ISAAC returned quietly into the bedroom to see that his girl was still asleep. Except she wasn’t as deeply under as he’d left her. She was restless, tossing and turning, and when he saw the silent streams of tears sliding down her pale, bruised cheeks, his chest tightened to the point of pain.
With no hesitation and giving no thought as to whether he should, he pulled back the covers and slid into bed next to her. He wrapped his arms around her and tucked her head beneath his chin. She trembled even in sleep, and he’d give anything in the world to be able to prevent the fear he knew she felt every hour of every day.
It was instinctual. He didn’t even consider what he was doing when he pressed his lips to her soft curls. He wanted to stay this way and simply enjoy holding her in his arms, but they didn’t have time. She didn’t have time.
Reluctantly he pulled away, putting distance between them. He slid his hand over her shoulder, gently shaking her.
“Baby, I need you to wake up. Can you do that for me?”
Her brow furrowed and her eyelids fluttered as though they were too heavy to open. Her mouth pursed and then fear chased across her features as she tensed beneath his touch.
“Hey,” he said softly. “I won’t hurt you. Nothing will ever hurt you again. I need you to believe that. Now can you open your eyes so we can talk?”
She went rigid and pulled away, her eyes slowly opening, but it gutted him when her gaze settled on him and panic swamped her entire face. She immediately began scrambling backward on the bed.
He shackled her wrist to prevent her from falling off the other side of the bed and swore when his action only seemed to alarm her more.
“Honey, listen to me. I’m never going to hurt you, and if you keep moving away you’re going to wind up on the floor on the other side of the bed. We need to talk. Nothing more. Can you trust me enough to do that?”
She nibbled nervously on her bottom lip, and he’d never been more tempted to suck that lip between his and soothe the damage she was currently doing to it. And he still didn’t even know her name, much less her story.
Patience was not one of his stronger virtues. Hell, it wasn’t even in his vocabulary, but he knew he’d have to go slow and pull on every reserve he possessed not to overwhelm her and start demanding the answers he needed.
To his satisfaction, she scooted over a few inches so she wasn’t about to take a fall, and she sat up against the pillows behind her. She looked nervously at him and he released her wrist. Not because he wanted to, but because he needed her to know she could trust him and that he wouldn’t do a damn thing she was uncomfortable with.
“How did I get here?” she asked in a small voice. “Where am I?”
“You’re safe,” he said firmly. “As to how you got here, we found my SUV in a wooded area with you passed out in the backseat. You’ve been out for hours and you were an easy target there, parked in the open, unconscious. Anyone could have found you and taken you. I’m just thankful as hell that I found you first.”
“Why?” she whispered.
Her response enraged him. It took everything he had not to explode on the spot. Jesus, but this woman evidently was so used to no one giving one fuck about her that she was genuinely perplexed as to why someone would actually want to help her. That someone would care.
“You saved me,” he growled. “You put yourself at great risk to save someone you didn’t even know, and there was no way in hell I was going to leave you to whatever those fuckers who are after you have planned for you.”
Tears filled her eyes and she hastily looked away so he wouldn’t see her distress. Taking a chance, he gently cupped her chin and turned her back to face him.
“What’s wrong, honey? Why are you crying?”
“Because they’ll never let me go,” she said in a resigned voice. “They’ll never stop looking for me, never give up, and anyone in their way they’ll dispose of, just like they tried to do to you.”
“Lucky for me, then, that I had my own little guardian angel to save me.”
“You should get as far away from me as you can,” she said with utter gravity. “No one who helps me is safe.”
He growled and she jumped, eyeing him nervously. He moved closer to her and then cradled her cheeks with both his hands, his palms engulfing her small face.
“You aren’t getting rid of me, baby. Now, there are other things we need to talk about and we don’t have much time. I need some answers from you so I can keep you safe.”
“The less you know about me, the safer you’ll be,” she said in a low voice.
“Fuck that. Let’s get something straight right now. You aren’t protecting me. I’m protecting you.”
He could swear he saw relief flicker in her eyes just before it was replaced by fear. He’d remove it permanently if it was the last thing he did.
“What’s your name, honey?” he asked gently.
She blinked in surprise.
“I can’t keep calling you ‘baby’ or ‘honey’ forever.”
She blushed, and he found it adorable.
“No one has ever called me anything sweet before,” she said wistfully.
“I didn’t say I’d stop calling you honey or baby or a number of other endearments, but I do need to know your name because no one else is going to call you those other things but me,” he growled.
Surprise flashed in her eyes and then she blushed again, and it took all his restraint not to kiss her.
“J-Jenna,” she stammered.
“Last name?”
To his surprise, shame crawled across her face and she turned away, tears sparkling on her lashes. What the fuck?
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “I was just Jenna. Not important enough to have a last name.”
Again, what the fuck?
“Jenna is a pretty name. It suits you. Perfect name for a beautiful woman.”
She turned back to meet his gaze, her expression hopeful. Jesus, was she so accustomed to rejection that she expected it at every turn? Did she not realize how sweet and heart-stoppingly beautiful she was? Stupid question. Of course she didn’t. This was a woman who’d never been assured of her self-worth. A woman who felt she had no worth. He wanted to put his fist through the wall.
“What’s your name?” she asked shyly.
“Isaac. Isaac Washington. At your service, ma’am,” he said with a charming grin.
She smiled and holy fuck, what a smile she had. He made a vow then and there to coax them out of her as often as he could, because something told him she didn’t smile a lot, nor did she have a whole hell of a lot to smile about.
Then he became serious. “Jenna, I need to ask you some questions and we don’t have a lot of time, because I’m moving you to a safe house in the next hour. And I know you’ll have some questions before you blindly trust me. I get that.”
She stiffened, and apprehension once more sparked in her eyes.
“Please don’t be afraid, honey. Not of me. Never of me.”
“I’m afraid for you,” she burst out.
Isaac sighed. “Okay, before we get into what I really wanted to discuss, I think it’s a better idea to tell you who and what I am so that your fears will be eased.”
She looked puzzled.
“I work for a security company. Personal protection. We’re the best, Jenna, and that’s not an idle boast. Our job is to protect people and we’re damn good at it. So you don’t need to be worried about me or any of the men who will take part in protecting you.”
Her eyes widened at that statement.
“They will offer peripheral protection, but I am the one who will protect you. The only damn one,” he said gruffly. “And listen to me, Jenna, because I don’t make promises lightly. Anyone who tries to hurt you or take you away from me will have to come through me to do that.”
“But you don’t even know me,” she said softly.
“You’re right. But I will.”
It came out as a vow. Matter of fact. Inevitable. She looked too stunned to respond to his promise.
“But why?” she choked out.
He touched her cheek, stroking it in the lightest of caresses. “You may not know why yet. But you will.” Another promise.
“Now, tell me about the people after you. I assume they want you because of what you can do.”
Her expression turned bitter, but before she could respond, a forceful knock sounded at the door. She jumped, her gaze jerking to the closed door and Isaac shouted, “Not right now! Whatever it is can wait. Just give me a goddamn minute,” he bellowed in frustration.
Instead of going away as Isaac had ordered, someone knocked again. More forcefully than before, and this time, there was no waiting for Isaac’s invitation to enter. Sterling burst inside holding some of Eliza’s clothing, a grim expression on his face.
“We need to move. Now. We have company. My men just reported movement in the northern quadrant, which means Eliza and I need to get out now. You wait fifteen minutes and then head west. One of my men will pick you up and take you to a safe house. We don’t have time to hash this out unless we want to engage, and there’s no way in hell I’m going to do that when my wife’s safety is at risk and she still hasn’t fully recovered from the last time she was shot.”
Isaac cursed the timing, but knew hers and the others’ safety came first. He’d just have to get Jenna to talk whenever they got settled again. He turned to Jenna, all business now, and handed her the clothing Sterling had tossed him. “Get dressed and make it fast. There’s a bathroom there,” he said, pointing to another door in the room. “You need to hurry, Jenna. We don’t have much time.”
Jenna jumped off the bed and fled to the bathroom, already pulling the T-shirt one of his men had put on her over her head when she closed the door behind her.
“Three minutes, sweetheart. Then we have to roll,” Isaac called loudly enough that she’d hear through the door.
Isaac turned to Sterling and then eyed him seriously. “I appreciate this more than you’ll ever know. Keep Lizzie safe. I don’t want her hurt because she’s helping me.”
“No one is going to so much as touch my wife,” Sterling said in a rigid tone. Then he turned and stalked from the room.