His Heart (By His Command #9) (billionaire romance / romantic suspense) (6 page)

“
Jonathan will know when it’s time,” Katherine said.

“
Until then?” I asked.

“
Until then... I play.”

She smiled, the left side of her lip curling.

She would keep playing... with me.

She’d mess with me until I left.

That was her ultimate goal.

To drive me insane.

“
Now get out of here,” Katherine said. “I’m ready to pull a trigger or two and if you’re here, you’ll get it.”

I walked backwards out of the bedroom and then stormed out of the hotel room. Once in the hall, I made it all of two steps before I heard the muffled sound of two gunshots.

I froze and my heart sank.

Did Katherine just kill the two security guards?

I knew if I went back it would just show weakness.

I refused to be weak.

I wanted the power.

The truest power of all... the power to take life.

-9-

When Jonathan came back from his meeting with Mr. Denninbraugh. I immediately knew nothing was okay. He burst into the hotel room like it was on fire and he had come to rescue me. He tore at his tie and threw it to the floor. He scooped me up into his strong arms and started to carry me. The way he held me and squeezed me, I could tell he thought something had happened.

“
I should have never...”

“
What’s wrong?” I asked.

Jonathan put me down and looked at me. “I hate that woman.”

“
That woman...”

Jonathan touched my face with his hands, checking me. His eyes scanned mine, looking for something. His thumbs caressed my cheeks as though he was in disbelief that I was even there. He then backed up and turned to the door.

“
Bring him in,” Jonathan commanded.

That’s when everything seemed to go from bad to worse.

The first person I saw was Kellen. His tie loosened, his hair messy, his face looking worn and tired. The large hands holding his arms belonged to the two men that Katherine had on their knees with guns to the back of their heads. I put my hands to my mouth to keep from gasping. They were alive which only proved that Katherine had shot her gun twice just to mess with me.

“
Jonathan... they...”

I saw the dried blood on both men’s faces.

Jonathan knew.

He knew everything.

“
You were almost hurt,” Jonathan said. “At my stupidity and the treacherous heart of a woman and the treasonous actions of a scum man like Kellen.”

“
You have no idea,” Kellen said. “None...”

Kellen was drunk.

Not quite dead drunk, but pretty close to it.

The two security guards held Kellen and I wasn’t sure if they were holding him in place or holding him up. Either way, it didn’t matter.

“
Don’t tell me about her,” Jonathan said. “Don’t tell me... you came here.”

Jonathan looked at me, his eyes burning. He blinked fast and touched me again.

“
I’m okay,” I whispered.

“
Okay? Two men are covered in blood. Guns to their heads. Guns to your beautiful face, Isabella Grace. All because he came to the door... to set you up. To hurt you.”

“
To tell her the truth,” Kellen said. “To get her out of here. Because you abandoned her.”

Jonathan’s eyes widened. He stepped and I touched his wrist. My hand was tight. Not the kind of thing a person should to do to Jonathan Black - not even me. I hurried and let go, knowing I couldn’t mess with fate. He hurried to Kellen and grabbed him by the tie. The two men were nose to nose.

The security guards looked at me, their eyes empty.

I didn’t know how everything had gotten to that point but I’m sure it was all well thought out and calculated by Katherine. I could already see her, laughing, knowing she had everyone against each other, leaving me exposed.

“
You don’t belong here,” Jonathan said. “She’ll use you... she’ll always use you...”

“
Use,” Kellen said and laughed. “Funny word.”

“
Get him out of here,” Jonathan said. “Then go home, clean up, and find new jobs.”

The security guards looked just as drained as Kellen.

And Jonathan had just fired them.

The way his lip curled though, Jonathan knew it wasn’t the security guards fault... Katherine was just that good at everything she did.

And everyone seemed to hate her for it.

The guards backed up, taking Kellen with them.

He reached out and stopped himself at the door. “You have no idea... she’s going to kill her...”

“
Shut up,” Jonathan said.

“
No,” Kellen cried out. “She’s going to kill her... I can feel it...”

“
Shut him up,” Jonathan commanded.

And with that, one of the security guards threw an elbow and ended Kellen’s night. He was out cold as the door shut.

Jonathan Black and I then faced each other.

“
I can’t believe this mess,” Jonathan said.

He looked humbled, maybe even scared.

Definitely angry though.

“
There’s no mess,” I said.

“
There is. A mess that will be gone soon. Things are in place, my love, trust me.”

I smiled. “I trust you with all my heart.”

Jonathan stared at me. We were inches away and he didn’t kiss me. I hated it. I wanted him to kiss me. To hold me and protect me. His eyes were sincere and I honestly considered telling him my plan.

“
We have a new rule,” he said, his voice soft.

“
Okay.”

“
A very important rule,” Jonathan said.

“
All your rules are important,” I said.

Jonathan shook his head. “You are too perfect. Your innocence keeps me alive right now. It keeps me from doing something...
intense
...”

“
Intense?” I asked.

Jonathan moved closer. Our noses were so close to touching. I tried to imagine how romantic it would be to feel his nose against mine. The romantic moment ended as my body warmed. I was turned on. Very turned on.

“
Intense,” Jonathan said. “I would kill them. Right now. Both of them.”

I swallowed. His eyes were truthful and my eyes were lying to him as I hid my thoughts deep in the back of my mind. I was going to do something Jonathan wanted to do. Something he held back from doing because of me.

“
Jonathan...”

“
It’s okay,” he said. “Now, listen to my rule.”

I nodded.

“
We are to never leave each other’s company,” he said. “From here on out.”

“
Oh...”

I tried to keep my composure as I saw my plan beginning to crumble. Because when Jonathan Black said something, he meant it. And maybe more than ever right then, considering he had left and something had happened in the hotel with Katherine.

My heart burned with intention and my lips quivered. I knew what I wanted to ask Jonathan but couldn’t. We stared at each other for what felt like hours but was mere minutes until Jonathan spoke again.

“
You want me to do it,” he whispered. “Don’t you?”

“
Do what?” I asked.

“
You can’t hide from me,” Jonathan said. “You understand how cruel the world can be, correct? You’ve stepped one foot from innocence and into the world of power and business. But you’re not sure if you want more... but you want me to want more.”

I nodded.

Yes, that was all very true.

“
Isabella Grace, I would pull the trigger on anyone for you,” Jonathan said. “Anyone. Including...”

I moved at Jonathan and kissed him.

It was a terribly bold move on my part. But I needed to do it. I couldn’t stand seeing him and not kissing him. I couldn’t stand hearing the words he wanted to say knowing what I wanted to do. My heart was weak and fragile, as always, and the only thing that could ever truly protect me was Jonathan Black and his command. If he asked me about it, if he forced me into confessing that, yes, I would have loved to watch him kill Katherine, then he’d do it. And I’d never be able to give something to him that no person in the world could ever give.

I pulled back from the kiss and felt my muscles turn to stone.

“
I’m sorry,” I said. “I... didn’t...”

“
You’re scared,” Jonathan said. “So frightened. My Isabella Grace, you’re almost shaking.”

“
Yes,” I said.

None of it was a lie.

I was afraid. Deathly afraid. I had seen Katherine’s mind start to crack. To see her holding that power, the guns to those men, and then to see the way her eyes changed, her mind scrambling, her heart at the point of explosion. That was all the nightmare I had walked into. But it was the nightmare that had come to Jonathan Black. And what Jonathan faced, I faced. It was our connection that went beyond obsession and domination... it was our connection that had become finally moved to love.

Love.

That’s what mattered here.

“
I trust you,” I said.

“
Good girl,” Jonathan said. His hands touched my waist and he pulled me tight. I could feel his body hard, thick. “That’s why we’re never leaving each other again. Any business I have, you have. You can come to my meetings, see my business, hear the way I work. By my side. Because together, nothing can ever happen.”

Jonathan kissed me, a gentle kiss at first. Then his mouth opened and I moaned, tasting his mouth as he tasted mine. His right hand slid down and he grabbed my wrist. He put it behind my back and then slithered for the other wrist. As he held both my wrists behind my back, squeezing tight, I sighed in relief.

I was bound my Jonathan’s sole touch.

Everything I’d always wanted.

-10-

I listened to the instructions as I always had. For some reason, my heart pounded like it was the first time Jonathan commanded me to strip. There was something about the feel of the hotel bedroom, the soft lighting, the cool air, the quiet of it all. The way the light gently touched Jonathan’s face as he stood near the doorway with his arms folded watching me as I took my clothes off.

It was kind of strange how it happened, because I had grown accustomed to Jonathan and his command to the point where I could enjoy stripping. Like I had done in the bathroom before, I wanted to tease him, make him so hard he couldn’t stand it.

But I couldn’t.

The events of the day, Jonathan’s new rule to never leave my side, and my ever growing urge to enact upon and kill Katherine were all battling inside me. What it did was make me shake with fear, the same kind of nervous excitement that I once had with Jonathan Black. So as I stripped, I shook. I tried to step out of my pants and almost tripped. I took my panties off to my knees and then kicked them the rest of the way off while reaching back to unsnap my bra. My clothes were in a small pile at my feet. I stood with my legs closed, my hands at my sides. I breathed heavily, my breasts almost bouncing as I did so, my nipples super tender, reacting to even the room temperature air in the bedroom.

“
How do you feel?” Jonathan asked.

“
Alive,” I whispered. “And waiting for you.”

Jonathan stepped forward and stood before me. “Strip me.”

The command was sweet, subtle, and laced with so much sexiness that I could come right on the spot. In fact, while I had been turned on since Jonathan took my wrists, I hadn’t been soaking wet... until Jonathan said what he just said.

Strip me.

I started with his shirt and button by button I was given the chance to watch Jonathan’s chiseled body appear before my eyes. As I unbuttoned his shirt, I felt my breasts touching, pressing together, knowing that by stripping Jonathan, I was giving him a show of his own.

When his shirt was open, my hands didn’t stop. I touched his belt and opened it. I opened his pants next and my hand slipped down, feeling over his boxer briefs, following the thickness of his erection, pressing against it. I then sat down on the bed, making sure I could properly see Jonathan and undress him the way he was meant to be undressed.

I guided his pants down to his knees and Jonathan stepped from them. I gripped the top of his boxer briefs and sighed as I pulled. I watched the muscular section of his lower stomach give way to the base of his cock. When he popped free, I couldn’t contain myself as I moaned, wanting him inside me. I pulled his boxer briefs down fast and then touched his legs with my nails. I came up and moved towards his thickness. I licked my lips wanting to taste him too. The idea came to me so fast, I could feel between my legs as my body came close to dripping. I opened my mouth and came forward, ready to savor the taste of Jonathan’s body.

I felt a finger touch under my chin, forcing me to look up. My mouth was still open, my urges desperate.

“
No,” Jonathan said. “I said to strip me. Not suck me.”

He was serious. Dead serious.

I took a few deep breaths and stood back up.

I finished the job I was ordered to do, sliding Jonathan’s shirt off his body.

Then we both stood naked. I waited for Jonathan to make the next move or give the next command.

His large hands touched my shoulders and he pushed, making me sit again. It was torture being eye level with his erection. My mouth wanted him as much as the rest of my body did.

“
On your back,” Jonathan said. “And open your legs.”

I did as told, falling to my back. I kept my hands at my sides, already tightening my grip around the sheets. I opened my legs slowly, feeling my desire pouring from me.

Jonathan touched the inside of my legs, just above my knees. He stared down at me. It left me shuddering.

“
Look at yourself,” Jonathan whispered.

I looked down.

I looked at the smoothness that led to the sultry curve of my body. I could see the moist skin of my center, not to mention how I could feel it throbbing, waiting for Jonathan.