Chapter 13
The next morning…
“Mornin’.” Jagger sent Natalia a smile as she walked into her kitchen. “I took the liberty of making some coffee.” He motioned toward the freshly brewed pot. “Hope you don’t mind.”
“Mind?” The beautiful but exhausted woman started that way. “I think I may be in love.” The declaration stopped her dead in her tracks. “Because of the coffee,” she blurted, eyes wide as they shot to his. “I-I didn’t actually mean—”
“Relax, Tal.” He flashed her another quick grin. “I knew what you meant.”
Normally, the relief on her gorgeous face would have made him laugh. But after the night they’d shared, this wasn’t a normal morning. As far as he was concerned, anyway.
The jury was still out on how Talia felt about having invited him into her bed. But from the way she’d just swiftly pulled her gaze from his, it wasn’t looking all that promising.
“You hungry?” Jagger asked as he leaned a hip against the edge of her counter.
“Starving, but I don’t have time to eat.” She poured some coffee into an insulated mug. “I got a call while I was finishing getting ready. One of Sanchez’s men is starting to waver.”
“You think he’s gonna give up the goods?”
“The higher-ups at Homeland think so. They want me to have another go at him. Apparently, they think I’m the one who can break him.”
“If anyone can, my money’s on you.”
Talia looked over at him with a hint of a smile. “I hope you’re right, because if not—”
“You’ll get the guy to talk.”
“You sound so sure about that.” Her head tilted slightly to the side.
Jagger shrugged, taking a small sip from his mug before saying, “That’s because I’m sure about you.”
Her expression softened as those perfect, bow-shaped lips of hers curled into an adorable grin.
“Well, that makes one of us,” she jokingly quipped.
“But I appreciate the support, all the same.” Her phone began to ring, and she reached around to pull it from her back pocket.
“Sorry, that’s my work phone.” Eyes of honey glanced at the screen before lifting up to his. “I need to take this.”
“Of course.” Jagger lifted his mug her way as a gesture of understanding while he watched her walk away.
Of their own accord, his eyes fell a bit lower. His mouth literally watered at the sight of her luscious, toned curves.
Memories from the night before assaulted him in the best fucking way. Like a highlight reel, flashes of moments came at him, one right after the other.
His mouth on hers. Her hot, wet lips sliding up and down his cock. Talia’s perfect, bare breasts filling his fists. The moment she’d come undone for the first time in his arms.
But nothing, not even all those things combined, could hold a candle to how it felt finally being inside her. It was in that one, mind-blowing moment when everything seemed to change.
The second their bodies fully joined together, it was as if there was some kind of giant, seismic shift. And Jagger knew, from that moment on, his heart belonged to her.
The woman may not see it yet. Hell, she may not even feel a fraction of the emotions running rampant in his veins. But she would. In time. He just had to keep the faith.
You also have to find the bastard trying to fuck with her by leaving her unwanted reminders of her past.
“I need to go.” Talia reappeared in the kitchen’s archway. “They’re transporting our guy to interrogation within the hour, and I want to be there before he arrives.”
“I can drive you.”
“I’ll drive,” she countered. “But I did get permission for you to join. If you want to, that is. You’d have to do like last time and stay in the observation room next door.”
“Sounds good to me.” Jagger turned and dumped the rest of his coffee down the drain. “Let me grab my boots, and I’ll be ready to roll.”
“I’ll go ahead and start the car so it can be warming up.”
Teamwork makes the dream work.
He smiled to himself as he went in search of his shoes. If memory served, he’d left them downstairs, by the front door. As he headed that way, Talia went upstairs, presumably to get her keys.
By the time his boots were laced and tied, the sexy Homeland agent had joined him. She frowned when he opened the door and stood to the side.
“It didn’t start.” Her gaze was locked in on her car.
Trying again, Talia pointed the key fob in her hand and pressed her thumb to the button that should have fired up the engine. When it failed once more, Jagger held out his palm.
“Can I try?”
She looked skeptical but handed him her keys. “Knock yourself out.” The jean-clad woman crossed her arms at her chest and waited.
With a smirk, Jagger stepped past her to get a bit closer to her car. He pushed the button. The engine sounded as though it was trying to turn over.
“I think your battery might be dead.” He glanced back at her from over a shoulder before pushing the button one last time.
Talia’s gorgeous face was the last thing Jagger saw before a wave of heat and flames sent them both flying through the air.
“Jagger!” Natalia screamed his name. Almost instantly, she was thrown into a painful coughing fit.
Her car was completely engulfed in flames where it had been parked the night before. But it was the man lying still in the grass several yards from where she lay that had her heart racing with fear.
“Jagger!” she shouted for him again, pushing herself up to her knees. A wave of dizziness caused her to pause, but she powered through and rose to her feet.
Her vision was blurred, and her headache was back, but luckily, Natalia had landed on a thick bed of short, sort-of-soft bushes. She was pretty sure that was blood running past her left eye, but right now, that was the least of her worries.
Several nearby cars blared from their alarms having been set off, and a handful of neighbors had come out of their townhomes to gawk at the horrific scene.
Glass crunched beneath Natalia’s feet as she ran across the small patch of yard connected to her side of the building. A quick glance around revealed every window on the front of her townhome had shattered.
“Jagger!” she said his name again as she fell to her knees beside him. With a hand to his chest and two fingers to his neck, she held her breath and waited to see if he was still alive.
Tears filled her eyes when she felt his heart beating against her palm. It felt strong, just like the man lying before her. But the blood oozing from a nasty gash at the side of his head sounded an immediate alarm.
At the very least, he was concussed. Worst case, he’d suffered some sort of irreversible damage. The latter was an option Natalia refused to accept.
Not him. Please, God. Not him.
“Hold on, Jag.” She grabbed her phone, which by some miracle, only had a small crack in its screen. Dialing nine-one-one, she told him, “Help is coming. Just hang on, okay?”
When the operator answered on the second ring, Natalia quickly relayed the address and nature of her emergency. “Please hurry,” she begged before ending the call to give all her attention to Jagger.
A low moan reverberated from deep inside his chest, and his brow furrowed with a frown. “Tal…ia.” He attempted to utter her name.
The man had been blown several feet into the air, and until this very moment, he’d shown no signs of awareness. But the second he was able to speak, his first thought had been about her?
Jagger’s words from the night before replayed through her frantic mind…
There’s a helluva lot more between us than one night of amazing sex. I know it. And you know it, too.
Before that, he’d literally promised to do everything in his power to keep her safe. But she was fine. He was the one who’d been knocked clear unconscious. Because of her.
It was my car that blew up. I was the target, not him.
Sirens filled the air as the first fire truck arrived on scene. Not far behind was a second truck, followed by an ambulance and a slew of SUVs marked “U.S. Capitol Police”.
One perk that came with living in the nation’s capital…when a bomb goes off, and there’s no shortage of first responders. And they’d gotten there pretty damn fast.
“Ma’am, are you all right?” A female paramedic talked to her as she and her partner rushed her way.
“I’m fine, he’s the one who needs your help.” Natalia’s heart kicked against her ribs when she glanced Jagger’s way and saw his dark lashes fluttering against his cheeks. “Come on, Jag.” Hope bloomed. “Open those eyes for me.”
Several long, terrifying seconds passed by before he finally began lifting his lids.
“Tal?” His voice sounded rough, his left hand reaching blindly for her.
“I’m here.” She didn’t hesitate to grab his hand, thankful his grip felt stronger than he currently looked.
Those gorgeous, dark brown eyes of his finally rose high enough to meet hers. “You’re…hurt.”
“Ma’am, that cut in your head’s still bleeding. You really should be checked out by a doctor, just in case.”
“I said I’m fine.” She brushed off the medic attempting to give her aid, too worried about Jagger to feel bad about being so abrasive.
“She’s right,” Jagger’s deep voice interjected.
Natalia glanced back at him. Ignoring the blood slowly trickling down the side of her face, she leaned in closer with a whispered a promise of, “I’m okay.”
“Can’t risk…lose…you.” He was slurring his words now, and his eyes were starting to close. “Jusss…found…y—”
His eyes fell completely shut and his head lolled to the side. When his grip loosened to the point his hand slipped freely from hers, the panic and fear she’d felt minutes earlier returned in full force.
No!
“Jagger?” She started to reach for him but was stopped by the paramedic who’d been trying to help.
“We’ve got him, but you need to give us room to work.” Her blue eyes implored Natalia to understand what she was saying.
Get out of their way. That’s what she’s saying.
The last thing Natalia wanted was to leave Jagger’s side. But the uniformed woman was right. He needed medical attention, and she was impeding their attempts to give it.