Wicked Force (Wicked Horse Vegas #4.5)(27)

“You’re amazing, Jos,” Kynan murmurs. The words are simple but the tone and meaning I hear within them shock me.

I pull my head back, wanting to see his face. He regards me with clear eyes, in no way befuddled with the haze of amazing sex. He nods, as if he understands that I’m questioning this. He puts his face closer to me, and repeats, “More amazing than anything I’ve ever felt in my life.”

And the tears come. He doesn’t get alarmed because I smile through them. As he takes a thumb and wipes one away, I touch his face with my fingertips. I want to tell him I love him, but how can I when this is all so new? He’d think me young and impetuously silly.

So instead I just tell him, “I’m so happy right now. I think this is the best night of my entire life.”

“I’m glad,” he murmurs, putting his palm to the back of my head as a means to hold me close.

We lie in silence for a bit before Kynan tells me, “I can’t stay with you all night. I don’t want Jayce to know.”

I push away from him slightly so I can see his face. “That would be bad,” I agree.

“I’m going to have to resign when we get back. I’ll go see Jerico tomorrow after we land.”

“Oh, God,” I exclaim as guilt floods my body. “No. I don’t want you to lose your job.”

“It’s fine,” he reassures me.

His voice is calm and sure, but I feel wretched. “There has to be some way—”

“Joslyn, I can’t do my job effectively. I can’t treat you like just some client I have to protect. It’s best I resign.”

“I feel awful,” I tell him.

“Don’t,” he says, placing fingers over my lips. “What you and I have here is more important than any job. I’ll land something else quick, so don’t worry, okay?”

I just stare at him.

“Okay?” he repeats.

Finally, I have to nod and he removes his hand from my mouth. He replaces it with his mouth and the kiss isn’t sweet at all. It’s a claiming kiss that lets me know that I belong to him, and past that, nothing else really matters.





Chapter 13



Kynan



I enter the lobby of the Jameson Group offices. We still haven’t hired a receptionist and I doubt we will until we finish up the casino project and start building up our clientele. Until such time, no sense in paying someone to sit out here just to greet the employees coming in.

Making my way to Jerico’s office, I wonder how Joslyn is faring. From the airport, I dropped her and Jayce off at her apartment and then headed straight here. She’s going to be telling her mom about us and I’m going to be resigning. We decided to just get it done with so people can get over the shock, and then hopefully support us.

I merely hope to come away with my friendship with Jerico intact. I’m struggling with the guilt of letting him down and doing exactly what he told me not to do.

The heart, however, wants what it wants, and I’ve realized it’s the most powerful organ in our body. There’s apparently no arguing or reasoning with it.

Jerico’s office isn’t much to write home about. I expect he’ll fill it with nice furniture like that in the lobby to give the impression of an incredibly successful company. It just hasn’t been high on his list, and as of now, he merely has a desk set up in the center of the room. Granted, it’s a nice desk—dark cherry, heavy and masculine. He’s also got a huge leather chair behind it that holds his big frame easily.

He’s sitting in it when I tap on the already open door, reading something on his laptop. Glancing up, he gives me a smile and jerks his head for me to enter.

“How’d everything go in Cunningham Falls?” he asks as I walk toward his desk. There are no chairs for me to sit in.

“Smooth sailing,” I tell him as I assume a military stance in front of him. What I’d really like to do is act all casual and just sort of tuck my hands in the pockets of my utility cargos, but that seems too casual. I know one thing... I will miss this uniform, as it’s pretty badass.

“Great,” he says and then looks back to his laptop. “You should get home and get some rest before you take over the evening shift.”

“Yeah,” I drawl hesitantly and that causes his head to snap up. “About that. There’s a problem with me guarding Joslyn.”

Jerico’s eyebrows draw inward but his voice is merely inquisitive. “What problem?”

“We slept together last night,” I tell him bluntly. Might as well get to the real issue—that would be the one he’d fire me for. “I’m here to resign or you can fire me, but I get that I can’t stay on because of that breach of ethical duty.”

Jerico’s jaw locks tight and he curses at me through gritted teeth. “Fuck, Kynan. I told you to stay away from her.”

“Kind of hard, mate, when I’m guarding her twelve hours a day,” I reply smoothly and he doesn’t appreciate my flippancy.

“You know what I mean,” he grows. “I told you not to fall for her.”

“Also easier said than done when I’m spending so much time with her.”

“Got an answer for everything, don’t you?” His tone has gone cool and detached, and I’m afraid the friendship may have just bitten the dust.