Jason (Blue Halo Book 2)

Agent Peters’s fingers tapped against the keyboard of his laptop. Three of his men sat around him at the Blue Halo conference table. There was something about the guy that had Jason disliking him on sight. It wasn’t just because it had taken twenty goddamn minutes to convince the guy to allow Jason to be in the room with Courtney, half of that spent with Steve on the phone.

No, it was something else. Like an intuitively bad gut feeling.

Jason stroked the back of Courtney’s hand under the table. He’d slept on her couch last night, and he planned to do it again tonight, even with the new security system. He wasn’t taking any chances.

Her hand tensed beneath his as Peters spoke. “We have photos of most of the guys in the Bonvicin group. We’ll show you images one by one, and you tell us if you recognize the guy from last night.”

Courtney nodded, sitting a bit straighter. “I hope I remember what he looks like.”

There was uncertainty there. Jason understood that. She’d only caught a glimpse of him. And fear did funny things to the memory. Muddied it. Altered it.

“This organization is small compared to other Mafia families,” Peters continued. “Even though the boss died six months ago, and we’re not sure who’s taken over, the muscle should all be the same.”

Peters connected his laptop to the projector and a second later, a man with dark brown hair and hard black eyes stared back at them.

Courtney shook her head. Peters flicked to the next man. Same thing.

It was on the sixth photo that Courtney’s breath hitched. Her heart rate changed, starting to race.

But she wasn’t the only one who reacted to the man’s image.

Jason leaned forward, a silent curse whispering through his head. He felt Courtney’s eyes on him. When he looked at her, it was to see confusion and shock swirling through the green and brown depths of her gaze.

“Do you know him?” Peters asked.

Courtney looked back to the agent. “A couple weeks ago, I had an interview at the local Cradle Mountain radio station. There was a problem with the elevator, it got stuck, and Jason came to help me. When the elevator started working again, it stopped on the fourth floor. That man was one of three janitors on the floor.”

Peters didn’t react. In fact, his features remained perfectly blank.

“It was a setup,” Courtney said quietly, looking at Jason. “They did something to the elevator, making sure I stopped on the fourth floor.”

The deserted fourth floor. Deserted other than those three men.

“But they recognized you,” she continued, still speaking to Jason. “They knew what you were capable of. If you hadn’t been with me…”

Her hand trembled beneath his. He gave it a gentle squeeze, when what he really wanted to do was surrender himself to the rage taking over his body.

“But I was.”

One of Peters’s men made a note on his own laptop before Peters flicked to the next image. “Let’s keep going through the photos and we’ll talk about what all this means later.”

Over the next couple of minutes, Jason and Courtney recognized and identified the two other janitors. No one was surprised. Peters was still flipping through photos when Courtney jolted under his hand again.

Peters must have seen it, because he asked, “Is this the man you saw in your apartment?”

She gave a small nod. “And he was in the coffee shop, too.” Jason’s throat tightened. “I didn’t connect it until now. He came in the other week. He was staring at the magazine spread I’d framed on the wall of The Grind. Then when he looked at me…”

Her pause killed him. He wasn’t a patient man right now. “What is it, honey?”

“He just creeped me out. I was happy when he left.”

He suddenly recalled what she’d said that night when he had walked her home from work. About a guy leering at her chest at The Grind. His stomach twisted in anger at how close the guy had gotten to her.

“This man’s name is Tommy Lima. He’s the guy we suspect has taken over as head of the family. He’s also one of the guys we spotted around The Grind a few times.”

And that was who was after her?

Courtney shook her head. “This doesn’t make sense! What do they want with me? And why now?”

“That’s what we’d like to know, Miss Davies.”

The way Peters said it, combined with the way he looked at her—like he didn’t believe she was as clueless as she maintained—infuriated Jason. Hell, the guy looked like he was one step away from cuffing her wrists and dragging her away.

“Are you sure Jessica never mentioned any of this to you?”

The muscles in Courtney’s leg constricted under his hand.

“Yes,” she said firmly.

That look never dropped from Peters’s face.

Jason was about to jump to her defense when she leaned across the table, her voice hardening. “I’m telling the truth.”

That’s my girl.

Footsteps sounded in the hall seconds before the door opened. Peters quickly shut his computer as Amy stepped through the door behind him, a tray of coffee and tea in her hands. “Hello, I brought—”

Jason was on his feet in seconds. “This is a private meeting.”

“Oh. I just thought as the receptionist, it was okay for—”

“It’s not.”

Her mouth opened and closed a few times before she quickly recovered. “Sorry. I’ll set the tea on the reception desk for when you’re done.”

The second the door closed, Courtney sighed. “Are we done here for today? Because I’ve identified the man who was in my apartment, I’ve told you that I don’t know what they’re after. There’s nothing else I can share that would be useful.”

“It’s just difficult to believe that you know nothing about what they might want, yet they’ve been trailing you, targeting you, searching through your home… and there’s a connection between them and you.”

“He was connected to her cousin, not Courtney,” Jason said. “In fact, as far as you know, the only connection was to her cousin’s boyfriend. So how about you do your job and figure out why they’re now harassing an innocent woman?”

The guy’s lips tightened.

Courtney lifted a hand, touching her neck—then she stiffened. Suddenly, she was on her feet. “Okay, well. If that’s everything, I’m going to go.” She was already walking to the door before she’d finished speaking.

Jason’s hand went to the small of her back, but before they exited the room, Peters rose from the table. “Miss Davies…”

She paused, spine ramrod-straight as she turned.

A vein in Peters’s neck popped out. He wasn’t happy. “If you remember anything, figure anything out, let us know.”

She gave a quick nod before moving into the hallway. She walked straight past Amy at the reception desk and out the door. He followed her all the way down the stairs. It wasn’t until she hit the sidewalk that he finally took her hand. “Courtney, where are you going?”

“I lost it!” Her voice was almost frantic.

“You lost what, honey?”

“My necklace!”

The one she never took off. “So, let’s go look for it.”

“We’ve searched every inch of this place, Jason. I think I just need to accept it’s gone.” Even though the thought felt like razor blades running over her heart.

They’d searched Flynn’s property, paying particular attention to their camping grounds and the section of forest where she’d run from the bison. And now they’d ended up here, at the top of the magnificent waterfall, the very place she’d been sitting with Jason two nights ago.

“We’ll find it,” Jason said quietly. “Maybe not today, but we’ll find it.”

She was glad he was confident because she certainly wasn’t. Not wearing it meant she felt naked. She’d had it around her neck for over two years, rarely taking it off.

She walked over to the rushing water, crouching to feel the icy cascade against her hand. “Thank you for coming out and looking with me. And for staying while the FBI agent questioned me this morning. And staying over last night.”

Heck, the guy was basically her superhero, he was just missing a cape.

“Of course.”

She looked up to see him studying the dirt, rocks, and rubble. They’d already searched the area. But boy, she was grateful for his perseverance.

She was just about to rise when something tickled her hand where it rested on a large rock beside the water. A screech so loud it was probably heard for miles escaped her throat when she saw yet another spider. A spider that looked scarily similar to the one in Logan’s truck the other day.

She tried to shake it off, but the thing ran beneath her jacket and right up her arm.

Oh, baby Jesus, if her worst nightmare were ever to come to life, this was it.

Courtney was on her feet in seconds, screeching and jumping, almost tipping right into the water. A strong hand grabbed her by the shoulder, pulling her back just before she fell in sideways.

She didn’t stop. She flailed her limbs like she was being attacked. The spider swiftly crawling over her shoulder and onto her chest had bile rising into her throat.

“Baby, calm down! What’s wrong?”

Jason’s hands were grabbing at her, latching on to her wrists, restraining.

She tried to tug herself away, screamed again. Christ Almighty, it was on her stomach. “It’s under my shirt! Get it off! Get it off!”

She barely registered Jason’s confused face. The second his hands released her, she wrenched the shirt off, flinging it away along with her jacket.

The huge-ass spider ran across her stomach like she was his own personal playground.

Hell no!

She was trying to shimmy the thing off when Jason reached out, curling his hand around the arachnid. He gave a slight chuckle as he lifted it off her.

Her mouth dropped open, nausea now rolling around in her gut. He was voluntarily holding it?

He walked off into the bushes, disappearing for a moment before returning.

Courtney’s breaths were still whooshing in and out of her chest. The urge to scrub every inch of skin the spider had touched was intense.

That was it. She was never coming to this place again. Ever.

Jason’s hands went to her shoulders. “Are you okay?”

Was that… amusement in his eyes?

Some of the panic began to recede, something akin to irritation taking its place. “Are you smiling?”

His lips pursed, but she was almost certain the man was biting the inside of his cheek. “No. The spider was tiny and harmless, but I can see how it would have been scary.”

Okay, now he was just placating her.

Her eyes narrowed, hands going to his chest and giving him a huge shove. Fortunately, he stepped back, making her effort seem worthwhile, because there was no way she’d actually be able to move him an inch by herself.

“It was scary! Arachnophobia—which is the fear of spiders—is a very real thing! Your smiling does not help the situation. And don’t think I didn’t hear your chuckle when I was in the middle of experiencing some very real terror!”

Oh, she’d heard the laugh. And she was only just letting herself feel the anger of it now.

She scanned the ground, spotting her top and jacket, and marched over to them.

“Courtney—”

Leaning down, she lifted her clothes. “I think we should go.”

She headed for the trees, making it only a few steps before a large body suddenly appeared in front of her. She took a step to the side. He mirrored her.

“Can you put your clothes back on first, please?”

Put her clothes on? Oh, the gall of the man… laughing at her terror one minute and telling her what to do the next.

“I told you the last time we were here, you don’t tell me what to do.”

The truth was, she was freaking freezing. The wind against her bare skin felt like pins prickling her arms. Her chest. But no way was she admitting that.

He took a step closer, his voice lowering. “Courtney.”

And now he was using his deep, I’m-warning-you voice.

She took a small step toward him. “What? Are you going to carry me again? Shove me against a tree and kiss my brains out?”

At the darkening of his eyes, she almost stepped back. Almost.

“You sure you want to play this game?”

Some of the frustration of moments ago eased from her body, and a smile flirted at her lips. She was starting to understand that when it came to safety, the man liked to be listened to.

Well, she liked it when people didn’t laugh at her panic.

She took a half step forward, rising to her toes, and slid her fingers into his hair. Tugging him down, she nipped his bottom lip—hard—before whispering against his mouth, “What I want is for you to stop telling me what to do.”

Another small chuckle. Like a breath of warning against her chilled face.

His mouth went to her neck, the tingling of breath and the brushing of lips like shots of awareness shooting across her skin.

“And I don’t like watching your skin turn blue from the cold.”

Suddenly, he shifted her. A tree once again touched her back, but this time her feet remained on the ground. His hands slid down her arms, grabbing her wrists and tugging them above her head. He switched both to one hand, lowering the other and gliding it over her bare side.

A delicious shudder raced up her spine.

His mouth returned to her neck, first kissing her gently. Then alternating between sucking and nipping, her entire body jolting with each rough touch.

She was vaguely aware of the hand on her side grazing across her stomach, her ribs, before landing over her bra.

Her throat constricted. Then his hand slipped inside the bra, cupping her, thumb pressing against her pebbled nipple.

White-hot bursts of lava spread through her.

“If you don’t protect yourself, then I can’t protect you either. And that means we have a problem.” His words were soft, deceptively so.

His thumb flicked her hard nipple. A cry escaped her throat. She tugged at her hands but there was no give.

His head rose, lips hovering over hers. He lightly pinched her nipple with his thumb and forefinger. More fire flickered from her chest to her core.

Courtney arched, her mouth slipping open. Jason thrust his tongue inside, massaging, sipping, while continuing to work her peak. Every flick of his thumb was torture. Every pinch caused new bursts of pleasure to thrum through her body.

Soon it wasn’t enough, a throbbing need from deep inside pushing her to the edge. Craving more. She wriggled her hips, moaning into his mouth.

Like he read her mind, his hand lowered, skimmed over her skin before pushing inside her jeans and the thin lace covering her sex.

Her heart stopped. Then it took off again, hitting against her ribs hard, threatening to break free.

His mouth lifted but his forehead pressed against hers. A single finger brushed against her clit. She flinched. Rocked forward as shock waves of awareness ripped through her. His mouth crashed back down, tongue dueling and dancing with her own.

She arched and cried as his finger continued to brush and press against her sensitive bud. Pulling at her hands, she once again met impenetrable resistance.

His finger left her clit, and she almost cried out loud.

Then there was a finger at her entrance, pausing.

Oh Lord, she would die right here and now if he didn’t move.

He touched her lips again before his breath brushed against her with his words. “Will you let me protect you?”

Protect her? She whimpered, moving her hips, desperately seeking relief.

“Courtney.” His finger pressed inside her, but only a fraction. Then he pulled it out again. Her moan vibrated her entire body.

“Will you let me protect you?” he repeated.

“How?” The words were wrenched from somewhere deep inside her.

The finger at her entrance began to draw little circles. They were circles of torture. “Follow my instructions when I need you to do something. Like put your damn shirt and jacket back on.”

He trailed his mouth up her cheek, nipping her earlobe.

She nodded before a single word left her lips. “Yes.”

Then his finger pushed inside her, filling her. Her mouth opened, but nothing came out. No words. No breath.

He sucked on her neck, pulling his finger all the way out of her before pushing back in, rubbing something exquisite inside her. His thumb pressed against her clit.

Suddenly her body shook, nails digging into her palms as a violent orgasm took her. Claimed her. Shattered her.