in the middle of this?”
“Not him directly—but his aide, yes. You can’t say anything about this, Ely, not until the story breaks. The arrests won’t happen until morning, right before.”
Ely smiled at how her color rose and her eyes brightened at the prospect of a hot story. She was passionate about her work. It was one of the things he loved about her.
“I won’t say a word, I promise.”
Still, his mind went to his brother and Tessa. They weren’t together, but he hoped none of this would hurt the reputation of their agency.
“I can’t say I’m surprised, and not even a little glad,” he said. “That guy, the aide, Howie Stanton, is a slug. He came to the hospital the night Jonas was admitted and told him if he went near Tessa again, there would be bad consequences for the business.”
“You’re kidding. Well, the only bad consequences I see are ones coming down on him.”
“I’ll drink to that,” Ely said, smiling.
Chloe was the kind of woman men dreamed about. Beautiful, smart and sexy, she knew how to do her job. It was one of the things he found sexiest about her.
Setting down her wine and reaching to take his glass, her eyes told him she didn’t want to talk anymore. Loosening the tie of his robe, she trailed kisses down his chest, obviously intent on ending the conversation and returning the pleasure he’d provided her earlier.
Ely was determined to be a better man this time, to not be as selfish and self-involved as he was when he’d first been with Chloe.
He also loved how she took control and pushed him back to the cushions, focused on her task.
She stroked his erection, looking at him with sheer pleasure and mischievous intent as her tongue darted out, tasting him, making him catch his breath.
“You stay put, Marine, and don’t come until I tell you to. That’s an order,” she commanded with mock seriousness as she closed her mouth around him, sending his heart rate through the roof.
Ely gladly submitted. He was trained to take orders, and knew he wouldn’t disobey this one if his life depended on it.
8
3:00 a.m.
TESSA WAS EXHAUSTED and had actually nodded off for a few minutes curled up on the seat, her head cradled on Jonas’s shoulder as Collins took them back to the store. The intimacy of the night and the dark in the restaurant was giving way to morning, allowing her some light to study him.
He was dozing, too, the manly lines of his face softened in sleep. She stared at the fullness of his mouth, which she couldn’t get enough of. He looked peaceful, which was rare for him, she thought. They’d turned a corner of sorts, leaving the restaurant with the connection between them stronger.
Still, she worried. She hadn’t asked Jonas the question she was dying to: why he had thought so badly about her after the accident. What had Howie said to him? Was her father up to his old tricks, controlling her life, and her love life?
Jonas was clearly under the impression that she had used him to get back at her father, or that her father had not thought he was “suitable” enough for her. There were things going on beneath the surface, and Tessa planned to find out what they were.
One thing she knew for sure was that Howie was a snake. She’d never liked him. Her father had suggested once that Howie had an interest in her, and that they would make a “solid match.” The thought made her gag. Her father occasionally pushed one of his plastic political harpies in her direction, even though she never showed any interest.
Jonas said she didn’t care about the cost to others. What costs? Could her father have threatened his business? She wouldn’t put it past him.
Jonas didn’t deserve any negative flak for what happened that night they’d been attacked. He stepped up to protect others, but leaned on no one. There was a loneliness at his core that made her ache to change it, to make him see how much she cared for him.
How much she loved him.
She wasn’t afraid of the word. She’d often wondered if she would find anyone that she’d truly fall in love with. Then Jonas had walked into her shop, and she knew she had found the other half of her perfect combination.
She leaned in, snuggling into his shoulder again and loving how his arm came back around her so naturally. Turning her face into his chest, she inhaled, enjoying his natural scent, how it mingled with hers. Their bodies loved each other, but how could she convince him it was more than that?
Tessa had been fighting for what she wanted in life since she could remember, against her father, mainly. But also against the world in general or at least it always felt that way. Everyone always assumed the worst of her, and so she had once decided to walk the talk.
Even friends had often thought that as the daughter of a wealthy politician, she would never have to work for anything in her life. That it all would be handed to her.
It could have gone that way, had she made other decisions. She’d taken a very different path, and was glad for it. She hoped Jonas was coming to see who she really was, too.
“I can see you thinking,” Jonas said sleepily, and she looked up to find he was watching her. “What about?”
“Just about you. Us.”
“How so?”
“When I said, back at the restaurant, that we fit … I don’t know. It just seemed like you were holding back. I was wondering why. And what you aren’t telling me.”
“We do fit. In some ways. And in others—we don’t.”
“Like?”
“Like physically. Otherwise, we come from very different worlds. You wouldn’t be happy in mine, not for long. And vice versa.”
“You hardly know me, Jonas. How do you know what would make me happy?”
“I’ve been through this before. My job is dangerous.”
“I know that.”
“And it’s not great for relationships, let me tell you. If you and I were together, I might have to go on a job where I would be protecting someone, another woman, and living at her side for weeks—how would you deal with that? If the tables were turned, I wouldn’t like it one bit.”
“I agree, that would be hard. But there are four of you, and you can divide the jobs accordingly, right? But if you had to do that, well, I guess I would just have to trust you. That’s what we’re talking about, right? It’s not about different worlds, or your job or mine—it’s about the fact that down deep, for whatever reason, you don’t trust me. I’d like to know why. Do you really think I am so superficial that I would use you or anyone just to get at my father?”
Silence loomed between them, and the hurt spread from her heart to encompass her entirely, the same way the dark restaurant had done.
“I
