Chapter 35
EMMA
"What time is it?" My voice is sex husky.
"Almost eighteen hundred." He brushes a strand of hair from my face, his touch gentle.
We've been in bed for hours, and I don't regret a single second. I sigh happily, rubbing my legs against his.
"Come on," Jake says, leaning down to kiss me before pushing the covers off. "You haven’t eaten all day. Let's go downstairs and feed you."
He climbs out of bed, unselfconscious in his nakedness, and I take a moment to appreciate the view—all that hard muscle, the scars that map his body like a roadmap of endurance. He's beautiful and powerful, and he's mine.
I clean up in the bathroom attached to Jake’s room. It’s more luxurious than I expected but given the kitchen I shouldn’t be surprised. The dark tile and sleek fixtures make me wonder what the rest of the house looks like.
When I come out, Jake tosses me one of his T-shirts and pulls on a pair of jeans, commando. I watch him adjust himself into his pants, intrigued. He’s tumescent still—or again.
“Stop it,” he says, zipping himself up.
“Never.” Thinking about what I’d like to be fed, I slip into his shirt, which falls to mid-thigh.
I think of asking him if I should put my jeans on, but I see the heat in his eyes as he looks at the hem of his shirt and decide to just roll with it.
I follow him downstairs, my legs still slightly unsteady.
Mason and Luke are in the kitchen, and the smell of coffee and something savory fills the air. Mason's at the stove, flipping what looks like grilled cheese sandwiches, while Luke leans against the counter, not far from where Jake went down on me, with a beer in hand.
They both look up when we enter, and I feel a flush creep up my neck. God, I must reek of sex. I didn’t think about them being down here. We didn’t even shower.
But Jake isn’t bothered, and neither of them smirks or makes a comment. Mason nods in greeting, and Luke raises his bottle in a silent salute.
"There's coffee and beer," Mason says, gesturing to the pan. "And food in about two minutes."
Jake pours me coffee before grabbing himself a beer. Luke pushes off the counter and saunters over, setting sugar in front of me, and then comes back with cream and a spoon.
I murmur my thanks, doctoring my coffee as I take in everything. The domesticity of it all is surreal—standing in Jake's kitchen in nothing but his T-shirt, surrounded by three former special forces men like this is completely normal.
Maybe for them, it is.
I guess for me too, from now on.
"So." I wrap my hands around the warm mug and look between the three of them. "You all came here together?"
“We’re a team,” Mason says simply, turning over a sandwich.
“Our captain wanted to launch a mission to come get his woman, so we signed up for the tour.” Winking at me, Luke pulls out plates and starts setting up the table. “Once he found out you were divorced, there was no stopping him.”
“It was time.” Mason opens one of the oven doors and adds the golden sandwich to the pile of sandwiches already in there, obviously keeping them warm.
“We had a lot of luck in places where luck didn’t exist.” Luke glances at Mason, but I can’t read what it means. “A soldier knows when it’s going to be one battle too many.”
“Our commanding officer was retiring too, and that was going to change our squad’s dynamic in a way we didn’t like.” Jake puts his hand on the small of my back. "When I decided to come back to Iron Ridge, they wanted to come with. We bought the ranch together.”
"Even though we have no idea what the fuck we’re going to do with ten thousand acres." Luke snorts as he pulls out an enormous salad from the fridge. "Or what we’re going to do now that we’re out of the Unit."
“I want to breed horses,” Mason says quietly, his attention on the skillet.
Jake and Luke turn to stare at him. “Horses? Really?” Luke asks.
Mason nods as he flips a sandwich. “Yeah.”
I wait for him to say more, but he doesn’t.
Jake and Luke exchange a look. Luke shrugs as he gets out silverware. “And here I thought when I saw the horse profiles pulled up on the computer that you were looking for a date Saturday night.”
Mason turns and something flies at Luke like a missile. Luke’s already caught the spatula in his hand by the time I realize what happened.
Luke laughs, shooting it back to Mason like it’s a knife he’s throwing at a target. “Your reflexes are getting slow, Ace.”
Jake slings his arm around me, moving me to the table. “Children, you’re scaring Emma.”
“Sit.” Mason takes a towering platter of grilled cheese sandwiches from the oven, adds the last one to the top, and brings it to the table. “Eat.”
The conversation is light and easy throughout dinner. Mason and Luke treat me like I've always been here, like I'm already part of this strange little family they've built. It's nice—comfortable in a way I didn't expect.
They really are a unit. I don’t have to be around them long to see that breeding horses isn’t going to be enough, not even for Mason. These are men who’ve spent most of their adult lives operating in the world's most dangerous places, accustomed to action and life-and-death situations.
We’re just about done when Luke leans back in his chair. “Em, any idea what Turner wanted to do with your land?”
The sudden change of subject surprises me speechless for a couple of beats. Then I shake my head. “He said expansion of his herd, but I didn’t believe it.”
The men share a long look.
Mason pushes his plate forward and props his forearms on the table. “Was he bugging your dad too?”
“Yes.” I wrinkle my nose. “Dad said Eli was getting more and more pushy.”
Jake takes my hand. “Did he have trouble at the ranch?”
I shrug. “I have no idea. And Jim hasn’t said anything, but to be fair, I’ve been in a haze since dad died.”
The men exchanged another look.
I frowned at all three. “Is that some sort of secret language for badasses? Because you’re communicating, but I have no idea what you’re saying.”
Jake kisses my temple. “We’re just agreeing that no one is going to threaten you ever again.”
Mason nods. “We got you, Em.”
Just like that? Jake, I can understand, but his two friends don’t know me from Adam. I sit back, staring at these guys.
Kissing my temple, Jake gets up to clear the table, putting everything in the dishwasher. I listen to Luke and Mason discuss horses, like they hadn’t just blown my mind.
Wiping his hands on a dish towel, Jake turns to me. "Shower?"
The word is casual, but the heat in his eyes is anything but.
"Yeah." I’ll think about everything later. I stand, my pulse quickening. "I could use a shower."
Luke mutters, "Jesus Christ," and Mason just shakes his head, but neither of them says anything as Jake takes my hand and leads me out of the kitchen. At the stairs, I hear Luke say, “Thank fuck the last owners soundproofed the rooms. The contact hard-on I have just from the pheromones they’re emitting is bad enough.”
My cheeks burn as we go upstairs. Jake mumbles, “Idiot,” but he sounds more amused than annoyed.
In his bathroom, Jake turns on the shower and adjusts the temperature until steam fills the room. He strips off his jeans, and I pull his T-shirt over my head, feeling his gaze tracking over my naked body like a caress.
"Get in," he orders, and I step under the spray.
The hot water feels incredible on my sore muscles, and I tip my head back, letting it soak my hair. Jake steps in behind me, his hands sliding around my waist, pulling me back against his chest.
"You're so fucking beautiful," he murmurs against my ear, his hands roaming over my wet skin.
I turn in his arms, pressing my body against his, and kiss him. It's slow and deep, our tongues tangling as the water cascades over us. His cock is hard against my stomach, and I reach down, wrapping my hand around him.
Then I sink to my knees on the tile.