beyond the door as I scrambled to unbolt it. “Everything okay?”
“Just a sec.” I opened the door, and there he stood like a sentinel of protection with Jake at his side, curious looks on both their faces. My eyes shifted uneasily back and forth between them. If they were both here, then who was with Emma and the girls? “You both can’t be here!” I ushered them quickly inside. “Someone needs to be at home with Emma … the twins. They’re not safe.”
James’s eyes flared to life. “What do you mean they’re not safe?”
“You need to go home. Someone needs to be there with them.”
“Whoa, hey, slow down.” Jake’s hands came to rest on my shoulders, a reassuring and grounding pressure that immediately began to level my raging pulse. “What’s going on?”
“A—a man met me in the garage. He threatened Emma and the girls if I don’t get him the money Ted owed his boss. He … he knows where you live.”
James snatched up his phone and punched in a number. “Yes … the house. Now. Lock down … check the cameras … alarm … Armed.” He hung up. “Brock is on his way over.”
Who was Brock?
“Start from the beginning,” Jake said slowly, grabbing my hand and bringing me over to the couch. I was still in my running clothes as I hadn’t bothered to change and was instantly worried about how I smelled. Meanwhile, Jake once again smelled amazing. Like man and cinnamon. Was that his own scent? Or did he stick cinnamon sticks in his dresser drawers?
I told them both everything, from start to finish. Jake sat with me and held my hand, and James wore a rut in my hardwood floor with his incessant pacing.
“I called Stacey right after I called you,” I finally said, taking a deep breath. “Asked her if anybody had approached her. I thought maybe this guy meant her and the kids. She’s on high alert and knows not to open the door for just anybody.”
“We need to call the police,” Jake said with a nod. “They might know what kind of dealings Ted was involved in.”
“But … but the guy specifically told me not to go to the police.”
James inhaled and exhaled loudly though his nose, his eyes nearly black with rage. A muscle at the corner of his masculine jaw ticked with bottled fury. “No, no cops yet. Let me sit on this for the night, and then we’ll see about getting a cop in civilian clothes with an unmarked car to come to the house and take your statement. For now, I want to see if there is anything we can find here that might give us an idea what Ted was involved in.” He looked at me. “Do you have any boxes of paperwork or file folders of Ted’s that you haven’t gone through yet? Or even ones that you have?”
I nodded. “Yeah, there are a bunch of them in the closet that I just haven’t gotten around to. I’ll go get them.”
“I’ll help,” Jake said, standing up and following me to the closet. “This is crazy,” he murmured. “Like something out of a movie.”
“Yeah,” was all I could say as I opened up the closet and crouched down to retrieve the boxes.
“Listen, if you want to go shower, you can. We can start looking through everything. You look like you’re catching a chill.” He was almost too good to be true. Even at the peak of all this chaos, he was still looking out for me. How did I get so lucky as to find Jake Leeman?
I passed him a couple of boxes and stacked two more for myself before leading the way out to the living room. “Yeah, maybe I will. I must stink.”
He made a low noise in his throat behind me. “You don’t stink, trust me.”
I quickly ran and had a shower, the warm water doing nothing to cleanse the horrible feelings that were wrapped around my heart. But at least I didn’t have to worry about choking the guys out with my sweaty stench. When I emerged from the bedroom in a pair of yoga pants and another old T-shirt, a sandwich sat on the coffee table. James and Jake were both eyebrows-deep in paperwork from the boxes.
“You should eat something,” Jake murmured, barely looking up from where he scrutinized what looked to be last year’s taxes.
“I’m not hungry.” I sat down and reached for an unopened box and began leafing through stray papers, scanning them for anything that might be a red flag while secretly cursing Ted and his complete disorganization of these boxes. All my important papers were filed away alphabetically and chronologically in a file cabinet that also acted as my nightstand. I could find anything I needed in less than thirty seconds.
“Did the guy in the garage say anything else?” James grumbled several hours later, after he’d finished going through one box. He took a sip of his coffee before grabbing the next untouched box from the floor. That was the fourth time he’d asked me that question, and each time I gave him the same answer—no.
I’d told them everything, and since they’d arrived, I’d been quietly racking my brain for anything else he might have said or an unfamiliar sound in the garage that could help us. But I kept drawing a blank. Fear clouded my brain, and slowly, as the hours ticked on, so did fatigue.
“You should sleep,” Jake said, his brows furrowed in concentration while his eyes continued to scan two documents side by side.
I shook my head. “I’m fine.”
“I think I might have found something,” he said, passing the papers to James, whose red-rimmed eyes spoke not only of exhaustion but also terror for his family.
James looked the two papers over. “Yeah, you might be right.” He looked up at me. “What bank are you with?”
“Cascadia National Bank. Why?”
“Hmm, no other banks?”
“No. Why do you ask?”
“Because there are two very cryptic and doctored papers here with what look to have safety deposit box numbers on them. Two different numbers. But the bank is unknown. That information has been erased.”
“And these papers were in a sealed envelope with the word ‘Confidential’ on them, where as everything else has been very haphazardly thrown in here,” Jake added, looking at the untouched sandwich and then at me. “You need to eat.”
I rolled my eyes and scrunched up my face. “Safety deposit boxes? We don’t have any safety deposit boxes.”
“Well, apparently your husband did, or does,” James said, tossing me the papers and stretching. I looked them over, and sure enough, that’s what they were, but the identity of the bank or banks had been deliberately erased. What the heck had Ted been up to?
Jake picked up the plate with the sandwich and held it out to me. “Eat!”
I rolled my eyes again, grabbed half of it and took a bite, smiling at him sarcastically as I chewed, not realizing until then just how hungry I was. The explosion of flavors made my eyes close as spicy mustard and sharp cheese with pickles and zesty mayo comingled and burst on my tongue. The man could put together a mean sandwich!
“Okay, well, I’m going to go home.” James yawned. “Jake, I’d like you to stay here with Freya tonight. I’ve already got a call in for a bodyguard for her tomorrow. We’ll reconvene and discuss this tomorrow night at the house. But I think we might need to involve the police.”
“Should I start calling some banks, see if they have boxes that match these numbers?” I asked, reaching for the second half of the sandwich and taking a monster bite, much to Jake’s blatant satisfaction.
James shook his head. “No, we’ll wait to see what the police suggest. We may need you to move to the house, that way we’re all under one roof and we can just put a bunch of security around one place. Turn it into a fortress. But we’ll see what the cops say. For now, I think you’re safe with Jake.”
“She is.” He nodded.
“Okay, good.” James stood and stretched again, his long limbs popping as he strode toward the door. He slipped into his shoes and turned to face me. “Don’t worry. You did the right thing, and we’ll figure this out.”
I’d followed him to see him out, my mouth still full of food, and suddenly I found my eyes teeming with tears as I struggled to chew and swallow.
“Chew.” Jake chuckled. “Swallow. Good girl. It’ll be okay.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said softly, my throat tight as I struggled to keep the tears at bay. “I—I never meant to bring your family into this. This is all my fault.”
“It is NOT your fault,” Jake said with passion behind me. “It’s your husband’s fault. And he’s lucky he’s already dead, otherwise he would be now for all the grief he’s caused you.”
James’s face took on an amused expression as he tilted his head to the side and studied Jake, but then he looked at me and sobered. “He’s right. It’s not your fault, and I certainly don’t blame you. Get some sleep. We’ll figure this all out tomorrow.”
“Couldn’t stay away from me, could you?” Jake chuckled as we closed the door and headed back into the living room. “Had to make up some big, scary monster threatening you in the garage to get me to come back over. Come on, Freya, you know I would have come over if you’d just asked.” He was trying to lighten the mood, but for some reason I found it hard to smile. I was sick to my stomach. A pit the size of a bowling ball rattled around inside at the thought of anything happening to Emma or the twins. I gave him a small forced smile, then started putting the papers back into the boxes, leaving the one for the safety deposit boxes out on the counter.
“I’m kidding, you know?” he said with apprehension in his voice, reading the room and my mood. “This isn’t your fault.”
“I know.” I sighed. “But it still feels like it is. Like I should have known that he was so dishonest, seen some signs or something. Gotten out way sooner so that none of this would have happened.”
“But … ” he shrugged, “then we wouldn’t have met.”
My heart melted on the spot, and I looked up from the table. “How are you so sweet?”
He shrugged. “Because you are. You’ve been dealt a pretty shitty hand, and I couldn’t imagine hurting you in any way. I think all you deserve to do, for the rest of your life, is smile.”
“And you intend to make that happen?”
“I intend to try.”
I wasn’t sure if it was the emotions from the day, his words, or the fact that I felt safe and desired when I was around him. I put down the box in my hand, moved around the table to where he stood. His eyes followed my every move. I lifted my shirt, tossing it to the floor. His pupils dilated and his lids fell to half-mast as my pants and underwear followed my shirt seconds later. There I stood, naked in my living room in front of a man I’d known for just over a week but who already meant more to me than I was ready to admit.
He swallowed. “We don’t have to. You’ve been through so much. And I can see you’re tired.”
I put my finger over his lips in a hush. “Shh.” Then I went to work on his belt, sliding his pants and boxers down to his ankles. He kicked out of them but remained standing and silent. I slowly unbuttoned his shirt, sliding the sleeves down his arms, taking my time admiring his biceps. Then there we both stood, completely naked, completely vulnerable and completely ready—he certainly was—to do the thing that had in such a short time become so natural and felt so right. The sheer thought of Jake made my body spark alive and hum with the need for him.
I took his hand and led him over to the couch, making him sit down and spread his legs. I dropped to my knees and took him in my mouth, the immense feeling of power causing me to sway, and I placed my hands on his thighs to steady myself. Even though I was the one on my knees, I had all the power. He was at my mercy, mine to control, mine to please, mine to possess. I couldn’t get enough of him, enough of his taste, enough of the man. I wanted all of him, everything he was and everything he had to give me. I needed him, all of him.
“Oh God. Your mouth … so sweet,” he said with a moan, his hand landing gently on my head and petting it as though I were some cutesy little animal who had just crawled into his lap. “You’re … so good at this. I’m … I’m close,” he sighed, “really close.”
I rose from my knees and climbed on top of him, straddling his big body and placing my legs on either side of his thighs. I lowered down until our bodies joined, the incredible sensation of instantly being full forcing my eyes to close and a moan to escape my lips. Then I rode him, without shame or quarter. I rode him hard and fast, taking every ounce of pleasure I could and giving it in return. The feeling of my butt cheeks smacking his thighs and his pubic bone rubbing my clit was unlike any kind of sex I’d had before. It was sex that I had initiated. I was in control. I was on top—and loving it.
The orgasm spun in my belly like a cyclone brewing in the sky, ready to unleash havoc on an unsuspecting town. And just like a storm, it tore through me with unexpected and reckless abandon, eviscerating my very soul as it ripped through my body from one end to the other in overwhelming swells of pure and newfound ecstasy. I cried out Jake’s name, startling myself with my volume, but I didn’t care.
He made me not care.
I continued to pound up and down on him, waiting for his release while prolonging my own. He stilled, growling low as his mouth came down and took one of my nipples. He poured himself inside of me, his chest heaving in ragged breaths. A light dew of sweat made our bodies glide against each other as we slowly calmed our efforts. Spent and satiated, he rested his forehead against mine. Still buried safe inside me, he drew delicate trails up my back.
“You … you definitely know how to seduce,” he whispered. His lips found my forehead. “Wow!”
I grinned, beaming with pride and how successful I felt. I knew that I should feel shy and self-conscious, unsure of myself, but I wasn’t. I was so pleased that a giggle escaped me before I could stop it.
Groggy with barely open eyes, Jake looked at me. “What’s so funny?” I started to full-on laugh, shaking, my body still shrouding his and causing us both to jiggle as tears started streaming down my cheeks. “What is so funny, woman?” he asked again, this time a look of confusion and maybe even unease on his face.
I took a couple of deep breaths before I was able to speak in complete sentences again. “It’s just that … I’m so proud of myself.”
His head jerked, and he stared at me. “Proud?”
“Yeah, that I was able to seduce you so well. And that I feel really good about the whole thing. I know there are all these feelings that I should be having—shyness, fear, awkwardness, apprehension—but I feel none of them. All I feel is satisfaction and pride.”
Now it was his turn to start laughing. “Well you should feel proud. You did a damn good job.”
I nodded, still unable to wipe off the smile. “And what’s even more hilarious is that with all the crazy stuff that’s going on in my life right now—Stacey, my long-lost brother, now this Yanni guy—I should be so upset and pensive, but right now I’m not. I’m so happy and so … proud. It’s all I can think about. It’s all I can feel. And for some reason, that makes me laugh.”
He stared at me with open curiosity. Jake made me feel amazing, and I wasn’t about to let that feeling disappear, not if I could help it.
“Well,” he finally said, after softly shaking his head at me in awe, “we’ve got to do whatever we can to keep you in this incredible mood. Come on, woman.” He gripped my butt, still embedded inside me, and stood up. “Time for round two.” Then he whisked us off to the bedroom.