Page 15

CHAPTER 15

“H ello?” Taschen said, hoping to hell this wasn’t a spammer calling.

“Uh. Yeah. This is Jack Gardner. I received a message online and was given this phone number.” The guy sounded jumpy as hell, putting Taschen on high alert.

“That’s right. I contacted you. Thanks for calling.”

“Sure. I checked out your place of work. You’re a bodyguard?”

The fact Jack had researched Backcountry was a good sign. This meant he probably wasn’t stupid, and if he’d taken the time to read Backcountry’s mission statement and team credentials, he’d likely be fucking impressed by the lineup of military men on board. “That’s right. Ex-military.”

Jack whistled. “I was shocked to hear about Yvette. You said she passed away?”

Taschen dropped his gaze to Sephie. She sat on the tabletop, her legs dangling over the edge, her hair mussed and her shirt askew. He’d give anything to say fuck all this shit and take her to bed.

Sephie leaned forward, her expression earnest and tense. He clicked the speaker button and held the phone between them.

“Yes, she was found this morning. My client and I were on our way to meet her and—Well, we found her.”

“Shit. That’s horrible. I just—I can’t believe it. First Pippa and now Yvette.” Real remorse dripped from his words.

“Sorry for your loss,” Taschen added.

“Thanks. Umm, but what does this have to do with me? I don’t see how I can be of any help.”

“It’s quite obvious these deaths aren’t what they seem. Yvette’s is most definitely being ruled a homicide, but Pippa’s is being painted as suicide. And that’s just bullshit.”

Silence.

“Someone’s hiding something. Something that both Pippa and Yvette had evidence of. Whoever is behind this is trying to erase everyone who can prove what they did. Which is where you come in.”

Jack sputtered.

Taschen’s senses heightened tenfold. “Listen. It’s not wise for us to speak about this anymore on the phone. Can we meet? I’m in Seattle.”

The guy dragged out a long breath. “I’m kinda outta town right now. I—”

“Look,” Taschen commanded, his patience growing thin. If this dick had any idea who was behind Pippa’s and Yvette’s deaths, Taschen needed to meet him. “People are being killed left and right. You worked on Sera and Me . Don’t you find it strange that two people from the same show were murdered?”

“Yeah, it’s messed up. But what about Seraphina Burgess? She’s probably a better person to speak with. She was close to both—”

“Ms. Burgess is unreachable. But Jack, you worked on that show. And I think you know something. Of course, if you don’t want to speak to me, maybe the FBI will—”

“No, no. I didn’t say that.” The panic in his voice vibrated the phone. “I’m on vacation right now but I’m returning home tomorrow. I’ll be passing through Seattle around lunchtime. How about we meet then?”

Taschen locked eyes with Sephie and grinned. “Perfect. Text me in the morning and we’ll figure out a meeting point in a public place. Coffee shop, maybe.”

“O-Okay. Yeah, that sounds good. Thanks.”

They disconnected.

Sephie’s eyes widened. “That was interesting.”

“What do you think? He sounded kinda guilty to me.”

She scrunched up the corner of her mouth, making her left eye crease. “I can’t say he sounds guilty. I don’t suspect he hurt either of them, but I get the feeling he’s hiding something.”

“That’s my thought, too. Will it bother you if I beat it out of him?”

She chuckled and rested her hand on his chest. “Kind of. But I hope it doesn’t come to that.”

“Toth and Rami would blast my ass if I beat someone up while on the job.”

“Then I guess you’d better not.” She leaned forward, and her warm, frosting-like scent surrounded him. His cock jumped with need.

He wanted to pick up where they’d left off before Jack’s call interrupted, but he needed to process shit, figure out how to handle the situation with Jack. It’d be best to speak to the guys for input. Finding Jack at all had been a huge leap in uncovering who was after Sephie.

Any misstep could not only screw up his job—it could also endanger her.

Which he couldn’t allow.

Kevin pattered across the kitchen to the back door, where he circled then whined. Taschen caught Sephie’s wrist just as her fingers started to trail down his chest. “How about we go for that walk? I need to text the guys and let them know what we found out, and Kevin could use a run.”

She batted her eyelashes. “That sounds nice. But... you didn’t get a turn.”

He kissed her hand. “When we go for round two, it won’t be on this damn table. And you’re gonna get several more turns before I do.”

Pink tinted her cheeks. “That sounds like it’ll take a while.”

He laughed. “More time than Kevin has, I’m afraid.”

“All right.” She sighed. “A walk. But later—”

He planted a kiss on her lips, making her gasp. “Don’t worry. I always come to collect.”

She slid off the table with a grin. “I could use the fresh air.”

“Great. I just have a couple of messages to send and we can go.”

While Sephie cleaned the kitchen, Taschen sent a text to Pearl asking her to find out about Yvette’s funeral, then sent another to the group chat, letting the guys know about Jack.

“Ready?” Sephie waited at the back door, Kevin’s leash latched to his collar. The dog squirmed in a comical circle.

Taschen chuckled and put on his shoes. As they left the cabin, the weight of his 9mm pressed against his spine, its cool, solid steel comforting. After the random attacks the last couple of days, he wouldn’t chance not having his gun within reach.

It was no longer raining, but the sky was still overcast. Humidity clung to the air, but the temperature was comfortable. Birds squawked and squirrels skittered through the trees overhead as they entered the woods.

“It’s so peaceful here.” Sephie’s wistful voice added to nature’s symphony.

He caught her hand and laced their fingers together. Kevin trotted ahead of them, stopping only to sniff the odd leaf or lift his leg at a tree. “I’d like to get my own place in this area. Maybe when all this is done, I’ll look at some properties.”

Her hand fit so perfectly inside his. Snug and small—just like the rest of her.

Jesus.

The damp air should’ve done more to calm his hormones, but it seemed there was only one surefire way to slow that shit down.

“I could see you out here.” She glanced up at him from the corner of her eye. “Chopping wood and shoveling snow.”

He chuckled. Funny thing was, he could see that, too. Only in his mind, he couldn’t picture himself alone. The cabin he saw was filled with gregarious little snort-barks, the skittering of nails on hardwood floors, and Sephie’s laughter.

Sephie and Kevin. That’s what he wanted.

And maybe ibuprofen because the push and pull between his heart and his cock was giving him the headache from hell.

Their hands swung naturally between them. The ease and comfort he felt was fucking foreign to him. He’d always been a lone wolf, though he hadn’t wanted it that way .

Now he understood why it hadn’t worked with another woman. Although there’d been attraction and lust, there hadn’t been... this. Connection. Contentment. Sephie. There hadn’t been Sephie.

Now there was, and he was fucking lost as to how to make her his permanently. He’d meant what he’d said. It wasn’t the right time to talk about a relationship. He didn’t want her to commit to something she didn’t want, or only wanted out of fear.

She needed to understand she had his protection whether they dated or not.

They walked quietly through the woods. Every so often Sephie would let out a long, relaxed sigh and he’d smile. She’d been right. She did need this.

By the time they returned to the cabin, two hours had passed. Kevin had thrown in the towel halfway, pausing every few steps to lift his paws pathetically, as though the ground had suddenly turned to lava.

Taschen had plucked him from the trail and carried him football style while the little dude panted as if he’d run across the country.

Back inside, Kevin raced for his water dish. Sephie removed her shoes and Taschen followed suit. “That was nice. Thanks for suggesting we get out.”

He winked. “Anytime.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket to read his texts. Pearl had responded with the promise to find out what she could about the funeral.

The guys had also replied, sharing that they were working on getting surveillance from the funeral and Yvette’s hotel. Brick offered to talk later.

Since he’d be stepping out of his duties to meet with Jack tomorrow, notifying the guys of his plan was paramount. He’d also have to discuss having one of them stay with Sephie while he was gone. Because there was no way in hell he was taking her with him.

And she wasn’t going to like it one bit.

Fuck.

He’d tell her later. The last thing he wanted to do was ruin the mood. But it was an elephant in the room. He didn’t want to hide anything from her. Matter of fact, he liked the idea of sharing shit with her.

Like the cabin he hadn’t yet bought. His home in Seattle.

His life.

The three of them. That sounded really damn good.

She unlatched Kevin’s leash then rolled up the long tether and placed it on the counter. “How about that plunge?”

He raised an eyebrow. “You sure you feel up to it? If you want to just go to bed—”

She wound her hands in front of her, looking cute and self-conscious as she shook her head. “It’s 7:00 p.m. If I go to bed now, I’ll be up in the middle of the night unable to get back to sleep.”

He wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her front to his. Hell, he liked this. Probably too much. She fit so nicely against him, her body and his like opposite ends of a magnet. Perfection. “I suppose we can’t have that. I wouldn’t know what to do with you wide awake in the middle of the night.”

A laugh bubbled from her throat. It was slightly strained, but still a fucking laugh. A beautiful one. “Let me rephrase that—me being up all hours would not be a good thing.” She batted her eyes exaggeratedly. “I need my beauty sleep.”

“All right.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “Hot tub it is.”

“I’ll change and meet you out there.” She patted his chest and stared into his eyes. The millisecond of time crawled by as he took in the smooth planes of her face, the sexy arch of her eyebrows, her dark eyelashes and pouty lips.

His heart constricted. Falling for Sephie just might be the most risky thing he’d done.

***

With a towel secured around her frame, Sephie pushed open the back door. Kevin lay dutifully in his spot near the steps. The hum of the hot tub filled the evening air. A glance toward the sky showed the clouds were thinking about raining again, but precipitation wouldn’t hurt since the entire deck was covered by a roof.

Taschen sat in the hot tub, his elbows behind him on the edge and his head tilted back. His hair was damp. She peeled off her towel and set it on the nearby picnic table.

He lifted his head and watched her through heavy lids. No smile took hold of his lips, but his gaze held hunger and appreciation as it drifted over her body.

She lowered herself into the water and sighed. “I didn’t think anything could chase away the chill gripping me today. This might.”

He opened his arms, and she sailed to him. He pulled her nearly weightless body on top of him, pressing her back against his chest, his arms folding over her middle.

The gentle abrasion of his beard against her cheek relaxed her even more. She rested her hands on top of his forearms and closed her eyes.

“I’m sorry about today,” he said.

Her sinuses burned with emotion. She kept her eyes closed, letting the tears silently leak out. “Thank you. Nothing will take the pain away, but this right here”—she squeezed his thick muscles—“makes it a little better. I don’t know if I could cope with all this alone.”

“You don’t have to.” Promise emanated from his tone. She wanted to cling to it and also run from it .

Cling because she’d never experienced anything like his affection. Run because it could be ripped away in a second. But would it? Nothing about Taschen was what she was used to. No red flags. No toxicity. Just—him. As he was.

All masculine. All protector.

Water swirled around them. The heat from the jets and Taschen’s skin brought her body to a scalding temperature. Her ass snuggled against his groin, and her legs intertwined with his in the bliss of buoyancy. Bubbles burst on the surface, and the chemical scent of chlorine warmed her nostrils.

She couldn’t bring back Pippa or Yvette. Couldn’t erase the last several days of her life. Tomorrow wasn’t guaranteed. Seeing Yvette hours after her attack had struck a new level of fear inside her. Something she couldn’t shake.

Maybe because it could have been her. If—

“What ya thinking?” Taschen’s breath tickled her ear.

She opened her eyes to see the sky was darker. No sign of the sunset in the overcast sky.

She trailed her fingers over the top of the water, letting the small bubbles pop on her fingertips. “I was thinking about how things could have ended up very differently for me.”

“How so?”

“If Yvette hadn’t called you, I would have been next. It all seemed so surreal then. None of it made sense. She was on the ball, though. Brought you in and whisked me away before they could get to me. I wish she had done the same for herself.”

He tilted his head so it rested against her temple. “I should’ve insisted she get her own security. At the time, I wasn’t aware of how close she was to things. That she, too, could be a target.”

“It’s not your fault.” Then she chortled derisively. “When she told me she’d called a bodyguard service, I thought she was being extreme. Even though I’d been attacked, it just didn’t feel real.”

“No, it never does.” His arms tightened around her.

She turned in his arms and faced him. He seized her waist so she straddled him. She rested her hands on either side of his neck. “I don’t want anyone else to get hurt because of me.”

His eyes darkened. “None of this—You hear me? None of this is because of you.”

She rolled in her lips. “If I hadn’t broadcasted that—”

“It wouldn’t have changed anything. Pippa was killed because she was exposing what they did to her and Clay. And the people who helped her are the people they went after. Yes, your video put a bull’s-eye on your back, but if you hadn’t said something, they might have gone after Clay next.”

She lowered her gaze to his thick neck. A vein in his throat jumped. She didn’t nod, but his words made sense. Her drastic action sure as hell hadn’t helped her any, but it could have deterred the bad guys from pursuing Pippa’s brother. “Thank you,” she said softly.

His fingers flexed on her hips. “You’ve got nothing to thank me for. Your bravery is going to tear down this... this cult or whatever the hell this evil fuckery is. So be damn proud of yourself.”

“You’re good at pep talks,” she said with a smirk.

He smiled wide for the first time since she’d gotten in the water. “I’m good at a lot of things.”

She snuggled closely to him, and her sex rubbed against the hard length inside his swim trunks.

He hissed. “Goddamn, woman.”

“What else are you good at?” she murmured.

“Uh—”

“And I’m not referring to anything sexual.”

He hooked up a sexy eyebrow. “That’s all I’ve got going for me.”

She let out a loose laugh. The lightness of the moment eased her tension and raised her serotonin. “C’mon. There’s gotta be something.”

“I can snowboard.”

“Yeah. What else?” She rocked her hips.

His eyes flickered. “Eggs. I’m good at cookin’ em.”

God, she enjoyed the effect she had on him. “One more.”

“Fuck,” he breathed. “Helping.”

She slowed the motion of her hips. “Helping what? ”

He lifted a shoulder. “People. I dunno. I like to be useful.”

His honesty sent appreciation spiraling through her. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. “You’ve been most helpful to me.” She kissed him again. “And useful.” And again. “Kind.” And again. “Funny.”

“One more,” he commanded.

She laughed. “Kissing. You’re really good at that.”

His hands slid down over her thighs and back up. She moved her lips over his prickly beard and kissed his jaw before returning to his mouth. Need buzzed through her. It was louder in her ears than the motor of the hot tub.

He gripped her thighs, his fingers biting hard, as if he was holding himself back. She ground her pelvis into his and he let out a guttural groan over her tongue.

He pulled back his mouth then placed his forehead against hers. His eyes bore into hers. There appeared to be an internal war being waged behind his hazel irises. “We don’t have to do this.”

She dragged her hands down his washboard abs then back up to his neck. “I need to.”

His lips sealed over hers, his mouth as warm as the water. He swept his tongue over hers. It was smooth and slick across the edges of her teeth.

She wanted more.

She gyrated her clit over his rock-hard cock. He brought his teeth to her bottom lip and gently nipped. She rocked harder. One of his hands came between them and moved her bathing suit bottom aside.

Thank god.

The hot bubbles tickled her most-sensitive flesh, driving the eroticism to a new height. Greedily, she pulled at his shorts, but he already had the waistband down and his dick free. With no effort, his head found her opening and she pushed down.

“Christ, Sephie,” he rasped. His teeth grazed her bottom lip. Turning the tables, she bit down on his.

He gasped then stood, his cock still buried deep, her legs wrapped around his waist. Cool air washed over her, making her shudder sharply.

He set her on the edge of the hot tub. “Turn around.”

She murmured a protest, not wanting him to remove his length for even a second. He edged himself out and turned her hips so she faced the back of the cabin. He pulled her bikini bottom down, baring her ass to him and the woods behind them. A breath left her lips. She was fully exposed, every crevice on display for him and the wild to see.

He didn’t fill her, like she wanted. Instead, he roamed his hands over her ass cheeks. “Goddamn, baby. ”

She glanced over her shoulder to watch him drop to his knees in the water. Heat climbed up her face, chasing away the bitter breeze. He kissed her tailbone then nipped her cheek.

Her back arched. His hands came to her elbows, urging them to the deck surrounding the hot tub. “Face down, honey.”

The angle exposed even more of her body, and the heat slamming against her cheeks became an inferno. But hell, it was hotter than hades.

His fingers danced up her inner thighs until one found her folds and eased them open. He filled her with one, then two digits. His knuckle dug into a tantalizing spot, and her eyes rolled back as moisture rushed to her sex.

“Taschen, now.” She coughed. “Please.”

He was on her. His abdomen covered the small of her back as he filled her to the hilt. The stringent scent of the freshly stained wooden boards tickled her nostrils as she inhaled sharply. He drove into her, his cock smacking against her clitoris.

“Ohmi— God .”

His wide girth stretched her to the max, but it felt too good to slow. She slammed her hips back against him and he shook.

One large arm looped across her lower abdomen. The weightless sensation returned as he eased the pressure from her elbows and knees while driving deeper .

“Yes,” she urged.

“Oh, fuck yeah.” He pumped into her in a steady, jerking rhythm.

The constant pressure on her magic nub pulled moan after moan from her lips. Pleasure pulsed to every nerve ending, and even her teeth vibrated.

Her arms and legs shook, her hips bucking on their own. If it weren’t for him holding her in place, she’d have catapulted forward. Pleasure fizzled her senses.

Taschen’s heavy grunts took her higher and higher. The world fell away, and all her worries went with it. Just the two of them danced on a plane above the earth. She was aware of only fullness and the pressure building in her root.

She shuddered, and the force of her release was so powerful she wailed. Taschen held her close, burrowing deep as he rubbed and ground inside her.

Her body turned heavy and her knees trembled. A sheen of sweat coated her skin, and she tasted salt on her lips. The completion was so raw and consuming. Everything she needed.