Chapter 1
Ellie shifted from foot to foot on the cold stoop, waiting for Sierra to answer the door. It was too cold to walk in slippers, even just to go next door. Vegas weather liked to keep her on her toes like that. October was a transitional month from pool to sweater weather, but there was nothing transitional about the chill snaking through her right now. It had to be in the forties or fifties.
As Sierra opened the door, Ellie rushed inside, keeping her arms wrapped around herself. She’d walked over from next door where she lived with Jay and hadn’t realized how chilly it was outside.
“Jeez, what the hell are you wearing?” Sierra asked, taking in Ellie’s thin sleep T-shirt, shorts and pink slippers.
“I didn’t know it was cold outside. Jay is a freaking furnace and I grabbed this off the floor. I thought I’d sneak over before he woke up so I could snag a couple eggs. Please tell me you have some.” Ellie was pretty certain she did. Sierra was only twenty-two, but she was head chef at Cloud 9, the casino owned by billionaire Wyatt Christiansen they all worked for. Ellie was Wyatt’s personal assistant and oversaw a lot of his businesses, and she spent a lot of time working from her office at the casino since it was so new.
Sierra snorted as if the question was ridiculous. “Come on.” She motioned toward the kitchen. “Hayden’s a furnace too. Must run in the family.” Sierra was living with Jay’s brother—they’d just moved in together. “What are you making?”
“Just an omelet with a side of bacon. I wanted to cook a quick breakfast for Jay since I know he’s got meetings all day.” Jay was basically Wyatt’s right hand man and head of his personal security, and Wyatt wanted him interviewing possible new security guys for his own team and for a couple of his other establishments. She understood why too. As a former SEAL Jay was good at seeing through bullshit and assessing things you just couldn’t get from a resume. He would be able to gauge whether these interviewees would be a good personality fit. All the experience in the world wouldn’t matter if someone was a grade A asshole.
“So fancy,” Sierra murmured, unhidden laughter in her voice as she opened the fridge.
“Ha, ha. Whatever Miss Fancy Pants, I don’t want to hear it. The man is lucky he’s getting any breakfast at all.” It was no secret she didn’t cook well. But Ellie knew she couldn’t screw up eggs and bacon.
Sierra snickered as she handed her the half empty egg carton. “I don’t know if lucky is the term he’d use.”
Ellie’s eyes widened at the unexpected joke from Sierra. “If I hadn’t started a tiny fire the last time I used the kitchen, I might be insulted.”
Sierra stifled another laugh. “Do you want a sweater?”
“Nah, I’m just running back over there. Thanks again.” Once outside she hurried to the house she now shared with Jay. Unlike Sierra, who had moved in with Hayden after a couple weeks, it had taken Ellie months to officially move in with Jay. During the months he’d been recovering from an explosion meant to kill their boss she’d practically lived here, but once he was on his feet and back at work, she’d set up some boundaries for almost half a year.
It wasn’t that she didn’t love him, because she did. More than anything. But moving in with someone was a big deal. She and Jay already saw each other all the time because of their jobs and she’d been worried about losing her little personal space. Plus, she’d kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. She’d been convinced that what she had with Jay was too good to be true. That it was all going to end if she got too happy with him. Because that’s how life worked in her experience.
And the intuitive man had known, had called her out on it once and told her to accept that he loved her and wasn’t going anywhere. She knew that in her heart, but it was so damn hard getting her head to line up with that knowledge. At least he hadn’t pushed her. Ellie knew Jay wanted more from her—as in, ‘til death do us part—but he was never pushy about anything. For that, she was grateful. It just solidified how right he was for her. Hell, how right they were together. They definitely balanced each other out. Lord knew he balanced out her neurotic tendencies.
Once inside their two-story home, she shut and locked the door behind her. Out of habit, she put the alarm back on stay mode. That was the one thing she and Jay were both vigilant about. Of course he had his own version of security with his trusty SIG and his SEAL training. The man definitely knew how to take care of himself. And her—in more ways than one.
Her chill started to fade as she made her way to the kitchen. The second she stepped inside she found Jay leaning against the countertop, steaming coffee mug in hand, and the cold disappeared all together. At six foot, five inches, with a skull trim haircut, and sleeves of tattoos covering his arms, he made her mouth water.
He started to give her one of those wicked smiles that melted her insides but it quickly turned into a frown as he raked a concerned gaze over her. “Were you next door? It’s freezing outside.”
“How was I supposed to know that? It’s not even cold in here.” Which was weird. She hadn’t felt the cold because Jay was so warm at night.
“I turned the heater on around midnight when you shivered in your sleep.” He set his coffee cup down on the counter and started to head for her.
Her throat tightened at those simple words. She never thought she’d have a man like him care about her, even that much. Jay’s thoughtfulness touched her in ways she hadn’t imagined. As he took the egg carton from her hand, she knew what he had in mind by the hungry glint in his piercing green eyes. And it wasn’t breakfast. Turning from her, he set the carton down and before he’d looked back, she stripped off her shirt, shorts and panties and tossed them to the floor in a messy heap.
When he turned to face her, she was just stepping out of her slippers. His big body went still as he drank in the sight of her standing there naked. An undeniable shudder rolled through him as he reached for her. She loved that she still got that reaction out of him. Over a year later and the chemistry was still as powerful as ever.
Sliding her hands up his hard chest, she pressed her body to his as she linked her hands behind his neck. Her breasts rubbed against his chest, now tingling from the feel of his body instead of the cold.
“You’re going to make me late,” Jay murmured before hoisting her up so that she had to wrap her legs around his waist. Through his boxers, his erection pressed insistently against her abdomen, making her body flare to life in the way only he could.
“I can head upstairs instead and—”
He cut her off with a scorching kiss that made her toes curl. His big hands cupped her behind as he walked them to the nearest counter where he set her down. When he tugged her shorts off and knelt between her legs, burying his face in her heat, she arched into him with a ragged moan, knowing they were both going to be incredibly late.
And control freak that she was, she still didn’t care.
Thirty minutes later, Ellie propped up on one elbow against the kitchen floor and set her chin on Jay’s bare chest. “That was amazing,” she murmured against his skin, hating that they had to g
et up soon and head to work.
Looking supremely smug, he grinned at her as he stroked a hand up and down her bare spine. The tile of the kitchen floor was cool beneath them, but she was still coming down from her climax so nothing could dilute her pleasure.
When he groaned and started to sit she pushed off him and stood. “All right old man, let me help you up.”
For a moment, he betrayed such a vulnerable expression she wanted to smack herself. He was in his late thirties whereas she’d just turned twenty-five—though she felt a hundred some days—and recently he’d made a comment that led her to believe the age difference bothered him a little. Even if it wasn’t a big deal to her. Thanks to an apathetic mother and an alcoholic father, she’d grown up with no real childhood to speak of and she’d always felt light years older than she was. With the exception of her deceased sister’s help, Ellie had always taken care of herself. “Jay—”
That brief sense of vulnerability she’d seen disappeared as he smiled and stood. He wrapped his big arms around her and brushed his lips over hers, silencing whatever she’d been about to say. “I’ve gotta head out soon and I’ll have to turn my cell to silent for a few hours once I reach the casino.”
“Okay. I don’t have anything big today. Just joining in two meetings with Wyatt this morning so if you want let’s meet for lunch. At the Cloud?” What most employees called Cloud 9.
