Page 11

Chapter

Six

“I feel like I've had a permanent headache the last few days,” Alannah said with a ragged sigh as Jake unlocked his front door and guided her inside.

She was dead on her feet, that was the problem. What little energy she’d managed to recoup after sleeping fairly well last night had been zapped by an exhausting day of dealing with insurance and contractors, and then this third fire had destroyed what was left.

What she needed was to be somewhere safe.

What he needed was for her to be somewhere safe.

Risking losing her wasn't an option, which meant they needed to have some tough conversations. Since she’d been his best friend for so long, she knew Cassandra, had known Becca back when she was with Connor the first time, knew Essie and Gabriella, so going away with them shouldn’t be a problem for her.

At least on that front.

But his sunshine was stubborn and determined, and she took her responsibilities seriously. He was worried that even with the danger, she wouldn't walk away from her business.

It wasn't that he didn't get that because he totally did. That gym was her baby, and she’d worked hard to build it up. If she had to close it down for any extended period of time, she might not be able to recover.

There was no way he could force her to make that decision, take her livelihood from her. If she insisted on staying, he would hire as much security as was needed to keep her safe and protected.

Unfortunately, with a firebug on her trail, that would be a whole lot harder to do.

Any building could be set alight, and while so far whoever their pyromaniac stalker was seemed to be making sure no one else was hurt, that didn't mean it would last forever.

“You need a shower and food,” he told her, locking up the door behind them and then nudging her toward the stairs. “Go up and take a shower, and I’ll order some takeout.”

A long sigh rumbled from her lips. “Yeah, guess you're right. Shower, food, and sleep will help.” Turning to look up at him over her shoulder, she quirked one side of her mouth up into something that vaguely resembled a smile. “At least the cops no longer seem to think I'm the one starting fires.”

“With witnesses to two of the three fires saying you didn't do it, it would be hard for them to insist otherwise. And since in two of the three fires you almost died, I think it would be a stretch to believe you paid someone to set them.”

While he knew Alannah was upset about the police hinting at her involvement, in his mind they had way bigger problems than that. Something he suspected she knew, too, but that was an easier problem to focus on when she didn't want to truly consider how much danger she was in.

“Shower,” he ordered gently, giving her another nudge toward the stairs. “Sorry you're not getting the lasagna you were craving. I’ll order pizza from your favorite place, and they have those brownies that you love, too.”

Stopping partway up the stairs, she looked down at him, a genuine smile on her face this time. “Cheesy pizza and gooey brownies. Might not be my homemade lasagna but dee-lish-us.”

“Delicious,” he mumbled his agreement as she ran up the last of the stairs. Why was he thinking about how delicious it would be to trail his tongue over every inch of Alannah’s creamy, soft skin?

Had to be the stress of the last few days and how many times he’d come close to losing her.

Anything else would be totally inappropriate.

Putting in a call for their dinner, he hurried upstairs to his room. While neither of them were smoky this time around, the little firebomb had quickly fizzled out when it had nothing else to catch alight, he still couldn’t seem to get the smell of smoke out of his nostrils.

The phantom scent seemed to linger in the air everywhere he went, and he knew it was a psychological response to what had happened and not a physiological one.

Still, when he stripped off and stepped into the shower in his bathroom, letting the hot water pound down on his stiff muscles, he scrubbed every inch of his body as vigorously as he had after the fire at Alannah’s gym.

Thoughts of his best friend had another part of his anatomy going stiff. Jake glanced down at his hardening length. Wrong as it was to be lusting after a woman who had been through what Alannah just had, not even counting the fact that she was his friend, he couldn’t seem to stop himself.

Images of her naked in the other shower, water running in rivulets along her petal soft skin, her head tilted back to get the full impact of the spray, a loofah running over every inch of her body, filled his head.

Would she think of him when the loofah brushed between her legs?

Jake groaned and leaned forward to rest his forehead against the warming tiles. What the hell was wrong with him? Why was he all of a sudden lusting after Alannah? It was crazy, and stupid, and oh so very wrong.

Yet his hand grasped his length anyway.

Began to stroke it.

Alannah’s voice echoed in his ears, calling out his name, begging him for more, pleading with him to make her come so hard she forgot her own name.

His hand moved faster, pumping up and down with an urgency he hadn't felt in a long time.

Pleasure built quickly. With everything he’d had going on with his family these last few months, sex and orgasms hadn't even registered on the periphery of his mind.

This orgasm came blasting through him with a rush.

Squirting all over the tiles as white dots danced behind his closed lids, Jake was hit with a powerful desire to mark Alannah just like that. Cover her with cum and make her … his?

That was crazy.

This couldn’t happen again.

Ashamed of himself for his inappropriate thoughts about his best friend, Jake quickly shut off the water and stepped out of the shower.

Alannah didn't see him like that, and honestly, before the fire he hadn't seen her that way either. He’d never gotten himself off to thoughts of her body writhing beneath him, and he’d never come so hard imagining her orgasm setting off his own.

Just as he was wrapping a towel around his waist, he thought he heard someone knocking on the front door. The pizza couldn’t be here already, could it?

Walking into his bedroom, a quick glance at the clock on his nightstand told him he’d been in the shower for almost fifteen minutes.

Alannah had him so messed up he couldn’t even think straight, and she wasn't even trying to mess with his head.

She was just being herself, strong but vulnerable, tough yet fragile, and for some reason these last couple of days, that was hitting him differently.

Heading out into the hall, he almost walked straight into the woman herself.

“Jake, sorry,” she blurted out, but all he could do was stare at her.

Like himself, she was wrapped in a towel, only hers was tied around her chest, just above her breasts.

It hung to just below her backside, and she was using another towel to dry off her long blonde locks.

A few drops of water clung to her delicate shoulders, and he had to clamp his teeth together so he didn't reach out and capture them with the tip of his tongue.

It wasn't until he forced himself to tear his gaze away from her lithe, perfectly toned body and fix it back on her face where it should have been all along that he realized she wasn't looking at his face either.

Nope.

Her gaze was roaming his ripped chest, dipping lower and then latching onto where his length was hidden beneath the towel. Something bright danced in her golden eyes, and a faint blush on her cheeks let him know that she was aroused looking at his body.

Relief washed over him.

At least this craziness was affecting them both.

Another knock on his door had her gaze darting up to meet his, guilt in her eyes now, dampening a little of her desire.

“Umm, someone’s at the door,” she said somewhat lamely.

“Dinner.”

“Right. Dinner. I should … I should get dressed.” She said the words but didn't move, and it almost seemed like she didn't want to. Like cheesy pizza and gooey brownies were no longer on her mind.

“I should get the door.”

“Jake, wait.”

He froze at her words. Was she going to ask him to make love to her? If she did, would he say yes or no?

“You're only wearing a towel,” she reminded him.

Disappointment put a stop to his growing erection.

Of course she wasn't going to ask for sex. Only as he turned around to head back into his room to put on a pair of pants, he couldn’t miss the hungry look in Alannah’s eyes.

Or the way she blushed harder when he caught her staring and scurried away to the room she was staying in.

Something was changing between them, and he had no idea if it was what either of them wanted or just a result of the high stakes of the last few days. Or if these changes were going to be a good thing or a complete and utter disaster.

October 15 th

9:03 A.M.

“I wish I could walk outside without worrying someone is going to set a fire around me,” Alannah said with a shudder as she climbed out of Jake’s SUV.

Was this ever going to end?

Was her death the only thing that would stop it?

As much as she was trying to reassure herself with the facts that Cole and Susanna, Connor and Becca, and Cade, Gabriella, and Essie, were all alive and mostly in one piece—although all bearing scars, both physical and mental from their ordeals—it wasn't working.

They’d all survived, but she wasn't stupid enough to believe that was a guarantee that she would too.

Whoever this final man was who was desperate to stop the Charleston Holloway family from finding out his identity wasn't just suddenly going to give up and go away. He couldn’t. Not after everything he and the others had invested in keeping their secrets. If the truth came out, he’d be ruined.

This family was the only thing standing between him keeping whatever lifestyle he was accustomed to and winding up in prison for rape, for treason, for so many attempted murders she’d almost lost count.