Deadly obsession, p.10
Deadly Obsession, page 10
She burrowed further into his chest, rubbing her nose on the sparse hair covering finely honed muscles. Her fingers traced the hard ridges on his abdomen; he was beautifully sculpted everywhere. Undeniably masculine, and dripping sex appeal, intricate tattoos started on the left side of his neck, wrapping around his shoulder before covering his entire left arm, raising an air of mystery and danger around him. Old scars marked his body, but instead of alarming her, he made her feel safe. She couldn’t understand why. Was it because she knew he wouldn’t hesitate to use his body to protect her? Jake was an impressive male specimen and Ella couldn’t understand how his wife could have cheated on him with Samuel.
His fingers grazed her upper arms. “What are you thinking about?” he asked gruffly, sounding as if he had dozed off for a bit.
“I was wondering how Sam could—”
She gasped when she was suddenly under Jake. His furious eyes bore into her, his face etched in angry, scary lines.
“We just had sex,” he snarled softly, “and you’re thinking of that motherfucker?”
“Jake, I—”
“Do I need to fuck him out of you?” He yanked her legs apart and pushed his cock against her, which was rapidly hardening into blunt battering flesh. “Do I? Because I will, and I will do it with pleasure.”
One hand gripped her chin almost painfully, her teeth pinching her inner cheeks. She wasn’t avoiding his gaze so this action made her angry, and even if she was, that was just too controlling.
“Let go of my chin,” she said coldly.
He didn’t, but was fully hard and he started to nudge his cock inside her.
“If you fuck me right now, Jake, I will try my best not to come. Then I’m walking out that door.”
He stilled and narrowed his eyes as if contemplating if she was bluffing. Their eyes clashed for long seconds, and then he slid out of her. Ella noted the flash of panic across his face.
“If you’d have let me finished talking,” Ella added quickly, “I was going to say how I couldn’t imagine your wife cheating on you with Sam.”
Jake grimaced, his face losing heat and transforming into one of utter remorse. He moved his lips as if to say something, but it seemed like he couldn’t find the right words. He ended up muttering a curse, more like a self-recriminating one rather than one directed at her. In the end, he rested his forehead on hers.
“I’m an ass.”
“Yes, you are.”
“But I’m still pissed he crossed your mind after I’ve just fucked you.”
She didn’t say anything, just stared at him.
He sighed. “Forgive me?”
“Are you really sorry or are you just trying to placate me?”
“Fuck, Ella,” he rolled off her and covered his eyes with his forearm. “I’m sorry I manhandled you and nearly fucked you out of jealousy and anger. I’m not saying it won’t happen again.” He paused and exhaled deeply. “Just the idea of that fucker with you makes me lose my mind.” He rolled into her, propping himself on an elbow and throwing a heavy muscular thigh over her. “I want to erase every mark of him on you. I want to brand myself on you.”
“I’m not a cow.”
Jake’s lips twitched. “Baby, are you trying to make me laugh? ‘Coz this conversation is serious.”
Ella was serious, but her annoyance had lessened. She may not be a natural submissive, but she craved the dominance of a strong male. Jake fit the bill perfectly, but his jealous nature could be an issue in the future, especially if he couldn’t get over her past with Samuel.
“We need to be able to talk about the past without you going crazy on a dime.”
“If I said my ex-wife’s name soon after you’ve sucked me off, how would you feel?”
Why did he have to make so much such sense? Ella thought in irritation. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” She turned her head away from him.
“Ah-ah, no go, baby.” He gripped her chin and turned her head to face him, but he was gentler this time. “You gripe about me overreacting, but put yourself in my shoes. Wouldn’t you want to suck me off again so I’d forget every woman’s name except your own?”
“Oh, my God.” Ella shot up and grabbed a pillow and started batting him on the chest with it. “You’re such an arrogant ass!”
Jake was chuckling as he pretended to defend himself against her pillow assault. He finally tagged her around the waist and she found herself under him again.
“Let’s call a truce for now, okay, Ella?” He kissed her lightly on the lips. “I hate to taint this night and this bed with other people. Here, in this room, on this bed, it’s just you and me. Deal?”
Oh, yes, Ella thought.
“Okay,” she answered.
*****
A phone was ringing somewhere.
Shit. He was the only one with the phone.
“Jake, your phone—”
“Got it,” he grumbled as he rolled over Ella and got off the bed. It was dark in the room. The bedside clock informed him it was almost 10:00 p.m. Apparently, they had fucked themselves into exhaustion and had fallen asleep, skipping dinner. He grabbed his flashing phone from the floor, frowning at the unknown number.
“Hopper.”
“Hey, asshole, put Ella on.”
Aron the prick. Jake had been blocking the man’s calls all day, but he probably wised up and used a different phone.
“It’s late, asshole.” Jake emphasized the last word with as much sarcasm as he could muster.
A mirthless laugh came over the phone.
“I don’t care. I’m filing kidnapping charges if you don’t put her on the phone right this damned minute.”
This time it was Jake who laughed without humor. “We know you’re not doing that since you’re both supposed to be off the grid.”
“Listen, Hopper, this is bigger than your fucking obsession over my girl. Agent Sawyer just called me. There’s been a development.”
Jake bristled at Aron’s reference to Ella as “my girl.”
“She knows about the second murder,” Jake informed him.
“It’s more than that—”
“And the possible dropped charges against Clayton,” he added. His eyes drifted to the silhouette of Ella who had now pushed up to a partial sitting position. Even in the dark, her form was seductive.
“Jake, is that Aron?” she asked.
“Put. Her. On.” The other man repeated his earlier demand.
Jake had half a mind to end the call, but he didn’t want to make her mad, especially after the amazing sensual connection they had just shared.
“Keep it brief,” Jake said curtly, handing her the phone.
Ella emitted an irritated huff, obviously annoyed at his dictate, but he hated the other man for having broken her.
Jake switched on the bedside lamp. Even if he couldn’t listen in on the conversation, he wanted to observe Ella’s facial expression.
Right now a deep frown graced her face.
“You’re in San Francisco?” Ella asked.
He had a feeling he was about to get very pissed.
CHAPTER NINE
“No fucking way.”
Jake growled vehemently, his muscles tensing with what Ella was asking of him.
“But he’s in San Francisco. He was worried about me, Jake. I didn’t call him this morning and apparently you’ve been blocking his calls.” Ella looked at him accusingly.
He was not even feeling one bit of remorse. “And you want me to invite him to stay here? Why can’t he stay in a damn hotel?”
“You have guest quarters on the first floor. He could bunk there.”
“No.”
Ella’s eyes flashed at him. “You’re being unreasonable. I’ve been with Aron for eight months, lived in the same house and not once have I had sex with him.”
Jake believed her, but the way she said it didn’t settle well in his gut. With his eyes steady on hers, he asked, “Don’t tell me he never once tried to get you into bed?”
She broke eye contact.
I fucking knew it.
Jake snorted. “Guess I made my point.”
“It wasn’t like that¸” Ella protested weakly.
“Oh, I don’t know, Ella, why don’t you explain to me how it was like?”
“Why are you being like this?” Her hands hit her hips in exasperation. “He’s just staying a day or two. He brought some of my things.”
“I told you to buy everything you need.”
“Not everything is replaceable.” Ella’s voice started to get agitated.
“Oh, like what?”
“Like my sister’s music box!” she yelled at him. Her breathing became labored as if she was about to have a panic attack. “Aron wants to have sex with me to undo what he had broken in me.”
“That’s my job now,” Jake said angrily.
“It’s not that simple.” Her voice had not lowered. “All you do is think of fucking me. Aron tries to understand me, my past, my hopes, and fears. That’s how he knows what I need. It’s not just about a physical connection, Jake. It’s being able to manipulate a person’s emotions.”
“That doesn’t sound palatable to me,” Jake said darkly. “I don’t want to exploit your weaknesses to make you react a certain way. Jesus, Ella, we’ve been together less than 48-hours. Make no mistake, I intend to know the person you are, and I hope you’ll want to know me as well.” He sighed heavily. “I have more plans for you than simply screwing your brains out.”
She crossed her arms in a defensive posture and stared at the floor. Her usual pillowy lips pressed in a thin line.
Jake gave a slight shake of his head and stepped into her space. He reached under her chin and tilted it up. “Hey,” he murmured gently. “You believe me, right?”
“I’m trying to,” she whispered, uncertainty clouding her eyes. “Don’t get me wrong, I do not regret this face that God has given me—”
And a rocking body, Jake mentally added then instantly berated himself because that exact reaction wasn’t helping his case with Ella.
“—for it may still help me find out what happened to my sister, but I also know it will take me a while to trust a man to want me for more than what I can offer physically.”
“Not a man,” Jake corrected, clasping their hands together and bringing them to his chest. “Me. Only me.”
“You’re very persistent—”
“You’re only figuring that out now?”
“And arrogant.”
Jake smirked.
Ella sighed. “We got sidetracked. Aron is waiting somewhere on Lombard Street. Please, Jake, let him stay here.” Her caramel eyes pleaded up at him, and he found himself hypnotized in their depths. Her lips quavered prettily and his cock responded readily.
He was on the brink of giving in when he saw a tiny gleam in her eyes that was far from pleading. He didn’t know whether to laugh or be pissed. He released her hands and slid his to her delectable ass and squeezed her close against him.
Ella yelped in surprise.
Jake leaned in. “Don’t think I don’t know you’re trying to manipulate me with your charms, Ella.”
Her eyes narrowed. Gone was the pleading, helpless look. “I wasn’t—”
“Oh no? The big doe eyes, the well-placed lip quiver. I have your number, woman,” Jake growled. “But I’m giving you a pass with this one.” Because it worked, but he wasn’t about to admit it to her. It was enough he admitted his weakness to himself. “He stays on the ground floor.”
“Of course.”
“You’re never going to be alone with him.”
“Jake, there are some matters I might have to discuss privately with him.”
“No damned secrets between us,” Jake decreed. “I don’t trust your safety to anyone else, not even the FBI. They talk to you, I’ll be there.”
“You can’t just butt into my life,” Ella argued.
“I just did,” Jake said. “I stood back once and nearly lost you. I’m not going through that again. Get me?”
She glared at him. He stared her down.
“So what’s it gonna be? You wanna keep Aron waiting? Be my guest. But we’re not picking him up until you tell me you get me.”
“Is this how it’s gonna be? I have no say? You’re just going to bulldoze me?”
Jake didn’t answer, but he was pretty sure his expression said, “Fuck yeah.”
*****
Ella didn’t account for the weird situation that would unfold when Jake met her former Master. She pondered her insistence on having Aron stay with them, and she concluded it was because she had not weaned herself of the desire to please him. They met Aron at a corner deli on Lombard Street. Her friend followed them back in his pickup truck.
There was a consequence to her actions, and her anxiety escalated when they arrived at Jake’s house. The men were assessing each other warily as they mounted the steps. Ella was familiar with how Aron operated; it was Jake who was the wildcard.
A powder-keg situation was an apt description for the tension that displaced the oxygen in the room the moment the three of them entered the house. Ella felt the fury radiating from Jake’s body, but she was stunned when Aron made the first move.
He turned on Jake and punched him straight across the jaw. Jake staggered backward, spat out some blood, and to her consternation, his lips curved into an evil grin.
“That’s for tranq’ing me, asshole!” Aron thundered.
“I expected that,” Jake replied, a smirk still plastered on his face.
This is not good! Ella thought frantically, her eyes darting crazily between the men, knowing something more explosive was about to happen.
“But that’s the only shot you’re getting,” Jake snarled as he launched his shoulder straight into Aron’s torso, sending him slamming against the wall. Winded, Aron failed to block Jake’s right hook and follow-up uppercut.
All the while, Ella thought Aron’s bulk was going to pound down on Jake, but it seemed her man was calling all the shots. Another sound of flesh hitting flesh jolted her from inaction and she yelled for them to stop.
“Stay out of this, Ella,” Jake growled as he hauled Aron from the wall and another jab finally knocked her friend against the table before he crashed on the floor.
An unwitting weakness seized her knees as her mind transported her back to a chasm of darkness.
She crashed against the table and sank to the floor.
Her cheeks burned and the taste of metal in her mouth told her this was it.
He was going to kill her.
She tried to crawl away on all fours, but the kicking was relentless.
Finally, he flipped her on her back.
The dark face came closer; fingers manacled her neck.
Her survival instincts kicked in.
She reached out and raked her nails across her attacker’s face.
“Ella!”
“Jake?”
“Ella! What the fuck?”
Hands gripped her shoulders, shaking her.
“No!” a female voice shrieked. It sounded like her own.
“Baby, look at me.”
Ella opened her eyes to Jake’s alarmed face, Aron’s bloody one peering above them. She was on the floor, on her butt with her knees drawn up.
“What happened?” Jake asked in a calm tone when his body language indicated the opposite.
“I scratched him.”
“What?” Jake’s brows snapped together. “Are you talking about the night you were attacked?”
“Yes. I still can’t remember all . . . but I scratched his face.”
“Holy shit,” Aron mumbled.
Jake’s face darkened as the implication hit him. “I’m pretty sure Clayton didn’t have a single scratch on his face the day he got arrested.”
“It wasn’t him,” Ella whispered. “It wasn’t him.” She repeated almost in a daze. A violent shudder tore through her body. She was helpless to stop the tremors shaking her. Her head throbbed as her brain struggled to remember as well as block out that night. Jake gathered her in his arms and crooned soothingly in her ear, but it didn’t assuage the macabre realization that the monster who beat her within an inch of her life was still out there.
*****
“She all right?”
Jake handed Aron some ice wrapped in a towel and nodded briefly at the man’s question. “She finally fell asleep.”
“I called Agent Sawyer,” Aron informed him.
Jake knew it was the right thing to inform the FBI, but that could start a whole chain of events he wasn’t ready to examine. Would they bring Ella in? Jake was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact Clayton didn’t physically abuse her that night. He was gonna walk. Would he come after Ella? Would she want to go back to him?
Fuck.
No way was Jake giving her up.
“You’ve got pretty fierce thoughts in your head right now, man.”
He scowled at Aron. “What are you now? A psychic?”
“No. I read people well. I trained women . . . and men.”
Jake couldn’t believe Aron would bring this up right now. Did the man have a death wish?
Aron smiled at him, but his blue eyes remained expressionless. “You think I’m crazy for bringing up my involvement in breaking Ella?” He lowered the ice pack and rubbed his bruised jaw. “Might as well have it out in the open.”
“You’re a sick fuck,” Jake growled. “I want to tear you apart, limb from fucking limb, but I don’t want to upset her.”
“She still loves me.”
“Dickhead, stop testing me.”
“You should curb your jealousy. She doesn’t love me that way.”
Exasperated and needing to get away from the other man before he slugged him again, Jake jumped up from the couch and put the coffee table between them. “You still want to fuck her.”
The blond’s brow shot up. “She admitted that to you?”
“Not in so many words, but I asked her.”
“I can fix her.”
“She is not some goddamned toy or machine to be fixed. She’s a person.”
Aron regarded him with disdain. “You speak of circumstances you don’t understand, Jake. Do you want to help Ella become the woman you need?”
