Jesse (6 page)

She had to get away from them. She’d
spent the last year all alone with only Doyle as her friend and now there were
all sorts of people wanting to be chummy to her. Getting up, she limped her way
to the bathroom with a hasty “be back” said over her shoulder.

She wiped at the tears. Joey didn’t know
what the hell was wrong with her, but every time she thought she had a handle,
she’d break down again. It was that man, that bastard that had done this. He’d
hurt her, humiliated her too. He’d treated her as though she was nothing, less
than nothing.

Joey could hear the voices on the other
side of the door, but couldn’t make out the words. She knew that Doyle thought
she was going to stay with him and his mom, but she had no intentions of doing
that. Joey knew Mrs. O’Donnell disliked her and wasn’t going to have the woman
treating Doyle badly because she was there.

She knew that the woman was very ill and
that Doyle was caring for her, but man, the woman was caustic. Giggling a little,
Joey realized she was too and wondered briefly if that was why they didn’t care
for each other. She wiped again at her face and opened the door.

“Fuck,” she said before she could stop
it. And when the pregnant Mrs. Hunter laughed, all hopes of thinking they might
not have heard flew out the window. She walked to her bed and began putting her
things in the bag that the hospital had given her.

“I would like to speak to you, if you
don’t mind.”

She glanced at Jesse and didn’t answer.

“Please, Miss Foster. I would like to
tell you how sorry—”

“Sorry doesn’t cut it, you fucking
jackass. You treated me like scum. Worse than scum, you treated me like I was
beneath you. I probably am, but there was no reason for you to point it out to
me.” She stuffed the shirt she’d come in into the bag. “Telling me that I
couldn’t leave here because you were the high and mighty Jesse M. Hunter, like
I didn’t fucking know that.”

“I did not act high and might—”

“I’m speaking here. You had your chance
and now it’s my turn. Where was I? Oh, yeah. The high and mighty Jesse M.
Hunter said I was to stay put like I was a dog and he was making me obey.” She
turned to him and poked him in the chest with her finger. “I’m not a dog. I’m
not a door mat either. For that matter, I’m pretty fucking amazing if you want
to know.”

“I’m beginning to see that.”

She didn’t know why his smile pissed her
off more, but it did. She was on a roll now and wasn’t letting him off the hook
just yet. “You acted like I’d hurt your mom and said I was to be nice to her,
respect her, or I’d pay. Respect is earned, you moron, or haven’t you ever
heard that? And be nice? Who the fuck do you think went in that burning
building after her? Me. I did that. If that wasn’t being nice to her, then I
don’t know what the hell you want.” She’d backed him against the wall and when
he’d flipped her around so that she was now backed up and he in front of her,
she saw that the room was empty. She closed her mouth with a snap. She was so
dead.

“May I speak now?”

She nodded, afraid to say anything more.

“Thank you. You were right. I was an
asshole. And a moron, and everything else you called me. Including a prick.”

“I didn’t call you a prick.” She didn’t
think she had, not to his face anyway. “I said you were the other things, but not
that.”

“I am, though, aren’t I?”

She didn’t answer, thinking there was a
catch somewhere. She pushed at his chest. She thought he was simply too close
for comfort. He, however, didn’t move. “You’re going to have to back up.” He
spread his hands wide against the wall on either side of her waist. She
swallowed hard and tried again. “I can’t breathe when you’re this close to me. Please
back up.”

Instead of moving away he seemed to move
closer. Her heart felt like it was pounding and she was sure he could hear it. She
tried again to push at him and, when she put her hands over his chest, he
covered her hands with one of his.

“I’d like to show you how sorry I am.”
His voice had taken on a different timbre, low, soft, and a little sexy. “Will
you let me show you, Josephine?”

“It’s Joey, and you’ll have to back up
if you want to show me anything. Right now you couldn’t get a piece of paper
between us.” She barely recognized her own voice as it sounded a lot like his. “Please?”

“Gladly.” His mouth swept over hers
softly. His touch was so brief and soft that if she couldn’t still feel his
breath on her lips she’d swear it never happened. The second time he did it, he
nibbled on her lower lip, worried it a bit before he pulled back. She heard a
small whimper and thought it was her, but wasn’t sure.

“Mr. Hunter, you need to back up. I
don’t think this is a good idea.” This time when she touched his chest she
didn’t push at him. In fact, she seemed to have no control over her fingers
wrapping into his jacket. “You have to…you need to…”

“I agree. It’s time to finish…or start.”
His mouth took hers. And when he wrapped his fingers in her hair and tilted her
head she felt his tongue enter her mouth and devastate her, taste her and,
Christ, it felt like he claimed her.

Chapter 6

The kiss wasn’t enough. He’d had no idea
a woman could taste so delicious and sexy at the same time. Moving himself more
flush with her body, he groaned when she rocked her hips into his. Jesse cupped
her ass and brought her against his cock.

He’d only meant to kiss her, a simple
brush of his mouth over hers. He’d been an ass, the jackass that she’d called
him, and he wanted to tell her that he wasn’t. But her mouth looked so lush and
inviting that he’d not been able to stop himself from having a taste. But a
taste wasn’t enough.

Jesse wanted to tell her he was sorry,
that he’d been more worried about her than he’d been about any living thing in
his life. He wanted to help her, hold her, and mostly he wanted to bury himself
deep inside of her. Shifting again, he palmed her breast and felt her heart
pounding. He captured her moan and her soft sigh.

He lifted his head when he felt
something. His belly lurched, then his breath. He tried to let go of her, but
his fingers suddenly wouldn’t cooperate. Even when she whimpered he simply held
on. Taking a step back, then another, he knew she’d kneed him; his balls and
cock knew it too.

Even as he dropped to the floor, his
body curled around itself. His hand instinctively cupped his now softening
erection, trying to protect what she’d already injured. He looked up at her as
pain exploded over him, from the top of each hair follicle to the tips of his
toes.

“Why?” he whispered through the pain. She
didn’t move and he couldn’t. They stared at each other for several seconds
before he realized she was crying. Jesse wanted to comfort her, but he couldn’t
move. She stepped over him at last and, grabbing up the bag, she left the room.

It was probably only a few seconds
before the door opened again. He prayed that she was coming back to finish him
off. But he knew that he couldn’t be that lucky. He knew that when he heard his
brothers laughing he’d never live this down even if he lived to be a hundred.

“She sent us in here because she said
you fell. I’m thinking she just wanted to give us something to laugh about
after she kicked your balls up around your ears.” Royce laughed harder as he
knelt down to peer into his face. “Did she hurt you anywhere else? Should we
check to see if she stabbed you while you were…down?”

In that moment Jesse decided that he
could easily kill his older brother. Jesse decided the next time his brother
needed something from him, even if it was a dollar to buy a paper, he was going
to make him pay. In his pain-laced mind that had made sense, but when he’d said
as much to Royce it sounded as stupid as his brother apparently thought it was.

As he lay there while the pain receded
he heard his mom come in. He didn’t even bother trying to explain. To everyone
else, including her, it was obvious what had happened. But unlike what he was
sure they were thinking, he’d not forced her.

“Daniel, please see that the plans we’ve
discussed are taken care of. Royce, stop teasing your brother and take your
lovely wife home. She needs to rest and I need to speak to this…him.” He could
hear the tone in her voice and was nearly ready to beg his brother not to leave
him alone. He heard the door shut, rolled to his back, and sat up to face the
music.

“I didn’t hurt her. I was stupid, but I
didn’t hurt her.” She tisked at him, but he wasn’t finished yet. “I didn’t even
mean to kiss her, but she…she’d been on my mind so much over the past few days
that I was happy to see her up and about. Then she looked so delicious that I
couldn’t—” He stopped when he realized what he’d said to his mother.

“She’s not your usual type.”

He winced, not realizing that he had a
type at all, much less that his mother knew about it.

“You usually go for the docile type of
woman. The kind that is satisfied when hanging on your arm so she can eventually
get what she wants.”

“And what’s that? And if you mention sex
to me I’m not going to listen to his conversation.” He would because he
wouldn’t leave without her permission. “And what kind of things are the women
looking for that you think I can’t give them?”

“You can’t give them… You can’t give
them what they want, Jesse, because you have no idea what you want.” He would
think about that statement later. But she continued. “You were asked to stay
clear of this girl. Is that why you pursued her? Because I asked you not to get
involved with her?”

Did he? He would like to think that was
a no, but now he didn’t know. “Why did you tell me to stay away? Is it because
you think, because of her background, she’s not worthy of me and the Hunter
name?” As soon as the words left his mouth he knew it wasn’t true. He stood up,
walked to his mom, hugged her, and apologized to her. He sat down and waited
for whatever she had to say.

“You know me better than that so I’m not
going to dignify that with a response. I could care less what her pedigree is
and you well know it.” She straightened her skirt before she finished. “No. I
wanted…no, I want you to leave her alone because she isn’t your usual match.
What I mean is you have more than being in charge of the security part of this
company and she won’t be the type of girl to stand in the background and smile
prettily to the camera.”

He laughed. “No, you’re right about
that. She’d be right up there with me fighting for any injustice that she
thought she could help with.” He looked at his mother. “How did you know?”

“That you wanted to run for Congress? I’m
your mother, aren’t I? It’s my duty to see that you’re happy in all you want.” She
cleared her throat. “Leave her alone.”

He leaned back in the chair. “What is
Daniel doing? You said for him to see that the plans you set were carried out,
or something like that.”

“I decided to make sure that if Sondra
did try to hurt her, she’d not succeed. I believe the woman tried to silence
her.” Jesse nodded. “So Daniel has a couple of his friends following her for a
couple of days.”

“Mom, I love you very much.” He stood up
as he grinned down at her. “But stay the hell out of my love life.
If
I
wish to see Josephine then I will.
If
we decide to have seven kids out
of wedlock, then we will. But you, my dear lady, will stay out of it. Do you
know why?”

“Because you think you’re an adult. And
you think you know better. Well, I’ve decided that I’ll tell you what they find
out and maybe keep you informed, but if you hurt her or she hurts you…then I’m
going to tell you I told you so until I’m pushing up daisies.”

He kissed her cheek. “Agreed. Now, I
think I’ll go and buy some protection and see if she and I can have wild sex.” He
was still grinning at her expression as he left the hospital. He felt really
good about what had just happened. He’d had the last word. Now he needed to
figure out who Daniel had watching over Josephine and figure out where she was.

~~~

Joey watched the man walking behind her
in the shop windows as she passed them. She was sure he was following her, but
for the life of her, couldn’t figure out why. She thought about stopping and
confronting him, but his size scared her a little. Next time she went out job
hunting she was taking something to protect herself with.

That’s when she remembered the perfume
in her bag. She hated the smell and had decided to dispose of it as soon as she
could. But it had kept finding its way to the bottom of her bag and every time
she touched it reaching for something else, she’d remember that she had to drop
it off in a trash can. Now she reached in the seemingly bottomless pit she
called a purse and couldn’t find it.

Ah ha
, she thought when she wrapped
her fingers around it and was happy to notice that the cap had come off. Pressing
the little tab, she smelled the noxious odor come from her left and figured she
had the thing pointed away from her hand. Good, when she had to deploy it she
wouldn’t end up with a face full of the crap.