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“I need new books and a new schedule and study guide. I have an exam on Thursday that I need to study for and that was destroyed by whomever ransacked my apartment. You had no right doing that.”
He closed the space between them in no time at all. He pulled her into his arms, she gasped for breath, and he squeezed her to him.
“Fuck!” He growled as he lifted her up so that she was forced to straddle his waist.
She knew something was terribly wrong. They were all on edge, obviously, but Jameson had disappeared for a while, saying he had phone calls to make and Jax still hadn’t returned from her apartment. She was worried, and they were both uptight.
Mariana pulled back and cupped Jameson’s face between her hands. “What is it? What’s going on?”
She could practically see the struggle going on in his eyes and facial expression. He was worried.
“Baby, I just can’t get the images out of my head. The words on the wall, the knife in the damn pillow. What if you left last night and went back there without us?”
She hadn’t even thought about that. She was still trying to recover from Ellington’s assault.
“I didn’t even think about that, Jameson. Don’t make yourself crazy worrying about the things that could have happened. I was here with you and Jax. I was safe.”
He squeezed her tighter, and she felt his hand cup under her ass. She was so small compared to him. She felt feminine and delicate in his embrace.
“You’re staying here with us. This is your home now,” he said through clenched teeth. This wasn’t the type of invite she would hope for if she was going to take a chance on this type of relationship. She took an unsteady breath.
“I don’t have anywhere else to go. I was barely paying the rent there.”
“Remember, we took care of your bills. There aren’t any more. Look at this as a fresh start. Jax and I want to take care of you. We want you here with us.”
She thought about his words and how it felt to be in his arms.
“I don’t really know you at all.”
He moved toward the couch and sat down, with her still in his arms and straddling his waist.
“What do you want to know?”
“Do you have a family, or parents?”
“No. But we do have some close friends of ours we were in the Marines with. They live outside of the city. They actually own a really cool restaurant and bar with their fathers.”
“What’s it called?”
“Casper’s. It’s really nice and they have a bunch of pictures from boot camp and other places they were stationed. Their dads were in the military as well.”
“Dads? You mean like more than one? How can that be?”
He ran the palms of his hands up and down her thighs. Despite the jean material she felt the warmth penetrate right through to her skin.
“Baby, they’re a family. John Luke, Jasper, and Davie married Eve and they had three sons, our buddies, Garrett, Gunner, and Wes. Maybe we’ll take a trip out there this weekend. We have a house about twenty minutes from Casper’s. It’s on a nice parcel of land. It’s really beautiful and peaceful there.”
“You own this penthouse and a house with land?” she asked.
He smiled at her. “We’ve worked really hard for our money, baby. I invented that panic button plus a bunch of other things that help soldiers in combat and spies,” he teased as he squeezed her hips then pulled her close and kissed her. At least she thought he was teasing.
“How long were you in the military?”
He got awfully quiet as he caressed her hair away from her face and kept his hand on her shoulder and against her neck. Once again, his hold was possessive. It seemed both brothers liked to hold her in ways that made her feel cherished yet also sexy.
“I was in for a little under fourteen years.”
“Fourteen years? How old were you when you enlisted? How old are you now?”
