Fever (20 page)

You’ve always had it. That’s not going to change.”

Jace hesitated for only a moment, relief buzzing through his blood like potent alcohol. Then he

related the entire chain of events involving Bethany from start to end. When he finished, Ash’s face

was contorted into a fierce scowl.

“Motherfuckers,” he swore. “They beat up a helpless woman because her asshole brother

borrowed money he had no way of paying back? And the little bastard hung her out to dry? Jesus, my

family may be batshit crazy but they’ve never sicced a bunch of street thugs on me.”

Jace snorted. “Not yet, anyway.”

A glimmer of amusement lighted Ash’s eyes. “True. Give them time.”

There was a lengthy pause. Silent understanding.

“I don’t like you getting involved. I know some people. I can get them on it. Make sure the assholes

get their money and a message not to fuck with Bethany again,” Ash said. “That is, if that’s the way

you want it to go down. I assume you want that debt paid.”

“You know people?” Jace said incredulously. “What the hell, man? What kind of people do you

know who would handle a situation like this? And yeah, whatever it takes. I want the debt to go away.

Not because I give a fuck about her asshole brother but because I want Bethany safe and I want her

removed from any possible situation that threatens her.”

Ash shrugged. “Never know when you might need these kinds of people. They owe me a favor

anyway. I gave them good stock tips. And I comped their stay in one of our hotels.”

“I’m not even going to ask . . .”

“Better that way,” Ash said cheerfully. “Not people you’d invite to Thanksgiving dinner anyway.”

“I’m getting that,” Jace muttered.

Ash’s expression became more serious. “How much money are we talking here?”

“Five thousand.”

“That’s all?”

Jace sighed. “It’s a fortune to Bethany. As she said, it may as well be a million. She was going to

fucking
peddle
to raise the cash.”

It still scared the hell out of him to think what could have happened if Kate hadn’t called him the

day Bethany wandered into the shelter. Or what would have happened if Bethany hadn’t gone back.

That she could even now be on the streets and vulnerable to God knew what . . .

“Fuck,” Ash bit out. “Jesus Christ.
Peddling?
”

“Yeah, that pretty much sums up my reaction.”

“She needs a fucking leash,” Ash muttered.

“Figuratively, she’s going to have one,” Jace said calmly. “She’s not going anywhere without the

men I hired to protect her and when she’s not with them, she’ll be with me. Hopefully once you

arrange for her debt to be paid that threat goes away. But I still have to address the issue of Jack.”

“Well, and it doesn’t appear that she’s sold on the idea of you two as a couple yet,” Ash said dryly.

“She will be.”

Ash lifted an eyebrow. “You sound confident.”

“I won’t entertain the alternative.”

“And that is?”

“Her not being a part of my life.”

There was a pregnant pause and Ash shifted uncomfortably. “Look man, I’m way overstepping my

boundaries here.”

“As if that’s stopped you before,” Jace said dryly.

Ash chuckled. “True. Not a fan of boundaries, particularly where my family is concerned.”

Again that word.
Family
. And yeah, Ash, Gabe and Mia were his family. He’d said that Mia was

the only family he had and that wasn’t true. Gabe and Ash . . . They’d been there. Always been there.

Stepping in when his parents had died. Steady, unwavering loyalty the likes of which Jace had never

imagined.

Maybe he’d taken it for granted over the years. It had been a huge mistake. Other people didn’t

have this. Unconditional support. He was lucky.

“How is this going to work?” Ash asked. “You and Bethany. I know you, man. You and I, we’re

alike. Hell, so is Gabe. Cut from the same cloth. We like control. Dominance. Not the pretend kind.

We can play it light, but that’s all it is. Playing. At the end of the day, you and I both know that any

serious relationship is going to be about ultimate control.”

Jace nodded. He didn’t even attempt to deny it.

“So how is this going to play out with Bethany? Is she ready for that from you? Is she prepared?

Does she even have a fucking clue how it’s going to be? Because with another woman, she gets

freaked out, she doesn’t go far. Back to her apartment. You know where to pick up. You call her or go

see her. Work it out. That isn’t the case with Bethany. She freaks, she runs, you may never see her

again.”

“Fuck, don’t you think I know that?”

It came out more explosively than he intended but it was a testament to the uncertainty he felt when

it came to this woman. How fucking helpless he was and how Ash had managed to voice his biggest

fear.

If he didn’t play this just right. If he came on too hard. If he did anything to scare Bethany, she

could bolt. Back into the night. Back onto the streets, where those assholes—and a million others—

waited. Where he couldn’t protect her. Couldn’t take care of her. Where he’d be absolutely fucking

helpless to save her from the dangers of being alone and vulnerable.

“So what are you going to do?” Ash asked quietly. “How you going to play this?”

“I don’t know,” Jace said in resignation. “Fuck if I know. I know what I want. I just have to hope

like hell that I play it right. And I have to hope it’s what she wants and can accept from me.”

chapter seventeen

Bethany submerged in the huge sunken tub and blew gently at the suds foaming close to her mouth.

She felt positively decadent. Like someone from a movie. She’d piled her hair on top of her head in a

messy arrangement that she thought looked rather sexy. Pinned-up tendrils floating down. Suds

climbing from the water and candles lit around the perimeter. It was perfectly cliché, but she didn’t

care. It gave her a whimsical delight and she’d learned a long time ago to enjoy simple pleasures,

however they came.

The hot water surrounded her, comforting and making her loose and limber. Jace’s sister obviously

had a love for candles. Girly candles that smelled wonderful. And they were pretty. Fancy candles

that were likely expensive. Not the cheap kind you got at a dollar store.

And the bubble bath. She’d been positively gleeful when she’d found it in one of the bathroom

drawers. It too was expensive. A name brand she recognized. At first she’d hesitated to use it, but the

temptation had been too great and she’d delightedly dumped it into her bath as it was drawing.

She cupped a handful of the suds and then blew them across the water, laughing as they scattered

and drifted like leaves in autumn.

“You’re so fucking beautiful, you make my chest hurt.”

She gasped and automatically sunk lower in the water, her gaze jerking to the doorway where Jace

leaned, his eyes on her. His hands were shoved in his pockets and his lazy gaze drifted up and down

the bathtub.

“When did you get here?” she squeaked. “I didn’t expect you for another hour, at least.”

He grinned and pushed off the doorframe to saunter across the bathroom until he stood next to the

tub, looking down at her.

“Are you saying you wouldn’t have been in the tub soaking if you’d known I was going to be here

this soon?”

“N-no,” she stammered.

“Pity,” he murmured. “I could get used to finding you this way.”

He sat on the edge of the tub and reached out to touch her cheek, rubbing his fingers over the curve

and then down to her jaw.

“Everything go okay here?”

She nodded, still unsettled by his presence in the bathroom. She was in a vulnerable position and it

made her uneasy.

“Kaden and Trevor give you any issues? Are you comfortable with them?”

She shook her head and then nodded, answering both questions before sinking lower in the tub. So

maybe she wasn’t completely comfortable with having two hulks in her living room, but they hadn’t

been a bother and they’d tried hard to be as obscure as possible. Or as obscure as two mountains

could be anyway. And she didn’t want to come across as ungrateful. That Jace was going to such

lengths to make her feel safe overwhelmed her. People just didn’t do things like Jace did. Nothing in

her experience with the human race had ever led her to believe that white knights like Jace existed.

Jace chuckled. “Baby, if you go any lower, you’re going to drown.”

He dropped his hand down, delving into the water. She sucked in her breath when he curved his

fingers underneath her breast and then thumbed over her nipple. It responded immediately, puckering

as a delicious thrill coiled in her belly, spreading lower to the juncture of her thighs.

Her clit pulsed and ached. All the man had to do was touch her and she was a wreck. Her breaths

hiccupped erratically from her mouth and the warm water suddenly seemed unbearably hot.

“Is there room enough in there for two?” he murmured.

Her eyes widened and she stared up at him, unsure of whether she’d heard him correctly. Guys like

Jace didn’t crawl into girly baths complete with suds and candles. Did they? And did she want him

to?

Because guys also did not crawl into a tub with a woman unless they expected a lot more than a

bath.

It was a loaded question.

She licked her suddenly dry lips and eyed him nervously.

“Was it that hard of a question?”

Flushing, she shook her head and then shocked herself by saying, “You can come in.”

She was acting positively wanton. But she felt . . . bolder around him. Which was laughable

because he still sent butterflies winging into her belly with one look. He definitely made her nervous

—and she was still grappling with what his expectations were. This entire situation just seemed . . .

insane, for lack of a better word. But somehow he managed to make her feel confident, and that was

saying a lot because
confident
was never a word she would have used to describe herself before.

Cautious, yes. Wary? Definitely. She’d learned to weigh every situation, every person. Always

look at underlying intent, because no one did anything without wanting something in return, and so

far? The only thing she’d been able to figure out he wanted was . . . her. She certainly had nothing

else to offer.

His gaze was gentle and he stroked his thumb over her nipple again. “But do you
want
me to?”

“Y-yes,” she said huskily. More confident this time. Yes, it was a word she was coming to terms

with. She liked it. Liked the sensation of being sure of herself.

Satisfaction gleamed in his eyes. He rose from the edge of the bathtub and stripped out of his

clothing, tossing it toward the counter. She couldn’t help but stare at his naked physique. He was so

damn beautiful. She soaked him in, memorizing every detail.

The tight coil of muscles that marked his arms, his legs, his chest . . . The dark smattering of hair

that lined an enticing path from his chest down his midline to his groin. And the lazy, kind of messy

wash of dark hair that fell over his forehead and flipped out at his ears to fall inches below his neck.

Her fingers itched to dive into the silky locks, twine them around her hands, just as she’d done the

night he and Ash had sex with her.

It was strange that she remembered every aspect of him from that night in stark detail and yet Ash

kind of blurred in her memory. It was Jace’s mouth, his hands, his cock, the feel of his body over

hers, hard and demanding, that played over and over in her mind.

And now he advanced on her, bristling with an air of dominance. Lust and authority swirled in

those delicious brown eyes, the color so dark that it was hard to separate his pupils from the irises.

Yet, there was tenderness in his gaze, almost as if he tried to hide the demanding look that was second

nature to him.

“Do you work out?” she blurted.

He halted at the edge of the tub, his hand gripping the side. He glanced up at her and then grinned.

“Like what you see, baby?”

“You’re beautiful.”

For a moment he looked almost embarrassed. It was absolutely cute to see a thirty-eight-year-old

man who was so poised and confident falter for just a moment. She’d done that to him. Yeah,

confidence was kind of nice for once.

“You’re the beautiful one, Bethany. So damn beautiful that I can’t get enough of staring at you. I

stood there in the doorway watching you forever. I could look at you all day and never get tired of it.”

Heat shot into her cheeks and she ducked self-consciously.

“So do you work out?”

“Yeah. There’s a gym in my apartment building and at work. I try to hit it every day but that’s not

always possible.”

“You have a great body,” she said shyly.

“You’re good for my ego.”

She smiled as he threw his leg over the side and into the water. A moment later, he turned so he

was facing her and he slid into the water, his feet gliding up the outside of her thighs until they rested

just at her waist. He reached down, lifted her feet so they weren’t lodged in his crotch and rested