“I’m sorry about Mr. Dawson. Claire was on watch both of those nights, and she made the decision to let it get farther than I would have for intel purposes. She wanted to know what Mr. Dawson knew.”
“Claire watches me, too?” I shrieked.
“Yes. I’m sorry you were scared. I relieved Claire the second I heard the news, which is when I came to take you home.”
Initially I was furious, but the anger disappeared when I remembered feeling desperate for Jared to intervene. How could I be angry with him for wanting the same thing that I did?
“I thought you would come,” I whispered.
“You what?” he said, surprised.
“When Mr. Dawson threatened me, I expected you to show up at any moment. It made the whole thing…tolerable.”
“Tolerable?”
And then he was angry. He didn’t speak for several minutes. His jaw flitted under his skin, and he occasionally shook his head. I waited for as long as I could, but I finally prompted him.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, searching his stormy eyes.
“The first time that you expected me to protect you…I wasn’t there.” He spoke the last three words as if they were poison in his mouth.
“You can’t be there every second, Jared. You’re only human.” I returned my hands to his. He brought my hand to his lips.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, his face twisting in torment.
“It’s okay,” I said, surprised. I didn’t expect his reaction.
His earlier description of the suffering he had experienced while witnessing my pain materialized. His time with me must have seemed like purgatory. I felt an overpowering urge to comfort him, and I was just inches away.
“It won’t happen again,” he promised. His eyes were fixed on mine.
“I’m holding you to that.” A match had been lit inside me; I was burning from the sudden need to touch him, to alleviate the self-loathing in his eyes.
I leaned forward and rested my fingers against each side of his neck. My thumbs grazed his jaw line, the fear of rejection a faint memory. Pulling him closer, I pressed my lips against his. He cautiously returned my kiss, but when he began to pull away I refused to let go.
After a brief, surprised pause, Jared gave into my insistence, wrapping his arms around me and pressing me against him. A quiet hum of satisfaction escaped my lips, and his mouth grew more urgent against mine. He sat up on his knees to tighten his grip, and his hand clutched the back of my neck. My breath became ragged as his lips parted and his outstandingly warm tongue found its way to mine. My knees parted and I pulled him against me, eliminating the tiny space between us.
He groaned in frustration and then his grip tightened, holding me a few inches away by my shoulders.
“What?” I puffed.
He took a few deep breaths before answering, staring at my lips. “We still have a lot to discuss,” he breathed, letting go of my shoulders to press my knees together.
“I’m done talking,” I whispered, leaning in again.
Jared gently restrained me, amused at my fortitude. “I can’t,” he said, taking a deep breath. “I brought you here to tell you the whole truth, not just half of it.”
I sighed in resignation, sinking back into the couch cushion.
He smiled at my pouting. “Not that I’m not incredibly tempted.” He sat up on his knees again, and brushed his lips against mine, pulling away as quickly as he began.
“Okay. Let’s talk,” I said, more eager than ever to have everything out in the open. “You haven’t been honest with me.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
“You can’t tell me that you haven’t had time for girls, now. Not when you kiss like that.”
Jared’s expression was ecstatic, and then he made a poor attempt to disguise it. “I beg to differ. I’m not an idiot…it’s not a difficult concept.”
“I have kissed boys, some of those boys more than once, that never kissed like that.”
Jared closed in and kissed my neck—from collar bone to the line of my jaw—stopping to whisper in my ear. “That’s because you kissed boys, sweetheart.”
My heart pounded so loudly that I was sure he could hear it. I let out a long sigh. “Okay, you’ve got to tell me the rest. The suspense is killing me.”
Jared shifted to the couch, turning to face me. His face returned to the worried frown he had before.
“Jared, thus far it’s my understanding that you’ve been raised by a family of assassins. You’ve spied on me, stalked me, installed microphones in my bedroom, and confessed to falling in love with me before I could drive. If I haven’t left by now, I don’t think I’m going to.”
His face screwed into disgust. “We’re not assassins.”
“Have you ever killed anyone?"
Jared raised his eyebrows, shocked at my pointed question.
“I…er…yeah. But it was to keep you safe,” he explained.
“You killed people for me?” I asked, my mood immediately shifting.
“Don’t feel a second of guilt for those people, Nina. They wouldn’t have lost a single night’s sleep over taking your life.”
I swallowed. “Do you regret it?”
He didn’t hesitate. “Never. It’s who I am.”