Page 23 of The Heiress

“Lots.” He even smiled a little.

“Drugs?” I couldn’t picture Jace that way.

He shook his head a little. “I won’t lie. I’ve experimented. Mostly years ago. In the beginning. But I don’t mess with much but Wild Turkey these days. I like to have a clear head.”

Nowthatsounded just like Jace. “Have you been arrested?”

He flinched. Just enough that I noticed. It would probably have been invisible to anyone else. “Yes. A few times.”

I knew he’d say yes and yet it still hit me right in the gut. Sweet Jace in handcuffs. In jail. For a split second he was twelve again. Todd had just been arrested and Jace was sleeping over with us. He sat at the dinner table smiling away as if nothing was wrong, cracking jokes and rushing to help Mom with the dishes.

“You have guns?”

He rolled his shoulders again, then pulled up his jeans with a grunt. “Always.” Around his leg was an ankle holster with a small gun. “I left the Glock in the truck.”

“For me?”

He nodded.

It was an oddly sweet gesture that he was willing to leave his weapon behind to make me feel more comfortable. “Is your life in danger?”

All the tension left his body and he met my gaze fully. “No Sam. I’m the biggest, scariest motherfucker on this coast and anyone dumb enough to come for me would be dead before they knew what was happening.”

Nowthatwas the truth I’d been looking for, even if it made me cold inside. “You made yourself safe.” Years of being kicked around, left behind, and finally told who he had to be, but Jace didn’t take it lying down. Of course he didn’t. He took the situation and bent it to his will.

He blinked and swallowed. “Yeah, I guess I did.”

“Good job.”

He shook head, his eyes darkening again. “You don’t mean that.”

“I do.” For some reason I needed to touch him, so I stepped closer and reached for his hand. It was warm and rough and the contact made me feel good. I didn’t stop to analyze why. “This isn’t the life I’d pick for you but I’m proud of you for making it your own.”

His eyes locked with mine and that faint sizzle I’d been feeling ever since I got near warmed up into an electric fire. It made the room hot and the air impossible to breathe. Plus I got the feeling Jace felt exactly the same way. His eyes warmed the way I imagined the characters in my books warmed at the sight of...their lover.

Was that what this was? I wasn’t entirely sure because all of these sensations were new to me. I’d never reacted to Jace this way when we were teenagers and I’d never had a reaction quite like this to a boyfriend. But I’d also never felt that strongly about any of the men I dated, which is why they never lasted more than a few fun months.

“Sam,” his voice rumbled, gruff and raw, “are you all right?”

“Yes. Why?” My voice came out all soft and breathy. My heart rate ticked up another notch.

He swallowed hard, like it took an enormous amount of effort. “You’re just looking at me like...”

“Like what?” I wanted to know what he saw. Was I justSam,the girl he grew up with, or was I different now?

His hand tightened on the arm of the chair, his knuckles going white. “Like—”

Knock, knock, knock.

We both froze as the cacophonous sound of knuckles on metal rang through the quiet house. His eyes flicked to the door. “Who the hell is that at this time of night?”

The only person who’d come to the door on these weekends was Jace, so I really had no idea who it might be. “Must be a neighbor. Maybe I left the garage open.” It was a silly thing to say since I hadn’t opened the garage, but my mind went right to the things my dad used to say at times like this.

And that made my chest ache.

I moved toward the door, but out of the corner of my eye I noticed Jace moved too, pausing when he stood up to push something into the small of his back before he came to stand behind me like a sentinel.

What I found on my stoop sent my heart racing all over again, but not in the pleasant, exciting way it did for Jace. This time it was in an adrenaline-fueled panic because my mystery guest was a middle-aged man in a black suit, carrying a briefcase, and I knew out of instinct that he was sent here because of my stupidity.

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