Like I care! Putting this mess to bed is his job. I mean, he’s the man and I’m just the little woman who wants kids and baking and all that other stuff I don’t even know how to do.
“You.”
“Shut up, Jess.”
“You,” I whisper teary eyed, smiling up at him.
“Dammit. I’ll just fuck you to sleep,” he snarls before I can say another word, kissing me hard.
I don’t mind though. I just surrender to the foolish man and laugh as he starts touching me. Trace loooooves me. And tomorrow I’ll get him to say it. After more sex. Yeah. Definitely more sex.
Chapter Fourteen
Trace
The smell of baby puke and eggs is something I never want to walk into again, even as I stalk behind Jess the next morning only to be met by wild cheering and back slaps that leave Jess blushing and threatening to murder me when I grin and preen under the macho parading.
She’s still pissed at me for making her pass out last night before she could torture me with her boasting. This morning, there was another fight when I slapped her ass and walked out of the room, locking the bathroom door despite her banging and unladylike cursing. Man, does that woman know how to insult a penis.
In three different languages.
I’m just happy she finally stopped insinuating disturbing scenarios about my junk and an ice pick because the poor thing tried to crawl up into me along with my nuts at one point.
“Shut your holes, you pigs. I am not in the mood.”
Nick chokes at her sneer and Lenny smiles sagely, giving me the stink eye as Jess rushes over to clean up the puke on Lenny’s shirt as the woman keeps eating her eggs, oblivious to the fact that her son is asleep on half her chest and drooling stinking baby goo all over her.
Christ. I hope Jess isn’t that weird when we have a kid, or I’ll likely be gagging half the time what with my plans to keep her knocked up for the next ten years or so.
“Aww, Jess. Come on darlin’, you should be happy after last night what with the way you were hollerin’ till the wee hours of the morning,” Jericho teases.
The look she gives him has all dicks present stepping back a step in outright fear when she bares her vicious little teeth.
“Just one more word. One,” she warns while feminine laughter mocks us all.
I’d be ashamed if the memory of her teeth weren’t so vivid. Lex shifts beside me, turning his ass away, and I feel my arm twitch where she got me the day I told her purple was not her color.
The woman is violent and mean when riled, and no way do I want to rile her in the mood she’s in.
“Men are such idiots. It’s a wonder they even know what to do with a woman’s equipment,” Kinsley sighs dramatically, patting Jess comfortingly while Cleo dishes her a plate and glares at us all.
Me especially.
“I—”
“Shut your mouth, Trace, before we write you off and introduce Jess to Lenny’s friends in town. Those women know how to party, and they have men lining up for just a minute of their time. I bet they could set Jess up real easy,” Evie barks, making my eye twitch.
The thought of my woman and another man makes me homicidal, and they all know it as they smirk knowingly, Jess included, and go back to ignoring all us men.
“Thanks a lot, prick,” Nick mutters when Lenny slaps him away from her and Oscar and sniffs her disdain. “You got nailed and then ruined it, didn’t you? What a lost cause.”
I take exception to that and would so kick his ass, but the other idiots all give me the stink eye too, and Jericho goes one step further and grabs me by the nape, towing me out of the kitchen as the others follow.
“Stop that, man.”
“No, you stop it, you freaking fool. Here we set up that whole thing with Jess to get her to give your lame ass a chance and you screw it up. You withheld the love talk, didn’t you?” Lex rages as they shove me out the front door and any chance I had at the breakfast I was hoping for.
“I am not telling her I love her after sex, that’s just messed up,” I say defensively, shoving Jericho away with a curse.
Nick scowls and starts pacing like only he can and mutters shit under his breath that has me worrying for the future of my second born, if I should even get that far.
“Dude, chicks are all vulnerable and soft after sex, you idiot. They need love words and shit to make it feel like more than just coming and mutual pleasure.”
I roll my eyes at King and groan.
“You still got your balls in there, or should I go buy you some pads and sanitary wipes?”
“Hey, fuck you, Trace. I got my wife, and she loves my big balls.”
“Yeah? Must be hard to menstruate while you still have those suckers,” I goad, needing this argument because, dammit, I really do not want to be having this whole conversation with these fools.
What I say and when I say it is no one’s business. Yeah, okay, so I get that I pussed out last night and messed up. I totally get that, but I have my reasons, okay? One, I really do not want to do the whole love thing while my woman is naked and feeling vulnerable.
I want it to mean something, not just be words I say to make her feel better after sex. Sue me and call me a sap, but I want to tell her at a time when she knows how much I really do love her.
Like when I show her the house, which should be ready to decorate in the next few weeks. Or when I give her the engagement ring I bought last week. Or when I tell her everything about me from where I was really born to where I grew up and all that other crap I haven’t told another soul.
I just want it to mean more than, oh hey, thanks for the sex, by the way, I love you.
This shit is all so new to me, you know? So yeah, part of it is fear, I admit it. I just need a little more time to wrap my head around how strange and scary it feels to love something more than my own life.
And I do. I love her so much that just thinking of a day without her makes me shake and want to rage at the heavens. Last night, watching her sneak into my room and fall on her ass, I finally got how deep this thing with the two of us goes, and it floored me.
I distracted myself with looking at her ass and the pink skin of her sex peeking up at me, but I swear to God, I couldn’t shake the fear completely.
What if something goes wrong and they get to her? What if I lose her? What if she gets hurt or, God forbid, dies, and I live? I can’t do that. I can’t imagine a life where I don’t get to see her every day, and that terrifies me.
I already live to see the little things that she does like the way she rubs at her nose when it itches and goes at it so hard it sounds like she’s grinding her nose to dust. It’s gross but endearing, you know?
And the way she keeps pursing her lips out when she’s deep in thought. The woman looks like a puffer fish when she does it, but it’s so cute I can’t help but grin when I see it.
She’s got no rhythm and looks like a giraffe when she tries to dance—thank God she tripped last night, or I’d be tasting my own balls right now—but it makes me laugh every time I catch her doing it.
And the crowning glory that is my weird and wonderful Jess: she mumbles and caterwauls her way through songs because the woman just does not know the lyrics. To anything. I mean it. Everyone knows Amazing Grace, right?
Not Jess. I caught her singing “A maize and grain, how sweet the starch.” I am not kidding. She’s brilliant and a disaster, and she’s all mine. All that strange and whacky is mine. If I can keep her long enough to kill a few assholes and convince her to stick with me.
“Earth to asshole! Stop sextasizing about Jess and freaking pay attention already. Christ! Someone remind me why we forgave his ass and didn’t just kill him,” Lex grumbles, avoiding my fist.
“Jess likes him, and we want her happy after everything she’s been through?” Nick asks doubtfully, pointing an imaginary gun at me.
“She loves me, you dick,” I gloat, losing the grin when Blaze curls his lip.
�
�She tolerates you at best, and who can blame her since you’re dumb as a post, man. Just admit it; you’re planning to split as soon as the dust settles.”
I should kill them all. I have a lot of money from years of offshore investments and some imaginative accounting skills. I can afford to look after five women and my own family for the next fifty years at least. Yeah, that sounds doable.
“Keep dreaming. Kinsley is a crack shot and Lenny knows how to handle a baseball bat,” King sneers, baring his teeth.
Shit, the sex has turned me into a vegetable if I’m thinking out loud again. Oh well, I guess I’ll be the peas and Jess can be the carrots.
“Dammit, why in hell did I think coming back to you assholes was a good idea? I had a good thing going,” I sigh dejectedly, smiling despite the shit they’re giving me and will probably give me in the future.
These men, they’re good people and my family, but I never assumed they wouldn’t carry a grudge for the next decade. Sure, they’ve forgiven me for walking out on them, but they’ll never let me forget it. That’s fine. All I really care about is Jess giving me another chance.
“Christ but you’re a dick, you know that, Trace? What’s the problem here? You’re back, we didn’t put a bullet in you, and I argued with my wife for an hour until she agreed to help me help you. You know what it’s like getting the cold shoulder from your woman while watching her nurse your son? It sucks, fucker. She wouldn’t even let me see it, and I fucking live to watch that shit.”
“That’s nasty.”
“No, it’s miraculous, asshole. Just wait till Jess has your kid and you get to see the miracle of her nurturing a part of you. Just you wait,” he grumbles, looking like a kicked dog just because his wife denied him the sight of her boobs leaking milk.
Damn, that must be something though, I think, imagining Jess and a little girl at her breast as I watch over them. The thought is so enticing that I must have spaced out for a few because when I let the image go, all the guys are rolling their eyes as if I’m a lost cause or something.
“You got it bad and you’re too chicken shit to admit it,” Blaze taunts, mouth curling in disdain.
“Shut up.”
“Whatever, dude. You want to lose a good thing, that’s your problem, just don’t come whining to me when she leaves your dumbass in the dust and trades up for someone more emotionally available.”
“Christ, you been watching Oprah or some shit?”
He flips me the bird with a smirk and then we do what men do: get down to the real business that Nick dragged me out for.
“That guy, Fazir’s guy? Kopra? My contact came back with his real name and some intel. His name’s Mohammed Sahid, better known as The Hammer since his weapon of choice is a hammer in the hot box. Rumor has it he’s a cousin to Fazir, though no direct link has been found so far. He’s in the states as we speak, probably just waiting for that boss of yours to give him the go ahead on us.”
“Makes sense. He called me yesterday and was riding my ass about the time frame. He’s getting antsy and wants me to move things along. Once I have what he wants, he’ll order Sahid to move in on us all. Chances are I won’t make it out either.”
That makes them all smile, wickedly, and I almost chuckle at the unholy gleam that sparks in Jericho’s eyes.
“Can’t wait to get my hands on that—”
“That’s mine, killer. Trace said I could kill the bastard, and believe you me, I plan to make it a high roller kind of moment if you know what I’m saying,” Lex says, rubbing his hands together slowly. “I heard about that guy over the wire a few years back. Rumor has it he’s not picky about age or gender when he wants information. I’m thinking a little of his own medicine may be just what the doctor ordered.”
Jesus, these men are all animals, I think happily as we share a Zen moment of utter joy, contemplating Lex’s methods and the pain a monster is about to receive.
“Okay. You get to it. Grab Sahid and his guys and get to work. Nick, make sure Irina’s in the loop, and King, get cracking on Kinsley. Motivate that woman before we all end up victims here.”
They all roll out and I turn back to the house with a sigh and no more of a plan than when they dragged me out here. Walking back in, I go right for the kitchen and breakfast only to come face to face with six terrifying women, the creepy-ass baby with his knowing eyes, and an empty breakfast table.
Jess smirks at my expression and holds up the last piece of bacon on her plate, her smile turning nasty just before she shoves the entire piece into her mouth and chews, moaning loudly.
“Don’t you looove bacon? I looove bacon, so I ate it all. Wouldn’t you have loved some bacon? Guess you’ll have to go hungry, huh?”
I know she’s not just talking about food and my heart drops. A terrible fact for a man like me, caught on the ropes as it now stands. I love eating a woman out—Jess especially. And from the spark in her eye, I’ll be going without more than just food.
Christ, Lex and Kinsley better hurry up and get their end of the deal done quickly. Or I may have to break out the ropes.
Chapter Fifteen
Jess
The sound of explosives going off wakes me from a restless sleep later that night and I react instinctively, my years of training pushing to the fore as I roll off the bed and crouch on the floor, my gun already in hand.
Footsteps thunder out in the hall, and I hear Lenny cursing over Oscar’s little baby wails, followed by more running right before my door bursts open and Lex storms in.
“Haul ass, Jess baby, we have incoming.”
I know this plan, and it sucks. The men have drilled it into us since day one, and while I appreciate the thought behind it, mainly their need to protect the females in their lives, I refuse to be shoved into a panic room with five other women while the men run around having all the fun.
Yes, I said fun. I graduated top of my class, handled more than my fair share of ops, and I am an excellent soldier. Besides, I live…well, I used to live for this shit, and now that something is going down, I feel the return of the icy calm that used to hit me at times like these.
“No. Get the girls and the baby to the panic room and lock it down. I have my Sigs, the AK Nick gave me last week, and the knives Blaze ordered for me,” I say, rising to grab my shorts and the sneakers beside my bed.
“Jess—”
“Don’t. We don’t have time to argue right now. Secure your women and get moving. How many? We have any idea who they are and when they’ll break through the line?” I ask, shoving four extra clips into the front of my underwear before shouldering the AK.
Lex wants to argue but for some reason pauses before groaning and smiling at me.
“Shadow most likely, since I got rid of Fazir’s people. Chances are they didn’t like the little note we left them down south, and they heard about the mess I left earlier this afternoon.”
I do not even want to know, honestly. Lex is great, but the man is slightly unhinged, and from what I heard about that Sahid guy, he had it coming to him. No doubt Lex gave it to him but good.
“Great, now I get to kill me some assholes. Go Lex, I got my guns and—”
“Get your ass down to that room,” Trace snarls, stomping into the room, armed to the teeth.
More explosions shudder through the still night, but we hardly flinch as we face each other down. I know Nick and these guys, and that line will hold for at least another five minutes if the rate of explosion keeps up. Never let it be said Tennessee boys don’t know how to protect what’s theirs.
“Not happening, Trace. I’ve got guns and I know how to use them. I’m in.”
“For God’s sake—”
“Good, you’re not going to be difficult. Now stop wasting time and let’s move. I’ll cover the back, east-facing corner of the house. Anything comes across the second line and I’ll take them out,” I say happily, almost skipping past the glaring men as adrenalin hits me.
“Jess, you can’t do this.
Go with the girls and hunker down until we take care of this. Please,” he snarls, grabbing my arm to stop me as I reach the stairs.
“No.”
“For fuck’s sake, woman! You could be pregnant right now. I want you safe.”
My eye roll does not go unnoticed, and I want to laugh when he starts flexing his hands, probably to stop himself from grabbing me and forcing me to do his bidding. Good choice, and logical, because I know he remembers my knee in his nuts the last time he tried to question my skills in battle. What? Like a vagina automatically makes me weak and incapable?
“Don’t flatter yourself, asshole. We had sex just last night, and you are not that virile, trust me. Besides, I’ll wager one of you idiots gets shot before I do.”
Just as planned, I see his eyes go hard and calculating, making Lex groan out a laugh.
“Christ, the two of you are insane! The fucking world is blowing to hell around us and you’re getting a hard-on when she throws a bet your way?” he mutters, storming off with a mutter and more guns than a human should possess.
Trace, my man, suddenly smirks and spits into his hand. It’s gross, but I shake on it after oiling my palm enthusiastically.
“You’re on. You get hit, and I will tan your ass. After I fuck you raw.”
“Asshole, the day you get your filthy mitts on my ass will be the day hell has a snow cone sale. Now move out. Or are we standing here talking about our feelings?”
That gets him muttering and backing away as I knew it would, and I sprint downstairs with a giggle, my heart pumping with excitement. The rifle Lex babies like, well, his baby, comes flying at my head as I reach the living room and I grin as I catch it, shouldering it automatically.
“You mess with my Bessie, and I’ll kick your ass, woman. Aim true and take out as many as you can. I got the west, and the guys are all ghosting through the trees. Stay down and keep breathing,” he yells, running out seconds later.
THE WATCHERS: 6 Military Romance Bundle Page 89