Bourne to Love Emma (RED-Stone Operatives Book 1) (9 page)

“Not today, Em.  Soon, but not
today.”  He leaned back in and kissed me on the forehead before sliding out of
bed.

As he grabbed his shirt from the
chair in the corner of my room, he asked “are you going to be okay if I run
home to shower and change?”

I’m a little shocked at how deeply
disappointed I am that he’s leaving – even just for a few minutes – and I pulled
a pillow to my body, wrapping myself around it as I watch him sit to put on his
socks and shoes. 

“Yeah.  I’ll be fine.”  It came out
sounding…sad.  He looked up at me and his gaze passed over my face and down a
little – what little he can see with me snuggling a pillow.  The muscle in his
cheek bulged as he clenched his teeth before finishing his shoes.

He came back to the bed and started
picking up things from the nightstand.  I raised up enough to see all of it and
froze in surprise.  He’s already tucked one gun into his waistband at the small
of his back and was in the process of getting a very large knife into the side
of his cargo pants.  There was another small gun on the night stand and what
looked like two flashlights and his keys, wallet and phone.

“Uh…” escaped me. 

He looked at me and saw my questions
and he looked away.  After everything was in his pockets or otherwise put away,
he turned back to me and held out his hand.  When I didn’t move, he said, “Em,
you have to come lock up behind me.”

After a minute, I reached out and
took his hand, letting him pull me from the bed.  His arms wrapped around me
and he rested his cheek against my head.  I curved my arms around his waist
until I feel the gun tucked in his pants.  I slid my arms up so I’m not
touching it.

“Emma.”  He cleared his throat and
swallowed.  “Remember me telling you that I don’t
only
do IT work for my
job, right?  I work for John’s security company and sometimes I have to be in
the field – out of the office – to do my job.  I’m a SEAL, Em.  I know what I’m
doing and I don’t use my weapons unless I have absolutely no other option – but
I would never go out there to do my job without being prepared for the worst
outcome.  I’m armed to keep myself and my team safe….”

He stopped.  He was waiting for me to
say something….

“Okay.”

“Okay?”  He stared at me in
disbelief.

“Okay.  I don’t have to know what you
do.  I know John well enough to know he would never have sent you to check on
me if he didn’t trust you implicitly.  And I trust you enough to believe you
when you tell me what you just did.  The guns were just a surprise.”

I heard him sigh in relief against
me.  He cares what I think about him.  That thought gave me giddy little
butterflies in my belly.

Jason squeezed me one more time and
then turned toward the door.  He held my hand as we crossed the living room so
he could leave. 

“I’ll be back in just a little while. 
Don’t leave without me or at least until after you talk to me, okay?  We need
to figure out what happened last night – and if he’s a threat we need to
handle.”

I opened my mouth to argue and he
stopped me with a raised hand.

“Emma.  It isn’t just you who could
be in danger.  What happens if he tries to get to you again while you have Mia
with you?  What do you think he would do to her?  Do you think he would be
willing to use her to get you to do what he wants?  Would you risk it?”

God.  I hadn’t even considered any of
that.  He was drunk last night.  But what if he was drunk when he ran into me
with Mia? 

I nodded my head.  “Okay.  I’ll wait
for you.”

He pulled me close again and leaned
down to bury his head in the crook of my neck.  He kissed the spot behind my
ear and I shivered.  I can feel his smile against my skin. 

He let me go and opened the door. 
“Lock it up, babe.  I’ll be back in a little while.”

I smiled at him and he winked as he
waited for me to close the door.  Once it was locked, I let myself act like an
idiot and do a little happy dance on my way back to my room.  He called me
‘babe.’  I actually heard myself giggle as I headed to the bathroom to shower
and get cleaned up.

~Jason~

As soon as I walked in the door to my
apartment, I stripped and got in a cold shower.  Emma’s innocent exploration
had nearly killed me this morning.  I can honestly say I don’t remember the
last time I’ve had to use that much self-control outside of a covert mission
overseas.  But waking up and seeing the bruises on her face and neck had given
me the strength to say today was not the day we would move to the next level. 
Not when she had just dealt with that asshole last night. 

By the time my dick finally went
down, I was chilled and shivering.  I washed quickly and got out, wrapping a
towel around my waist.  I headed to my office and started running reports on
Emma’s ex.  Financials, criminal background, court record searches, tax history
– one of those had to give us a place to start.  Something had changed in his
life, I just need to figure out what it was and how it affects Emma.

Once that was all running, I sent a
text to John to let him know Emma was doing okay so far.  I plugged my phone
into my rapid charger and went to get dressed and brush my teeth. 

I text Emma when I was ready to leave
again.

When do
you want to grab Mia?  Want to go grab breakfast and bring it back?

A few minutes later, she replied.

                       
I’m ready to go.  Not cooking
sounds good!

I smiled as I read her text.

                       
I’m ready, too.  See you in a sec.

My 9mm was back in its holster at the
small of my back, but it was the only thing I was carrying today.  I tucked my
phone in my pocket and grabbed my keys and wallet off the counter.  As I was
walking out the door, I heard the chime on my computer letting me know one of
the reports is finished running.  I considered going back for it, until I hear
Emma opening her door to leave.  It will keep.  I’ll see what’s what when we
get back from eating.

I locked my door and turned toward
Emma.  She locked her door and dropped her keys into the oversize bag she
carries when she has Mia with her.  The bruises on her neck are dark purple
today and just seeing them makes me furious.  When she looked up at me and
blushed, I covered the space between us in a heartbeat and pulled her to me. 
Her eyes widened just before I kissed her.  I rubbed my lips over hers twice
before drawing the tip of my tongue along her lower lip, nipping it lightly to
get her to open for me.  When she did, I licked into her mouth and tasted her. 
She tasted like mint and green tea…my new favorite flavor.

Her bag dropped to the floor and she
wrapped her arms around my waist.  She pulled back when she felt the gun at my
back.  She looked into my eyes for a moment before she pushed back up on her
toes and kissed me again. 

My cold shower was for nothing.  All
it takes is one look from her and I’m hard as stone.  My jeans were better at
hiding it, at least.  She pressed herself against me as her tongue stroked into
my mouth and my hands slid down her back to her ass, pulling her tighter
against me.  She wiggled her hips, rubbing her belly against my erection and I
pulled away.

She slowly opened her eyes and looked
at me in question.  I pulled her head to my chest and pressed my mouth to her
forehead for a moment.  My heart was pounding and my dick was throbbing.

“Shit,” I whispered.

She pulled back to look at me again –
but this time she was smirking.

“You better think about something else
or you’re going to give Carla a stroke putting that thing on display, soldier.”

Without thinking, I corrected her,
“Sailor.  I was in the Navy.”

“Oh.  Well.  Okay, then….”  She
paused and I was about to apologize for making her feel dumb, but she recovered
quickly.  “Maybe we should discuss that further when you dock in my port…but,
until then,
sailor
….
” 

She pulled away and grabbed her bag
from the floor before walking toward the elevator.  She glanced at me over her
shoulder and I started to follow her.  I swear she was swinging her hips just
for me.  Minx.

~Emma~

We ended up joining Carla and Miguel
for breakfast.  As soon as she saw the bruises on me, she went into full-on
mother mode.  She sent Jason and Miguel to pick up pastries while she made
fresh coffee and cooked bacon and ham to go with the sweets. 

After a dozen promises to call her if
I needed help with Mia, we left Carla and Miguel to the rest of their Sunday
morning.

Jason walked us back to our door after breakfast with Mia on
his shoulders with her little hands holding his short hair in a death grip as
she squealed in excitement.  When I opened the door, he ducked low to get
through and then flipped her forward and bounced her lightly on the couch.

“’gain!” she screamed.  ‘Again’ was
one of her newly acquired demands and she used it most often with Jason.

“I gotta go for a while, baby girl. 
But we’ll play more when I come back, okay?”

Mia pouted until I distracted her
with the bucket of musical toys that I confiscate from her regularly
because…noise.

While she pulled the maracas and
xylophone out of the box, Jason pushed me into the kitchen where he lifted me
up onto the counter and stepped between my thighs.  He wrapped his arms around
my hips and kissed me lightly on the mouth before he rested his forehead
against my own.  I ran my hands up his arms to his shoulder and cupped his
strong neck in my hands, my thumbs stroking softly behind his ears.

After a moment, he pulled back.  “I
have some stuff I need to get done this afternoon.  I don’t plan on leaving the
building, but I can’t do it with just my laptop, so I need to be next door.”

“Okay.  Will you still come have
dinner with us tonight?”

He smiled into my eyes and kissed me
softly.  “Definitely.  I’ll be back for dinner.  Around six?”

I nodded.  “Six works.”

He pulled me from the counter and put
his arm around me while we walked the few steps to the door.  “If you need to
leave or you get a bad feeling about anything, call me, okay?  I don’t want you
alone out there yet.”

“I won’t go anywhere.  Promise.”  We
smiled at each other for a minute before he stepped out the door.  We said goodbye
and I locked it shut.

A little while later, when I convinced
Mia to go down for a nap, I called Heather.  She had already text me several
times that she wanted to talk.  Yes, I’m fine.  Yes, I do have bruises today. 
No, they don’t really hurt.  No, I had no idea Jason worked for John.  Yes,
Jason stayed with me last night.  No, Jason did not jump my bones and end my
sex drought.  Yes, we did fool around some.  No, I’m not giving you all the
details.  Hooker.

After surviving the third degree from
Heather, she put me on hold while John got on the line, too.  He told me that
he’s already gotten a copy of Dan’s driver’s license and given it to security
in my building, so I should feel safe when I’m at home.  Then he made a case
for why I need to file a police report about Dan’s behavior.  We need to
document what happened in case he doesn’t something else.  He threw out words
like ‘escalate’ and ‘harassment’ and ‘psychotic break.’  Finally, I agreed to
have my bruises photographed and giving a written statement to John for safe
keeping so that we can press charges later if something else happens.  Heather
told me that John already got a statement from Ian – the guy who saved me at
the club.  So, as soon as I’m ready to press charges, we’re good to go.

I really don’t feel like it’s
necessary.  I don’t know what happened with Dan, but I was never scared of him
before and think he just got drunk and kind of lost his mind for a few
minutes.  These thoughts didn’t get spoken out loud, though, because I remember
Jason’s reaction to them and I imagine Heather and John would probably feel the
same way.

Once John said goodbye, I told
Heather that Jason is coming over for dinner tonight, so I have to get moving. 
She moved right back into fangirl mode.  Seriously, if I didn’t know how in
love she was with John, I’d be worried for Jason.  In reality, though, it’s the
idea of me with Jason that gets her so excited.  Now that he’s been ‘vetted’ by
John, it’s like I’ve got the green light to move forward with him.

Green light or not, I was already
falling in love with the man.  That John and Heather approve of him just makes
it slightly less terrifying….

~Jason~

Sitting at my desk, I could see that
several reports were finished running, but a few were on hold until tomorrow. 
Some things would require an actual phone call or a manual hack to get into a
private system.  I did have his financials, though.  I hit print on that report
and turned to another screen to log into RED-Stone and see what the status of
the Patzkowsky case is after last night’s discovery.

The database hadn’t been updated for
last night’s capture.  Rubbing the back of my neck, I considered likely
outcomes.  The reason things weren’t updated previously was because we
discovered we had a mole.  Fucking Brody – the new guy who sent us out on
bullshit missions until Tex and I both told John what he could do with the new
guy’s ‘intel.’  Maybe Crash and John were covering our asses in case he wasn’t
working alone in our office….  Shit. 

My phone chimed announcing a new
message.  I grabbed the report off the printer and walked to the kitchen where
I left my phone to charge.

                       
You don’t have any food allergies,
do you?

I leaned against the counter and text
back.

                        J: 
Nope.  Do you or Mia?

                        E: 
Not allergies, no.  I’m
lactose intolerant, though. 

                        J: 
What?!  How do you live
without ice cream???

                        E: 
LOL – there are other options
besides cow milk.

                       
J:
  But cow milk is so good!  And cheese!

                       
E:
  Are you trying to make me sad, Jason?  I miss

real cheese.

                       
J:
  Aw.  Sorry, babe.  Glad Mia doesn’t have those

issues.

E:
  Me,
too.  Anyway, is there anything you don’t

like?

                       
J:
  Anchovies.  Brussel sprouts.  Beets.  Blue
cheese.

                       
E:
 Haha.  Yuck!  I agree on all of those, so
you’re

safe.

J:
  Thank
goodness!  People who eat that stuff can’t

be trusted.

                       
E:
  You crack me up.  See you at six for dinner!

                       
J:
  Sounds good, babe.  I’ll be there. 

I set my phone down with a smile on
my face and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.  Once I sat down in the
living room, I start looking through the financial report I pulled.  I’ve got
several credit reports, bank statements for multiple accounts… and statements
for an offshore account.  Huh.

After spending over an hour pouring
over all the documents, I leaned back on the couch and closed my eyes.  None of
this is what I expected.  Emma mentioned that he worked with a bunch of
attorneys but we’ve never talked about anything else.  He had multiple accounts
and money moved through them too often – not paying bills, just being deposited
a few days before being wired to another account.  One of the accounts had
regular payroll deposits,
large
payroll deposits, until about six months
ago.  About that same time, the money moving got bigger and the offshore
account was opened.  Until a few weeks ago. 

Less than a month ago, the money
moved out but nothing moved back into the accounts.  There was only a hundred
and twenty three bucks in the account he used to have his paychecks put into –
no deposits of any kind had been made into that one since the last payroll
deposit.

So, unless my reports missed an
account – and I coded this report myself, so I don’t buy that answer at all –
this dude is broker than broke.  Based on his history, that is not something
he’s used to being and it seems that he’s gone a little crazy because of it. 

I got up and walked back into the
office, my mind still circling the matter of Emma’s ex-husband.  At the window,
I stared at nothing for a while, letting my brain turn everything over and
around and checking for something that would point me in the direction I need
to go.  Movement below drew my eyes down to see a couple leaving the building
arm in arm and walking down the street.

And then I saw the car.  Just like
the other times, there was someone in the driver’s seat.  I yanked open the
cabinet next to my desk and pull out the GPS tracking unit I’ve had waiting for
this opportunity.  I ran to my room for a jacket and ball cap.  In the kitchen,
I snatched up my keys, phone and sunglasses.  Jogging down the hallway, I sent
a text to Emma.

                       
Gotta step out for a few minutes. 
I’ll be back soon.

I pulled the tracking unit out of my
pocket and palmed it.  As I exited the building, I held my phone to my ear like
I was talking to someone and I twirled my keys on the fingers of my other
hand.  I laughed and joked with the person I pretended I was talking to and made
a show of playing with my keys.  As I walked closer to the car, I checked the
street and started to cross it at a diagonal that will take me close to the
car, but not directly to it since I’m not looking for a confrontation today. 

When I was close enough, I
‘accidentally’ threw my keys and they slid over toward the back bumper of the
sedan I was stalking.  I yelled ‘shit’ and jogged over to pick up my keys while
I was still on the phone.  When I bent over to pick up the keys, I held the
phone between my cheek and shoulder and slapped the tracker under the edge of
the bumper.  I stood back up, started twirling my keys again and walked down the
street.

Once I was a good fifty feet away, I
called John and let him know we had a tracker on the car.  I ducked into a
coffee shop at the corner and ordered a green tea for Emma since it would look
odd for me to come back empty handed.  When I walked back to the building, I
could feel the guy in the car staring me down.  I tried to get a good look at
him through my peripheral vision, but he was in a hat and sunglasses, too, and
behind tinted glass.  He was definitely tracking me as I walked up to the building,
though.

That’s okay, fucker.  I’ve got eyes
on you now.

I dropped off Emma’s tea – and stole
a quick kiss – and came back to my office to pull up the tracking system.  The
screen showed he was still parked out front and the tracker signal was strong. 
I confirmed the recording settings for the tracker to be sure we would know
everywhere he went when he left and closed it back down.

A quick glance at my watch showed that it was almost three
o’clock.  With a sigh, I sat down and pulled up the surveillance footage I had
been neglecting the past few days.

~Emma~

I was in the middle of cleaning when
Jason stopped by to bring me a cup of tea from the shop down the street.  When
I reached for it, he pulled it back and told me there was a price for every
kindness.  I laughed and leaned up to kiss him.  Before things could heat up,
he had pulled back and handed me my tea, telling me he had to finish some stuff
before dinner.

I had chili cooking in the crockpot, jalapeño
cornbread in the oven and beer in the fridge when he knocked on the door at
5:50.  The afternoon had crawled by – I checked the clock constantly
anticipating when he would be back.

As soon as I swung the door open,
Jason pulled me into his body.  He spun me around, pushed the door closed and
leaned me against it and kissed me.  The urgency just kept building between
us.  It was unreal.  I wound my arms around his neck and wrapped one leg around
his, rubbing his denim-clad leg with my bare foot.  When his hands slid under
my bottom and lifted, I wrapped both legs around his waist and moaned when I
felt his harness pressed against me.  I sucked his tongue into my mouth and
rotated my hips.  He jerked away from me and lifted me off of him, setting me
on the floor. 

He hugged me tight and whispered,
“dammit, Emma.”  After a moment, he added, “fuck me.”  I giggled and whispered
back, “Hey, I’m trying to….”  He swatted me on the bottom and pulled away.  His
face was flushed and I could see the pulse hammering at the base of his neck in
the little hollow I felt the sudden urge to lick.

That was when I noticed the camera
bag he was carrying with him.  I pointed to it and raised an eyebrow in
question.

“John called and told me you agreed
to have your injuries photographed and logged.  I know you don’t want to do
this, but I really hope you will.  If you don’t want me to do it, I can call a
female tech from our office to come see you after dinner….”