by Susan Stoker
Hearing her uncle, who was a badass in his own right, tell her he was proud of her, went a long way toward helping Sadie forgive herself for the worry she’d put her family through, and was still putting them through.
“Thanks,” she murmured.
“But if you do anything like that again, I’ll have Ian find a safe house to stash you in or put guards on your ass twenty-four/seven. And I’m not kidding.”
Sadie’s eyes widened and she looked at her uncle in shock. Would he really sic bodyguards on her? Yeah, he totally would.
Before she could respond, even though she had no idea what she might say, Chase Jackson stuck his head into the small room at the police department, where Sean had met them. They had discussed Jonathan and had been updated on the search for him.
Other than the reported sighting of him down in San Antonio, which had prompted Chase’s decision to move her to his friend’s garage apartment, there hadn’t been any other updates. With every meeting, Sadie got more and more frustrated. The man was a master of disappearing into thin air. But she’d thought that before, and it had turned out Jonathan and his now-deceased, equally perverted father, Jeremiah, had been lurking in San Antonio the entire time, waiting for the perfect moment to make their move against Milena and her son, as well as Sadie.
“Everything okay?” Chase asked, obviously having seen her surprise at her uncle’s last words.
Sadie looked over at him.
He was really good-looking. Dark hair and brown eyes that always stared at her with an intensity that made her want to squirm. He filled out his clothes in a way that hinted he was one big muscle underneath them. She wanted to run her hands up and down his body to feel his muscles for herself, but so far had refrained.
Chase was also a couple inches taller than she was. She hadn’t always been attracted to tall men, but spending time around her uncle and his friends had changed that. She always felt protected when they were near. Part of it was because of what they did, but it was also watching them with their wives. They’d tuck their women under their arms, or pull them against their sides, or push them behind their own bodies if they thought there was a threat.
Sadie hadn’t ever had a boy, or man, protect her like that. Then again, she’d never really wanted to be protected. But watching Sean, Alex, Ian, Liam, Jake, and Adam with their wives gradually made her realize she might be missing something. Having someone constantly be looking out for her well-being wouldn’t exactly be a hardship.
And Chase had certainly made her feel protected. The second she’d run into him in the school after escaping Jonathan, she’d gone from being scared out of her mind to being surrounded by Chase’s manly scent, and it had calmed her.
But Chase could also be super confusing. Running hot and cold. One minute she was sure he wanted her, and the next he was treating her as an annoying little sister. The last month had been torture, being around him and not knowing what he really thought about her.
The old Sadie would’ve called him on it. But ever since being held captive by Jonathan Jones at that school, she’d felt unsure about nearly everything. She hated not being the kick-ass Sadie she used to be and was working her way back to being that person, but it was slow going.
“I was just saying goodbye to Sadie,” Sean said, turning away and bending over to pick up Sadie’s bag. “Grace packed some stuff for you,” he told his niece, handing her the bag. “Thought you’d appreciate having more of your own things.”
Sadie nodded. She wasn’t surprised Aunt Grace had the presence of mind to make sure she had more of her favorite clothes. Every time her uncle had come to check on her, he’d brought more and more of her wardrobe. Before long, Grace would have sent her entire apartment. As it was, it already looked like she’d completely moved in with Chase.
“Take care of my niece,” Sean ordered Chase.
“She’ll continue to be safe with me,” Chase replied.
The two men stared at each other for a long moment. Finally, Sean nodded. “I’ll be in touch.”
Then he leaned over, kissed Sadie on the head, and was gone.
She turned to Chase and held her bag in front of her like a shield.
He held out his hand. “Ready to go?”
Sadie swallowed hard and nodded. She put her hand in his and let him lead her out of the small room.
Chapter Two
Chase Jackson tried to keep his eyes off of Sadie’s ass as she climbed the stairs to the apartment over Cormac Fletcher’s garage, but failed. He was only human, after all.
The first moment he’d seen Sadie Jennings, he’d wanted her. Wanted her with an intensity that seemed to come out of nowhere. He hadn’t ever felt like this about a woman before. As if he needed her in order to breathe.
“Are you sure it’s okay for me to stay here?” Sadie asked as she put the key in the lock.
“Us.”
“What?” she asked, a confused look on her face.
“Us,” Chase repeated calmly. “And yes. Fletch has no problem with us staying here while your uncle and the Feds continue to try to track down Jonathan.”
Sadie froze—one hand on the doorknob and the other holding her bag as if her life depended on it. “I thought you’d just be with me during the day.”
Chase gently edged Sadie to the side and pushed open the door. He put his hand on the small of her back and guided her into the apartment. He pried the bag out of her hand and let it drop to the floor before leading her into the living area, which contained a couch, a small coffee table, and a television.
“Chase?”
“I can’t make sure you’re safe if I’m not here, Sadie.”
“But…your Delta Force friend lives next door. I thought that’s why I would be staying here,” Sadie protested.
“That’s part of why you’ll be safer staying here. Not to mention the cameras he’s got covering every inch of the property. But if you think I’m going to rely solely on him or the cameras to keep you safe, you’re crazy.” Chase turned to look at the woman who’d had his feelings turned upside down since the day he’d met her.
She was looking at him in confusion, chewing on her lower lip, her brows furrowed. She was also wringing her hands in front of her and she wouldn’t quite meet his eyes. He wanted to shake her at the same time he wanted to haul her into his arms and tell her she never had to worry about anything ever again.
Her auburn hair hung in curls around her pale, freckled face. He loved how her small upturned nose wrinkled when she was confused and how her face glowed pink when she was embarrassed or excited. Her eyes were a hazel green that sparkled when she spoke of anything she was passionate about…which was almost everything. She was tall, around five-nine, and curvy. Her hips were wide and she had a small pooch of a belly, which was cute rather than a turnoff. Her arms and legs were muscular; he knew from talking with Sean Taggart that when she lived up in Dallas, she worked out at least twice a week with the men and women in the McKay-Taggart group and held her own.
But it was more than her looks that drew him. It was her personality. She was loyal, both to her friends and her family. She was determined and compassionate. She was tough, fearless, and most of the time not afraid to speak her mind.
Sadie looked around the small apartment. “There’s only one bedroom.”
Chase wanted to tell her that they’d share it, but didn’t want to make her uncomfortable. “I’ll sleep on the couch.”
Sadie looked at it dubiously, then looked him in the eye. “I’m not a baby, Chase. I’ll be perfectly fine here by myself. You can go back to your place to sleep, then come here in the mornings if you feel the need to babysit me.”
“Let me make something perfectly clear, Sparky, the last thing I think about when I’m around you is babysitting. You’re what, twenty-five? Only two years younger than me?”
“Yeah,” she answered reluctantly, hating that she’d thrown the same words at Chase that she had her uncle. “But you act a lot older,” sh
e told him defensively when he didn’t say anything.
Chase grinned at her. Fuck, she was cute.
“And don’t stand there smirking at me,” she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.
The smile left Chase’s face. “I’ve seen a lot,” he told her quietly. “Too much. So much that there’s no way I’m going to leave you here to fend for yourself when that asshole is out there, dying to get his hands on you. That is in no way baby-fucking-sitting. I can protect you, Sparky. Make no mistake.”
“Why are you calling me that?” she asked, instead of commenting on his over-the-top statement.
“What…Sparky?”
“Yeah.”
Chase grinned. “Red Hair. Explosive personality. Fire. It fits you. I like it.”
Sadie stared at him for a long moment before rolling her eyes. “You think I’ve never heard that one before? Newsflash, I’ve been called every name under the sun related to red hair. Chucky, Copper Top, Red, Carrot Top, Rusty, Fire Crotch—that one by an asshole at college, who thought he was God’s gift to women and was pissed I wouldn’t give him the time of day—Red Riding Hood, Pippi, Annie, and even Garfield. Sparky isn’t even that creative, all things considered.”
Chase took a step closer to her, and she took a step backward before squaring her shoulders and glaring at him. He reached out a hand and tugged on one of her curls. He let the piece of hair wrap around his finger before slowly palming the side of her head with his large hand. He smiled at her. “I’d never disrespect you by calling you something derogatory. Sparky is an endearment, and a compliment. You don’t take crap from people, and the passion I see burning inside matches the color of your hair. Both are beautiful, and I respect the hell out of you.”
“Oh.”
Not taking his hand from the side of her head, Chase leaned into Sadie, close enough he could smell the jasmine lotion she’d used that morning. “Anything else you need me to clarify?”
Her eyes were huge in her face as she stared up at him. She stood stock-still, as if afraid to move. “Why are you doing this?” she whispered. “You don’t even like me.”
“Not like you?” he asked incredulously. “Is that what you think?”
She nodded. “I heard you telling my uncle on the phone that I was impulsive, and not in a good way. You also said it was stupid of me to keep going to that school to assist Milena after I had my suspicions about what was happening there. You told him that he sure hadn’t taught me anything in the time I’d worked for McKay-Taggart, even if I was only the receptionist.”
“Yeah?” Chase asked, sounding unconcerned.
“Yeah. And you even told him that you thought I needed a ‘keeper.’”
When she didn’t continue, Chase asked, “You overhear anything else?”
Sadie shook her head slightly, her hair still caught in his fingers. “No. I left after that. I decided I’d heard plenty.”
“You didn’t eavesdrop long enough, Sadie. You didn’t hear me tell your uncle that, for someone who hadn’t been trained, you had a remarkable innate ability to know what to do in an emergency situation, and I was fucking impressed.”
Her mouth dropped open and she stared at him in shock.
“Or that, while you might have been irresponsible by continuing to go to work with Milena, I thought you were incredibly brave to have blown the whistle on the operation in the first place, and then continue to go there to protect her, even when you had a pretty good idea what was happening to the girls behind the walls of that hellhole.”
Sadie’s mouth closed with a snap.
“I like you, Sadie Jennings. I might not always like the things you do, but I do understand why you’re doing them. That it’s just who you are.”
“You like me?”
Chase wanted to grin, she was so fucking adorable, but he didn’t. “Yeah, Sparky. I like you. I like you enough that the thought of Jonathan getting his hands on you makes me physically ill. I’ve spent the last month getting the approval of my commanding officer to make you my official job. To make sure you’re safe. The weapons stockpile the Feds found in the secret tunnels of the school was enough to get that approval. RPGs aren’t the kind of weapon the average citizen should have at their disposal. So, while your uncle, his friends and brothers, and the FBI track down Jonathan and eliminate the threat hanging over you, I’m going to keep you safe. With help from Fletch, Ghost, and the others.”
“This is ridiculous, Chase. I’ll be fine up in Dallas. Uncle Sean will make sure I’m safe,” Sadie told him. “Watching over me twenty-four seven has to have gotten old.”
Chase tightened his hand in her hair. “It hasn’t.”
Sadie sighed in frustration. “I’m putting you out. I’m in the way. Let me go home, Chase.”
His countenance gentled, but he still shook his head. “Jonathan was going to rape you, Sparky. You said so yourself. You told the Feds that he was obsessed with getting you pregnant and taking your babies for himself. Do you honestly think he’s going to just give up and run away with his tail between his legs?”
She bit her lip and looked away from him.
Chase could see that she knew Jonathan wasn’t ever going to stop looking for her. The man was obsessed. Chase also knew that Sadie had tolerated staying at his apartment with him only because she thought Jonathan would be found right away, and because it would keep Milena and her son safe at the same time.
“I can take care of myself,” she protested.
“Let me do this,” Chase said in a low tone.
“Why?”
“I don’t think you’re ready to know why,” Chase told her.
That obviously got her hackles up. “I might be younger than you, and not an officer in the Army, but I’m not a baby. I have my concealed handgun license and have learned a lot from working at McKay-Taggart. I’m not a victim either. I’m not going to cower and cry and wait for that asshole to find me. What aren’t you telling me?”
“You want to know why I don’t want you to go back up to your badass uncles? Back up to Dallas, where they have an entire team of men who could keep you safe? Because yeah, I know they could.”
Chase waited for her to nod before continuing. He leaned closer and his hand moved to the side of her neck, holding her still. His lips brushed against her right ear as he proceeded to rock her world.
“You may not have thought I liked you before today, but mark my words, Sparky—you’re mine. And I’m personally going to make sure that asshole is wiped off the face of this earth so he can’t look at what’s mine anymore. So he can’t touch what’s mine. So he can’t even think about what’s mine. Then, when he’s dead, I’m going to marry you—and spend the rest of my life making sure no other asshole thinks he can do the same thing.”
Sadie gulped and shifted in his grasp. She didn’t say anything, just stared at him in shock as he pulled back from her. His hand still rested on her neck and he could feel her pulse hammering in her throat. His eyes roamed over her, taking in her peaked nipples and the lust in her eyes.
“Now, are you going to let me keep you safe, or do you want to run away and hide behind your uncles?”
“I’ll stay.” Her words were more of a croak than actual syllables.
He smiled…and couldn’t help the relief that coursed through his veins. “Good.”
“I don’t do well cooped up,” Sadie warned him, stepping back from his hold.
“I’m not your jailer,” he responded immediately, letting her retreat. “I didn’t say we would have to stay in the house every minute of the day. As long as there’s no obvious threat, we can hang out with my sister and her friends, go to the grocery store, things like that, as long as it’s within reason.”
“As long as I don’t have to just sit around,” Sadie grumbled.
“We don’t have to just sit around…unless you want to.”
Chase barely kept himself from leaning forward and taking her lips with his when her cheeks pinked. He didn’t kno
w exactly what she was thinking, but he could guess—because it was exactly what he was thinking he wanted to do. Their chemistry was off the charts. His gaze dropped to her mouth, imagining how her lips would feel against his for what seemed like the thousandth time.
“I…I should probably unpack,” she mumbled. “See what my aunt put in the suitcase this time for me.”
“You do that,” Chase said, not taking his eyes off her lips.
She licked them, and every muscle in his body clenched, a split second away from pulling her into him and not letting her go until they were both gasping for air. But now wasn’t really the time. He needed to keep his wits about him. Keep her safe. He took an additional step back, putting a foot of space between them.
She glanced up at him, as if trying to read his mind, then scooted off to the side and toward the front door, where he’d dropped her bag when they’d entered the small apartment. Chase watched as she hurried to the door of the bedroom and disappeared inside.
He ran his hand through his dark brown hair and tried to ignore his rock-hard cock. Living in close quarters with Sadie was hell. He would’ve liked to have kept her in his apartment. In his space. In his bed. But he knew she’d be safer here, where Fletch could help him keep an eye on her. He tried to tell himself that eventually, she’d be moving back to his apartment with him…by choice.
He hadn’t lied. He wanted Sadie Jennings. Wanted to marry her. Wanted to tie her to him so tightly she not only wouldn’t want to let him go, she wouldn’t be able to either. He wanted her more than he’d wanted almost anything before in his life.
He just hoped Sean Taggart didn’t feel the need to castrate him when he found out how closely he was guarding his niece’s body.