Protecting Jessyka (SEAL of Protection) (Volume 6) (11 page)

Jess took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of Kason. She’d never grow tired of it. He smelled like the soap he used that morning and . . . man. She had no idea how to describe it. It was probably a mixture of his sweat and his natural scent, but it was an immediate aphrodisiac to her. Jess could feel her nipples tighten. It was completely inappropriate, but she couldn’t help it. Remembering he’d asked her a question, she finally answered him.

“He was pissed. He came in with a group of men and he looked right at me and glared. I went into the back to Mr. Davis’s office to wait for you. When you got there and I went to leave, he squinted his eyes at me and mouthed something. I don’t know what it was because I hightailed it out of there.”

“Good girl,” Benny soothed. “You did good.”

Without looking up, Jess told him, whispering, “He had a cast on his arm.”

“Yeah, I know.”

At that, Jess did look up. “You know?”

“Yeah, the guys did that to him when they went to get your stuff.”

Jess could only stare at Kason in surprise and dismay. She could only parrot his words back to him. “The guys did that?”

“Yeah. I told you he was being an ass. They had to convince him they were serious. He now knows if he fucks with you again, they’ll fuck with
him
again. Simple.”

Jess put her head back on Kason’s chest and tried to work out in her mind what she thought about what his friends had done.

“You need to talk this through?”

“Maybe.”

“Okay, let me make us something to eat. You go take a hot bath, try to relax. It’ll be ready in about an hour. That enough time?”

Jess nodded, but didn’t move out of Kason’s arms.

Benny loved the feel of Jessyka in his arms. He wanted nothing more than to carry her into his room and strip off all her clothes and make her relax the best way he knew how, but he had to know she wanted it first. He pulled back and put his hand on her cheek.

“An hour?”

“Yeah, okay, Kason.”

Benny couldn’t resist and he leaned to her and kissed her forehead. Then her nose, then for the first time since she’d moved in with him, he touched his lips to hers. He kept the contact light and unthreatening. “Go run your bath, gorgeous.”

Benny watched as Jess licked her lips, as if tasting him all over again. “Okay,” she whispered before stepping away from him.

Jess turned and limped away and Benny repressed the groan that threatened to come out of his throat. He wasn’t kidding when he’d told her a month or so ago that her gait was sexy as hell. Her hips swayed seductively back and forth as she walked. It was more of a turn on to watch her walk than any practiced runway model he’d ever seen. Part of the allure was that she had absolutely no idea how sexy she was. None. No idea at all. Totally clueless.

Benny turned to the kitchen. He had an hour to whip up some comfort food for his woman. He knew Jess had some heavy thoughts running around in her head, but Benny hoped after they talked she’d be okay with what was happening.

Fifty minutes later, Jess wandered out of the back hall. She was wearing the same T-shirt she’d borrowed the first day she’d been there. Benny smiled. She’d refused to give it back, claiming he’d given it to her and she wasn’t giving it back. Benny had no problem with that at all. She could steal any shirt of his she wanted. He loved seeing her in his clothes, and could imagine what she wasn’t wearing underneath it.

Her hair was wet. It wasn’t quite long enough to go back in a scrunchie, but it was getting there. Jess had explained how she’d cut her hair because Brian had liked to yank on it to get her attention. Kason had held back the harsh words he wanted to say and had simply told her he liked her hair short or long, as long as she was happy with it.

Jess was flushed from the heat of the bath and Benny could see a sheen of sweat on her brow. She was gorgeous and Benny knew he’d never wanted a woman as badly as he wanted this one.

“Go sit on the couch, we’ll eat there.”

“Can I help?”

“Thank you, no, I got it. Let me spoil you.”

“You’re always spoiling me.”

“Yeah, so let me keep doing it. Sit.” Benny smiled as he said it so Jess would know he was teasing. He relaxed as she smiled back and went to do as he’d asked.

Benny got together the plate with dinner on it as well as napkins. He stuck two water bottles under his arm and headed over to Jess.

“Jesus, Kason, you should’ve let me help. I could’ve carried something.”

“I said I got it.” Benny leaned down and let Jess take the bottles out from under his arm. He turned and put the plate on the coffee table and settled in next to her. He yanked the blanket off the back of the couch and pulled Jess into his side. He put the blanket over her lap, making sure she wouldn’t be chilled after her bath.

Then he reached out and grabbed the plate of food and leaned back again, resettling Jess against him.

“What’d you make?”

“Pizza roll ups.”

“From scratch?”

“Yeah.”

Jess smiled, his words said yes, but his tone said “duh.”

Jessyka reached for one of the crescent rolls and Kason held them out of her reach.

“Uh uh. I got this.” Benny picked up one of the homemade pizza rolls and blew on it, making sure it wouldn’t burn her when she bit into it. He took a bite, and finding the temperature acceptable, held it to Jess.

She looked at him, incredulously.

“Open.”

When Jess started to raise her hand to take the roll from his hand, Benny held it up out of her reach. “Open,” he repeated.

Jess opened her mouth and didn’t take her eyes off of Kason’s as he brought the roll down to her mouth. He placed part of it between her teeth and she bit down. Some of the sauce dripped out, but before it could fall, Kason caught it with his finger. He brought his finger up to his mouth and sucked on it, licking away the red sauce he’d just wiped from her mouth.

Neither looked away from each other. Jess finished chewing the first bite and Kason held the rest of the pizza up to her lips. She opened dutifully, and felt Kason’s thumb brush against her lip as she closed her lips around the delicious crescent roll.

Kason continued to feed her. He took turns between eating himself, and feeding her. Each time, he took a bite of the roll first, making sure it wasn’t too hot, before letting her take a bite.

Jessyka felt weird. She knew she was supposed to be freaking out about Brian and what the SEALs had done to him, but she just didn’t have it in her at the moment. Between the bath, being held in Kason’s arms, and him feeding her, she was one big marshmallow.

When the pizza rolls were gone, Kason leaned over and placed the now empty plate back on the coffee table. He leaned back to the couch and turned, taking Jess with him.

Benny held on to the woman in his arms as he turned them around on the couch. He moved so he was on his back and Jess’s back was to the back of the couch. She was half lying on him and half lying on the couch. Her head rested on his shoulder and one of her arms was lying over his stomach. He had one arm wrapped around her shoulders and the other rested lightly on her hand on his stomach. He sighed in contentment.

Benny hadn’t allowed himself the luxury of cuddling with Jess since that first night she’d been in his apartment. Oh, she’d leaned into him on the couch while they watched TV, but it wasn’t like this. He wanted to give her space. He didn’t want to push her into anything she might not be ready for. But he wanted her. He wanted her more now than he did a month ago. Benny knew all the important things he needed to know about Jess, except for one. How she felt about him.

Benny had spent the last month fantasizing about her. It wasn’t enough he woke up hard and had to take care of it before he could go to PT, but every night he went to bed hard, imagining how Jess looked spread out on her bed just one door down from him. He’d had to wash his sheets a lot more often now that Jessyka was living with him.

“Are you comfortable? Your leg doesn’t hurt?”

“I’m perfect, Kason. This is perfect.”

Benny pulled Jess toward him and kissed her forehead once before settling back again. “Good. Now, talk to me.”

Jess didn’t hesitate, but laid out what she was thinking. “It’s not that I care about Brian, because at this point I don’t. But I’m worried about the guys. What if Brian goes to the cops? What if they get in trouble? What if Brian goes after Caroline or any of the others? What if . . .”

“Shhhh, hang on, gorgeous, let me address your fears one by one, okay?” Benny waited until Jess nodded against him before continuing. “First, Brian won’t go to the cops. It’s already on file what he did to you. Remember, they took pictures in the hospital. Brian knows it’d be his word against a SEAL’s. Who do you think would win in that battle?” Not waiting for her response he went on.

“Wolf talked to our Commander about what happened, essentially giving him a head’s up. Of course he didn’t give him all the details, but enough that if he heard about it through official channels he could defend the team. And lastly, there’s no way in hell Brian would go after the women. He knows he’s outmanned and outgunned. Besides, they’re all monitored 24/7.”

“What do you mean?”

Benny sighed. He had no idea how Jess would take this. He knew he had to give her some background. “How much of the history of the girls do you know?”

Jess looked up at Kason. He sounded so serious. “I know some, but obviously not enough if the look on your face is anything to go by.”

Benny put his hand on Jess’s head and encouraged her to lay back down. “Wolf met Caroline on a plane that was taken over by hijackers. They survived it, but the bad guys came after her and kidnapped her. Alabama fled from Abe because he did a dumbass thing and hurt her. It was weeks before we could find her. She’d been living on the damn streets. Cookie met Fiona when he was sent into Mexico to rescue another woman that had been taken by white-slavers. She’d been in captivity for about three months when we got her out and no one had even known or cared she was gone. Summer was taken by a man who’d kidnapped, tortured, and murdered Mozart’s little sister when he was in high school. Cheyenne had a bomb strapped to her chest…twice. And finally, you know what happened to Cheyenne, Summer, and Fiona when they were taken from the bar not too long ago.”

Benny took a deep breath. Now the hard part. “All the guys got together and agreed this shit had to end. We have a friend who lives in Virginia . . . Tex. He used to be a SEAL, but got hurt and now does some computer shit from out east. He can find anyone. We’ve literally used him to save the lives of every single one of the guys’ women. He does illegal crap we pretend we don’t know about, and he knows people in every branch of the military and probably in every state. We overlook anything illegal he might do because it’s effective and has saved us more times than not. He monitors the girls. They’re tracked all the time. Every day, every move they make.”

“But, Kason . . .”

“I wasn’t done. Let me finish then I’ll answer whatever questions you have.” Benny waited for Jess’s agreement, then continued. “They know about it. They agreed to it. They all have issues related to what happened to them. It makes them feel better knowing their men will be able to get to them if, God-forbid, something happens again. The work we do is dangerous. The last thing we want is for some asshole we captured, injured, defeated, whatever, to come back and try to get revenge by taking our women. Their shoes are tracked, their bags, some of their clothes. They even have several pieces of jewelry that have tracking devices in them. Jess, if you remember nothing else, remember this. The women know about it and agreed to it. This is not us being manipulative, controlling assholes, which I admit, we all can be. But this is not that.

“So while Brian doesn’t know about any of that, the guys made it clear if he even
thinks
about coming after their women, he’ll pay. And how he’ll pay would be completely unconnected to us. Tex knows people. I know for a fact he’s as close to a team of Delta Force operatives as he is with us. Payment could be arranged without any of us being involved in any way.”

“This sounds like the mob or something, Kason. I don’t like it.”

“I know, and I’m sorry, Jess. But it’s how we are. We’re a family, yes, sort of like the mob, but we don’t go around hurting and intimidating people for the hell of it. In fact, I think this is the only time the guys have taken Tex up on his repeated offers to allow him to be involved.”

Benny let his words sink in. The silence stretched out for at least five minutes, but it didn’t feel uncomfortable.

At last Jess spoke, “You really think I’m safe? He won’t come after me?”

“I really think you’re safe. If I didn’t think so, I’d tell you. I’d tell you so you could be more vigilant, more aware. I’d never hide that from you.”

“Are you tracking me?”

Finally. It was the question Benny had expected from the second he’d mentioned tracking the other women. “No.”

“Why not?”

That was
not
what he expected her to say. “I told you the girls know about the devices. I would never do that to you without your consent.”

Without looking up, Jess said in a voice that cracked, “I think it’d make me feel safer.”

“Then I’ll set it up.” Benny didn’t hesitate in agreeing.

“But Kason, it’s different for me. I’m just . . .” Jess paused thinking about how she wanted to word her thoughts and about what Summer had told her that day. “I’m not
with
you. I’m just your friend. It’s not the same.”

Benny slid out from under Jessyka and moved her until she was flat on her back on the couch and he was leaning over her. He had one elbow next to her head and his hand curled around the side of her neck.

“How honest can I be with you right now, Jess? I’ve been pretty forthcoming tonight. Can you take more?”

“From you? Yes.”

Benny didn’t hesitate or prevaricate. “I want you. Yes, you’re my friend, but I want more. I want to be your lover. I want you to sleep in my bed. I want to see you lying on my sheets naked and waiting for me. I want to see you in the shower in the mornings while I’m shaving. You’re already doing my laundry and cooking for me when I’m not home to do it for myself. We’re already acting like a couple, just without the intimacy. I wanted to give you space. I wanted you to be sure. I’ve been sure for a while now. I’ve wanted you in my bed since about a week after you moved in.”