Page 30 of Bastard

The blood drained from her already tense face. “I see. Never alone. Got it.”

“The good news is the police are happy to play escort. Visible presence is always a good deterrent. Especially if the threat is from fans.” Not so much if the call is coming from inside the building.

“You should work from home as much as possible.”

“In my tower? Isn’t that what they all want? Isolate me. Scare me. Make me look weak. No.”

Fuck she was sexy when she was being stubborn and powerful.

“Damn, Sam,” Home Run whistled. “Little Sammy the bookworm is secretly a badass inside. If you told thirteen-year-old Teddy that the girl reading in the gym would be a powerful Boss Lady I wouldn’t believe it.”

Storm made some bows from the waist, arms out. “We’re here to serve you, my lady. We’ll keep you safe.”

Okay, now it was definitely time for them to go. “Out.”

My brothers grinned at me because they knew exactly where my head was at.

“I’ll stay up. You go sleep,” Storm offered.

“I’ll take that deal. I’m wiped.” Home Run shook his hand and sauntered off towards their rooms. Storm checked his weapons and took his spot in the security room near the elevator.

I pointed up the stairs to our bedroom. “You. Bath. Now.”

12

“You’ve really turned into a bath junkie,” Sam teased.

“It’s all your fault. I hadn’t taken a bath in years…maybe decades, until we got together.” And now I was more than happy to indulge in what Todd would have called “a pussy bath for bored housewives.” Ah, my stepfather was such a great guy.

He had no idea what he was missing out on. Not only were baths relaxing, it meant spending quality naked time with Sam and her body all pressed up against mine. For the interests of everyone involved, that was my last thought about Todd for the night.

The soaking tub was long and deep. Long enough that I actually fit and deep enough that if I wanted to, I could slide down and soak my shoulders, too. But for now I was sitting up, Sam between my legs, groaning as I dug into her stiff neck muscles. The bubbles mostly obscured her body, but that didn’t matter since I could feel all of her at once.

Sam had a television installed on the wall so she could watch shows when she soaked, but we had it off. Instead we lit candles and had soft music coming from the inset speakers.

“Are you okay?”

Sam froze at my question. “Mostly. I’m trying to be.”

“It’s okay to be upset. Or even scared.” I pressed against the muscle in her neck, forcing her to relax again. “It’s me.”

“I wasn’t putting on some show in the kitchen, Jace. I’m more pissed than I am scared. I genuinely feel safe with my team and I trust you. That takes the fear off my plate for the most part. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared at all. It was scary to hear that gunshot and the screams. But then you were there, putting your whole body between me and danger.” She ran her hands over my legs, massaging too. “The memory is very sexy now that the adrenaline has worn off and I’m not being thrown in a bulletproof car for safety.”

I grimaced at that part but enjoyed the first part where Sam found it sexy when I protected her. Truth was I felt the same way. It made me feel good to know I kept my woman safe. “So you’re mad.”

“Sure am.” She kept working the top of my thigh. “My life doesn’t belong to anyone but me. Not even you. I keep thinking how dare they? How dare they try to hurt/scare/attack me? I am not a clone or an actress. And I’m definitely not a goddamned alien. Why is it always aliens? What is wrong with people?”

I couldn’t help but laugh, which is probably what she wanted. Sam always liked to lighten heavy things. “Aliens are secretly in charge. Don’t you know that?”

“I forgot to check in with my alien overlord. Oops.”

“So tomorrow?”

“I go to work like normal.”

I was glad she couldn’t see me grimace. “At least you’re in the building all day. You have a big meeting with Georgia over lunch, right?” That was when I planned to talk to the Feyereisens. I had a meeting scheduled with Hiten to go over “security concerns.”

“Yeah,” Sam sighed. “It should be a marathon. We’re getting ready for the big board meeting and there’s lots to strategize.”

---