I glance down at Jessie, fast asleep in my arms, and kiss the top of her head before moving her carefully off me. The panic and the terror in her face earlier scared the living shit out of me. This girl has balls of fucking steel. I have never seen her scared like that before. Not even when I stuck a semi-automatic in her face that first day I met her. Not when those assholes tried to drag her into their truck the day before, or when we drugged her and kidnapped her. But today, she was genuinely, bone shaking terrified.
Sliding out of bed, I take my cell phone off the nightstand and walk to the bathroom to make a call so I don’t wake her.
Shane answers the phone on the second ring. “Hey. What’s up?”
“You answered that fast,” I say, glancing at my watch and seeing it’s almost 2am, but then my overprotective big brother rarely sleeps, and he sleeps even less when Jessie isn’t in his bed.
“I saw your name and wondered why you’re calling me at this hour of night.”
“Yeah, well. Something happened today, bro.”
“What now?” he asks, the edge audible in his voice.
“Jessie thought she saw the Wolf.”
“What? Where?”
“In a pickup in the parking lot of our motel. But he drove away and I’ve checked the lot a dozen times since and he hasn’t come back. I’m not sure it was him. I mean, how could he know we were here? And it’s some coincidence for her to just run into him otherwise.”
“Did you get a look at him? Did he seem like he recognized her?”
“I didn’t see anything. By the time she’d told me, the guy was long gone.”
“You think it was him?”
“I don’t know. But, fuck Shane, I have never seen our girl act like that before. She almost ran straight through me trying to get away. It was like she couldn’t even see me. I thought she was going to fucking pass out from terror.”
“Is she okay?” he asks, the concern in his voice audible and I wish that she could realize just how much he cares for her.
“Yeah, she is now. She’s sleeping. You really got nothing on this Wolf guy yet? Or where he might be?”
“No. And if Jessie and Alexei have been looking for him for the past eight years and never come close to finding him, I don’t hold out much hope that I will. Not without Jessie’s help anyway. When will you be home?”
“Tomorrow night.”
“Good. The sooner we have you both back here, the better,” he says with a sigh.
“You okay?” I ask him. He carries so much responsibility on his shoulders and I wish he would share more of it with me and our younger brothers. We’re not little kids anymore. He doesn’t have to protect us all from everything. I poke my head out of the door to check on Jessie and smile when I see she hasn’t moved from the position I left her in. She makes Shane more relaxed and much less tense, and I need to get her home to him as soon as I can.
“Yeah,” he replies. “Just dealing with some shit from back home.”
“That old cunt not dead yet?” I snarl.
“Nope.”
“Good. Dying is too good for that fucker.”
“I know. Erin told me he doesn’t have long left though.”
“Erin’s been there a lot lately.”
“What the fuck does that mean, Conor?” he snaps.
“Just an observation. I’d hate for you to get sucked into any of her shit, that’s all. That woman is fucking dangerous.”
“I’m pretty sure I can handle her. Besides, she’s just dealing with some paperwork for me. That deal I told you about back in Ireland is almost done.”
“Good,” I nod my head. He’s about to make us a fortune selling some old family property.
“Look after her, Conor. And if she sees that guy again, or you sense anything untoward going on, call me and we’ll come meet you both.”
“I will. Thanks. But I’m sure everything is going to be fine, and we’ll see you tomorrow night.”
After I finish the call to Shane, I slip back into bed and Jessie stirs beside me. “Where have you been?” she whispers as she cuddles back into me.
“I just called Shane.”
“Why? Is something wrong?” she sits up.
“No,” I reach out and tuck her hair behind her ear. “I wanted to tell him what happened today, that’s all. Just in case he’d heard anything about the Wolf being active again.”
“And has he?”
“No. He would have told me if he had. I just wanted to speak to him, I suppose. I was worried about you.”
She lies down again, resting her head on her elbow. “I have to tell you something, Conor,” she whispers and my heart constricts in my chest.
“What, Angel?”
“When I saw him today, or thought I saw him, I thought about what Alexei said to me. About you and your brothers wanting to hand me over to him…” she chokes back a sob and doesn’t finish the sentence.
That fucking hurts. But, I suppose I can’t blame her. I don’t think anyone in Jessie’s life has ever been completely straight with her. Even her parents lied to her, and although I completely get their reasons why, I guess that leaves a mark. I have always had my brothers, and their honesty and respect means the world to me. Jessie didn’t have that for so long, I guess she’s forgotten what it feels like to know without a doubt that someone will always have your back, no matter what.
I turn on my side so I’m facing her and brush the back of my knuckles over her cheek. “What is it going to take for you to trust me, Angel?”
“I do trust you, Conor. It was just for a second. I was terrified. I know you would never hurt me,” she whispers.
I roll on top of her, taking hold of her wrists and pinning them to the side of her head. “You do?”
“Yes,” she breathes.
“Then show me, Angel.”
“How?”
I release her hands and reach down to the edge of her tank top, pulling it up her body, I stop when I reach her neck and pull her arms out. Then I roll it up over her face until it rests over her eyes. “Don’t move,” I whisper in her ear, and her body shivers beneath me. Pushing myself up from the bed, I go to my bag and take out the duct tape I always carry. It comes in handy in my profession when you never know when you might need to tie someone up and throw them in the trunk of your car.
I pull the end of the tape and the distinctive sound makes her flinch slightly. “What’s that?” she breathes.
“You know what it is, Angel.”
“What are you going to do with it?”
I kneel on the bed and take hold of her hands, pulling them down by her sides. “What do you think?”
She bites on her lower lip in that adorable way that makes me want to eat her alive, but she doesn’t ask me to stop. Maybe this is a shitty thing to do after what she told me the Wolf did to her, but I can’t think of a more effective or quicker way to prove to her she can trust me.
I peel off some tape and tear off a huge strip with my teeth. “Bring your knees up, Angel. I want you to hold your ankles,” I instruct and she does so without question. Her body trembles as I tape her left wrist to her left ankle. Her breathing gets heavier and I can see her breasts rising and falling with each deep breath she takes. Tearing off some more tape, I do the same to her right side, until she is bound tight and unable to move her limbs. I get off the bed again and walk back to my bag.
“Conor,” she whispers.
“I’m right here,” I tell her as I take the large knife from the zip inside my bag and walk back towards her. Climbing onto the bed, I kneel between her spread thighs. “I forgot to take off your panties, Angel.”
“I know.”
I place the tip of the blade between her breasts and she shudders as I run it down over her stomach. As the blade gets lower, she writhes beneath it.
“Conor!” she groans my name this time, and the sound makes my cock throb.
“You look beautiful lying here spread open and bound for me,” I growl as I slide the edge of the knife beneath the band of her underwear. “Don’t move, Angel,” I remind her as I take hold of her panties with my free hand and slice through the band of cotton at either side, near her hipbones, until they fall apart and expose her beautiful pink pussy to me. Dipping my finger inside her, I stifle a groan as I find her wet for me. “Dammit, Jessie. You’re soaking already.”
Her thighs tremble as I pump my finger in and out of her pussy and she moans softly for me as I add a second. I put the knife on the nightstand and run my hand up the inside of her thigh, rubbing two fingers over her swollen clit while I keep finger fucking her with my other hand. She gets wetter with each passing second, soaking my fingers with her cum until the sound of her wet heat is echoing around the room and I am so fucking hard, I feel like I could come just from touching her.
“You love my fingers inside you, don’t you, Angel?” I growl.
“Yes,” she pants.
“You want more?” I add a third finger before she can even reply, stretching her wide for me, and her hips almost shoot off the bed.
“I love you, Conor,” she moans loudly, and it completely undoes me. I slide my fingers out of her pussy and lie between her thighs, pressing my cock against her slick entrance.
“I love you too, Angel,” I breathe before sealing my mouth over hers as I drive my cock deep inside her. I swallow her moans with my own as I fuck us both to the release we need. She shudders beneath me when she comes, her entire body moving because her limbs are pinned to it. I look at her, completely at my mercy and completely mine, and feel like my heart might burst out of my chest. I love this woman so much it fucking hurts.
“Conor,” she whimpers when I let her up for air. I pull her tank top from her eyes and over her head so she can see again.
“Hey, you,” I smile at her.
“Hey,” she breathes.
“You okay?”
“Yes,” she smiles back at me.
“You want me to untie you, Angel?”
“Yes, please.”
I place a soft kiss on her lips as I pull my cock out of her and grab my knife again. Then I move down the bed, planting a kiss on her pussy before I cut through the tape on her wrists and ankles.
“Ow,” she says as I gently peel off the first piece. “I knew I’d get you to punish me eventually,” she giggles.
“Jessie!” I warn her as I nip her inner thigh. “This isn’t a punishment, Angel. This is me not thinking through my plan thoroughly enough. I forgot how hard this stuff is to get off. I don’t usually have to be so considerate when I’m removing it.”
“Just pull it off quickly, Conor,” she groans. “It’s like ripping a band aid. The slower you do it, the more it hurts.”
I pull her skin taut and pull the tape quickly and she winces. Rubbing the reddened skin, I look up at her, but she is smiling at me. I do the same to her other side and she stretches her limbs when she is free.
I move back up the bed towards her and pull her into my arms.
“Why do you have duct tape in your bag, Conor? Were you planning on kidnapping me if I didn’t come with you voluntarily?” she asks with a grin.
I suck on my lip, as though I’m deep in thought, and she pushes me playfully on the chest. “I was never intending to use it on you, Angel. But if you’d refused to come with me, I might have tied you up with your own panties and driven you back to New York.”
“My panties?” she raises one eyebrow at me.
“Yes.”
“So, the duct tape?”
“You’d be surprised by how often it comes in useful,” I shrug.
“And not just duct tape. Did you cut off my panties with a knife, Conor Ryan?”
“I did,” I grin at her.
“You’re a devil,” she laughs and the sound makes me so fucking happy.
“I never pretended to be anything else, Angel.”
“So, did I prove how much I trust you then?” she asks from beneath her long lashes as she looks down.
I cup her chin and tilt her face so I can look into those incredible blue eyes. “Yes,” I reply and then I press my lips against hers and kiss her and she melts into me, her fingers curling in my hair as she presses her hot body against mine. As she lifts her leg and hooks it over mine to pull me even closer to her, I slide my hand to her ass and think I might just be the happiest man in the whole fucking world.
