Page 26

CHAPTER ELEVEN

ICEMAN

I stood, legs planted a foot apart, and my arms folded across my chest, staring at the fucknut on the ground, hog-tied to within an inch of his life.

My lips twitched like a motherfucker as I listened to the cop rip him a new asshole like he was twelve years old and had just been caught stealing a candy bar.

“So,” one of the cops, who had turned up, drawled. “You thought it was a good idea to come to the home of a celebrity at ten o’clock at night to serve her bodyguard with a complaint and a summons?”

“It’s my job,” a tight voice said from the direction of the floor.

The cop jerked his chin toward me. “And it’s his job to hog-tie intruders who creep around his client’s house like they’re gearing up to rob the joint.

Do you see my dilemma?” He shook his head exasperatedly.

“You’re lucky he didn’t fill your ass with bullets.

Did you know the owner of this house is currently being stalked, and everybody’s on high alert? ”

“Well. No,” the guy muttered, his face flushing red.

The cop looked at his partner and shook his head again, his lips thinning. “Can you believe this clown? ”

I rolled my lips together to stop myself from barking a laugh.

“Look, I’m just tryin’a do my job,” the asshole whined. “The law firm offered me two hundred bucks to serve this dude. You know the law’s on my side here.”

The second cop’s eyes narrowed. “What we know is that your job is to walk up the front path and ring the bell. You went around the back and were looking in all the goddamned windows without a doorbell chime to be heard. What were you thinking?”

The dude lowered his gaze, his face reddening so much it almost turned purple, and he mumbled, “I dunno.”

The cop glowered. “If you don’t start being straight with me, I’ll keep those zip ties on you, haul you down the station, and book you for trespassing.”

The guy shot me a glare. “Alright, alright. I just wanted to see Saint, okay?”

My head reared back. “Are you a pervert?”

“No!” he cried. “I’m a huge fan. That’s why I took this job on. I thought I might be able to get her autograph and maybe a picture. Could you put a word in for me, man?”

I scraped a hand down my face. “Jesus Christ. I could’ve damned well killed you.

Saint had to lock herself in her room, scared out of her wits because some imbecile decided to creep around her pad at night, uninvited, and you think she’s gonna be all smiles while she poses for pictures?

” My voice rose an octave. “You must be out of your goddamned mind!”

“Well, when you put it like that...” His words trailed off, and he had the good grace to lower his gaze, looking decidedly ashamed of himself.

One of the cops rolled his eyes and hooked his eyebrow at me.

“We can arrest him for trespassing. There’s enough video evidence to throw the book at him and make sure he thinks twice the next time he wants to perv on someone famous.

If we do it that way, we’ll need you and Ms. McClure to come down to the station and give statements, and it’ll take up most of your night.

Alternatively, we can drag him out of here and tell him he’s not to come within ten feet of you or your client.

That way, he can’t serve you papers, and he’ll have to go on his sweet way.

And if he tries anything else, I give you my word that I’ll lock him in a cell and forget he’s there for a week or two. ”

“Wait here,” I muttered, turning and prowling into the next room where Saint stood watching and listening. As soon as the cops arrived and read the guy his rights, I went upstairs to tell her everything was okay and to stop her worrying about what the fuck was happening downstairs.

The minute I spotted the guy peering into the windows from the video surveillance on my phone, I could tell he was no threat.

Still, I wasn’t about to take any chances with Saint’s safety, and not only because I was assigned to protect her, but after the week we’d had together, she was also my woman, and no fucker touched my woman but me.

I walked into the kitchen and immediately saw Saint pacing by the door wearing denim shorts and her little bitty titty top. She didn’t have a scrap of makeup on, and she still had sex hair from earlier when I gave her my cock and made her come good and hard all over me.

She was stunning.

Her azure-blue eyes slid to meet mine, and she beamed a smile that lit up every dark crevice inside me that Allie left when she died.

Good God above.

Beautiful .

“He’s a dick,” she announced, jerking her thumb toward the family room where I’d dragged the perp across the floor by the hair after hog-tying him.

“I know,” I concurred. “But is he enough of a dick to make you press charges?”

“Probably not. Tell that asshole if he serves you because you pushed some prick who tried to upskirt me, I’ll get him thrown in jail so quickly his head will spin. I’ll also personally visit the prison they send him to and hire a burly fucker called Big Al to make him his bitch.”

I threw my head back and laughed.

Saint’s eyes turned molten, and she whispered, “God, you’re fucking beautiful.”

I prowled toward her, wrapped my hand around the back of her neck, and gazed down into her pretty face. “Funny that. I was just thinkin’ the same thing about you.”

“I can’t believe our sex day was ruined by that twat,” she grumbled.

I grinned. “Sex day?”

“Well. Yeah. Do you know how often I get enough time off to stay in bed all day with a hot bodyguard?”

I hitched an eyebrow. “Never before now, I hope.”

“Exactly,” she murmured, going up onto her toes and planting a soft kiss on my lips.

“You sure you don’t want him charged?” I asked. “There’s enough to get him locked up.”

She heaved out a frustrated breath. “No, just tell the bastard never to come near me again.”

I nodded, already mentally making plans to arrange for a few of the guys to fly out so we could dish out our own brand of justice. It would be hard for the dickwad to annoy my woman again if he had two broken legs.

I gave her nape a gentle squeeze and then released her, turning back for the door. “Okay, baby. Have it your way. ”

As I got to the threshold, my girl’s melodic voice called out, “Thank you for looking after me, Jacob.”

My heart swelled so big, it beat against my ribcage.

I craned my neck, locked eyes with my woman, and knew in that instant she was it for me.

We’d been together a week, and I knew she was always meant to be mine, the same way I knew our week would lead to another, then three, and eventually forever.

Everything that had happened since Allie died had led me to her, and I was done fucking around.

God only knew how we were gonna work it out, but Saint McClure was gonna be my woman, my ol’ lady, and one day soon, she’d be my wife.

I was gonna plant babies in her and watch her nurture them.

I was gonna comfort her when we took our oldest kid to their first day at school, then later wipe her tears away when we watched them graduate from college.

I’d wipe more tears when one day they married the loves of their lives, then again when we held their babies for the first time on the day they made us grandparents.

I was gonna live a full and happy life with Saint McClure—soon-to-be Irons—even if it meant I had to sacrifice everything to do it.

—————

Leaning back on the lounger, I cocked my knee, looked up at the stars, and muttered down the phone, “Found my one, brother.”

Shocked silence ensued.

I grinned because I knew it was the last thing Hendrix expected to hear me tell him, but I had no fucks to give, and I also didn’t give the first shit about his opinion or his judgment .

“Fuck me,” Drix breathed. “Can’t leave you alone for a fuckin’ week.

” He sighed. “Colt likes her. He thought she was cute when they spoke. He liked that she kept a clear head, and he especially liked how much she worried about you. Dunno how professional it is that you do a job and end up with your dick in the client, but I can’t lie; I had an idea somethin’ like this would happen. ”

My mouth quirked. “Is that why you initially didn’t assign me?”

“No, Ice. My reasons were honest. But at the same time, I knew it could go either way with you two. Your reaction to her was so extreme that there had to be a reason why, and it didn’t take a genius to work out that you two would eventually either fight it out or fuck it out.

Then I thought, however it went down, at least you’d get your head straight, and you could finally move on.

” He paused briefly, and I knew he was building up to something. “You okay with the Allie guilt?”

“Yeah,” I assured him. “I think the birthday visit helped. It’s hard to feel guilty when even Allie’s folks are telling me it’s past time to find someone else. Also, I’ve had a fuck load’a time to come to terms with it. Knew Saint was the one two years ago when I first met her, Drix.”

“You’re a dick for leaving it then,” he muttered wryly.

I let out a quiet snort. “That’s a fuckin’ joke coming from you. The master of leaving shit alone.”

“Anna was married,” he said defensively.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “Because you ghosted her.”

“I fucked up royally,” he admitted. “My woman won’t marry me now. Says she’s done it twice, and everythin’ went sideways. She thinks gettin’ married will jinx what we have. ”

I shrugged. “If you’re happy, you don’t need a ring.”

“Same goes for you, Ice. You don’t need a ring either.”

I snorted again. “Fuck that. I’m getting my woman down the aisle ASAP. Sucks to be you.”

Hendrix laughed softly. “Happy for ya, Jake.”

His words made my gut warm. “Thanks, Jimmy. Happy for you, too.” I cleared the emotion from my throat. “How’s the club? Are we missing much?”

“Nah,” Drix stated. “Everythin’s quiet. My worries lie with the men more than the jobs.”

“Don’t tell me... Fender?”

“Yeah,” he admitted. “And Blade.”

My ears pricked up at that. “What’s Veep done?”