CHAPTER SIX
LIAM
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The one thing I never wanted to happen has happened.
Liar.
I just saw Jessie completely naked, and it didn’t go at all how I imagined it would.
There have been times over the years when I’ve nearly kissed her, imagined destroying my friendship with Jay, breaking my vow and stripping his sister bare. I’ve wondered how she’d taste as I run my tongue over every inch of her slim, perfect body. Watching her fall to pieces as I make her climax.
It never involved her wearing her brother's fucking duvet cover, tearing it off and running stark naked down the hallway, almost pissing herself.
Classic Jessie.
My cock didn’t care. As her breasts plowed into me, it was a one-eighty reaction in seconds. My eyes locked on her dark pink nipples and sought out the curve of her pussy under a tidy dusting of hair.
So many fucking bodily reactions took place in those three seconds. My brain lost control, and my willpower vanished.
My fingers flinched, wanting to wrap around her neck, and I wanted to smash my mouth to hers and fuck her against the wall.
Taking control of the hellcat finally would be so fucking enjoyable for a dominant man like me. The only man who should be touching her.
But something stopped me.
Bruises.
Not on her leg, but near her sex.
Unless Jessie has a kink that I don’t know about—and why would I—there’s no other legal reason for those bruises to be there.
An illness?
A drunken night on a mechanical bull? Jessie rode horses growing up. She wouldn’t bruise because of that.
I can’t stop thinking about it and don’t know what to do.
I’m almost at the office when Jayden calls.
“Hey bud, how’s Jessie?”
Naked.
“Good. Took her out to the beach yesterday.”
Where she flashed me her pussy.
“Thanks, man. Appreciate it,” Jayden replies, sounding distracted.
I doubt he’d be so relaxed if he knew the fantasies I’ve had about his sister. It would’ve been so easy to slip my fingers between her legs and slam them inside her this morning. To watch her fall apart right there and then.
If she hadn’t had a full bladder.
Or those strange bruises.
“No problem. I’m going to be busy with this new assignment for the rest of the week, so I’m sure Jess will entertain herself.” I turn into the parking lot of the BHS offices and hope the conversation ends there.
But apparently luck isn’t on my side.
“This is Jess we’re talking about. She’ll get herself in trouble. Can one of the girls hang out with her?” he asks, as I stifle a moan and run my hand over my face.
Jayden knows all the guys and gals of the BHS team. He quickly joined the social circle when I started working for them, and Josh has shown interest in recruiting him.
Cassy is married to Josh. Trina recently married Marshall. Scarlett gave birth to Cole’s baby. Savannah is pregnant and married to Ryder. Jake, our newest team member, is engaged to Caylee. Aidan and Briar are married and have twins.
“Trina is just back from their honeymoon, so I doubt she’s free during the day. Scarlett is...fuck, god, no, we don’t want those two together. Sav’s not filming, as she’s due—”
“Dude, she’d love that. See if Savannah can show Jess around the film studios. You know she’s an actress.”
Oh, hell no.
And be eaten alive by all the men in this town. No way.
“Yeah, but I doubt Savannah is feeling up to it, she’s about to give birth.”
“I’ll give Ryder a call. The last thing we want is Jessie hooking up with some ripped, steroid-dosing guy from Venice Beach, then sending her home pregnant.”
My eyes flare wide.
Fuck that. Not on my watch.
I know she’s going to meet a man one day, and I can’t have her, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to sit back and let her play the field in LA.
I also don’t put it past her bringing guys home to attempt to get my attention.
Men with cocks who will take advantage, and she won’t necessarily be able to stop the inevitable happening.
I know she’s not a virgin.
But unless the guy respects her and loves her, it’s not fucking happening.
“Leave it with me.”
“Thanks, buddy.”
“You got it.”
If you knew all the dreams I’d had about your sister, you wouldn’t be thanking me.
“How’s Atlanta?” I ask to calm myself, so I don’t turn the car around and head back to the house to tie Jessie up in the bedroom.
Goddamn.
Even that creates a sexual image in my mind.
“Boring. Usual conference. Full of sales numbers and all the rah-rah-sell-more hype. You know the deal.”
I let out a laugh, not understanding how he could work in a boring corporate office after being in the Air Force. Jayden moved into the Counter Sniper (CS) team and trained to protect US air bases, flight lines, provide reconnaissance where needed, and also protect high-value assets.
“Take up Josh’s offer, Jay,” I say, not for the first time.
He goes quiet. “Maybe.”
I don’t know what’s holding him back. I know he’s unhappy in his job. I think he wants to buy a house. I was lucky. My dad had life insurance, so when he died, Mom put it into an account that became mine when I turned twenty-one.
I let it build more interest, and when I left the Air Force, along with my new and increased income, it bought me my home.
I wouldn’t say Jayden and I are competitive, but he’s made a few quips that give me the impression he feels he’s financially behind me. I suppose he is, but no one fucking cares. He’s twenty-eight, not sixty-eight.
Clearly he cares.
The promises the company has made to him about what he can earn in commission don’t seem to be manifesting.
We hang up, and I sit in my Jeep, wondering if I should call Jessie. Check she hasn’t gone to some bar in Venice Beach to drown her embarrassment.
I saw her pink cheeks as I left.
Damn it all. Looks like I’m her fucking baby-sitter for the next two weeks. Letting out a sigh, I climb out of the Jeep and make my way into the BHS offices to find Ryder.
I find him in the gym rubbing his hair dry with a towel after leaving the showers.
Around me, a dozen or so guys are lifting weights, spotting for someone, punching bags, pressing on a machine, and hitting the showers.
“Hey, congrats, bro.” I fist-shake Jake, who got engaged over the weekend to Caylee.
Behind him, Caylee’s brother, Cole, grunts something I don’t decipher. There was tension when he was pursuing her, but the two men now shoot one another a look, then laugh.
“Thanks man,” Jake says. “I’m a lucky man.”
“I’ll say.” Cole winks at me.
My attention turns to the Delta Force operator again, who tosses his towel into his gym bag.
“Morning.” Ryder spots me watching him and nods to the door, indicating he’s heading out. “What’s up?”
I follow him down to his office. “Need a favor.”
Ryder sits at his desk, unzips his jacket and tosses it onto the small table next to us.
I hover in the doorway.
“Is it about those new drones, because delivery is about a month away, so you’ll have to make do with the current ones for this assignment.”
I grin. “I’ll make do. I just wanted fancy new toys.”
He leans back in his chair. “So, if it’s not the drones, what do you need?”
Goddamn Jessie.
“Savannah,” I hold up my hand when his protective instincts flare. “Jayden’s sister is staying with us. She’s an actress—”
“Dude.” He shakes his head, annoyed.
I get it.
I really get it. But I don’t want her sitting in a bar getting picked up or wandering around LA aimlessly.
Vulnerable.
And what are those bruises?
“Listen, I know, but I grew up with the kid. I need to keep her out of trouble while he’s away.”
Kid.
Jessie hasn’t been a kid for a long time, and I noticed. I noticed the moment it happened.
Despite trying not to.
“Wasn’t she the woman with you at the party on the weekend?” I nod. “The grown-up woman who can look after herself?”
Yes.
The sexy blonde bombshell one who will go to any lengths to get my attention. Who is likely to bring men back to my house to do just that. I’d hate to have to kill one of them. That would mess up my life plans a little.
Which includes fucking her the moment Jayden leaves this mortal plane.
Even if I’m eighty.
“Hear me out. She’s at Warner Bros this week, right?”
“Do I need to be worried that you know that?” Ryder asks, looking every bit the dangerous special ops that he is. His wife is, after all, one of the most beautiful and famous women on the planet right now.
He has nothing to worry about.
I might’ve slept with other women, but Jessie has for as long as I can remember—my entire life—been the only woman I’ve craved.
If I could change it, I would.
Shaking my head, I lift my bag up onto my shoulder. “She was telling Cassy and Scarlett about it on the weekend. Something about some voice recording...actually, I don’t know if I was listening all that closely.”
Ryder lets out a snort.
“Just a couple of hours. I’ll drop her off on the way to the site this morning to do the drone work.” I palm the doorjamb. “If Savannah agrees, that is.”
Ryder studies me. “Is she going to cause trouble?”
Most definitely.
“Not at all.”
He studies me for a moment longer, then pulls out his phone. I wait as he talks to his wife.
“She’s an actress?” he asks me.
“Done some work back for Paramount in Fort Worth.”
I have no idea if that’s true. I think I heard Jayden mention it, but I try not to pay too much attention, or I fall down a rabbit hole when it comes to Jessie.
I tap my fingers on the wood.
“Thanks, babe. Liam will drop her off at the lot.” He hangs up.
“Appreciate it,”
“You owe me, Rutherford. I can tell you’re lying about something, but I trust you won’t put Savannah in danger, so that’s the only reason I’ve agreed.”
Shit.
I should’ve known he could.
He was Delta Force for a reason.
Savannah is close to giving birth, so I understand Ryder being cautious. I probably would’ve told me to take a running leap.
Or, in other words, to fuck off.
“I figure a twenty-something, hundred-and ten-pound blonde can’t cause that much trouble,” Ryder adds.
I cough into my hand.