Page 7 of Furious Protector (Ruthless Guardians #4)

Beckett

J ules looks up at me with those deep blue eyes, this time filled with something other than flirty invitation. There’s a vulnerability but also a resolve that she doesn’t want me to see. She turns to the sink, helping Lacy wash vegetables while Patti grabs a few pizzas from the freezer.

She’s been hurt, scared and fearful, but it’s clear she’s had enough of being on the receiving end of what these douchebags want to deal. I slide in next to her and Lacy takes the hint, drying her hands on the towel, nudging Patti towards the door, and giving me a conspiratorial wink.

I take the vegetables as Jules washes them and pat them dry before cutting them on the big white board next to me. I lean over while she’s washing some broccoli and hold a piece of cauliflower that I’ve smothered with dip. “Open.”

Her big expressive eyes meet mine with shyness that causes my cock to shift. “You need to eat, darling.” She leans forward and takes the floret from my fingers, the warmth of her lips caressing my skin.

She chews and then swallows daintily. “So, I’m stuck with you?”

The little darling makes me grin because damn she’s cute. I’m here to protect her as much as get to the bottom of this situation, and the only way to do that is to be with her 24-7. “Yes, you’re stuck with me, like it or not.”

Her eyes roll slightly upward, but there’s a little tilt to her lips that lets me know she’s not as immune to me as she’d like me to think.

Jules scoops some vegetables and dip onto a small plate and sets it between us. “This should hold us over until the pizza is done. My oven is old, it takes forever to heat but it was my gramma’s. I hate the idea of replacing it,” she states, taking the tray of vegetables out to the others.

Lacy and Garrett are moving furniture back into place. “Hold up, there’s some glass shards way over here.” I grab a broom and start sweeping up the glass while the others finish pushing the furniture that got tossed around in the scuffle back into place.

Lacy swipes her hands on her jeans when we’re done and grabs a carrot from the tray on the table. “I was going to have a whiskey, but I better keep my wits about me if those fuckers are coming back. Water for me tonight.”

Jules walks into the living room with Patti and overhears her. “I’ve got some bottled water out in the garage, I’ll grab it.”

“I’ve got it,” I tell her, heading back toward the kitchen to go out to the garage. Not that I think anyone is hiding out, but still, she’s not out of my sight until this trouble with the townspeople and the Chicago Crime Family ends. Even if it’s in her own garage.

PJ laughs as I walk back into the living room, my arms full of bottled water.

I missed the first part of the conversation, but it seems to have helped break the gloom.

PJ pats Jules on the back. “Unlike Jules here, Lacy will fill them full of buckshot if they step a foot into her house. No lamp needed.”

Lacy turns from what she’s doing. “Damn straight I will. I’ve dealt with these fuckers before, and I’ll show them just how good of a shot I am. They’ll be running down the street with their asses on fire before I’m through.”

Jules’ face falls, and she quietly turns to head off to the kitchen alone. I follow her with two of the waters and set hers on the counter, waiting for her to turn around from the stove. I wait patiently, because she doesn’t need to see me to feel me.

“Jules?”

Her shoulders shudder slightly, and my chest tightens knowing this night has been more emotional for her then she’s letting on. I touch her on the shoulder lightly, turning her to face me. “What’s the matter, darling?”

Her shiny eyes look up at me, and the realization hits me. I may have been captured by the way she looks in those tight-fitting jeans, but there’s something far more than physical attraction zipping between the two of us, a chemistry that’s different than anything I’ve felt before.

She averts her eyes as though suddenly embarrassed at our nearness or something else, and I don’t know which.

I tilt her chin up, so she has no choice but to look into my eyes, and ask her again. “What’s the matter, darling?”

She sniffs, fighting tears that threaten to flood her lovely eyes.

“Lacy is right. She would have been prepared and been strong enough to fight them off on her own. She wouldn’t have let some prick put something in her drink.

She wouldn’t have let her guard down, and allowed it to happen, and if it did, she would have done just what she said and taken care of him herself.

She wouldn’t have needed her friends to rescue her at the mercy of that fucking asshole. ”

My chest tightens with unprecedented anger, but that’s not going to help Jules one little bit. She’s still blaming herself for what happened last year.

I stroke a finger down the soft creamy skin of her cheek.

“No one is going to hurt you. It is not your fault that Bobby Ray was able to slip something into your drink. They are trained and paid to do those things, and if he did it to you, he’s probably done it to others. There’s no way you could have known.”

She turns away from me and fumbles with the pizza wrapping before popping two pepperoni pies with the works into the oven.

When she turns around, she looks more resolved again.

“I just can’t help feeling stupid tonight.

All I could think of to grab to protect us was a lamp, like that was going to help. ”

I stroke a finger down her soft cheek. “Those guys were never going to get near you tonight, but we had to let them get inside the house in order to get them locked up, and force Eldridge to send in the others. I gave Patti a heads up on the way home, but you fell asleep. I’m sorry I didn’t clue you in a little sooner.

If I had, you wouldn’t have been in that position. I’m the one at fault here.”

She sniffs. “Not your fault at all. I fell asleep. Not my finest night. Thanks for protecting us, and for staying. It means a lot. I’m just a little on pins and needles.”

“Don’t worry, Jules. We have the upper hand now. The Larussio boys will be here shortly, and they’ll take care of the ones coming while we take care of you. Okay?”

Her baby blues are still glassy with emotion but also reveal a little bit of mischievousness that I’d like to get to know a whole lot more. Then her lips turn up into a sweet smile, all for me. “I feel like I should say sorry that you got stuck with me, but I don’t really mean it.”

I smirk. “Are you flirting with me, Jules?”

She flashes those blue eyes at me. “Maybe.”

I snake my hand beneath her hair, fighting the desire to kiss her right here and now. Instead, I lean down and whisper in her ear. “Darling, you save that flirting for when you haven’t had too much to drink.”

She rubs a bare foot into the plush green kitchen rug. “I do need to eat. My head is sort of still spinning. It’s the tequila too though. I swear that stuff messes with you, it’s so much different than a light beer.”

I push back a strand of her silky hair and tuck it behind her ear just as the oven light comes on. “That it does. Why don’t you go shower up for the night. I’ll get the pizzas done, and we can eat before everyone heads out for the night.”

Her eyes widen. “Everyone is leaving?”

“Hey.” I tilt her chin and meet her gaze. “They are, I’m not. I won’t leave you. But go get ready now while everyone is still here.”

She gives me a coy smile. “You don’t trust yourself with a naked woman in the next room? Should I be worried about my virtue?” She pauses a moment as if deciding to say it. “Or maybe I’m just imagining the heat between the two of us?”

I smirk, grasping her hands and walking her back to the wall of the kitchen, caging her to the wall. She looks up at me with not a fear in the world, all aglow with those bedroom eyes that make me want to toss her over my shoulder and cart her to bed.

Business with pleasure is usually a no, a hard no, but with her it’s just simply a hell yes. But not until she’s a hundred percent on her game. I let my breath brush over the sensitive shell of her ear. “If you flirt with me tomorrow, I’m going to show you just how hot it can get, darling.”

Her sharp little intake of breath and the rapidly beating pulse on the side of her neck tell me everything that I need to know.

She is as affected by me as I am by her.

No matter that I don’t do relationships, that I don’t usually mix business with pleasure, and definitely no matter that I am not on the market for anything other than a toss in the hay.

It’s a physical attraction, that’s all. A chemistry between two people that spark, it happens in life. That’s what this is, nothing more.

I’ve almost convinced myself of that when her arms wrap around my neck, pulling my head down so close to her lips that I could easily touch them with my own. “I love that you’re such a hardass and gentleman at the same time. Thank you, Beckett.”

With that she unwraps herself and slips from the cage I’ve made from my arms, and walks out of the kitchen, leaving me to ponder the emotions clamoring in my chest.

This can’t be happening. I don’t do relationships, and that’s a known fact. Yet, with her, maybe I could give it a try. If it weren’t for the fact that she is a hometown girl, probably just looking for a way out and someone who will protect her from it all.

I would do well to remember everything that’s happened, keep this runaway attraction in check because there’s no way I’m going through heartbreak again, and the easiest way to avoid that is to stay detached.

Cool, aloof, and no strings attached.

But yet, keeping Jules protected from everyone but me is the only thing on my mind.