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That sexy smirk I was becoming addicted to, played on his lips. “I was hoping you’d say that.”
He dragged my chair along the polished wood floors until I was seated alongside him. In one quick move he picked me up and twisted me until I was straddling his lap. His forefinger caught under my chin and he lifted my face until my eyes met his. “You have the most beautiful eyes. From far, they look turquoise but they’re actually blue with green bits in them.” He kissed my nose. “Your nose is adorable especially when you scrunch it when you’re thinking about something. And your smile lights up the world.”
His words were simple, but he sounded as if he were memorizing my features, memorizing me.
I held his face in my palms. He didn’t have a full beard, but he clearly hadn’t shaved in a day or two. The scruff prickled my palms. “You’re not too bad yourself, Noah, with those soulful brown eyes and gold flecks. A girl could get lost just staring into them.”
“Stare as much as you want, babe.”
He lifted the shirt over my head and lowered his mouth to my breast. His tongue swiped over my nipple and the sensation shot straight to my core.
My head fell back and I savored what he was doing. “Noah, I need you.”
I had never been one to beg in the bedroom. In my limited experience, there was just never any need to be that desperate. Noah made me desperate. He made me want things that were just impossible. I intended to get my fill of him before he walked out of my life. There was just no other way.
“Grab the condoms on the counter behind me, babe.” He used his free hand to unbutton his jeans and freed his erection. “I want you to ride me right here, right now.”
I grabbed the condoms. We had used one each time we came together and several more over the twenty-four hours that followed. Not once had he entered me unprotected. Which was why eight weeks later I was shocked to find myself with two missed periods and two pink lines. I was pregnant and had no idea how to contact the father of my baby.
3
NOAH
PRESENT DAY
Company Family Day.That’s what Nick Salinger called it. Like, somehow, that made it more inviting. I had been at Hope’s Haven for just over a month and I was ready to bolt. Everyone was perfectly nice. Actually, Mrs. Salinger, the owner of the healing B&B was more than nice. Yes, she was sweet most of the time, but she could also be sassy. Like, when I’d refused to get out of bed to go to therapy. She made some excuse about why she needed to change the bedding, or she got her husband to come in and fix something. She would not allow me to wallow.
Like the baby monitor she kept in my room. She warned me she was doing it and had politely asked me to not switch it off. I didn’t have the heart to disagree with her.
As it turned out, she never asked how I slept, and she never mentioned my nightmares. I just knew on the nights I had them, no one interrupted me, and she served me breakfast in bed the morning after.
I owed that woman a debt of gratitude. For one thing, if any of the guests had interrupted me during a nightmare, I could’ve seriously hurt them. But she made sure that never happened and that I didn’t have to face anyone the morning after.
It was a helluva lot more than what my own mother did for me. No. My mother relied on nannies and then later lamented the fact that I didn’t follow the same career path as her or my dad. I had no doubt there would have been a litany ofI told you so’sif she’d discovered my trouble sleeping.
Heaven only knew what she would have to say about my inability to be around strangers or deal with crowds of people for too long. Avoiding my mother and the parade of people she surrounded herself with was the main reason I opted to stay at Hope’s Haven. After being in enemy hands for several weeks a year before, I went to therapy and thought I had dealt with my issues. Apparently not.
When me and my team were taken a few months ago, it took all I had not to fall back into that dark place. When the Salingers rescued me and it was apparent I was struggling, Nick sent me back to therapy, suggested I recover at Hope’s Haven and offered me a job. Since I was Ghost Ops and my time in the Marines was nearly up anyway, I accepted. Well, I accepted the offer of a place to recover. The job I was still iffy about.
The Salinger siblings ran a tactical training and security company. They had the best training facilities in the country. Besides having access to medical professionals, I was given time in their state-of-the-art gym, their pistol and rifle ranges and obstacles courses. They had more tactical training facilities that I would become familiar with soon, provided I accepted the job that Nick had offered me.
He’d mentioned something about a man needing to provide for more than just himself and refused to take no for an answer.
So there I was, standing barefoot with my faded jeans and dark blue T-shirt in front of a full-length mirror wondering how I was going to get out ofCompany Family Day. I wasn’t even properly employed yet, for fuck’s sake. Surely, he couldn’t force me to go?
A knock at my bedroom door pulled me from my thoughts and before I could answer Nick walked in. “Hey.” He looked down at my feet. “You’re going to need shoes. We usually end up playing some sort of game.”
“You know.” I tried my best to scowl at him. Nick and his team were among the few people who were not intimidated by me, though. “It’s customary to wait to be invited in after you knock.”
“Get used to it.” Nick rolled his eyes. “And if you’re going to get busy in your office, lock the damn door. I’ve walked in on both Mason and Oliver with their women. My eyes will never recover.”
“I’m thinking you deserved the trauma and cost of therapy.”
He shook his head and sat on the bed that had miraculously been made while I’d been at breakfast that morning. My room at the B&B wasn’t the biggest. But it was enough for a king size bed, a dresser, and a desk and chair. Nick leaned his forearms on his thighs and pierced his stare at me.This can’t be good.
“Look, I need you to know that I’ve seen your file and probably know more about you than I should.”
“Because Jared is good at what he does?”
