Chapter 14 #2
Jessie struggled to swallow it all, but some of the fluid escaped out the corners of her mouth. She wiped it away with her hand and then collapsed against his chest.
Still breathing hard, his hand curled around her head in a protective, appreciative gesture. “Have you ever done that before, honey?”
“Not the whole thing.”
“I’ve never had better.”
Ridiculously pleased, she glanced up at him. “Really?”
“Swear to God. Nothing has ever been that good.”
She nudged his shirt up and flicked her tongue over his nipple. “Are you sure we have to wait a whole week to get to the good stuff?”
He groaned, and his cell phone rang in his shorts pocket.
Jessie retrieved it and handed it to him.
“This is Beck.” As he listened, she watched his relaxed face tighten with tension. “I’ll be there in a minute.” He closed the phone and returned his attention to her. “I have to go. We’ve got unruly reporters at the gate—way more than yesterday.”
Jessie started to get up, but he stopped her. With his hands cupping her face, he studied her for a long moment. “I think I’ll bring you flowers tomorrow, too.”
She giggled and reached for her nightshirt, her body thrumming with aftershocks and the need for more. Knowing she wouldn’t be satisfied until she had all of him, she tugged on her shirt and watched him adjust his own clothes. “Can I make you dinner tonight?”
“I’d love that.”
“Thanks for the flowers. And the orgasms.”
He laughed. “Entirely my pleasure.” Pressing his lips to hers, he added, “Many more where those came from.”
“I can’t wait.”
His heart still beating fast like it did whenever he was near Jessie, Beck took the elevator to the garage to find Travis emerging from his car.
“Hey,” Travis said. “What’ve you been up to?”
“Nothing. Why?”
Travis looked him up and down. “Your face is kind of red.”
Beck shrugged. For whatever reason, he wasn’t ready to tell his friend about what was happening with Jessie.
“How’s Jessie?”
“Fine. Why?”
“Jeez,” Travis said, laughing. “What’s with you?”
“Nothing.”
Travis propped his hands on his hips. “What gives, Beck?”
Since he couldn’t very well tell his friend and boss that he’d just been on the receiving end of the most incredible blowjob from the woman he was supposed to be keeping an eye on, he decided to wing it. “We’ve got press everywhere.”
“I know. It just took me ten minutes to get through the gate.”
“Sorry. I’ve got four men out there, but I can’t spare any more off the patrols with the vandalism.”
“If you need to call in extra help, do it. I don’t want Liana—or Jessie—bothered while they’re here.”
Beck wondered if what he had just done with Jessie counted as bothering. “I don’t either.”
Travis took another long look at him. “You’re sure everything’s okay?”
“Couldn’t be better.” That much was true.
“All right then. I’ll see you later.”
Beck started for the gate. “See ya.”
He spent the rest of the day managing the crowd at the gate, meeting with his staff to ensure the regular patrols of the property were continuing undeterred despite the media onslaught, and trying not to think about Jessie every minute.
By six o’clock, he was tight with tension that he blamed on the Southern belle residing temporarily on the fifth floor of The Tower.
Holding his head in his hands, he wondered if there was some way he could get out of dinner. He needed to take a step back to try and find his lost sanity.
“Beck?” Liana said from the doorway.
Startled, he looked up at her. “Oh, hey. How’s it going?”
“Are you all right?”
“Sure. What’s up?”
Her long dark hair had been corralled into a ponytail that somehow made her look even more glamorous than usual.
He had a feeling she could don a brown paper bag and make a fashion statement.
No question that she was breathtakingly beautiful, and whereas he might have been wowed by her two days ago. . . Now, well, she wasn’t Jessie.
“I wondered if I could talk to you about the situation with the press and the wedding this weekend?”
“Of course.” He waved her in and gestured for her to have a seat. Forcing himself to focus on his job, he walked Liana through the plans he made earlier with his staff to ensure a smooth arrival for the wedding guests.
“I’m really sorry to be causing you extra work, especially with the other trouble you’ve been having.”
“It’s no problem. You have a right to your privacy, and Travis wants you to enjoy being here.”
“I love being here,” she said softly.
He wondered if she also loved the man who owned the place.
“How’s Jessie doing?” she asked. “I’ve been meaning to call to check on her but things have been so crazy with the wedding and everything.”
His mind went totally blank. He couldn’t think of a thing to say.
“Beck?”
“She’s fine.”
Liana sat back in her chair and chewed on her pen cap as she studied him with a knowing look in her eyes. “You like her.”
“Sure I do. What’s not to like?”
“You like her like her.”
“I hardly know her,” Beck protested, reminding himself that Liana was sleeping with his boss—the same boss who’d asked him to take care of Jessie.
“I don’t know her that well myself, but she seems like a real sweetheart.”
“Uh huh.” Beck checked his watch. “Well, I need to get going. Let me know if you need any more help with the security for the wedding.”
“I’ll do that.”
On his way out, Beck walked her to Travis’s office. “Liana?”
She turned to face him.
“If I did—like her like her—would that be bad?”
Her face softened into a smile. “Of course not.”
“It’s just that she came here looking for a place to hide out because a guy was hassling her. I don’t want to take advantage of her.”
“Does she like you, too?”
“Ah, yeah, she seems to,” he said with a laugh, still finding it hard to believe.
Liana rested her hand on his arm. “You might be exactly what she needs.”
“You think?”
“I do.”
“She’s a lot younger than me.”
“From everything I know about her, she’s competent and mature and well-regarded in the business. In our world, you grow up fast or you don’t go the distance.”
“So liking her doesn’t make me a dirty old letch?”
Liana laughed. “Hardly.”
Travis came into the clubhouse through the front door. When he saw Beck having an animated conversation with Liana, he came to a stop. “Are you moving in on my best girl?”
“She’s all yours,” Beck said with a wink for Liana. “You guys have a nice evening.”
“You, too,” she called after him.
“What was that all about?” Travis asked Liana.
“It seems your friend Beck has a thing for my friend Jessie, and vice versa.”
Travis glanced at the door. “He never said a word about that to me when I saw him earlier. But I could tell something was on his mind.”
Liana steered him into his office, stashed her files on his desk, and slipped her arms around him. “He didn’t exactly give it up easily to me.”
“Still, he told you.”
She kissed the pout off his lips. “I think he’s embarrassed.”
Travis’s eyebrows knitted with confusion. “Why?”
“Because he’s quite a bit older than her, because you asked him to help her, because he doesn’t want to let you down.”
Travis shook his head. “I hate when he acts like I’m doing him a favor by letting him work here.
He’s the backbone of this whole place, but because I hired him after he burned out of the FBI, he’s got this whole gratitude thing going on that pisses me off.
Like we hadn’t been friends for years before he ever came here. ”
“He feels like he owes you.”
“But he doesn’t!”
“You should talk to him.” As she dropped soft kisses on the stubble he’d left on his jaw for her, she felt the tension drain from his shoulders.
“Not tonight. The only one I want to talk to tonight is you.”
“Fine by me.” She hooked her arm through his. “What’s for dinner?”