Under Pressure [IAD Agency] (Siren Publishing Classic) (13 page)

“Good night, love,” Jason said as he softly kissed her temple. Murmuring the same back, Bella closed her eyes. Tomorrow would be soon enough to worry about the aftermath of tonight and her brothers’ reactions to her new relationship.

For now she was content. Snuggling into the warmth of Jason’s embrace, Bella let out a blissful sigh and quickly drifted off peacefully to sleep.

“Perfect.”

Bella surveyed the classroom with a sigh of contentment.

Her first day of class had gone extremely well. She had woken this morning nervous for her first day of teaching to begin. Since Jason had left on Monday morning, she had reached out to the empty side of the bed next to her, hardly believing after such a short time just how much she missed him being there. He had spent the entire weekend with her, reluctantly leaving for an out-of-town meeting he had to attend. She hadn’t seen him since.

Trying to shake off the melancholy that she had been feeling since he left, Bella looked over her classroom with a sense of pride. She had gotten through her first day of teaching without any problems. Although she only taught for one day so far, her Tuesday and Thursday class was packed full. It was an extended class, only open to the higher-level students, and her pupils were a delight.

The students were excited, and she had gotten through the techniques without her hand slowing her down. It was only one day, but she felt a hope that she hadn’t felt in a long time. Her students had jumped into the assignments she presented to them, and Bella was filled with a new joy as she interacted with them. They had been eager to ask questions and seemed genuinely pleased with her teaching style. She had found it endearing that the students had given her celebrity status, and she tried to calm their nervousness as they worked together. Many had stayed after each class, wanting to speak to her, eager to listen to any advice she had to give.

Her assistant Jenna was quick, efficient, and a joy to work with. Bella could tell Jenna was very nervous working with her, so she tried to put her at ease. Jenna had left a few minutes ago, rushing to complete paperwork for the class so Bella wouldn’t have to. Bella was grateful for that since she hated paperwork. Cheerfully waving her off, Jenna said she would meet her early on Thursday to prep for class.

As Bella finished cleaning, thoughts of Jason invaded her mind once again. It had only been a few days since she had last seem him, but she missed him like crazy.

It would have been perfect, all the time she had spent with him, except they hadn’t had any wild sex like that first night they had been together. Since Friday night when Jason had taken a stand with her, he made love to her slowly, sweetly, and her craving for him just grew with every hour. Once he was inside her, she begged him to go faster, but he wouldn’t. He brought her to climax over and over until she was sobbing in ecstasy before he let himself join her. But it wasn’t enough. She wanted him wild, crazy for her like the first time they had been together. She wanted him to stop treating her like she was made of glass.

She knew he was trying to be gentle with her, trying to go slow, trying to care for her, but he kept denying her more as if afraid he would hurt her. Bella sighed. She had no reason to complain. Jason treated her like she was the most precious woman in the world. His rigid control held strong.

Well, no longer.

Bella needed sex.

Wild, hot, out-of-control sex.

The sexual frustration was killing her, now that she had gotten a tasty reminder of what she had been missing, and she wanted more.

He simply had to be stopped.

Dinner with her family over the weekend had been interesting. Bella’s parents were absolutely thrilled that Bella had a boyfriend, and they welcomed him with open arms. Bella laughed at the thought. Boyfriend was not an accurate word to describe Jason. He was all man.

Her man.

It was almost funny how uncomfortable Jason had seemed being accepted by her family. Obviously he had little to no experience with parents, but he fit right in with her brothers. He had all but joined forces with them once they had decided he was serious about her. Together they had practically decided she needed round-the-clock surveillance until Victor was caught, not even allowing her to drive anywhere on her own. As determined as she was, it was useless fighting four overgrown protective men.

On a brighter note, it seemed Jason had wanted to spend as much time with her as possible. He became a reassuring presence in her apartment as she ran around preparing for her first week of class. He had dealt with her neurotic mood swings with ease. One minute she was so excited about her upcoming class she could barely sit still. Other moments had her clinging to him in fear, but never once did he hesitate to brave the storm of her emotions and just be there for her.

Jason had kept busy checking the security on her apartment building, and he had even brought over his laptop over to do his own work so he could stay close. She could feel his mercury eyes following her every move as she moved around her kitchen, caressing over her skin, and although it should have made her nervous, she was comforted knowing he was there. She was inordinately pleased with his reaction when she made him taste her practice runs for the upcoming classes.

They had a developed a comfortable companionship between them even though they had just met. Jason spoke very little, but strangely she felt as if they were meant to be together. It seemed like she had known him forever, and it felt so right that she had a difficult time trusting it.

Bella sighed as she cleaned. God, she missed Jason terribly. At night he would make love to her gently and hold her close to him until they fell asleep. He held her in his strong arms, making her feel safe, cherished. Even in sleep he tried to protect her, surrounding her like a blanket with a leg thrown over hers and his thick muscular arms trapping her body in his embrace. It was as if his very presence held the nightmares back. While he was gone, she had slept in a shirt that he had left in her apartment just to feel closer to him in his absence.

He had wanted to cancel his meeting, but she hadn’t let him. It had been their first real fight, but she hadn’t backed down. She couldn’t. It was just a few days, and she was adamant that their relationship would not interfere with his business. He had been plenty pissed at her, but she stood her ground, determined to create some normalcy. To an outsider it would have seemed hilarious, with her petite frame standing there with her hand on her hips while his huge frame stomped around her apartment, kicking her sofa in frustration. Little Bella had weathered the storm of his anger with ease, trying to hold back her smile as he finally conceded.

Bella had been absolutely shocked when Jason had told her the truth about Mac Securities, IAD, and the work he did. She was even more shocked to know that Sal had been working for IAD overseas and that Tony and Danny had been working for them off and on over the last few years as contractors. She was worried about them doing such dangerous work, but he stressed that they mostly did behind-the-scenes work.

In a way it didn’t surprise her.

These men were warriors. It somehow seemed fitting that these rough men protected people from the evil hiding in the shadows. If they could combat terrorists, then they were more than capable of keeping her safe from a stalker.

Even though he only told her the very basics, Bella was touched that Jason had trusted her with the knowledge of such a large secret. Since his IAD partner was on assignment, he had to go to the meeting. He wasn’t one to share his emotions or thoughts easily, but she knew Jason didn’t want to leave her on Monday morning. His gray eyes had been hard and unreadable, his body tense. He had only left when Sal had showed up to take over watch duty.

And he had looked back.

It was as if she had waited her whole life for someone to look back at her the way he had. As if it was physically hurting him to walk away from her.

And she was no better. She wasn’t used to missing someone so much. She ached to talk to him, to hear his voice, to touch him. The last thing she wanted to do was become some needy woman, but she couldn’t help waiting for his calls. Jason had called her three times on Monday to check up on her and this morning to wish her luck for her first class. The man hadn’t said much, but she was still overjoyed to hear his voice.

Sal had taken her to her meeting with Jenna at the school on Monday, watching over her like a hawk. He stayed with her, checking out the room where she would be teaching. Bella could tell he wasn’t happy, but after making a few phone calls, several silent men had showed up, placing security equipment around her room and at the exits for her protection. She had told Jenna the basics of what had happened to her, telling her that Mac Securities was now watching over her. Jenna had insisted that she didn’t mind the extra security and was equally as worried for Bella as everyone else.

As the team put the security system in place, Jenna had watched wide eyed, Bella annoyed. No amount of arguing could persuade Sal that he was being paranoid or that it was overkill. Jenna had actually agreed with Sal, wanting to do whatever was necessary to keep Bella safe.

Bella knew they were overreacting. Nothing had happened since that night in New York. Nothing. The only thing that could be a concern was the few hang-ups she had gotten at home the last few days. Wrong numbers. Everyone got them. She was unlisted and didn’t want everyone to overreact, so she didn’t say anything. They were already treating her like she was made of glass, and she hated it. It made her want to scream.

She was trying to be patient with this extreme protection mode that the guys had fallen into, but it was getting difficult. Over the past few days either Sal, Tony, or Danny was with her every moment. Sal had even slept on the couch in the great room downstairs last night, not listening to her when she told him to go home.

On top of that, Tony and Bella had a very long fight last evening when he had told her that he had been planning on working in the front of her classroom in case she needed him. Like a freaking guard dog.

She didn’t need a babysitter, but now she had a whole battalion of them.

Looking up at the entrance of the room, Bella let out a sigh as she watched Tony typing away on his computer. She had obviously lost that fight. Tony had been with her the entire day, extremely happy at the chance to taste everything that was being made, but watchful all the same. He continued working as Bella packed up the rest of her stuff. A noise had her turning around when the door opened.

And there he was.

Jason stood in the doorway. His eyes quickly surveyed the room then settled back on her face. She knew without a doubt those eyes never missed a thing. For a moment it was as if only the two of them existed. Her breath caught at the intensity of his expression as he looked at her. With a cry of joy, she ran and threw herself at him and he quickly opened his arms in welcome to embrace her. His face had lost its hard edge as surprised pleasure swamped him at her uninhibited show of affection. His arms closed tightly around her as he picked her slight body up against him to bury his face into her hair.

God, he had missed her.

“I’m so glad you’re back! I’ve missed you so much. Welcome home,” Bella whispered against his neck, and his arms tightened on her, holding her closer to him.

Jason couldn’t help himself as his hand tunneled into her hair, positioning her so he could smash his lips against hers in a searing kiss. His tongue pushed past her lips into her sweet heat. His normally rock-steady body shook slightly as waves of emotions crashed over him.

When he had opened the door to her classroom and saw her standing there, he had been overwhelmed with his need for her. He had simply stood there, drinking in the sight of her like a man dying of thirst.

Irritation ate at him during his short trip to Paris. He didn’t want to be there, not without Bella. A meeting had taken place to test potential candidates for directorship of another IAD division, and Jason had been on the board to oversee the results. Meetings were always in different locations, highly secretive and as secure as they could manage. Although successful, the meetings had taken too damn long, putting Jason on edge. He gave his report, concluded his business with a client of Mac Securities as cover, and was back on his plane as soon as he could manage it. He had been damn anxious to get back to Chicago.

Back to Bella.

He had felt unnerved at his need to be with her, but all of his tension had melted away as soon as she had flung herself into his arms. As soon as he touched her, everything seemed to click into place.

“Hello, darling.” He smiled down at her, pulling back.

“Get your hands off my sister,” Tony grumbled from the side of the room, without heat, as he continued to type with his head bowed over his computer.

Jason winked at Bella as he reluctantly let her go, placing her feet back on the ground, but couldn’t force himself to move away from her. She animatedly told him about her first day of teaching as she packed up her things. Even though his face remained impassive, his eyes were tender as he listened to her and watched her flutter around the room. Every once in a while she would reach out to touch him, and Jason found that he wanted that connection.

Damn it, who was he kidding. He needed her affectionate gestures like he needed air. It would have taken a nuclear explosion to take his focus off of her.