BREAKING NEWS: Gubernatorial candidate Olivia Russo brutally attacked at NY Fitness in downtown Miami. Information about her condition is not yet available. Stay tuned for more information.

She was quiet. Too quiet.

As someone who didn’t worry too much about too many things, worrying about a female was new and very disconcerting. He wanted to hold her and make everything go away, but he also wanted to drop her off at ICS and go find whoever did this and kill him with his own bare hands. But that would mean leaving her alone, and the way she had held his hand and begged him to stay with her at the hospital—his heart swelled so big he could barely contain the way he felt. She made him feel important and needed.

Growing up in a military family, going into the armed forces was a given. It had been ingrained in him since birth. But, he’d never been the fastest or the strongest. Shit, the truth was, Annie could probably kick his ass, even if he’d never actually admit it. He’d always been more book smart than the rest of his family. He wasn’t physically incapable, by any means, but he’d never been the one someone would call on to protect them, until now.

Normally, he was the man behind the scenes, and not only at ICS. Even when they’d been in Iraq he’d been in the central command post ordering instructions, finding intel, deciphering codes. He had undergone the same training as everyone else, but he’d always been more cerebral and less physical. He thought things out, analyzed, reasoned, and then acted. He wasn’t like Jax, who wore his heart on his sleeve and if it meant going head on into bullets to save someone, he’d do it. No questions. No thoughts.

It wasn’t that Joey was a coward. Far from it. But he calculated and reasoned. If there was a safer way of doing something that yielded the same result, or possibly a better one, he’d find it and go that route. Dying or getting hurt didn’t help anyone. It didn’t make you braver. In his opinion, it made you stupid and hotheaded, and he wasn’t either of those things.

But now, with Olivia hurt and scared, he’d run through fire if it made her safe, even if it made not one iota of sense. Totally and completely, he now understood why men made stupid and irrational decisions when it came to women.

That feeling of trust and wonder that Olivia placed on him, it made him feel stupid and irrational. It made him want to beat his chest with his fists and roar.

He swiped his prints at the door to ICS and opened it, then escorted her in.

“I want to see Sophie,” she said. She hadn’t said one single word on the quick car ride over, but she had allowed him to tuck her close and run his hand up and down her arm.

He took her hand and led her to the security room. It was full of monitors. One wall was internal and monitored the inside and outside of the compound. The other walls displayed various jobs they were keeping tabs on. Ruben and Jacob, two ICS employees, sat at the controls clicking and changing screens. “Hiya, boss.”

“Guys,” he said as a hello and then led Olivia to the screens for ICS where he quickly located Sophie and pointed. “See, she’s fine.”

Olivia leaned in to see that Sophie was sitting with Annie, Megan, Winnie, and Jax, coloring. Sophie looked up at something Jax must’ve said and all five of them began to laugh. Olivia took a visible breath. “I wanna see her.”

“Babe, look . . .” he pointed to one of the monitors that was off, which made their reflections visible, almost like a mirror. “You still have some blood on your face. You should clean up. You don’t want to frighten her.”

She leaned in closer and touched her face and then her hair before nodding somberly. “Why don’t you take a shower? Change to some fresh clothes, and then we’ll go find Sophie, okay?”

Again, she nodded. She looked like a zombie and he hoped that after the initial shock wore off, she’d be back to normal.

“This place is enormous,” she said as he escorted her down some winding halls.

“It’s three warehouses that have been reconfigured. The first one is the offices, which you’ve seen. There’s another one right through that door,” he pointed, “that has a big room where we do simulation training. And then there’s the third warehouse, which has been made into an apartment. It has three bedrooms, two baths, the kitchen slash lunchroom, and a living room.”

“Why would you have rooms here?” she said, as he opened a big set of doors.

“Sometimes the staff needs a place to rest before missions if they don’t want to fly back to their hometowns, or sometimes they’ve been here too many hours and need a place to rest. And sometimes it’s a safe house where we bring clients we’re transporting.”

She ran her hands through her hair. “Safe house? I don’t even want to start to understand.”

Sometimes they had to transport dignitaries or “off the books” assets for “off the books” government jobs, but he decided not to explain that to her right now. The only way of getting into this safe house was through a fake wall on the west side of the building. Even some of the guys who worked for ICS didn’t know about it.

Once they were inside, he shuffled her to the back to the big room with the en suite bathroom. “Take a shower. There’s some clothes in the drawers that should work for tonight until we can get you more things. I need to change the dressing on your chest afterward, since you’re going to get it wet.”

“How bad is it?” she asked.

It was bad. The doctor had said it should heal with minimal scarring, but right now, it did not look good. He took her hand. “You’re alive.”

“That bad, huh?”

He leaned in and kissed her lips. It was soft and quick, but it communicated what he felt at the moment. “You’re beautiful. You’re strong. You’re brave.”

Her chin wobbled like it had earlier. “Oh, Joey,” her eyes filled with tears. “I didn’t feel brave or strong. I froze.”

“Of course you did, Livie. He had a knife to your throat. Grown men with military training would’ve frozen.”

“I should’ve fought back.”

“No! No, you did exactly the right thing.”

“I—I thought,” she swallowed. “I thought he was going to rape me or kill me or both.”

That had been his worry too, but he didn’t voice it. “But he didn’t, and he’ll never get that close to you again.”

She wiped under her eyes and walked into the bathroom. “D-do you think that . . . can you stay close?”

“Of course. Let me help you.”

“It stings when I lift my arms,” she said with a pained look, trying to take off the T-shirt she’d had in her gym bag.

“Sit down.” He closed the toilet seat lid and helped her down, then he got on his knees and took off her sneakers, then her socks. “Slowly lift your arms for me.”

“Joey . . .” She looked mortified.

“I won’t look, I promise.” The doctor had told her that she should avoid wearing a bra for a few days, since it would rub against the wound. A tear slid down her face and she closed her eyes and lifted her arm. “Hey, hey,” He softly pinched her chin with his index finger and thumb. “Please don’t cry. The worst of it is over and you’re here and you’re okay.”

“This is so embarrassing and I just . . . I can’t believe this even happened,” she sniffled.

“Would it make you feel any better if I tell you that I was eventually, probably in the very very near future, going to see you naked anyway?”

She gave a watery snort. “That’s very presumptuous, Joey.”

“I like you smiling.” He leaned in and kissed her lips softly. “And you know you want naked Joey time as much as I want naked Livie time, so really, it’s no big deal.”

She rolled her eyes and sniffled one last time before sitting upright and slowly lifting her arms. Joey pulled the shirt gently over her torso and then over her head trying to avoid looking at her tits. But fuck, they were nice tits. A little more than a handful, pink plump nipples on skin so pale it was almost translucent. He remembered exactly how she tasted. It was amazing that it had only been a couple of weeks. It felt like he’d known her for years. He swallowed and moved his eyes up to her face. As soon as the shirt was over her head she covered herself with her arms and then stood. “I can do the shorts myself. It only hurts when I stretch my abdomen.”

“You sure?”

“I’m sure. Thank you.”

“Okay, I’ll be right outside waiting. Holler if you need anything. When you finish, I’ll change your bandage to a dry one.” He closed the door behind himself and sat on the bed to wait for her, his mind wandering to what had happened. He needed to sit in front of his computer with all the account numbers she’d been given. He needed to find a motive. He needed to work. But she needed him, so he sat there and waited. Luckily, she didn’t take too long to finish.

When she emerged from the bathroom, steam billowing out, she was fully dressed and he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t disappointed.

“I could’ve helped.”

“I managed.” She handed him the waterproof wrapping so he could help her change out the bandages.

“Lay down and lift your shirt.”

She followed his instructions, lifting the shirt right under her breast exposing her soft but flat abdomen. Carefully he removed the clear covering and then the bandages and gauze. He tried not to make a pained face when he saw the angry marks. Then he had to move higher to where the motherfucker had cut her actual breast, starting from right underneath her nipple. Gently he lifted the shirt, exposing her breast.

And what kind of sicko was he that he wanted to suck that nipple, which was mere inches from his face, right into his mouth?

But the desire was mixed with rage from how close the asshole had gotten to her and had inflicted pain. His face must have shown a full spectrum of emotion.

“It looks really bad doesn’t it?” she asked.

He almost laughed at the absurdity of the question. If she knew how he was just thinking completely inappropriate thoughts she’d probably smack him. Clearing his throat, he dabbed the area around the stitches, making sure it was all dry. “I won’t even respond to that question. There’s nothing not beautiful about you. I’m fucking furious that you’re hurt, though.”

Once he was finished, he pulled her shirt down and helped her up. “I don’t really know how to thank you for everything you’ve done.”

“I don’t need you to thank me. I need you to listen to me and do what I say when it comes to your safety. I need you to fire Tom immediately and I need to take over.”

“Okay. What happened to me—” She shook her head. “It can’t happen to Sophie, it can’t even come close. So, whatever you say, I’ll do. Just promise me you’ll keep her safe. No matter what, she comes first.”

“I promise, Livie.” He took her hand and led her to the kitchen. As soon as they rounded the corner there was a loud squeal. “Mommy!” Sophie came running full speed toward her mother, but Joey intercepted her before she hurt Olivia. He grabbed her by the waist and then hoisted her up in the air like an airplane, and Sophie giggled in delight.

“Mum, I’m a bird!”

“I see that, sweets.”

When he finally put her down, Olivia was already sitting, trying to hide that she was in pain.

“Mommy, Winnie and Jax picked me up from school, it was so cool,” she said animatedly, using her hands and face to tell the story. “He is so big, like a superhero.”

Everyone laughed, except for Joey. “I just swung you around like an airplane, am I a superhero too?”

She put a finger by her lip and looked side to side as if in deep thought. “A wittle bit yes and a wittle bit no.”

Jax, Winnie, Megan, and Olivia, who were sitting at the table, were all stifling a laugh.

“Mommy, Mommy, Jax colors super ugly.”

“That’s not nice, Sophie.” Olivia said.

Her daughter looked down at her paper and her face reddened just like her mother’s did when she was embarrassed. Something about it tugged at Joey’s heartstrings and he had to come to her rescue. “She’s right,” he said, walking over to her and kneeling down to eye level. He turned her paper his way and looked at all the colors and gasped, overzealously. “You, freckles, sure can color. Wow.” Then he pulled Jax’s paper across the table. “She’s right, man. I’ve never seen a blue horse.”

Sophie looked up, her embarrassed face gone and quickly replaced with a smile followed by a giggle. “It’s not a horse,” she exclaimed. “It’s a unicorn, silly.”

“Well, I’ve never seen a blue unicorn.”

Jax snatched the paper back and continued coloring as if the fate of the world hung on that project. “Unicorns can be blue,” he guffawed.

“Mine is pink,” Sophie said proudly, and held it so close to his face that he had to lean back in order to look at it.

“I see that.”

Winnie, who had been eyeing Olivia, but not wanting to alarm Sophie, reached across the table and squeezed Olivia’s hand. “You okay?” it was almost a whisper.

“I will be,” she replied softly while Sophia moved from one coloring book to another. “Thank you for watching her.” She turned to Megan and Jax. “I’m Olivia, by the way.”

“I know,” Megan said reaching over the table to shake her hand. “I’ve been following your campaign. What you did with the public school system is commendable. You’ve definitely got my vote.”

“Thank you.”

“I’m Megan, by the way.”

Olivia chuckled and repeated the same thing Megan had just said. “I know.”

“Babe, I think everyone who has a radio knows who you are.”

“Not true,” Megan said. “You didn’t know.”

“That’s only because I’d been in Iraq fighting in a war.”

Olivia smiled. “I’m a big fan,” then she turned to Sophie. “Soph, you know Megan is a rock star? She’s in a band called TNT.”

“I’m a rock star too!” The little girl sprang up from her chair. “Wanna hear me sing?”

Before anyone could speak, Sophie began to bob her head, both hands on her hips. The girl was too cute for her own good. Joey got up, pulled a chair, and sat down as Sophie serenaded the group with “The Wheels on the Bus.”

When she finished she bowed. “Wow. You are a rock star!” Megan cheered.

“Come on, my little rock star, we need to get you some food,” Olivia said.

“Oh, I hope it’s okay. She said she wanted spaghetti so we made an order. One of the guys should be back soon with the food. We also ordered a couple of lasagnas and baked ziti, we figured you all would be hungry,” Megan said.

“Thank you, that’s her favorite.” She turned to Sophie. “How about a quick shower while we wait for dinner?”

“Oh man.” The girl’s shoulders dropped, and her pout was so big she looked as if she would melt right into the floor. “I don’t wanna . . .”

“Sophie.”

“Please, Mommy. I don’t wanna.” The girl’s eyes filled with tears.

Olivia straightened, probably to scold her daughter, but there was a noticeable wince and she grabbed her midsection.

“You know, princesses always smell nice for dinner.” Joey interjected.

“Not true. Mommy doesn’t always smell nice.”

“Sophie Alexandra!”

Everyone laughed, even Olivia, who was a little red in the face.

“It’s true,” Sophie added.

“Well, maybe your mommy isn’t a princess, but I thought you were. But if you don’t want to be a princess, I understand.”

“No! I wanna, I wanna.” She took Joey’s hand and pulled. “Princesses play with lizards too, you know.”

“I do know. Remember you told me.” Joey winked down at her.

“I’ll help you so you don’t have to bend down,” Winnie said following the two to the back of the house. “You make sure no one touches my spisghetti, okay?”

Joey nodded. “Aye aye, captain.”

The little girl giggled and disappeared into the bathroom with her mother saying, “Mommy, I’m a captain, Joey said so.”

“How’s she doing?” Jax asked when Joey walked back into the kitchen and sat down.

“She’s scared. Nervous. A little too agreeable.”

Megan laughed. “Probably just the shock. I doubt she takes well to orders.”

“Which is why I’m shocked she agreed to stay here.”

“Well, we better get shit tight at her house quickly. I suspect within forty-eight hours those two females are going to go stir crazy in this compound.” Jax chuckled.

Megan shook her head. “I give it twenty-four hours, max.”

* * *

“I can’t, Joey. I can’t. I swear to God, I love her, but I’m going to take these scissors and cut off my own ears!”

It had taken thirty hours.

Joey chuckled and took the scissors out of Olivia’s hand and then went to the living room and turned down Peppa Pig. He’d never heard of the show before but in the last thirty hours he’d heard it over and over and over and over again, and he was ready to scream too.

“Hey, freckles, watcha think about going on a little trip?” he asked and then turned to Olivia. “A little fresh air?”

“Yes, please! Is it safe, though? Where are we going to go?”

While they’d been holed up in the house, ICS, together with the police, were trying to track down the bank account the guy had given her. Joey had barely slept a wink using all his free time to search those goddamn numbers. They’d also been looking at the videos from the gym cameras and the ones on the exterior of the gym.

He was going to track down that account number to its owner if it was the last thing he did. The time to wire the hundred grand had come and gone and there hadn’t been anything unusual happening in her house, according to the patrol cars that had been doing hourly rounds, nor at the school, which had been notified.

Joey was also monitoring her emails and texts, and again . . . nothing unusual.

With Olivia being so recognizable, going out in public wasn’t safe, at least not yet. Her attack had made national news and Mark was fielding all the reporters while Olivia stayed in hiding.

“The guys are finishing your new alarm system today. Why don’t we stay at my place tonight? I have a big yard and a pool. No one will bother us there. Then, once your house is a fortress, we can go back.”

“A pool!” The little girl screeched with excitement.

“Sounds like a plan,” Olivia agreed.

“Go pack all your stuff, freckles.”

“Yay!” she ran off to the room to pack the few things Annie had bought for them. Unfortunately, Jax and Megan had left that morning for the next two weeks, but fortunately Annie had agreed to stay and help out while her boyfriend, A-list actor Rocco Monroe, was away shooting a movie. And Annie had brought them a bunch of clothes.

Olivia grabbed his wrist to stop him. She reached up, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him. Hard. Passionately. His hand snaked around her waist and he pulled her to him, careful not to press too hard against her. Her tongue slid into his mouth and her nails dug into his skin.

“What was that for?” he asked, when she finally broke away.

“Thank you.”

“You need to stop with the thanks. Not the kisses but the thanks.”

“You’re pretty great, Joey. Not just with me but with Sophie. You practically just met us but it feels good having you around. And, I know I just had a little tantrum, but the truth is, I’d move in here forever if that’s what it took to make Sophie safe.”

“You’re a good mom, Livie.” He knew this was not easy for her to say. Being vulnerable and saying it wasn’t in her DNA. “And, just so you know, I don’t feel like I just met you. I do wish we could figure out who’s fucking with you so we can get his ass in jail and go about progressing things between us.”

She smiled. “You only want to catch the bad guy so you can get some action?”

He rolled his eyes and smiled big. “Of course, darlin’. Remember, Prince Charming is just charming because he wants some booty.” He grabbed her ass playfully causing her to yelp just as Sophie skipped into the room.

“I wanna hug too!” Sophie said, dropping her bag and then lifting her arms up into the air. “Squishy sandwich hug!”

Joey picked her up and the two of them hugged her tight until the little girl yelped.