chapter 6
Jonas held out a hand to assist his client out of the car. Normally he enjoyed these out of town jobs but not today. He glanced around them, edgy as fuck and not sure exactly why. His assignment was to keep Lindsey Meyers and her son safe and out of sight while Noah dealt with her ex-husband. This was nothing he hadn’t done before.
“Thank you,” Lindsey whispered, clutching her duffel bag to her chest as she climbed down. Immediately, she moved to the back of the car to get her son, Henry, out of his booster seat.
Lindsey had been living in Atlanta for the past year after divorcing her husband. Too bad the asshole hadn’t gotten the point.
He sighed. Goddamn he was tired. He would never make fun of Ryan for dodging these types of cases again. Domestic calls were so draining. It was exhausting trying to help people who weren’t ready to help themselves.
“Okay, so I’ve booked us into two rooms here under a false name. No one will find you here. Our rooms have an adjoining door. Please leave it unlocked so I can get to you quickly if you should need me.”
Lindsey nodded that she understood. “Thank you. I feel bad that you have to be away from home just to babysit me.”
Jonas smiled, trying to put her at ease. That was one of the most common things they heard from their female clients. Women who’d been so conditioned not to make waves that they apologized constantly for trouble that wasn’t of their own making.
“There’s no reason for you to feel bad. It’s my job. Also, I’m pretty sure Noah is going to enjoy intimidating your ex-husband while we’re here. So put on a movie, get comfortable. If you want to order takeout, let me know and I’ll have them bring it my room first.”
“Okay. I can do that.” Lindsey pushed her hair behind her ear nervously, but she looked slightly less scared than when they arrived.
Henry held tight to her hand, peering up at Jonas suspiciously. He’d never spent much time around kids this age, but Jonas supposed he would have been suspicious too if some guy he’d never seen was driving him around.
Jonas led them to the front desk where he picked up the keys to their rooms. Matthias had checked them in remotely, so after retrieving the key, they took the elevator up to the tenth floor.
“Do you have a girlfriend?” Lindsey asked curiously.
Jonas froze. “No time for that. Love is too much work.”
The elevator stopped at their floor, and he wasted no time escorting them off. It wasn’t unusual for clients to ask about his personal life. Spending so much time with someone, often having your life literally in their hands, forged bonds that felt intimate. Most people wanted to know more about the person protecting them.
Only he’d found that when the clients doing the asking were young, attractive women, it could lead to uncomfortable situations and misunderstandings. So he tried to remain a mystery.
“Here we go. Room 1014.” He swiped the key and they were in. “Wait here.”
Lindsey waited by the door obediently, clutching Henry’s hand tightly while Jonas checked out every inch of the suite. The door to his room next door was standing open, as he’d requested. That room was empty, too. He came back to find them still standing next to the front door.
“It’s okay. You can go ahead and relax now. I’ll check in with the team and keep you updated.”
Lindsey’s sigh of relief was the best thank you he could have received.
She smiled at him. “You’re really good at this.”
“I hope so. I’m not much good at anything else.”
His joke made her smile. “You’re a nice guy. I hope you do find time for love one day, and that you don’t let all the bad relationships you see scare you away. Love isn’t supposed to be hard. It took me a long time to see that.”
Jonas nodded politely and then walked through the connecting door into his room. He’d already dropped his own overnight bag on the bed, but he wouldn’t be sleeping. Noah would be calling with an update soon, and he needed to be ready.
With so much time to fill, his brain inevitably went to the one thing he’d been trying to ignore all day.
JJ.
He sat on the edge of the bed and scrubbed his hands over his face. He’d been trying not to think of her. But trying not to think of her was like trying not to breathe. She was in him, deep, completely entwined with his every thought and function. That kiss, that fucking kiss, replayed over and over on a loop in the back of his mind constantly.
What the hell had he been thinking?
Not that he would take all the blame. Oh no, part of the responsibility for this clusterfuck rested solidly on JJ’s shoulders. She’d pulled him in, knowing what her tempting mouth did to him. He shook his head. She’d just been playing around like they always did. She’d kissed him on the cheek before. When she did it he was always worried she’d follow through on the threat in her eyes and bite a hole in his cheek.
But this time the crafty little vixen had gotten a little more than she’d expected. Jonas grunted, thinking of the shocked, furious, and aroused look on her face once she’d finally pulled back. It was a miracle she hadn’t slugged him. Honestly, he wasn’t sure if she even understood why she hadn’t. But he knew all too well what this kind of desire led to. It was dangerous and all-consuming, the kind that made smart men give up their careers and risk their lives.
A knock on the door drew him from his thoughts. He sprang up just as Lindsey stuck her head in.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
She held up the room service menu. “Yeah, but Henry will be hungry soon. I figured we’d better put our order in now. Should I order something for you, too?”
Jonas accepted the menu she held out, and then pointed to the only thing on there that looked like a burger.
“Use my phone,” he instructed and then moved back so she could reach it. He wasn’t even hungry, just grateful for the interruption. Lindsey was a reminder of all the reasons he had to stay away from JJ. Relationships were a minefield, even when the two parties started off on solid ground.
With a past like his, Jonas wasn’t the right guy for anyone to bet on. But it didn’t mean that he couldn’t look out for her.
He would do what he did best: take care of her from afar.
JJ caught herself twisting the hem of her loose top and clenched her fingers into a fist. It was a little after seven o’clock, and she should have been well on her way home by now. Instead she was reviewing some last minute layouts for a magazine spread and waiting to meet one of the volunteers from Hope Springs.
JJ gulped. This was really happening.
It shouldn’t be that big of a deal, really. This was no different than any of the other charity events she’d worked on.
Bullshit.
JJ ignored the uneasy feeling that crept up the back of her neck. There was no use pretending this wasn’t a big deal. Very soon a woman was going to walk in here with a story that was all too familiar. Someone who understood, just as she did, how important appearances were to rebuilding your life. Wasn’t that part of why JJ had been attracted to makeup? She’d always loved how transforming her appearance could give her a confidence boost. It was only later that she’d learned how transforming her appearance could hide the evidence of her private hell.
A whisper outside her office door drew her attention.
“It’s okay, you can come right in!” JJ called.
She frantically tried to clear her desk, pulling all the papers and magazines into a neat pile on the right side. There was always someone staying late at the office. Adriana liked to work her people to the bone and there was never any shortage of things to do, especially as they drew closer to fashion week. But despite how busy the office always was, JJ knew how intimidating it could be to ask anyone for help or directions.
She stood and stepped over the box of sample clothing on the floor. Damn, she needed to clean this place up. Her office was the size of a shoebox anyway, so it really couldn’t stand any clutter. Once clear of the debris on the floor, she stuck her head around the doorjamb and into the hallway.
The empty hallway.
Puzzled, she glanced both ways. She’d definitely heard someone out here. Behind her, the phone on her desk rang. JJ walked back over to her desk and snatched the receiver.
“Hello?”
There was nothing but silence but she could hear that the line was open. A hush, like someone trying not to breathe too hard.
“Hello? Who is this?” JJ demanded, creeped out and beyond angry about it. The skin on her arms prickled and she shivered, and JJ was suddenly feeling very exposed and alone, being in the office so late.
She hung up the phone and rubbed the goose bumps standing up on her arms. Her office was bordered by windows on one side, and when she’d first gotten the job, that had seemed like a perk. But now, standing in the office alone, JJ felt like she was inside a fishbowl, on display to anyone who might be watching from one of the surrounding buildings.
A knock on the door startled her, and she spun around. The young woman in the doorway took a hesitant step back at JJ’s no-doubt feral expression.
“Sorry! I’m here from Hope Springs. The guy at the front said I could come straight back.”
“Of course. Come right in.” JJ swallowed the rush of embarrassment at being caught freaking herself out in the middle of an empty office. What the hell was wrong with her?
Luckily the young woman, a studious type named Alison, didn’t seem to mind her distraction. Before long, despite her earlier hesitation, JJ found herself completely immersed in the young woman’s description of their new job program.
“This is going to help so many women,” Alison concluded. “Thank you for agreeing to help. Some people don’t understand the confidence boost that just looking better can give you. Especially when you’ve been made to feel that dressing up is flirting. That was always a trigger for my ex. Any time I wore makeup, he assumed I was using it to flirt with other men.”
JJ’s hand clenched, crumpling the paper she was holding. “That’s so familiar. Everything becomes your fault. Until finally, you’re afraid of your own shadow and can barely look anyone in the eye.”
“Yes. That’s it exactly.” Alison smiled at her sadly. “Sounds like you understand all too well.”
That jarred JJ out of her languid state. She’d been so caught up in Alison’s descriptions of the program and all the great things they were doing that she’d forgotten where she was and who she was talking to. It was alarming that she could forget so easily. Especially when she’d spent years burying that part of her life so deep that no one could ever find out.
“Well, I can’t even imagine what you’ve been through. But I want to help however I can.” JJ stood and held out her hand, hoping that would signal that the meeting was over without being rude.
Alison shook her hand with a knowing look. “I’ll be in touch about the dates for the makeup seminars. Also, we’ll send a volunteer over to pick up the clothes Adriana agreed to donate next week.”
JJ hoped she was nodding in the right places and saying the right things. Her head spun a little as a sudden wave of dizziness hit her. No, she did not have time for this nonsense. She refused to get a migraine right now.
But as her panic increased, so did the throbbing behind her eyes. Oh, God no, not right now, she thought. Migraines loved to sneak up on her whenever possible, but she didn’t have her medication with her. She closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breath. It was all this stress with no outlet. Of course it was building up. Stress was a huge migraine trigger for her and always had been.
She hated it. Hated the weakness of it and how it rendered her completely vulnerable. For years, she’d taken increasingly stronger medication, hoping to find something that could cure her, but it turned out her migraines were something that had to be managed. By avoiding stress, eating well, exercising, and avoiding triggers.
JJ sighed in relief as Alison finally walked out. She rubbed at her temples with the pads of her fingers. That was it. Looked like she’d be spending the night under the covers trying not to move. As she gathered her things to leave, the phone on her desk rang again. When she picked it up and heard nothing but silence, JJ wondered how she was supposed to manage her stress when the world around her was determined to throw her past in her face?