Hard as Stone (Passion in Paradise: The Men of the McKinnnon Sisters) (51 page)

“Go away, Jake,”
she ordered without turning her head.  “I don’t want you here.”

Dropping the small
camera he’d carried upstairs with him on the table near the window, he aimed it
toward the bed and flipped the switch on, ignoring Harmony’s demand.  She could
scream, yell and throw things if she wanted.  He wouldn’t stop her; God knew,
she had enough reasons to be pissed, but what he wouldn’t do was leave them. 

“What are you
doing?” Harmony whispered, her eyes following his movements as he adjusted the
camera.  “Why are you….”

“I want eyes on
Heaven at all times,” he explained quietly.  “Zeke put a receptor in your
bedroom and downstairs.  The deputy will stay outside, but I want to be able to
see her at all times.  It’s just a precaution, darlin’.”

“You think Tanner
and Diego will come after her, don’t you?” she asked in a whisper, looking back
at her daughter and staring at her with worried eyes.

“I think I’m not
taking any unnecessary risks with any of you,” he replied.  Crossing the room
to stand behind her, he murmured, “We need to talk, darlin’.  C’mon.  I don’t
want to risk waking up the Princess.”

“I don’t have
anything left to say to you right now,” Harmony declared quietly, shaking her
head.  She couldn’t deal with him tonight.  She might not ever be able to deal
with him again.  After hearing what the last man she’d been involved with had
done to one of her family and
knowing
that Jake had been keeping
secrets… big secrets from her already, she didn’t trust her judgment.  She
needed her space.  She needed to think.  She needed him to get the hell away
from her. 

“So, while I’ve
been outside trying to stop Zeke from doing something crazy stupid, you’ve been
up here adding bricks to that wall you’ve built around yourself.  That’s
great,” he noted sarcastically, lifting his eyes to stare at the ceiling. 
“Great use of your time, Harmony.”

Harmony’s jaw
dropped as she jerked her eyes from her daughter to him.  “Are you
serious
?”
she hissed.  “You’re actually gonna walk in here and criticize
me
?”

“Oh, I’m serious,
but I’m also not doin’ this in here,” he growled, crossing his muscular arms
over his chest.  “We’re talkin’.  Either get up and walk out of this room or I
can pick you up and carry you out.  Take the warning.  This isn’t the night to
test me.”

Hopping to her
feet, she whirled to glare at him.  “How dare you?  How dare you barge into my
life… into my family and start throwing around demands?”

Pursing his lips as
Heaven shifted restlessly in the bed, Jake wrapped a hand around Harmony’s
wrist and jerked her toward the door.  “You’re gonna wake Heaven up with this
bullshit.  You wanna throw a temper tantrum?  Fine.  But not here,” he rumbled
softly, pulling her out of the room and into the hallway.  Closing the door
behind them, he met her glare with one of his own.  “Look, I know it’s been a
rough night for you, but….”

“A rough night?”
Harmony echoed incredulously, jerking her wrist from his hand.  “A
rough
night?” she repeated again, shaking her head at him as she took a step
backward.  “No, Jake, this hasn’t been a
rough
night.  This has been a
shit
night.  In fact, it might rank in the top three shittiest nights of my life.  I
think it’s only been superseded by the night my sister got taken by my last
choice of man and the night that same man beat me nearly to death!”

Taking a deep
breath, Jake closed his eyes and silently counted to ten, reminding himself
that all the rage he saw reflected in Harmony’s eyes wasn’t directed
entirely
at him.  Oh, he’d played a part… a big one, but most of this rage was for the
man that had come before him.  Opening his eyes, he stared at her.  “I’m not
him, Harmony.  I am
not
Tanner Suarez.”

Holding up a hand,
Harmony shook her head.  “Don’t.”

“I’m not, darlin’,”
he stated quietly, taking a step toward her.  “I didn’t hurt you.  I didn’t
hurt your sister.  I’m not him.  I’ll never be like him.  Don’t make me
responsible for something he did.”

“Stop it!” Harmony
took another stumbling step backward.  “You have more in common with him than
you think.  It started with lies from him, too!  And since the last man I
dragged into my family’s life did nothing but do his level best to wreck it,
I’m not anxious to repeat the experience.  We’re not going to work, Jake.  I’ve
thought about it and decided that no matter how good your intentions were for
telling your lies, they were
still
lies.”

“Didn’t lie to you,
Harmony.  I didn’t tell you things, but I didn’t lie,” Jake stated, his voice
low, but firm as he kept his eyes glued on Harmony’s flushed face.  He knew he
was restating what he’d said a dozen times since he’d told her who he was, but
he hoped one of these times the truth would sink in and she’d actually hear
what he was saying. 

“Fine, not lies
then.  Omissions,” she sneered.  “You do realize that a sin of omission is
still
a sin, right, Jake?  It’s also just another fancy word for
lie
.  I’m not
going back there again.   I’m not going to bury my head in the sand and hope
for the best this time.  I’m not going to chance bringing another bastard into
this family that could hurt any of those people I love.   I’d rather be alone
for the rest of my life than risk hurting my family with another lousy choice
of man.  I’m
done
.  You can stay tonight because I have no idea what
Zeke and the rest of the boys will wanna do, but in the morning, I want you
gone.  Stay away from my daughter.  Stay away from my family.  And stay far,
far away from
me!
”  Her hand sliced through the air in a gesture of
finality before whirling and disappearing into the upstairs bathroom.

He moved on
instinct, catching the bathroom door before she could slam it in his face. 
“You think I’m gonna make it that easy on you?” he asked quietly as he moved
inside the room, crowding her back against the tub as he shut the door behind
him.  “Do I look the type of man that intimidates that easy to you?  You think
you can hurl some ugly words at me and I’ll just put my tail between my legs
and run?”

“Get out!” she
yelled, jabbing a finger toward the door.

“No.”  He didn’t
shout or growl.  He didn’t slam his fist through a wall or move toward her in
any way.  Instead, he just leaned against the closed door and crossed his arms.

“Why?  Why are you
making this so hard?” she asked, her voice finally cracking as a sob crawled up
her throat.  “Why won’t you just
go
?  You’ve done what you came here to
do.  Evidently the DEA is well on its way to catching your sister’s killer, and
you know that my family isn’t involved with the cartel.  You can
go
now.  Let your colleagues and Zeke’s department handle this.  Leave my family
alone.  Leave
me
alone.”

“Harmony, baby,
take off your clothes,” Jake ordered quietly as he moved to the bathtub and
pulled the shower curtain closed.

“Wh-what?” she
asked dumbly, watching as he turned on the hot water and started the shower.  “Are
you insane?” she whispered, shaking her head from side to side. 

“No, I’m not,” he
answered gently.  “But I think right now that you’re skating that thin line
between sanity and insanity.  Don’t get me wrong; I don’t blame you.  You took
a hell of a hit tonight.  Personally, if I thought I could get away with it,
I’d shove one of Honor’s pills down your throat myself,” he continued, pushing
a big hand through the curtain and testing the temperature of the water.

“No way in hell,”
Harmony denied, her eyes flashing dangerously as she shook her head.  He could
go straight to hell if he thought he could drug her to get his way.

“Yeah, I kind of
figured you’d say that.  So, I’m compromising by getting you in a shower where
maybe the hot water will help dissolve some of the tension that’s threatening
to break your spine in half.  Look, hearing everything you listened to would
fuck with anybody, but what you have to know here is that I’m not your
ex-husband and I’m not leaving you.  Not now.  Not tomorrow.  Not ever.” 
Straightening, he turned to face her.  He hated that ravaged look etched on her
face.  Knowing that he’d been part of what had dimmed the light in her eyes
fucking killed him.  He couldn’t fix what Tanner had done to her or Honor, but
he could do his part to make it right.

And he would.

Whether she wanted
him to or not.

“I don’t want this,
Jake,” Harmony retorted, shoving a hand through her hair and biting her lip.

“No, you want it,
you’re just scared to take the risk, Harmony,” Jake countered.  “I’m worth the
chance, darlin’.  You give me time and I’ll prove it.  Although, since I’m not
going take no for an answer, it’s a moot point,” he added, taking the three
steps it took to reach her and hooking his fingers in the elastic waist of her
yoga pants.  Pushing them over her rounded hips, he stripped her with quick,
efficient hands, ignoring her muttered protests.

“What the hell are
you doing?” she asked, slapping his hands as he tried to pull her soft
sweatshirt over her head. 

“Taking care of
you,” he returned, sweeping the orange University of Tennessee sweatshirt over
her head and muffling her complaints for a moment.  Dropping the material on
the floor, his lips twitched when her baleful eyes met his. 

“I don’t want you
to take care of me.  Have you not heard a word I’ve been saying to you?” she
asked irritably as he reached for the front clasp of the plain peach bra she wore. 
Pinching the top of his hand when he unhooked the metal clasps with a flick of
his fingers, she hissed, “I want you to leave.”

“I’ve got perfect
hearing,” Jacob replied, watching as the satin cups parted and her breasts fell
out of the material.  His body responded accordingly, but he shoved past his
primal instinct to push her against the wall and sink into her body.  She
needed a lot more than an orgasm from him right now.  “Apparently, you’re the
one that’s deaf because I’ve told you every way I know how to say it that I’m
not going anywhere.  You’re mine, Harmony.  Heaven, too.  And for the record,
I’ve never seen anyone that needs somebody to take care of her more than you. 
You’re strung so tight that the string is threadbare, darlin’.  You don’t
always have to be the strong one.  Sometimes, it’s okay to let somebody else
take the load from you.”

“And you wanna
share my burden, Jake?” Harmony asked derisively, gritting her teeth as she
felt his warm, rough palms slide over her hips and push her underwear down her
legs.  God, the man had nerve.  He’d misled her.  He’d let her believe that she
actually might finally have a shot at good and normal.  Then, like the other
man she’d been involved with, she’d found that everything she thought she knew
was wrong.  He wasn’t just an uncomplicated guy that ran a security agency.  He
was a hardened DEA agent bent on revenge for a wrong done his family many years
ago.  He’d arrived in this town prepared to use her family in whatever way he
needed in order to achieve his own ends.  He’d kept silent when he knew a
dangerous man was going to walk back into her life and threaten her family. 
And now he claimed that he wanted to lighten her load? 

Fuck him.

“You’re so full of
shit, Jake.”  She crossed her arms over her chest, oblivious to the coolness of
the room.  “The sad part is that you actually think I’ll let you convince me
that you give a damn about any of us.  Here’s something you should know; you’ll
never be able to do it.  Give up and go home.  You might not be a rapist or a
wife beater, but you’ve definitely got the deceitful aspect of Tanner’s
psychotic personality down pat.  For years, I believed every line he fed me,
and he didn’t mind using me either.  He certainly didn’t mind hurting my family. 
Unfortunately for you, though, I’m all used up.  I had a bellyful of his
bullshit, so I’m full.”

“Using you?” Jake
repeated quietly, his jaw hardening as he met Harmony’s accusatory gaze.  “You
think I’m using you?”

“I think you’d do
anything you had to do if it meant getting your vengeance for Nessa’s death,
but you’re out of luck.  I’m not dragging another snake through my family’s
garden.”

Scrubbing the heels
of his hands over his eyes, Jacob groaned in frustration.  “Now you’re just
grasping at straws, looking for shit to throw between us.  Get in the fucking
shower before I strangle you with my bare hands, Harmony,” he warned, dropping
his hands back to his sides.

“That’s already
been tried before, too.  Tanner tried to strangle me several times during the
course of our not-so-happy union.  I’m really good at holding my breath,”
Harmony informed him, her eyes flashing with satisfaction when she scored a
direct hit and he paled in front of her.

“Stop it,” he bit
off, stiffening.  “Stop comparing me to him.  You know, Harmony.  You
know
I’m nothing like him.  Acting like a bitch isn’t going to make me leave you. 
It’s beneath you, so knock it off.”

Harmony gasped. 
“Did you just call me a bitch?” she asked softly.

“No,” he retorted
harshly.  “I said you’re acting like one.  You don’t want the comparison,
change your attitude.  Now, get in the damn shower,” he said, jerking his head
toward the tub as he reached for his own shirt and stripped it over his head.