Babysitting a Billionaire 3 : Taking Control(38)

Her spine stiffened, her jaw clenched. "No way."

The gate opened, and they were teetering on the edge. The ground looked a long, long way away. He felt a flash of fear and grinned. At least he wasn't bored. Maybe Jess didn't fit into his world, but she certainly made it a brighter place.

"Oh. My. God."

She clung to him like her life depended on it. He liked the feeling.

"You want a push?" the bungee guy asked. "Or are you going to jump?"

"We'll jump," he said.

Pulling her even closer, he stared out at the view, the world laid out before him, Jess in his arms. His gut churned; his adrenaline spiked. "You ready?" He felt the slightest nod against him. 

Taking a last deep breath, he leaped out into open space. Then he was diving head first toward the Earth. Jess's arms tightened around him, her fingers digging into the skin at his waist, her scream muffled in the curve where his neck met his shoulder. And in that moment, free-falling through the sky, the hard ground racing toward him, he knew he didn't want to ever let her go.

He had a split second to brace himself for the jolt, but it never came. The deceleration was smooth, and then they were rising again.

Bouncing on the end of a rope, his woman in his arms, it occurred it him that life with Jess would never be boring.

She thought they were getting each other out of their systems. She was wrong. He just had to work out the right time and place to explain that to her.

Finally, they stopped moving, someone grabbed his shoulders and lowered him to the ground. Jess wriggled free. Her face was white, and he leaned toward her and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "That was fun. You want to go again?"

She curled her lip in a snarl. "Bugger off."

Chapter Ten

Declan had changed after the jump. There had been something in his eyes she couldn't recognize, but it had made her twitch. Determination? But what was he determined to do?

Anyway, it made her nervous, but not enough to stop seeing him. Rather it had made her more desperate to get as much as she possibly could of him before everything went to shit.

It was five days since the jump, and they'd had sex every one of those days. Lots of sex. Quick sex, slow sex, at his office, in his apartment. She couldn't keep her hands off him. Though she refused to spend the night, which he said was a pain because he wanted early morning sex with her all sleepy and tousled.

But that was getting into dangerous territory.

She needed to get a little distance, but more than that, she needed to prove to herself that she could control this thing between them. Because there was something between them. Even if it was only sex, it was there. Drawing them together.

All the time in his presence she sensed him watching her, wanting her. It made her body twitch with need, until her dreams were filled with Declan and each morning she awoke, hot, bothered, restless, and ready for more sex.

Now, watching him across the room, cool, remote, businesslike, she decided she was worrying too much. In just over a week, the court case would start. After that, presumably Declan would no longer need protection. And there would be no reason for them to ever see each other again.

She hated the shaft of pain that pierced her at the thought.

Looking away, her gaze clashed with Jake, who watched her, his brows drawn together as though he were picking away at a particularly interesting puzzle.

They were in a meeting, this time in Jake's office. Jake had wanted to meet their newest client. No doubt he'd been listening to office gossip.

The two men had sized each other up, then shook hands, one of those testosterone-fueled handshakes that always looked like they'd result in broken fingers. But she got the feeling that Jake respected Declan, and it took a lot to impress her boss.

Dave and Steve were also present. The guys were all seated, but Jess was too restless and she paced the room, listening while Jake outlined a plan for drawing out Declan's attackers. For the first time, it occurred to her that there was actually danger involved. That there was a small chance they would get to Declan, maybe hurt him, even kill him. These guys were serious. Something unexpected and almost unidentifiable twisted inside her.

She was afraid. Not the adrenaline-inducing fear of the bungee jump, but something much darker. Plonking herself down on the edge of the sofa, she tried to get a grip on her fear.




 

 

"You okay, Jess?" Jake asked.

She rubbed the spot above the bridge of her nose as she thought about her answer. She suspected the correct response was "no." She was pretty sure she was not okay. Instead, she tried to give a casual shrug. "Just having second thoughts. I'm not sure we should be playing around with these guys."

"And have you an alternate suggestion?" Jake asked.