New Species 04 Justice (5 page)

“Take the lead?”

21

Laurann Dohner

“My people asked me to lead them. I was calmer than most and reasonable. I was

the best fighter too and I had the quickest response time adjusting to where they took us after we were freed. I did not try to kill any humans who annoyed us with their way of

criticizing everything we did. I was always the cushion between my people and yours. I

became the negotiator when there were disagreements between us. The Species were

asked to elect a spokesperson to represent them and I was asked by my people to lead. I

accepted.”

She took a sip of her drink. “You’ve done an amazing job. My father is Senator

Jacob Hills and he always tells me that your job originally was supposed to be limited

but you stood up for Species and argued to get them where they are today. He says you

are a force of nature that no one should be stupid enough to mess with.”

Justice chuckled. “I like him. I didn’t realize you were his daughter.” His gaze

skimmed her. “You look nothing like him.”

“I resemble my mother but I barely remember her. She died when I was five years

old after a drunk driver hit her car on her way home from the gym. I have a lot of

pictures of her though and I definitely take after my mom.”

“I’m sorry for your loss. Your father is well liked.”

“He likes you too. Not many people realize I’m his daughter and he tries to keep

that off the radar. I’m kind of wild.” She touched her hair. “He hates the hair.”

Justice studied it. “You were not born with that bright hair, correct? I like it but I

have never seen that color before and I have seen a lot of people since we were freed.”

“It’s straight from a bottle. It’s not the color he objects to but he does miss seeing it a lot less colorful. It’s the length he hates the most. I refused to cut it after an especially bad haircut when I was sixteen that made me look like a boy and it was days before my

big sweet-sixteen birthday. That’s a big party event and I hated it short. I stopped

cutting it after that fiasco. Then my ex-husband demanded I keep it short after our

wedding. He said it was too long, always annoying him, and he and my father tried to

gang up on me to cut it to my shoulders. ‘Responsible people don’t have hair to their

asses.’ That’s a quote.” Jessie laughed. “I won’t cut the hair and Dad gives me some

grief about it whenever I see him.” She shrugged.

His pretty gaze softened. “It’s beautiful. Anyone is foolish who wants you to cut it. I

don’t know how anyone could find it annoying. I have long hair. It’s not nearly as long

as yours but long hair for a man isn’t fashionable it seems, from what I’ve been told by

our media consultants. I also refused to cut my hair short but I do allow them to keep it at this length. I am responsible and hope humans see me as such. I hope you leave

yours flowing down.”

He likes long hair
. Jessie felt her heart twist. Sexy hot, nice ass, a body that didn’t end and he liked her hair. He was nearly perfect. His phone suddenly rang and he reached

for it.
Scratch that
.
A perfect guy wouldn’t have an annoying cell phone that kept ringing all the
time. He wouldn’t be a workaholic
. Justice North lived and breathed work.

“I’m sorry but I have to take this.” He flipped open his phone. “Justice here.”

22

Justice

Jessie finished her dinner. Justice had finished with his too. Halfway through the

conversation he’d shot her an apologetic look and rose to his feet. He walked to his

briefcase on a desk by the front door and opened it to leaf through some folders as he

spoke quietly. He remained on the phone.

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Laurann Dohner

Jessie cleaned up their dinner dishes and put them on the bottom empty shelf of the

cart. She lifted the lids on the four smaller dishes to identify the desserts when she

pulled them out and set them on top. She knew a lot of the Species weren’t fond of

chocolate and ignored the fudge cake to study the other dishes. One was a mixed-fruit

concoction piled on what appeared to be angel food cake. The other two were pieces of

apple and pumpkin pie. She glanced at Justice for a moment, trying to decide which one

he’d enjoy more. She picked up the fruit and the apple pie and grabbed a spoon before

approaching him.

He must have sensed her behind him. He turned and cupped the bottom of the

phone to mute his voice. “I’m sorry.”

“Which one?” She held them out.

He smiled and accepted the fruit. She had guessed right. She held out the spoon but

he didn’t have a hand free to take it. She grinned as she dipped it into the dish he held and lifted it toward his lips. He grinned in response and opened his mouth.

She took notice of his fangs as she gently slipped the spoon against his tongue,

avoiding the sharp points of his teeth. He sealed his mouth around the spoon and Jessie

suddenly became as jealous as hell of that bit of silver with his lips wrapped around it.

She pulled it slowly out.

He closed his eyes as he savored the taste, his expression showed the pure pleasure

he experienced and he softly groaned. Jessie put the other dish on the table far from his papers and took the dish he held. His eyes opened to stare at her and she kept her smile

in place despite the attraction she felt toward him. She dipped the spoon again to offer

him another bite.

“You need both hands,” she explained softly.

“Thank you,” he whispered.

He took another bite, just as seductively as the last, only the second time he kept his

gaze on her face. The blue of his eyes showed more and it fascinated her how the color

seemed to change with his emotions. The oval-shaped pupils had shrunk a bit,

narrowed and more blue spread through his exotically patterned irises. Justice

suddenly broke eye contact to search for something. He grabbed a paper and read it.

She felt the loss of his attention and disappointment filled her for some odd reason.

She’d enjoyed being the sole focus of his attention for those brief moments.

“I see that. It’s right in front of me. Tell them that’s fine but make them go lower on

the price. Just because we won that lawsuit doesn’t mean we’re stupid enough to spend

all of it on high bids.” Justice cleared his throat. “Tell them you are calling others to 24

Justice

acquire bids on the job. That should make them lower their price. Go with the number

we spoke of and if they don’t accept it, call others and reopen the bidding. We’re set on a budget.”

Jessie fed him another bite when the other person on the phone kept talking. She

hadn’t fed a man…ever. She enjoyed it. He flashed another grateful look, smiling at her.

She wondered if a woman had ever fed him, hoped not and wanted him to remember

her. She fed him all of the fruit and cake until the plate was empty. She returned the

dish to the tray and picked up a few sodas for them to drink. He pointed at the table

next to him, grinned his thanks and reached for something in his briefcase. Jessie

opened the soda for him and set it down. She went to the couch and ate the apple pie.

“I’m so sorry about that.” Justice collapsed on the couch next to her a few minutes

later after ending the conversation. Three feet separated them. “Thanks for the fruit. It was really good.”

She turned to face him. “I understand.”

His phone rang again and his smile faded to a grimace. “I’m not going to look. For a

dime I’d toss that thing into a wall and break it.”

She touched her front pockets. “Sorry but I don’t have any change.”

He laughed. “I wish you did.”

“Does your phone always ring nonstop?”

“Only when it’s on and that’s always.”

“You should get someone to help you. One man can’t possibly do everything.”

He shrugged. “I don’t know who would do everything that I do.”

“I’d train a dozen of them and disappear for a month of vacation. I bet you dream

of hiding from cell phones and other people.”

“Don’t tempt me.” A look of longing crossed his features. “Do you think they’d hire

me if I ran away to the circus?”

Jessie laughed. “I’m sure they would. I don’t think you’d enjoy that job any better

though. You wouldn’t have calls to deal with but the people factor would be a hell of a

lot worse.”

He adjusted his big body on the couch, bringing up his foot to rest on the edge of

the coffee table. “What did you want to talk about? I would really be interested in

hearing your ideas.”

Jessie hesitated. “You get this all the time, don’t you? People wanting your attention

for something?” She felt bad for him. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll write you a letter, send it to your office and you can look it over when you find some free time. You shouldn’t have

to deal with work right now. You really need some time to relax.”

“You want to leave?” He tensed. “I understand. I’m sorry about dinner getting

interrupted. It was rude of me but I really had to take those calls. I swear I will read

them if you want to send your ideas by mail. Just put your name in bold black print on

25

Laurann Dohner

the back of the envelope and I’ll tell my secretary to bring it to me as soon as it comes in. It will get my full attention.”

Jessie stood. “I don’t want to leave. You’re so stressed out.” She peered down at

him. “You work more than anyone I’ve ever met. My father is a workaholic but you

make him pale in comparison. Don’t worry about dinner or the calls. Do you know

what you need?”

He shook his head but curiosity sparked his pretty eyes. Jessie hesitated.
Oh hell,

who cares if it is unprofessional?
He’s stressed out, I want to help him and I’m doing it. It’s such
a bad, horrible idea but screw it.

“You need a massage.”

His eyebrows lifted. “What?”

His baffled expression was adorable and drew a chuckle from her as she repeated

her words. “You need a massage. I can rub your shoulders if you have some lotion

around here. I used to do it for my father when he got stressed out. It made him feel

better and it will feel nice on top of it.”

Justice swallowed hard. “There’s some in the bathroom. All the rooms come with

those things.”

“That way?” She pointed at the hallway.

“Yes.”

“I’ll go. You relax. Put both of your feet up, get comfortable and don’t you dare

touch that phone. Let it ring.”

Jessie realized she’d lost her mind. Justice could order her boss to fire her ass and

Tim would. Justice was the leader of the NSO and she planned to rub the tension out of

his thick, broad shoulders.
Oh hell
, she thought as she looked around the bedroom and walked into the bathroom. Justice was a stress case and he needed to unwind. A

massage would do him a world of good. She located the lotion and returned to the

living room.

Justice had followed her orders by resting his big feet on top of the coffee table.

Jessie smiled as she bent, took off her own shoes and met his unsure gaze. He watched

her cautiously as if he had no idea what she’d do. She fought back a laugh over his

bewilderment. She figured he was probably wondering if she was insane or not.

“I’m going to climb on the back of the couch and sit behind you. Can you take off

your shirt?”

He only hesitated for a second before reaching for his waist, leaned forward a little

and tugged the tank top higher up his chest to reveal those amazing muscles on his flat

stomach again. Jessie stepped onto the couch, sat behind him and planted her feet next

to his hips. She flipped open the lotion cap, studying his massive shoulders,

understanding how much responsibility rested on them. They were impressive enough

that she guessed he was the one man who could handle being the face of Species before

the world.

26

Justice

His hair fell in the way and she set the lotion down and reached to her ponytail,

pulling out the thong holding it in place. Her fingers dangled it out in front of Justice’s face.

“Could you put your hair up on the top of your head to get it out of the way,

please?”

He hesitated before accepting it, pulled all his hair up on top and secured the

strands. She figured she’d laugh if she saw him from the front. She concentrated on his

tempting back instead, longed to touch him and poured lotion into one palm. She set

the bottle down and warmed the creamy substance between her hands.

“The trick to relaxing is closing your eyes and letting everything go.” She spread

the lotion over his shoulders, her fingers gripping the muscle. The tension in him

couldn’t be denied. His shoulders felt like stone under her fingers and palms. She let

her hands glide over his heated skin until the lotion coated the area she intended to

massage. “Do you think you can do that?”

“I’ll try.” His voice came out deep and raspy.

“Good. You just close your eyes and relax.”

Jessie dug her fingers into tense muscle. She used her palms to push into his skin to

massage deep, knowing she wouldn’t hurt him. Her hands weren’t strong enough to do

that. Enjoyment filled her at touching him, her gaze locked on the tan skin she

manipulated and hoped it would work. Justice needed to unwind. He worked way too

hard.

He groaned, drawing a grin from Jessie—she hadn’t lost her touch. Her hands