Mat moved farther into the kitchen, sitting at the counter and sharing a friendly smile with her. “You really care about him, don’t you?”
Mat’s question was a reasonable one. She cared about Jackson. He’d come here to help her—that alone warranted her gratitude and concern. But as Mat’s eyes darted back and forth as if he were trying to read her answer in the lines of her face and her body language, she knew her feelings for Jackson were more than mere gratitude.
You don’t sleep with someone because you’re grateful, Aja.No, she hadn’t shared her body with Jackson because she was grateful to him. She’d crossed that line with him because she’d wanted him, because she’d connected to something inside him that bound her to him in indescribable ways.
“He’s my employee. You know how I am about my people. Messing with them is like messing with me. This situation is dangerous. I don’t want him to get hurt because of me.”
“I know,” he replied. “Your loyalty to the folks who work for you is legend around these parts. It’s one of the reasons Brooklyn loves working here so much.” Aja saw a far-off look fall across his face and she ached for him. She didn’t think she’d be able to see Jackson as much as Mat saw Brooklyn and deny her attraction to him.
“When did she tell you that?”
“The last time I was here to see her and Seneca.” His mouth bent into a sweet smile. It was something he did whenever he mentioned Brooklyn. “She said she hopes you let her stay beyond her parole. I think she’s beginning to finally settle into her life here.”
Aja was about to respond to Mat when the sound of the back door opening and closing pulled her attention from him. At the sight of Jackson filling the room—bold, strong, and unharmed beyond initial detection—she pulled away from Mat and headed directly for the subject of her thoughts.
“Jackson, you’re all right.” She didn’t give Jackson a chance to answer. Instead, she launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around his middle, clinging to him with all the might she could muster, demanding a full-body hug in the middle of her kitchen floor without thought or concern for who could witness her actions.
She didn’t care. Jackson was safe, and she wouldn’t have to bear another mark on her conscience.
Before she could stop herself, tears flowed and her shoulders shook. Maybe it really was her relief he was all right. Maybe it was everything she’d endured since the sabotage and her attack finally crashing down around her. Whatever it was, she held on to him as tight as she could, pressing herself into his hard frame, rejoicing because he was still with her.
His arms encircled her in a warm cocoon. His hand stroking her head as he held her to chest, his heartbeat a strong and delightfully loud rhythm in her ear, he bent down and whispered, “It’s over, darlin’.”
Those words made her hold him tighter. Through her tears and the melodious tune of his heart beating, Aja heard Jackson ask Mat to give them a minute.
For a brief second, she felt bad. She’d forgotten about the poor man as soon as Jackson stepped in the room. But that didn’t last long. She couldn’t do anything but focus on Jackson being back in her arms.
She assumed Mat had left because Jackson’s lips brushed the top of her head, pouring his heat into her to dispel the cold chill of fear. “You don’t have to worry anymore, Aja. We got him.”
Her river of tears slowed enough to allow her an attempt at coherent speech. She pulled far enough out of his embrace to look up at him. “I wasn’t concerned about it being over. I was worried about you. I knew something bad had happened, but I didn’t know what. After what he did to me upstairs, I was so worried that he’d do worse to you.”
He pressed a sweet kiss to her lips and stroked the side of her face with his thumb in slow, soothing movements. “I’m fine, really. This was probably the least dangerous takedown I’ve ever experienced. No one was hurt.”
She dropped her shoulders and used the backs of her hands to wipe away the tearstains on her wet cheeks as she moved out of his embrace. “So it’s really over?”
He smiled in response. He looked around the room again and curled a finger at her, silently asking her to step outside on the back porch with him. When the door closed behind them, he turned to her, speaking in hushed tones. “The danger is over. We’ve apprehended him, we’ll take him in, and the courts will handle the rest. But first, I need you to follow me to Austin. You’re gonna need to pick him out of a lineup and fill out some paperwork. I know it’s a trek and it’s already evening, but are you up for that?”
“Yeah,” she answered. “Let me tell my aunt, uncle, and Mat we’re headed out, and they can head on home.”
She stepped closer to him and gave him another tight hug. When she was satisfied, she moved out of his embrace, walking toward the back door, but stopped halfway there. She turned around, heading back into his embrace, and squeezed him with all her might one more time as she whispered, “Thank you,” into his chest.
* * *
Jackson watched as Aja walked through the back door and headed into the house. The band of swirling emotions pulled taut around his chest, restricting the flow of much-needed air.
The takedown had been simple. Not much drama or heightened danger. Whoever it was in their custody had no weapons on him. If Jackson wasn’t aware of all the menacing things the suspect had pulled on Aja’s land, he probably would’ve characterized the young man as a harmless prankster. But even knowing that, seeing Aja’s reaction, the way she clung to him for reaffirmation he was safe, made his insides tingle.
Something meaningful had happened in that moment, and he was both shocked and grateful to be experiencing it.
How he’d gone forty years without ever knowing what it felt like to be treasured, needed by another person, he didn’t know. But in that moment, he understood Aja’s concern was born out of something special, even if he couldn’t put his finger on exactly what that was.
As Aja returned to the back porch, grabbing her keys and her handbag from a nearby table, he knew beyond any doubt that everything he wanted came in the glorious package of this intelligent, compassionate woman with the killer curves and a body made to satisfy him, who was smiling at him, asking, “Are you ready, Jackson?”
For the first time in what seemed like forever, he thought he might be.
Chapter 28
“How much longer before this lineup begins, Jackson?”
