terrifying events from the night I was taken flood my brain in a rush, and suddenly, my skin grows cold. I can’t fucking breathe.
I’ve got you, Joss.
The man who stole me straight from my bed was rough. Serious. All business. He took me from my life. He took everything from me. And then, at the last minute, he intervened.
But he took you!
My life is wiped clean because of him. My social security number doesn’t exist because of him. My boyfriend went to my fucking funeral because of him.
Dad knows.
The other part of my heart shudders as it breaks too. All lies. They all fucking lied to me. The rage in my heart threatens to tear apart my chest. I need to get the fuck away from him.
Slade is protecting you.
I’ll protect myself. I’m clearly the only person I can trust.
Gideon is Derek Slade. Gideon was a fucking warrior. God, I am so stupid. He flashed that damn gun with “warrior” proudly displayed on the side and I shrugged it off. What bar owner carries a sleek weapon with the fucking word “warrior” on the side?
A warrior.
A criminal.
A fucking bad guy who takes women from their homes in the middle of the night.
A destroyer.
A man who sleeps with the woman he is to protect when she should be protected from him not by him.
Dad knows.
I can’t get the sick thought out of my head. A friendly, safe face pops into my mind. A face Slade was dead set on keeping me from. Sick bastard. I’ll call him to get me away from here.
Feeling as if I may suffocate under a man I cannot stand to be touching, I slide carefully out from underneath him. His soft snores never cease as I crawl out of bed. And with every second that Joss’s heart dies, Jill’s becomes harder.
I’ll protect myself.
SOMETHING’S NOT RIGHT.
Unease slithers down my spine as I reach out to pull Joss into my arms.
Joss.
The sheets are empty, cool like they haven’t been occupied for hours.
Joss.
“I’ve got you, Joss.”
I called her Joss.
As a memory slams into me, I jackknife up in bed. Then I glance wildly around the room, looking for any sign that she’s still here.
“Baby?” I yell as I scramble out of bed.
I grab a pair of pants, tossing them on before running across the hall to the other bedroom, only it find it empty. My heart is frozen in my chest.
“Cupcake?”
But the door is already open and I can see that her luggage is gone. Fuck!
No! No! No!
I know it’s futile, but I can’t help hoping that I’m reading the situation wrong. While making a mad dash throughout the entire building, I check every possible place.
But it’s no use. She’s gone.
I fight to stay upright, grabbing the wall for support as agony rips through my chest. But, she’s out there alone, in more danger than she realizes. I don’t have time to deal with my pain. So after getting dressed, I retrieve my gun from the top drawer of the nightstand and thunder down the stairs to my office.
I quickly round the desk and sit in the chair, unlocking and opening the top drawer while waiting for my computer to boot up. Then I check to make sure the weapon is fully loaded before I reach for the bullets and extra magazine stored in the drawer. Last, I grasp the leather pouch.
After pulling the medallion out, I clench it in my fist.
St. Gideon.
He freed the people of Israel, a valiant warrior in the name of God. But there is nothing righteous about my past. Nothing redeemable about me. I didn’t even protect her as I should have.
Anger flushes my skin when I think about how I slept right through her leaving. Nobody has ever been able to sneak up on—or out on—Gideon. The problem is, with Joss, I was no longer Gideon. I was no longer an emotionless mercenary. Instead, I am Derek Slade. And she is the reason I look at myself and see even the smallest spark of goodness and decency. She is the reason I feel. The reason I live.
When I clench my fist tighter, the medal bites into my skin. I can feel the terror shredding the walls around my heart, and I can’t pretend I have no emotions anymore. I can’t pretend I am not desperately in love with her.
She. Is. Everything.
I will keep her safe no matter what. Even if it means losing her. Because the only way to save her is to become Gideon—the hardened mercenary—once again. The destroyer. The warrior. I will save her. I’m just not sure I’ll be able to save myself.
Joss will never forgive me for what I’ve done, and without her, I have no one to break through the walls I am currently resurrecting. No one to help me find my way back to Derek Slade.
After strapping on my holster, I grab my leather jacket and keys. I’m ready to walk out the door as soon as I know where I’m going. But first, I have to figure out where the hell she went.
On the computer, I pull up my encrypted files, looking for a number I’ve buried in a mess of useless information. Once I find it, I take out my cell, slip my Bluetooth headset on my ear, and punch in the numbers. Before hitting send, I open up another program and run Ivory Trace, a GPS/locator program, on Joss’s laptop. William created the unique GPS locator for her computer and a corresponding program to be able to track it. Unfortunately, the computer has to be on or in sleep mode to track. I’ve drilled it into her to keep it charged and never turn it off.
I know my next step is to call her father. Normally, I wouldn’t give a rat’s ass, but I don’t look forward to the confession that will accompany the phone call. No one, no matter how emotionless they might be, wants to admit to fucking a man’s daughter. Especially considering the circumstances surrounding how I came to be the one protecting her.
After pulling into an abandoned gas station, I look over at the angel sleeping peacefully in the seat next to me. What the hell am I doing? I should have just walked away and not interfered. But I just couldn’t let him hurt her. I glance over at her again, wishing I could make her more comfortable. What? Ridiculous. What the
fuck do I care if she gets a crick in her pretty little neck?
I stare at the vision next to me and hit send on my phone.
“William Parker?”
“Who is this?”
I know he recognizes my voice, but it’s clear that he can’t quite place it. I’m sure he was expecting Bruce again.
“Gideon.”
His small gasp tells me that he knows the name. Everyone who plays at his level knows who Gideon is. They all fear that they’ll be on the receiving end of my mercenary skills someday. And they are probably right. Unless you’re the highest bidder—then you’ll probably end up a mark . . . Bruce is a greedy but shrewd little bastard, and he was often the highest bidder.
“Is she . . . Is she d-dead?” he stutters.
Ah, he’s guessed I was behind the kidnapping.
“No. She’s safe. She’s with me.”
His voice is hard when he scoffs. “Safe. With a mercenary?”
He’s quiet for a moment, “Is it true what they say? That you won’t kill your victims?”
My hands tighten on the steering wheel at his words. I’m not an assassin. I’ll do pretty much anything you pay me for, if the price is right, one step short of murder. My reputation for that is pretty well known, but I can understand why Parker would question it.
“I may be a mercenary, Parker. I may whore myself out to the highest bidder. I may have even sold my soul to the devil. But I’m not a killer.”
“You don’t need her for any kind of leverage, Gideon. Bring her home.”
“I can’t do that. She’s still in danger. Bruce got into bed with DRP Corp. He’s not the only one who’ll be coming after her anymore.”
“DRP Corp? The North Korean government’s black ops company?”
The reality should be settling in right about now. North Korea will never admit it, but people in the technology industry know that DRP Corp is funded by the government under the table. They are ruthless, completely without boundaries when it comes to getting what they want.
“Yes. You’re going to have to trust me, Parker. I’m going to protect Joss. I’ll hide her until we can figure this mess out.” My voice is fierce, and I’m burning with the need to protect the broken little kitten curled up in my passenger’s seat.
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