Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 49393 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 247(@200wpm)___ 198(@250wpm)___ 165(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49393 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 247(@200wpm)___ 198(@250wpm)___ 165(@300wpm)
I watched her shrink inside herself, shoulders hunched, head down, as she made herself smaller with shame. It wrenched something in my gut.
“May I?” I said, reaching for her. She leaned into my chest, her arms slipping around my back. I rested my cheek on her hair and tried to take slow, even breaths to calm her. Soon she synced up her breathing with mine and snuggled against me.
“You have nothing to apologize for. Nothing that happened to you then or that is happening now is your fault. That’s still him talking in your head. You did nothing to deserve any of this.”
“Thank you for everything, Jake. You’ve put so much time and effort into this mess. I appreciate it.”
“You’re worth it, Jas. Worth way more than this. I’d give anything to make this go away.”
I captured her lips, kissed her slow and deep. “I’ll keep you safe no matter what. He’s not going to hurt you again, baby. I swear to God.”
Then her arms were around my neck. I drew her into my lap and played with the ends of her hair as she molded her sweet curves to the hard planes of my body. I fitted her against me and gave her the kind of tender, searching kisses that I knew would feel romantic and safe, not demanding or possessive.
Right now, she needed to feel cared for, and I was going to give that to her.
16
ELI
For once, my timing was perfect.
I walked into the firm after a three-day hitch. We had just flown a client and his wife to New Brunswick, received a call to go pick them up a few hours later, and escort them to Seattle to see their new granddaughter who was at risk of being born prematurely. The client was grateful that we could get them there, to their oldest daughter’s side when she went into preterm labor. The duo insisted on putting me up in a hotel suite for a night and offered me the use of a resort they were co-owners of a ski chalet in upstate New York.
It sounded like a luxurious experience, consisting of amenities such as sauna, spa, the whole works. Even though we never really went on vacations together because of leaving the firm without one of the Burns brothers on premises, it might be time to get the hell out of town and take Jasmine with us.
The only problem would be my twin brother. Jake was the most conscientious person not only in our family but possibly on the planet Earth as well. It would take a tranquilizer dart to get him to leave the business if we were all on a trip together. I wasn’t about to leave him behind or let him sacrifice a much-needed vacation so he could be there to watch over the firm’s daily operations.
Convincing him was going to be difficult the same way that the Iron Man triathlon or boot camp are difficult. I was up to the challenge, but I would have to use every trick in the book to persuade him that he was essential, that we needed him more than the business did. Guilt was the only lever that worked on Jake, and I’d had practice moving him with that lever before. It wasn’t pretty but it was effective.
The weekend would be ideal. The only major event we had scheduled was on Saturday, and the two new hires had been trailing Drew and Ty for over a week learning the ins and outs of our procedures in the field. Jasmine had said yesterday that she was scheduling them for the coming week working in pairs with our more seasoned staff to get their feet wet. They were ready to be stationed at events as representatives of the firm.
I hadn’t been back that long before I heard Jasmine swear from the outer office. By mutual agreement, we kept our language clean at work to set a professional standard. Hearing her curse and hang up the phone was unusual. Drew and I looked out of his office where we’d been discussing a repeat client who had some special needs.
Jasmine turned to face us, hands on her hips.
“Sorry I dropped the f-bomb, guys. If there’s a swear jar, I’ll put in five bucks. Here’s the deal. The St. Bernadette Hotel is flooded. All the events are cancelled for the next ten days while the plumbing is repaired and the water damage is cleaned up and repairs made. It’ll be more like three weeks if you ask me, but for now all that matters is we won’t be working security this weekend for a high-profile award ceremony and gala reception because it’s been postponed. The program is tailored to that venue only and now we’ve got a hole in our schedule. Nobody on the waitlist would be able to throw something together on short notice.”