“My brothers finally helped me snap out of it and focus on Reagan. She became my everything. I feel responsible for letting her mother die. It was my fault. I’ll never fail again, Kate. I’ll keep you safe.”
He’d told her everything and waited for her reaction. He hadn’t wanted to share this with her because he couldn’t face what would inevitably happen next. She’d send him away.
“It wasn’t your fault.” Tears slid down her beautiful face. She crawled off the bed and wound her arms around him, hugging him tightly. “It wasn’t your fault.”
He tilted her face up and looked into her eyes, expecting accusation and pity but was shaken at the love and compassion he saw. He didn’t deserve it. He didn’t deserve her.
He wrapped his arms around her and accepted the comfort she offered, comfort that warmed him and touched his naked soul.
He had lived too long with the consequences of his actions. Making the decision to take that call had prevented him from saving his wife. The woman he’d loved. He could never get her back. The pain of his loss, and his responsibility for it, had eaten a hole in him.
He knew he should let it go, but he didn’t know how to, how to cleanse his soul or how to love again. If there was anyone he could love, it would be Kate.
Tightening his hold on her, he knew he couldn’t let go. He wouldn’t fail her.
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
Kate woke to a large hand stroking her breast, making slow circles around her taut nipple. Excitement rushed through her naked body, heating her throughout. Visions of Jesse waking her in the middle of the night danced before her closed eyes. He’d taken her from behind in a good, quick, hard fuck that she hoped cast out his demons. Afterward, he’d held her tight, tenderly kissing her temple before falling back asleep.
He pinched her nipple and a soft moan escaped her lips. She sighed in pleasure and opened her eyes to the bright morning sun streaming through the windows, warming and brightening the room. Then, a pair of lust-filled eyes came into view.
“It’s about time, sunshine.” Jesse leaned down and licked her nipple.
She involuntarily jerked at the new sensation of his hot, wet tongue sliding over her. Panicking, she grabbed his head and pulled him away. “What about Reagan?” She didn’t want Reagan walking in on them in the middle of a morning of wild, monkey sex. She needed to get dressed quickly so Reagan wouldn’t find her like this.
“I locked the door.” He returned to her breast. She arched up to him, wanting the pleasure she knew he would deliver.
Before all coherent thought left her, she remembered the date. She moved from under him and jumped from the bed. “Crap, I’m going to be late.” She rushed to the large, walk-in closet where Jesse had opened up a space for her clothes.
“Late for what?” Jesse rolled onto his back and put his hands behind his head. The sheet dropped down to his waist, his erection tenting it.
She hesitated, trying to decide her priorities. She stared at where Jesse’s cock stood at attention, ready for her to slide down onto him. She took a deep cleansing breath in through her nose and slowly exhaled. “The spa with Ariana.” She’d promised her sister she’d be there. She couldn’t take this diversion, no matter how much her body yearned for it.
She looked through to her clothing and selected a yellow, flowered shirt and a pair of jeans.
Jesse quickly left the bed and advanced toward her, not taking time to put on any clothing. “Oh, hell no! You’re not going anywhere.”
She jerked her head to him, and her gaze dropped down his body. She could drop to her knees right now or let him push her against a wall.
She swallowed and looked up at his face. All signs of desire had deserted his eyes. They were spitting fire which probably stopped most people in their tracks, but it only ignited her anger.
“What do you mean I can’t go? This spa trip has been planned for months! I’m going and that’s that. I will be safe inside the spa. I doubt he’s sitting in there with the hope I might drop in so he can kill me.” No one would prevent her from spending time with her sister today. She’d cancelled on her too many times before.
“Kate, be reasonable. He could find you anywhere. He may be watching the house and follow you.” He crossed his arms across his chest in an effort to intimidate her, show her that he was in charge. Hmm. That effort was wasted on her.
There was a possibility that someone watched, but she knew if that were the case, H.I.S. would have been all over it. “Then make sure your people protect me. They can stand outside the door when I am getting a treatment. I forbid anyone being in the room with me. Even you.”
Jesse heaved a heavy sigh. “Kate, no one is available today. The men are on a job I promised to do months ago, and the twins are with Emily and Amber. I need the detail here for Reagan because I’m not taking her anywhere.”
“What about Devon then? He can go with us, can’t he? That should be more than enough since I still have the FBI detail.”
Jesse shook his head. “Devon doesn’t go out in the field.”
She scrunched up her eyebrows in confusion. “He doesn’t?”
“Kate, I want you safe, and I know you’re going out isn’t safe. Please stay here. For me.”
She wanted to stay, but she’d promised Ariana she’d go this time. There was no work to interfere. No good reason to cancel. Besides, she needed this spa trip. The entire situation, the killer and her feelings for Jesse, had her tense, her muscles tight like a rubber band stretched to its limit, ready to break at any moment letting the pent-up emotions flood her, overwhelm her.
“I understand what you’re saying. I don’t agree with you. I think it’ll be safe with just the FBI detail and you, if you’re coming.”
He put his hands on her shoulders, lightly caressing them. “Kate, it’s not enough protection. I can’t protect you out in public like that.”
Genuine concern shown in his eyes mixed with maybe a little fear. She’d be safe. She had to prove that to him. “Jesse, I’m going, with or without you. The FBI is enough.” She mentally crossed her fingers that he would say
with
.
His shoulders sagged in defeat. “Okay, but I take you, and I’m inside whatever room you are in. You listen to me at all times, or I drag your ass back here by any means necessary.”
“I won’t have you inside the room with me, Jesse.”
He flashed a confident smile. “You don’t have a choice, Kate. It’s that or you don’t go.”
She’d work it out once they got there. “Thank you.” She smiled and reached up and kissed him on the lips. “Let’s get ready.”
The FBI agents were happy to have something to do. The H.I.S. team hadn’t allowed them to participate in security on Jesse’s property. They had been relegated to house duty and since Jesse was with her most of the time, they played a great deal of poker.
They arrived at the Four Seasons and Jesse handed Agent Keller his keys. He directed the two agents to station themselves outside the spa. He would shadow Kate inside.
Management hadn’t cared for the agents monitoring their front door or his weapon in their facility. Jesse put on his charm and convinced management to let them do their job, weapons and all.
Kate and Ariana laughed as they entered the ladies’ locker room to get ready for their treatments. Ariana tried to talk Kate into having a full body scrub. It made her think of Jesse’s hands on her body, teasing and loving it into a raging inferno. She’d love for him to give her a full body scrub.
They exited the locker room in large white robes with the Four Season Spa logo and white slippers.
Jesse stood guard, unaffected by the ogling from the women passing by him. Tense and on alert, nothing slipped by him while in full protection mode.
She smiled up at him. “I’m on my way to my massage. Javier is waiting.” Aromatherapy called her name. She needed the kinks to be worked out of her body so her worries could disappear, sending her into sweet blissfulness.
He started. “What do you mean Javier? Why isn’t a woman giving you a massage?”
She laughed. “Are you telling me that you’re jealous?”
“Hell yeah.” He leaned down to her ear. “I don’t want any other man touching your body. You’re mine now.”
Her body filled with excitement at his hot breath on her ear, the seductive way he spoke to her. She wanted to turn cartwheels at his words. One step at a time. He’d come to love her. “Don’t worry. He won’t touch me in that way. I’m saving myself for you,” she whispered.
Ariana closely observed the exchange between Jesse and Kate. “Come on, Kate. We’re already running late.”
She reluctantly pulled back and followed her sister down the hallway with Jesse on her heels. This massage would be interesting with Jesse observing.
Kate finished her treatments before Ariana and waited in the whirlpool. She could barely stand with muscles that felt like the rubber band had been released. Best of all, her mind felt cleansed, all worry gone. Nothing but focus and determination filled her mind.
When Ariana arrived, she left the whirlpool and they sat to talk, drinking spring water to rehydrate.
“What’s going on with you and your bodyguard?” Ariana raised an eyebrow. “You looked a little cozy earlier.”
Kate smiled. Jesse’s words came back to her.
You’re mine now.
“We’re in some sort of relationship.”
Ariana shook her head. “Which I gather is code for you’re finally sleeping with him.”
She blushed, pink creeping into her cheeks. She really had to stop being embarrassed talking about sex. She was a grown woman after all. She nodded. “Yeah, we’re sleeping together.” Although, she wouldn’t really call it sleeping.
“It’s about time you got back on the horse.” Ariana took a sip of water and looked at her sister thoughtfully. “So, what’s this some sort of relationship mean?”
Kate cleared her throat. “Well, I can tell he cares for me. He calls me his. I’m not sure what will happen once this is over, and I’m afraid to ask. His job will be over, and he won’t have a reason to be around me all of the time.” She felt a crushing pain in her heart at the thought of his leaving her.
Ariana studied her sister, her mouth slowly dropped into a frown. “Oh, no. You fell in love with him, didn’t you?”
Kate lowered her gaze to the water bottle in her hand and picked at the label. “I did. I didn’t mean to. It just happened.”
“What are you going to do then?”
She looked back up at her sister. “I’m going to make him fall in love with me.” She had to find the way to mend his heart, so he could open it up again and take a chance on love.
“Kate, you’re a lovable person. I wouldn’t be surprised if he wasn’t already in love with you by the way he watches you.”
In love with her? No. Not yet. Care for her? Yes. She’d promised herself that she’d leave him alone if he wasn’t in love with her when this was over. She hoped she had enough time. He could love again. She knew it.
“I doubt it.”
Her sister flashed her a disbelieving smile.
“I didn’t realize it would be so hard loving someone who didn’t love you back.”
“You’ll figure it out. I have faith in you, sis.”
They left the table and returned to the locker room to change out of their robes.
Jesse gave her a relieved smile when she joined him.
“I’m ready to go.”
When they arrived at the front, the valet collected tickets from Ariana and the FBI agents.
Jesse tensed. “Kate, wait in the lobby.”
She opened her mouth to argue, but the look he gave her reminded her she’d promised to obey him.
She rolled her eyes at his overprotectiveness. He always forgot she was an FBI agent, capable of handling any situation. “Okay. Come on, Ariana. Let’s talk about what we’re doing to help the Humane Society at the Fall Festival.”
Her sister followed her inside. “Was it me or was he blistering angry all of the sudden?”
“Yeah. The agents screwed up.”
“What’s wrong?” Ariana scrunched up the brow on her beautiful face.
Kate wasn’t going to scare her sister. She worried enough about Kate. “It’s nothing. Are we just donating this year?”
Her sister smiled. “Of course we’re donating. I didn’t know if you wanted us to spend part of a day helping at the booth again. I know how much you love it.”
The Fall Festival in Fells Point was a popular event that drew people from all over. The streets were closed off and filled with vendors, artists, charities and other groups underneath a sea of different colored canopies. Local bands played live music. And, local restaurants served food.
Kate never missed it. This might be the first time. No matter how much she argued, she’d never convince Jesse to let her go. He’d be right. She would be too exposed in that crowd. They had time. Maybe they’d have caught the killer by then. “Sign us up.” She’d worry about it later if they hadn’t captured the Facilitator.
She breathed a sigh of relief when the valet returned safely with Jesse’s SUV.
“That’s us.” They walked out the door.
Jesse grabbed Kate’s arm, stopping her immediately. “No.”
“Jesse, if it had been going to explode, it would have done it when the valet started the car. Which reminds me, why the hell did you let him take that risk?”
“He was gone before I realized it, and we couldn’t catch him. Devon is sending Kevin and Daisy out here to check it out.”
She snatched her arm from him. “That’s ridiculous, Jesse.” She quickly moved away from him toward the SUV.
“Kate, no!”
She quickened her pace keeping just out of his reach. He was overreacting. No one knew they were there, and no one had followed them.
She turned to watch Ariana’s Mercedes arrive when Jesse’s SUV exploded.
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
Kate struggled to open her eyes as nausea took hold and decided it best to keep them closed. She took a few deep breaths, but the nausea didn’t subside. Someone needed to turn off the jackhammer to stop the pain in her head. Could this be a migraine? She’d heard how debilitating they could be.
She heard three distinct voices. Jesse sounded frantic. Had something happened to Reagan?
“Is she going to be okay?” Jesse asked with a hitch in his voice.