Holding Out For A Holiday Hero

Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

“Do I have a favorite Christmas song? Oh, absolutely. ‘Jingle Bells.’”

– True Blakely (and seconded by Jake Hale)

“Jake! Jake, help me!”

Her scream woke him. Jake bolted up in bed, then he jumped out of the bed. Disoriented, he searched the darkness for danger.

Only none was there.

“Jake!” True thrashed in the bed.

He realized that she was having a nightmare, and in that nightmare, she was calling for him. “True.” Soft. As gentle as he could be. He turned on the bedside lamp. The nearby clock showed it was four-thirty-one a.m. They’d only fallen asleep a short while ago.

I couldn’t get enough of her. I wanted to fuck her endlessly.

But he’d finally pulled back.

Only for her to slip into a nightmare.

His hand closed around her shoulder. “Sweets, wake up.”

“Jake!” That cry was still from her nightmare. Her eyes hadn’t opened.

“I’m right here.” I’ll always be here. He shook her, lightly. “True, it’s okay. You’re safe. You’re—” With me.

Her eyes flew open. Her breath heaved out. Trembles shook her whole body.

“It’s okay,” he repeated. “You were having a nightmare.”

A tear leaked down her left cheek. “I was back…at the museum.”

His teeth ground together. He’d feared as much.

“It was so dark in the sarcophagus. I couldn’t get out. The rope was cutting into my wrists…”

He grabbed her left wrist. There was a faint bruise around her wrist from the rope. Around both of her wrists. As he sat on the bed beside her, Jake brought her left wrist to his mouth and gently kissed the tender skin. I am going to find the sonofabitch, and he will pay.

“In the dream, the lid was lifted, but…but it wasn’t you standing there. It was a man in a ski mask.”

The dead bastard at her house had come carrying a ski mask.

“I knew he was going to kill me.”

His mouth pressed to her wrist once more. He could feel the frantic flutter of her pulse racing beneath his lips. “No one is going to kill you.” But he would kill in an instant in order to keep her safe.

Whoops. Was he being too savage again? Screw that. He’d always been savage. Sometimes, a little savagery was exactly what you needed.

“Why is this happening?” Another tear slid down her cheek.

“I don’t know. But we will find the bastard.” Those tears of hers had to stop. They made his guts twist. Made him want to punch walls. Rip bastards apart. “Do you trust me?” The stark question spilled from him.

Hell. Why’d you ask her that? Of course, she doesn’t trust you. You’ve been back in her world for some of the most dangerous moments of her life and she ? —

“Yes.” No hesitation. “I do. You’re the only one who believed me. You’re the only one who helped me. Right from the start, you wanted to protect me.”

Unease had him stiffening. “Don’t make me out to be a hero.” Because right from the start, he’d wanted to fuck her. By taking her case, he’d known that he’d have the opportunity to get close to True.

And she’s in my bed. I have her where I’ve always wanted her.

The new problem? He never wanted to let her go.

But heroes didn’t take cases because they wanted to fuck the women they were supposed to protect.

He had never been a hero. Hadn’t he tried to warn True of that very fact?

“You are a hero to me.” Soft. Husky.

Jake shook his head. Tell her. Was that his conscience talking? Yeah, it was. Whispering for him to tell her that he’d taken the case because he wanted her. Because he’d always been a bit obsessed with True Blakely, and he’d seen his chance to finally get close to her when she’d appeared in his office. “I’m not.” Ragged. He let go of her wrist and, once more, stood by the bed. The lamp light hit his body.

True sat up. Her gaze drifted over him and lingered on the scars that marked his chest. His stomach.

He had other scars on his back. Not nice and clean lines. In battle, there wasn’t time for clean. He’d been sewed up as the world exploded around him.

Should he tell her that he’d thought of her during those dark times? That he’d wondered what sweet True Blakely was doing, how she was?

If she was happy?

Her hand reached out and her soft fingers trailed over the scar that cut across his right hip. A bullet graze. That scar wasn’t so bad. The bullet had just ripped the skin away as he leapt for cover. Hadn’t damaged the muscle or bone.

But her touch had him sucking in a breath even as his entire body tensed.

“You were hurt so many times.” Her eyes were on his scars. “I’m sorry.”

Why the hell was she sorry?

Before he could ask, she leaned forward. Her lips pressed to the scar on his hip. He looked down at her.

Sweets, you are way too close to another part of my anatomy.

Her hair slid over said part of his anatomy. And when her silken locks teased his dick, a low rumble broke from Jake. At the sound, she looked up at him. Looked up with her body still leaning toward him. With his dick way too close to her mouth.

He didn’t say a word. I should. I’m supposed to say some comforting shit. He’d never tried to comfort anyone before. But this was different. This was True.

She stared at him. Then, a slow smile curved her lips. A sensual smile.

“True?” Her name came out so rough that it was more a growl than anything else.

She slid from the bed.

Okay, okay. He sucked in a breath. This was?—

She went to her knees in front of him. Her fingers curled around his dick. Ever so lightly, as if she was afraid she’d hurt him. Hah. Not happening.

“If I need to slow down, say sleigh bells. ” She leaned forward. Her breath blew lightly over the head of his cock. “And if you want more, say jingle. ”

Hell, hell. True was about to take his dick into her mouth? “True, I?—”

She opened her mouth and took his dick inside.

Jingle. Jingle. Jingle!

His hands clamped around her shoulders. She was hesitant, licking and sucking carefully and driving him absolutely insane because True was going down on him. His True. His dick pushed deeper into her mouth. She sucked and pulled with her lips and licked with her tongue even as her soft fingers squeezed the base of his cock.

So good. Too good.

True was on her knees before him. Licking him. Sending him hurtling toward release, and he would be coming in her mouth. Exploding soon and he had to?—

“True!” Jake pulled back.

She blinked at him. Her lips were swollen. Wet. “Didn’t you like it?”

Like it? Like. It? “On the bed.” Snarled.

She blinked again. Then scrambled onto the bed.

He yanked open the nightstand drawer. Shoved on a condom in two seconds. Then he stood by the edge of the bed. He caught her legs and pulled her toward him.

“Aren’t you…” Her tongue darted out. “Aren’t you getting in bed, too?”

No, he was going to fuck her right there.

He pulled her even closer to the edge of the mattress. Spread her wide and stared at her pretty sex. Mine.

“What did you say?”

Had he said that part out loud?

His cock shoved against her quivering core. She looked so delicate and sexy, and he watched as she opened for him. As his dick sank inside.

As he took her.

And as she took him.

Slowly. Inch by inch. Her inner muscles resisted a bit, but he strummed her clit. He bent to lick her beautiful breasts. He made her melt for him so that she’d take his dick all the way inside. She had to be sore. He’d worked her so hard during the night.

Because I can’t get enough of True. I may never get enough of True.

A gentleman wouldn’t fuck her so relentlessly.

True once said it would be disappointing if I was a gentleman . Or something like that. And he certainly didn’t want to disappoint her.

Jake was pretty much beyond thought. Just focused on feeling her.

He sank balls deep into her. Her breath released on a soft whoosh and her eyes locked on him. He wanted to cut loose and thrust again and again and again until they were both lost to oblivion. But…

But he slowly withdrew. Until only the head of his cock lodged into her.

Then he sank back into her.

One inch at a time.

His fingers stroked her clit. Slow, light strokes.

He withdrew. Ever so slowly.

“Jake!” She thrashed beneath him. “You’re playing with me!”

No, never. I’m keeping you. He sank back into her. A little faster than before. A little harder.

True’s sex clamped so tightly around him that he was sure his sanity might shatter at any second. Definitely my control. It’s gonna shatter. I’m barely holding on.

“Jingle! Please, jingle!” Her hips surged up against him.

He couldn’t have True begging. Never that. So he gave her what she wanted. What they both needed. When he drove into her, it was faster. Harder. Her hips lifted off the bed. Her mouth parted on a gasp.

The fingers that had been working her clit stopped being quite so gentle and slow. He gave her the fast, relentless strokes that he knew she craved. Her hips shoved against him. Her sex took him and squeezed as if she’d never let go. Just what he wanted.

The bed groaned. She chanted his name. Her body strained against his.

She took me in her mouth. Now she’s taking every inch of me in that tight, hot body.

He watched his dick sink into her. Watched and watched.

She came. Her hips jerked against his, and his name spilled from her in the cry he craved. As Jake felt the contractions of her inner muscles around him, he let go. He pounded into her with all the lust that he couldn’t contain. The primal need. Over and over, he sank into her until he exploded on a release so intense that the entire world seemed to erupt around him. And as he poured into her, he could not stop the one rumbling word that broke from him.

“Mine.”

Something was ringing.

True opened her eyes and squinted against the light that poured in from the nearby blinds.

The ringing continued.

Not jingle bells.

Jingle.

Her breath shuddered out as she bolted upright. Upright in a big bed. A bed that she was currently sharing with Jake.

A naked Jake.

And I’m naked, too.

Naked, in the bright light of day.

Jake threw out a hand and grabbed the phone on the nightstand. She vaguely remembered him bringing the phone into the bedroom at some random point in the night.

He put the phone to his ear. “What?” A growl.

A sexy growl. Because he was sexy. Always. But especially first thing in the morning. Her wide eyes swept over him. The stubble on his jaw just made him look hotter. Tougher. The sheet dipped near his waist and exposed all of his wonderful muscles. That ten pack. And his dark eyes were?—

Right on me.

“True’s place is not a crime scene anymore. Check. Yeah, yeah, we’ll go over there. She’ll look around. I want her to do a thorough search and make sure nothing was taken. I know she scanned the house before, Harris. I was fucking there, remember? But I want a thorough search. ”

Cold air teased her nipples and had True grabbing for the covers and hauling them over her body.

Jake frowned at her.

She became aware of the aches and pains in her body. In parts of her body that didn’t usually ache. Oh, the things we did last night. Things that made her blush a fiery red now. True jumped from the bed. She hauled the covers with her. Where were her panties?

In the den. You stripped in the den. Her cheeks burned even more.

His frown turned darker. “Oh, yes. I have my eyes on her.”

His eyes were on her. His hands had been all over her during the night. And his dick had been in her. Not that Harris needed to know any of that information.

How many times did we make love?

Only, it wasn’t love. It had been sex. Basic. Primitive. Mind-blowing. Totally worth the aches this morning.

“I’ll be keeping her close, you don’t need to worry about that. You just remember to keep me in the loop with anything you uncover.” A pause. Jake’s eyes never left her face. “Yeah. Anyone coming after her will need to go through me. Count on it.” He hung up the phone.

She continued to stand by the bed, clutching the covers, and curling her toes against the hardwood floor.

Jake tossed the phone back on the nightstand. He quirked one brow. Then he climbed out of the bed—completely naked—and moved to stand in front of her. The man’s dick was fully erect. How could he be fully erect after what they’d done? Talk about some serious stamina.

“True, True, True…eyes up here.”

He caught me staring at his dick. Her eyes whipped up to his face.

He smiled at her. “Don’t you look horrified?” The smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Having regrets already?”

Her lips parted in surprise.

“Figured it would happen.” A nod of his head. “I’m hardly the type for you to?—”

“You don’t regret the best sex of your life.” Her voice was low. Husky. She cleared her throat. “You savor it. You cherish it.”

His eyes widened.

She probably shouldn’t have said that stuff. At least she’d stopped herself from saying the rest. And you never, ever forget it.

Even though the sex had been incredible for her, Jake might have felt differently. But would he have, uh, gone so many times with me if he hadn’t been enjoying himself?

“If it was the best…” Jake leaned toward her. “Then why the hell do you suddenly look so scared?”

She wasn’t scared. Not of Jake. Never of him. But… “I’ve never had a one-night stand before.”

His expression hardened.

“Not exactly sure how this should work. I think I’m probably supposed to be a whole lot more casual and relaxed.” But casual and relaxed didn’t cover any of the feelings ricocheting through her.

His hand lifted. Sank into the thickness of her hair as he lowered his head toward her. “That wasn’t a one-night stand.”

Her heart slammed hard into her chest. “It wasn’t?”

“Not even close.”

Her heartbeat just raced faster.

“You think once was gonna be enough for me?” Jake rumbled.

“Um, technically, it was a lot more than once.”

His eyes gleamed at her. “I went easy on you.”

What? If that had been easy, just how did the man describe hard ?

“Since it had been a while for you and I knew you needed your sleep, I held back.”

Held back? He was joking, wasn’t he? Only it didn’t look like he was.

Jake’s lips brushed over hers. “If I’d had my way, my cock would have been in you all night long.”

Her sex seemed to clench.

“Are you sore, sweets?”

“A little.”

“I’m sorry.” Another brush of his lips. He eased away from her. “Want me to promise to keep my hands off you for today?”

“Don’t you dare.”

He smiled. The grin reached his eyes. Lightened the darkness. “And that’s why it’s not a one-night stand. I want you too much. And you—you still want me, don’t you?”

She managed a nod. She also kept clutching the covers to her body.

His grin widened. “You know I’ve seen every inch of you, right?”

Her hold tightened even more on the covers.

“Kissed every inch, too.”

He had. Oh, he had.

“I’ll be doing it again,” he vowed. “But we are more than sex. Understand that. You would never be a one-night stand for me.” His tone was suddenly flat. Serious. His grin had vanished.

“What am I?” True wanted to pull the question back as soon as it slipped from her mouth.

His phone rang again.

“Don’t you know?” Jake murmured.

She had no clue. Thus, the question.

Another demanding ring.

Her head dipped toward it. “You should get that.”

He reached for the phone. He spared a quick glance at the image on the screen before he swiped his finger over the phone’s surface and put it to his ear. “Perry, what do you have for me?”

True used that moment to escape. A fast and desperate retreat into the safety of the bathroom.

But his words chased her. That low, rumbling… Don’t you know?

No, she didn’t know what she was to him. She did know what he was coming to be to her.

Too much. Everything.

A man I could love.

Not just a boy that she dreamed about. A man who had become something very different and far more important.

And that just absolutely terrified her.

“The ex-husband isn’t in Atlanta,” Perry informed him. “I got some of your Atlanta contacts to nose around for us. The guy is on a holiday vacation. Supposed to be at some cabin up in Colorado until the new year.”

“I want that confirmed, and by confirmed—I want you talking to someone who has actually seen his ass in Colorado.” Jake wanted a visual on the ex.

“On it.” Excitement hummed in Perry’s voice. “This is a real case. A murder. And a kidnapping. Can you believe it?”

He could believe it, all right. “A woman is in danger, Perry. Try not to sound like you just opened the best Christmas present in the world, would you?”

“Sorry.” He didn’t sound sorry. He still sounded far too excited. “I’m still digging into the financials of the people at the museum. So far, nothing is turning up. But I won’t stop digging.”

“Good. Don’t.”

“And I’ll report to you as soon as I learn anything else.”

Jake’s eyes were on the closed bathroom door. She’d run from him. He didn’t like that. He liked even less that the woman had thought she was a one-night stand for him. So wrong.

She was his end game.

It was time for her to start realizing that fact.

I need to take True on a freaking date. He’d promised her ice skating. Instead, he’d fucked her all night long. Yeah, okay, fine, maybe he could get where she’d been worried that he was just interested in sex.

As soon as I stop the bastard after her, I will make every single one of True’s Christmas dreams come true. Just call him Santa Claus. After all, he did have the suit shoved in his laundry room.

He ended the call. The bathroom door cracked open. True peeked at him.

She was so beautiful with her disheveled hair and bright eyes and her plump lips. He closed in on her, and his gaze dipped to her throat.

A faint, red mark still remained on her skin. A mark he’d made with his mouth.

“What’s the plan?” True asked him as she continued to grip the covers to her body.

The plan…

Charm you. Protect you. Convince you to fall hopelessly in love with me.

“Jake?”

He cleared his throat. “We search your house. We go over every attack you’ve had, and we investigate every person in your life. We find out who the hell is after you, and I rip out his heart.”

She blinked those big, blue eyes of hers. “Maybe we should lock him up in jail?”

“Sure, that, too.” Lock him up and make certain he never got out again. After Jake ripped out his heart. “You’ll be safe while we hunt. I’ll protect you.”

“I know.” Soft. “I trust you, remember?”

I trust you.

Maybe one day soon, she’d be saying…

I love you.

Huh. How about that? Turned out, he did want something very badly for Christmas. True’s love.

Time to fight dirty for it.