Under Pressure [IAD Agency] (Siren Publishing Classic) (24 page)

The door to the room opened, and Jason quickly made his way back to Bella’s side. “Enough. Is something wrong? What’s going on?”

Sydney winked at Bella and squeezed her hand again. “I’ll check on you in a little bit,” she promised before quietly leaving the room.

Bella smiled at him and brought their joined hands up to her lips to kiss his knuckles. “I’ll be fine. She just wanted update me on my…condition. I’m fine,” Bella repeated to reassure him. She could tell he was going to press the issue so she hurried on. “I’m just sleepy. Can you take me home? I would rather sleep in our bed.”

Jason shook his head while stroking her hair in a tender gesture. “No, baby, we need to stay here for now so the doctor can monitor you. But I promise, as soon as she says it’s safe I’ll take you home. It makes me crazy thinking about you hurting. I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you.”

Jeez, Bella could feel herself melting. That this strong man could say such sweet poetic things to her made her already-jittery stomach flutter and her face flush with heat. She loved him so much she felt stupid with it.

“Do you feel all right? You look flush, sweetheart. Should I call the doctor back?”

“No, no. I’m fine, really,” Bella promised, embarrassed by her reaction. “But, Jason, don’t go away. Please stay with me for a little while.”

Bella’s eyes were heavy, and she couldn’t keep them open any longer. She reached out her other hand into the void, and his strong hand immediately caught it and put it on his chest as he sat down next to her.

“No, sweetheart, I won’t leave you. I’m here. Sleep, love. I’ll keep you safe.”

Bella closed her eyes, secure with the fact that no harm would come to her while he was near. She drifted off to sleep listening to the sound of his voice, feeling the steady beat of his heart to dream of a little boy with laughing silver eyes.

She would worry about someone trying to kill her tomorrow.

“Enough.”

Three days of bed rest was driving Bella insane.

There was only so much good will that one individual could take. Although the day after the attack Dr. Dixon had announced that Bella was out of danger, Jason had put her on lockdown. Jenna and Gio had taken over teaching her class this week, and Bella was told she was supposed to do nothing but rest and recover. People dropped by to see how she was doing, but Jason never let any of them stay for very long.

When she had talked to her parents, she felt terrible listening to her mother’s tears, but Jason had taken over speaking to them when he saw how distressed she was. Adding to that, Tony was all but camping in the living room and refused to leave. Jason said he would gladly make him leave, but Bella didn’t have the heart to let him.

Besides that, there was nothing much for her to do except for rest.

They had found out that one of the young women who worked at the spa had been paid a hefty tip by a man who wanted her to bring a glass of water with raspberries to Bella. He had claimed he was her boyfriend and said she only drank water with raspberries, so the girl thought nothing of it, wanting to please the clients. The girl had burst into tears, sobbing as she told them what had happened. No one could really blame the girl for attempted murder, just for being stupid.

Victor had also been caught on the security cameras outside of Bella’s old apartment, but before they could catch him, he escaped. He had left a note saying that he wouldn’t rest until she was his again.

Jason had flown into a rage when he saw the note. He had tried to maintain a calm demeanor in front of Bella, but she could hear him yelling in his office as she was resting in their bedroom even with the door closed.

They knew Victor Dane had bought himself a new identity in Europe, but the trace they had done only got them as far as his entry back into the States. Since he had come back to America, he had been using a new name, and any chance of using his European alias to catch him had gone cold.

Bella felt as if she was stuck in a dangerous game of cat and mouse and she didn’t know the rules. Jason and the other agents had been working tirelessly to end the threat against her, and she knew staying in the apartment would make everyone’s job easier. So she stayed put. The last thing she wanted to happen was to have someone else get hurt trying to protect her.

Again.

She felt horrible that Tara had gotten hurt, so she kept her complaints to herself. Tara had laughed off her concern, but Bella still felt responsible. To keep busy, she had started the plans for
Bella Gio’s
,
surfing the web for ideas and jotting down what she liked so she could show it to Gio later.

The other thing weighing heavily on her mind was the baby.

She hadn’t told Jason yet, but she wanted to do it when they were on equal ground again, not while she was lying in bed recovering. She knew him well enough to at least wait for that much. The truth was that she was also nervous, not knowing how he would take the news.

Even though it had only been a few days, she loved their baby already. Being given the dream of a child when she thought it would be hard for ever to have one was a gift beyond measure.

Part of her was so happy she thought she would burst. The other part was terrified.

After hearing what had happened to Jason’s family, she so wanted to give that back to him. She wanted for them to have a big family, one where he could learn to love and laugh again without restraint, without the shadow of his past haunting him. But they had never talked about children, and it was so soon that she was worried that he wouldn’t want the same vision of the future that she so desperately hoped for.

Unable to stand it anymore, Bella flung back the covers to get out of bed. She had to do something, something besides thinking about the man somewhere out there who wanted to kill her. She needed to do something useful. And tonight, tonight she would tell Jason about the baby.

Taking a quick shower, Bella wrapped herself in a gold cashmere robe Jason had left hanging for her on a rack in the bathroom.

Playing with the large diamond pendant that Jason had gifted her with only yesterday, she strode into the closet to find something to wear. The diamond was beautiful and matched her ring perfectly. She had told Jason that she didn’t want him buying her such expensive gifts, but when he told her that he had gotten it so she could put her ring on the chain to wear it around her neck when she was cooking, she had accepted it gratefully. Not that he would have taken it back anyway.

The closet was large enough to have its own zip code. Every time Bella walked into the room, she was amazed by the amount of clothing that she and Jason had. Jason had brought all of her clothing from her apartment, but she also found so many new items, all in her size. Her eyes narrowed as she realized there were more things on her side than there were last time she had been in there.

The man liked to buy things for her and just stuck it in the closet like she wouldn’t notice. It amused her that the only arguments they seemed to have were about his penchants for spending money on her. Well, that and his stupid man moments.

With a smile Bella reached for a pair of her favorite comfy pants that had a racy saying written across the bottom and the matching hoodie.

As she strolled out into the living room, Tony’s head came up from where he was sitting at the dining table working on his laptop. Concern flashed across his face, but Bella raised her hand to stop him from saying anything.

“Don’t even start with me. I’m so sick and tired of sitting around doing nothing. I’m fine, fine I tell you. Now I’m going to cook, and I need you to go get a few things for me. I won’t try and leave, but I need you to go shopping for me.”

Bella sat at the table and grabbed his notepad from him and started to write a list of things she needed. Tapping the pen to her lips, she finally noticed that Tony was smiling at her. “What?”

“I’m just glad you’re okay, hon.”

“You’re just glad I’m going to be cooking for you again, you mean.”

Laughing, he said, “Yeah, that, too.”

Bella smiled and reached out to grab his hand.

“What are you doing out of bed?”

Bella jumped in her seat and sent Jason a fake frown. “Jeez, baby, do I have to put a bell on you?”

Jason had heard their voices from his open office door and came out to see what she was doing. Bella knew that when the door was closed not to bother him, but he rarely locked his office door nowadays while she was there. He rarely kept any secrets from her, and Bella made an effort to give him the necessary space for him to conduct his business without being underfoot.

Bella smiled at him, reaching out her hand. He crossed the room in that quick fluid stride of his and pulled her up out of the chair and sat down, placing her onto his lap. Bella nuzzled her face into his neck and leaned in to kiss him.

Jason could feel himself grinning like a simpleton. Damn, did he have it bad.

“Geez, you two…get a room.”

Jason ignored Tony as he placed another soft kiss on Bella’s lips.

Bella pulled back and had to shake off the dreamy haze that she always got after Jason kissed her like that.

“I’m sick of sitting around doing nothing, so I have decided to use this time to try out a few potentials for the menu at the restaurant.” Bella placed a finger to Jason’s lips when he opened his mouth to speak. “I know I have to take it easy, but all this inactivity is killing me. Tony’s going shopping for me, so I’m not trying to leave. Please.”

Jason sighed.

He wanted her to continue to rest, but he was surprised he had been able to keep her down for three whole days already. “All right, but if you start to feel weak, I want you to take a break.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Bella rolled her eyes and kissed him hard before she started working on her list again. Amusement, admiration, and frustration warred in Jason as she casually dismissed him.

“Man, does she know how to work you.” Tony chuckled.

“Shut it, Tony, or no tiramisu for you.”

“Shutting it now, ma’am.”

“It seems that she knows how to work both of us, doesn’t it.” Jason stated dryly. Bella tried to scoot off his lap, but his steel-roped arms wound tight around her, holding her in place. Feeling impish she wiggled as if trying to get comfortable on his lap just to tease him.

Jason muffled his groan as he rubbed his face into her hair and placed a kiss on the top of her head to tell her that he had only been joking. Christ, it was torture feeling her tight little bottom rub against his growing erection. He had held himself back to ensure that she was completely recovered from her ordeal and every hour had been pure hell. He had always been a sexual man, but damn it, never like this. Three days had him feeling like he was coming off a ten-year celibacy stint and his dick throbbed like an open wound.

Jason fought back the tides of lust crashing through his system as he thought back to why it was so important that he let Bella recover completely before making her deal with his attentions. He once again felt the rage build within him as the thought of how close he had come to losing her. Bella squeaked in protest as his arms tightened around her too tightly.

“Sorry, love,” Jason murmured as he kissed the top of her head. He forced his grip loose, and her body relaxed against his and she continued working on her list. He watched her in comfortable silence as she scribbled vigorously. When she was done, she ripped out the page, handing it to Tony.

Tony winced. “Jeez, Bella, I thought you just needed a few things. Are you planning on stocking your restaurant today?”

“What are you complaining about?” Tara asked as she strolled out of the office. She leaned down to give Bella a hug and ended up including Jason by proxy.

Bella felt Jason’s body tense slightly then relax at the gesture. The poor man knew so little about affection, Bella thought sadly, even more determined to change that.

Tara moved around the table to mess with Tony’s hair before flinging herself into the chair next to him. Bella leaned back against Jason and grabbed his arms to wrap them tight around her middle once again. She felt him rub his jaw on her head as she stroked her hand over his arms, secretly thrilled as the muscles flexed under her fingertips.

Bella explained to Tara what she wanted to do, and Tara slapped Tony on the arm and got up, grabbing the list. “I’m on it. Listen here, computer geek, Bella wants this shit, so we’re going shopping. Let’s ride.” Turning with a wink, Tara pocketed the list and smacked a kiss on the top of Bella’s head. Tony got up and quickly followed, grumbling under his breath.

* * * *

Bella loved creating things with her hands.

Cooking was a job for some, a craft for others, but for her, it was pure art. Since Tony loved her tiramisu, that had been a priority on her to-do list for the day. Two very large trays of the completed tiramisu now sat chilling in the refrigerator.

Jason had expanded the kitchen a while ago, wanting to suit Bella’s needs. He added another restaurant-grade refrigerator and freezer and also added another dishwasher so there was one near each of the two sinks. He had also bought an electric stove so they now had electric and gas units for her to use. Jason had never really thought about the functionality of his kitchen before Bella had moved in. Now, he wanted to give her everything she needed, everything she dreamed of.