Just One Touch

by Maya Banks

  was holding a gun pointed directly at Jaysus’s head.

  Isaac rushed forward, leaving the others to take care of any potential remaining threat.

  “Jenna, don’t, honey! Jenna, it’s me, Isaac. I’m here, baby. Don’t do this. Please, this isn’t what I want for you,” he said softly. “You don’t have to kill him. Let us take care of him, but more importantly, let me take care of you. Let me take you away from here. You’ll never have to worry about this son of a bitch again,” Isaac vowed.

  Jenna’s eyes were grief stricken and tears spilled over the rims as she turned slightly to acknowledge Isaac’s presence.

  “You have no idea what he’s done,” she hissed. “He has to die. He deserves to die.”

  “I do know, baby. I was here with you through it all, and there’s not a single person who’d dispute that he deserves to die,” Isaac said sorrowfully. “I’m so sorry I let you down. But please, honey. Just drop the gun and come with me now and let me take you away from all of this forever. You don’t have to be the one to serve justice.”

  “Justice is mine to dispense,” she whispered.

  Jaysus, obviously believing he was well and truly fucked, proceeded to do the dumbest—and last—thing he’d ever do. He drew a weapon from a concealed holster on the inside of his thigh while Jenna was momentarily distracted and he turned it on Isaac, his clear intention to shoot him. Or maybe he was just going to attempt to bargain with Jenna. Either way, it was the wrong thing to do when the woman he’d tormented for hours was hell-bent on delivering her own brand of justice.

  Before any of the men could take Jaysus out with one of the many guns pointed directly at him, Jenna pulled the trigger and shot him right in the temple. He went down like a domino and Jenna curled her lips in disgust and hatred, giving him one last look of contempt, before she slid down the wall, her legs no longer able to hold her up. She carefully placed the gun to the side and buried her face in her hands, heartbreaking sobs shaking her entire body.

  Isaac slid down beside her and simply wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his lap, anchoring her to his chest as he rocked her back and forth, tears stinging his own eyelids while Jenna wept as if her heart was broken.

  “Baby, you have to stop crying,” Isaac choked out. “I can’t bear it. I can’t stand to see you cry. It makes me crazy. You have to know that I’m utterly helpless against your tears. I’ll do anything to make it right again, baby. God, I love you so much. You have no idea how fucking scared I’ve been since the moment you disappeared from the bathroom. My heart stopped, baby. And it hasn’t beat worth a damn until . . . now. Right here and right now with you in my arms, I can finally breathe again. I can live again. Please look at me, baby. Tell me you’re all right. Tell me what to do for you.”

  He was begging and pleading and didn’t give one damn who saw. He ignored the others as they surveyed the carnage of Jaysus’s earlier rage.

  Jenna finally lifted eyes filled with so much grief and devastation to Isaac that he wanted to die right on the spot.

  “He k-killed them,” she wept, gesturing at the bodies that were still fresh, rigor not having set in yet. “And he wouldn’t let me heal them. He wanted me to see them die and all I wanted was to see him die,” she whispered as if confessing a great sin.

  Isaac cradled her gently in his arms and then shakily stood to his feet, determined to get her out of this room of horrors. The stench of blood and so much death clung to his nostrils, and he wanted nothing more than for both of them to be cleaned of the whole experience.

  Shadow waited until they were outside the door, and then he stopped Isaac and tucked his hand beneath Jenna’s cheek. “Look at me, angel face,” he said gently.

  When she reluctantly lifted her gaze to his, he leaned forward and brushed a kiss across her forehead. “Not a single person blames you for wanting to see him die or for being the one to kill him. He drew and would have shot Isaac. You saved Isaac’s life as well as your own. Don’t know how the hell you managed to get the upper hand, little bit—hell, you didn’t even need us—but I’d sure as hell love to hear the story sometime when you’re up to it.”

  She offered him a shaky smile. “Maybe one day. Right now I just want to go home.” She glanced up at Isaac, a pleading look in her eyes. “Can you just take me home now? To our home? Please?”

  If he hadn’t been holding her in his arms, his knees would have given out in that moment and he would have face-planted on the floor in relief. After failing her time and time again, all she’d asked was for him to take her home. To their home.

  “Baby, you don’t even have to ask me for a damn thing that’s in my power to give you,” Isaac vowed. “There’s nothing I’d love more than to take you home so you can rest in my arms for as long as you need. Always whatever you need. I’ll give everything I own to make you happy, my angel.”

  THIRTY-TWO

  ISAAC carried Jenna into his bedroom, in his house, marveling that he could finally bring her home—to their home—instead of having to move her from safe house to safe house because of the constant source of threats she was forced to live under.

  She was already sound asleep in his arms, having succumbed to exhaustion halfway into the ride home. He gently laid her down and very carefully removed the clothing that still had blood on it, anger building all over again as he examined the bruises on her small body from the repeated blows Jaysus had given her.

  Her poor little face was swollen on one side and a dark bruise covered one cheek. He bent to kiss it, unable to control himself. In the morning, he’d draw a bath and wash away every last memory of this night and of the bastard who’d terrorized her, and he would wait on her hand and foot every single day until he was satisfied she was fully recovered.

  Stepping back, he stripped off his own clothing and after hesitating to leave her even for the briefest of moments, he ducked into the bathroom to take the world’s fastest shower, because he wouldn’t taint their bed or her with so much as a drop of the blood on his clothes and skin.

  He strode back into the bedroom in the act of toweling himself dry and then dropped the towel and rushed to the bedside, sliding beneath the covers to wrap his arms around her when he heard her pained whimpers that whispered past her lips in her dreams.

  He held her tightly, running his hands up and down her body, kissing her hair, her face, whispering his love for her, telling her he’d always love her and protect her with his last breath.

  After a moment, she quieted and he relaxed, curling himself completely around her so that no part of her wasn’t surrounded by him. He had nearly drifted off in the heaven of her body when the nightmares began again, and this time she began weeping softly in her sleep.

  His heart breaking, he kissed away every tear as soon as it slid from her eyes. Then he began talking to her, telling her all over again of his love for her and that he’d never allow her to hurt again.

  Each time he soothed her, she immediately settled, but it wasn’t long before she became lost in the throes of another nightmare, convinced she was still in hell. She called out his name, over and over, and he was in agony that nothing he seemed to do could rouse her from the horrible things happening to her in her dreams. He finally broke down and cried with her, because it tore his heart apart to think she was so desperately calling for him and thought he wasn’t there or that he wasn’t coming for her.

  “Please, baby, come back to me. Wake up and see me. I will never let you go again. I’ll love you more than any woman has ever been loved before. I’ll never let anyone or anything hurt you again. I’ll wrap you in the finest cotton and never let you so much as stub your toe without going insane. Just imagine, angel, you could already be carrying my baby,” he whispered. “And I’m going to love you both so much that I’ll spend every day taking such good care of you and all our children, that you’ll never want for anything.”

  Once more, she settled, burrowing more tightly into his embrace, clutching at him even in
her sleep as if she’d never let go. He’d never allow her to let him go, he vowed with such fierceness that he shook.

  He didn’t sleep the rest of the night, instead keeping watch over his sleeping angel, soothing her when she began to whimper and become agitated as dreams held her in their tenacious grip. He kept swearing his love for her and making her every promise under the moon, until he was nearly hoarse from the constant reassurance he offered.

  When the first faint rays of dawn entered the room, lending their soft light and warmth to the couple so tightly entwined in the bed, Jenna stirred, and at first, Isaac assumed that she was once more in the grip of the terrible dreams that had preyed upon her all night. He was so immersed in the urgency to silence the demons attacking her that he didn’t realize that her eyes had lazily fluttered open until he saw her staring back at him, her expression so very warm with love that it took his breath away.

  “Isaac, I don’t need you to promise me the sun, the moon, the stars and the world,” she said, her lips curving upward into a soft, inviting smile. “All I’ll ever want or need is you. Your love. It’s all I’ll ever ask of you.”

  “First, you never have to ask me for something that is already yours, will always be yours and has always been yours since the day you fought death for me and healed more than just my physical body,” he said, his tone utterly serious. “And secondly, I’ll spoil you ridiculously as is my right, and there’s not a damn thing you can say or do that will ever change my mind, so if you won’t ask me for anything you want or need, then it’s my duty to provide for you as I see fit.”

  Her delighted laughter warmed him all the way through, melting away the regions of ice and darkness that had re-formed in the time she’d been taken from him.

  “We’re getting married as soon as possible,” he said with utter gravity, staring into her eyes so there was no possible way she could misunderstand his intention.

  She arched one eyebrow and stared challengingly at him. “Granted I may be ignorant of how things work in a world I was denied nearly my entire life, but I’m pretty sure that you’re supposed to ask me to marry you.”

  She pursed her lips as if in great thought and pretended to ponder the matter further.

  “And I’m also fairly certain there’s something about you being on one knee, and I definitely know a gorgeous ring is involved.”

  She sniffed and glanced around. “Funny, but I don’t see any of that. Do you?”

  Isaac narrowed his eyes and then groaned, knowing he’d been had. “You’ve been talking to the other wives,” he muttered.

  She grinned back at him, even as her hand cupped his face in the gentlest of caresses. “Of course I have! How else am I going to know when you’re not doing things the correct way and taking advantage of my lack of knowledge? They all showed me their rings, and wow. And then they told me about how romantic their proposals were and I have to admit, I totally cried over Gracie’s story.” She emitted a sniffle, her eyes glistening in remembrance. “Such a beautiful love story,” she said with a deep sigh.

  He echoed her sigh and then leaned forward and kissed her, unable to resist those perfect, pouty lips. God, but this woman had the ability to twist him into absolute knots. This didn’t bode well for his future, not that he minded one damn bit. And God, if their daughters were anything like their mother? He was so fucked. He needed to have a conversation with God. One last request to give him sons. Lots of sons. Well, and then lots of daughters, but he needed sons first so he’d have plenty of help protecting his beautiful daughters, not to mention needing to teach his sons all about the snot-nosed teenage boys they needed to ensure never came around their precious baby sisters.

  “I’ll show you gorgeous and romantic,” he murmured into her mouth.

  “Oh good, because I’ve decided I really do love those parts the best,” she said impishly.

  He couldn’t help but be affected by her happiness and amazed at how she could rebound so quickly, seeming to have put aside all the torment she’d been subjected to the other night and focus only on their future. Together.

  Then, realizing she was likely distracting him from the terror he’d endured, which would be so typical of her generous, loving soul, he just as quickly decided he was having none of that, and if any distracting was going to be done, it would be done by him, and he would give her the most romantic proposal and the most gorgeous ring she’d ever seen in her life.

  He may have studied the other wives’ rings long and hard so he could ensure his bride would have bragging rights where engagement rings were concerned. But wait, they were getting fucking engaged? Oh hell no. There’d be none of this waiting shit. He’d give her the ring and then he’d haul her before a preacher before it could ever be considered an engagement ring.

  With an exaggerated sigh, he slid out of the bed and took her hands in his to pull her into an upright sitting position, and then he picked her up and placed her very carefully on the edge, ensuring she wasn’t dizzy or suffering any ill effects from the injuries she’d sustained.

  Then he reached under the pillow where he’d placed the ring last night when he’d crawled into bed with her so that it would be right there when the moment was right, and well, he hadn’t had any intention of letting her out of bed until the moment was right.

  He dropped to one knee and took her hands again, after having laid the box on the floor out of her sight, and he entwined her fingers in his.

  “Jenna Wilder, I fell in love with you the moment you touched me and filled me with so much love and light and warmth that I was absolutely overcome. You not only healed the physical wounds I’d sustained just moments before, but you healed wounds that were buried so deep that they hadn’t seen the sun in more years than I can count.

  “You are my very own miracle, when I stopped believing in miracles when I was just a child. You brought me back to life and back into the light. You gave me back my belief in a higher power, but the thing you gave me that irrevocably changed me from the man I used to be and gave me hope and the image of the man I wanted to be was . . . peace. You gave me peace, my angel,” he whispered. “No one and nothing has ever been able to give me what you did with a single touch, and I knew right there that my life had just been changed forever in the best possible way. I knew that you were the only woman I’d ever love in my life, the only woman I’ve ever loved. And I also knew that I’d do anything to keep you with me, no matter what I had to do to make that happen. I just thank God, every single day, that you love me back, that you want a life with me as much as I want a life with you. So I’m not asking you to marry me, my angel love. I’m begging you to marry me and make my life whole, to spend the rest of your life at my side, allowing me to make you happy every single day. To give you so many children that you’re utterly consumed by our life together and the products of our love.”

  He reached down with one hand, refusing to let go of her entirely because his hands were shaking and only her grasp was keeping him from completely embarrassing himself. He fumbled with the box, managing to open it with trembling fingers, and after only dropping it once, he finally lifted the box, turning it toward her so she could see the huge diamond nestled in the velvet material.

  Tears gathered in her eyes, but this time he didn’t panic or demand to know what he needed to do in order to make her stop crying, because she looked so utterly ecstatic, so beautifully happy, that she glistened from head to toe. There was an honest-to-goodness glow that emanated from her body and surrounded her like a halo, golden with purity, radiating from her like the rays of the sun, just like his angel should look.

  For a moment, she stared at him, her eyes shining to rival the brightest star, her face soft with answering love, and then she lifted her hands to his face, ignoring the ring, and placed them on either side of his jaw. She dragged him toward her, their lips meeting in a hot, sweet rush. Her tongue lapped lovingly against the seam of his mouth until he sighed, opening to her just as she’d opened to him so man
y times before. Then she slid inward, exploring his mouth, tasting him while spreading her own sweet nectar on his tongue.

  “Yes,” she whispered into his mouth. “Oh yes, Isaac. All I ever want is to be yours. Always. Forever. Until the end of time.”

  He dragged one of her hands down to her lap while still kissing her hungrily, feasting on her mouth like a man starving. He took only a quick look down to make sure he was sliding her ring on the right finger before resuming their passionate kiss. Their first kiss with his ring on her finger and her promise to marry him fresh from her lips.

  Finally she glanced down at her hand and held it out, inspecting the ring in awe as she stared and stared some more. “Oh my God, Isaac. It’s huge! I’ve never seen a ring so beautiful in my life!”

  “You like it?” he asked gruffly.

  She threw her arms around him, squeezing until he laughingly begged for mercy.

  “I love it,” she vowed. “I’ll never take it off.”

  “Damn straight you won’t. Now that we’ve got the romantic proposal and the ring all taken care of, I’m taking you shopping for the wedding dress of your dreams, because honey, I don’t know what you know about marriage and engagements, but all you need to know is that I don’t do long engagements. In fact, I don’t do engagements at all. What that means is that the minute we find the dress you want to be married in, we’re calling every person at DSS—our family—and telling them to get their asses down to the church so they can see the most beautiful bride who ever existed and watch us get married.”

  Jenna laughed joyfully, and then her expression became somber as she gazed deeply into Isaac’s eyes. “I love you and I never want to be without you. I know in my heart that God sent me to you, that you are who he intended for me, and I’ll be eternally grateful to him for that.”

  His expression turned even more grave than hers. “You’re wrong about that, my angel. God gave you to me and you saved me, and for that I will always be grateful. Not a single day will go by that I won’t be thankful for the most precious gift—the only gift—I’ve ever been given in my life. I was lost until you walked into my life and I’ve never been more grateful for someone trying to steal my vehicle, because if not for that, I’d still be lost in a world so bleak and hopeless that nothing would have ever been able to break through the darkness and fill my heart and soul with sunshine. Except you, angel girl.

  “Only you brought the most beautiful, hope-filled light to permanently erase the dark stains I thought had become permanent scars in places I never allowed anyone to see. You made me whole again, and because of you, I can look back on my past with a sense of peace and forgiveness instead of the overwhelming pain and sorrow that had dug so deeply into my memories that I didn’t think they’d ever let go or that I’d ever be free of them.”

  He gathered her tightly in his arms, holding her left hand up so the ring caught the light in a blinding myriad of sparkles.

  “You truly are an angel. My angel. And there’s not a single shadow or shameful and painful memory, or constant torment forced on me by guilt, that could ever survive the shining, golden, pure light that radiates from an angel only as beautiful as you.”

  EPILOGUE

  JENNA watched in amusement as Isaac gingerly held their three-month-old in his huge hands, which even at her size and weight now completely dwarfed her, and rocked her in the oversized rocker they’d had to specially order to accommodate him. Even as he cooed utter nonsense, it didn’t escape Jenna’s notice how careful he was in his every movement. He was forever terrified that he’d hurt little Evangeline by simply crushing her with his “clumsy, giant hands,” as he referred to them. Jenna merely rolled her eyes and shook her head, which always instantly garnered a wounded, “What?” from her husband.

  The man treated his firstborn like she was spun from the most fragile, delicate glass ever manufactured, but his grip was always sure and steady. It was then Jenna reminded him, as she always did, that she was more likely to drop their daughter than he ever was. Of course, in Isaac’s eyes, his wife was perfect, and he took immediate exception to her even thinking such a thing about herself.

  He didn’t just keep his opinions regarding his wife and daughter to himself either. He proudly proclaimed that Jenna was the most perfect mother a husband could ever ask for and that Evangeline, or little Evie, as she’d been dubbed by Jenna, though she was often trumped by Isaac, who’d insisted that she should be called Angel, since she’d certainly descended from one, was the most beautiful baby girl who ever lived.

  Thankfully, Ari and Beau had been blessed with a little boy, because if not, the arguments between the two proud fathers would have gotten ugly and physical. Now they could both claim to have the cleverest, most intelligent, most beautiful baby of their respective sexes. As for Ari and Jenna, they merely tolerated their husbands’ nonsense by shaking their heads and leaving the room so the men could indulge in all the baby-talk nonsense they liked while the two women could actually have an adult conversation.

  Usually Jenna was content to watch her husband dote on Evangeline for hours, but today was their one-year anniversary, and she had plans for her husband that didn’t include him spending the entire afternoon speaking the language of “goo” and “gah.” True to Isaac’s word, he had knocked her up as fast as humanly possible, which was why they were celebrating their first year together with a three-month-old child.

  He was inordinately proud of that fact, and that too was something he smugly let her know on a regular basis. But Jenna just smiled her secret smile as if she somehow endured, when in fact she was living the most wonderful dream she’d ever imagined in her life.

  “Is she ready to go down for her nap yet?” Jenna asked softly as she approached the rocker, where she’d noticed that Isaac had grown quiet.

  Isaac nodded and whispered in a hushed tone, “She’s got a full belly, a clean diaper and Daddy just rocked her to sleep. I’d say we’re good for a couple of hours at least.”

  “Good, because I have plans for you, mister,” she said in her most threatening tone.

  He arched an eyebrow but she saw the instant gleam that entered his eyes. That predatory gleam that never failed to make her shiver all the way to her toes.

  “Depending on how fast you get her down in her crib and get back to the bedroom, you might get to see me undressing. Of course, if you take too long, alas, the deed will already be done and you’ll have to find me underneath all those covers.”

  The look on Isaac’s face was priceless. “What plans exactly are you talking about?” he asked hoarsely.

  She narrowed her eyes. “The kind of plans a wife tends to make on the one-year anniversary of her marriage to her husband. But . . . if you’re not interested, I’m sure I can find something else to do.”

  Isaac scrambled up as quickly as he could manage without jostling and waking Evie. Fortunately for them, she was a sound sleeper once you got her to that stage.

  “The hell I’m not interested,” Isaac burst out, wincing when he realized how loudly he’d bellowed and immediately lowering his voice. “I’ll be there in thirty seconds, and I will not be pleased to find you already undressed, Mrs. Washington.”

  “Then I suggest you get a move on, Mr. Washington,” she teased.

  He very nearly tripped on his shoes as he hurried into the next room to deposit Evie into her crib. Jenna giggled and then mentally counted to five before she moved to the side of the bed and ever so slowly began removing the clothing from her body.

  At first, Jenna had been very self-conscious of the changes in her body wrought by her pregnancy—changes that hadn’t exactly gone away after her delivery. The fact that her behind had become a little wider and a little fuller, her belly just a little softer and her breasts, dear Lord—she’d gained two cup sizes during her pregnancy and it would appear she was stuck with them.