“How much did you hear, honey?” he asked. Judging from the tears that now ran freely down her face, she heard most of their conversation.
“All of it,” she admitted. “I’m so sorry, Jag. I came in to ask if I could pack for you and heard Dean say they’ve moved Jules,” she sobbed. He crossed the kitchen to pull her into his arms, needing comfort from her as much as she seemed to need his. “I’m so sorry, Jag,” she whispered against his neck. “This is all my fault. I thought that you and I leaving might make things better. You know—out of sight, out of mind.” She shook her head as if disgusted with herself. Jagger hated that she blamed herself for this whole mess. If anyone was at fault, it was he and Jules for pulling her into their trouble with her father.
“Look at me, Justice,” he ordered. He stroked his hand over her soft face, wiping away her tears. “None of this is your fault.You did nothing to deserve this, and I won’t stand here and let you take the blame for this mess.” Jagger bent to gently kiss her soft lips, tasting her salty tears. It nearly undid him.
She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I hid away, hoping that my father would have a change of heart and leave me alone. I was a coward. Instead of facing him head-on and dealing with him as an adult, I allowed myself to live in a dream world, hoping that if I ignored my problems, they would just disappear. I was wrong, and it allowed you and your sister to be pulled into my father’s evil world. I’m at fault for not standing up to him when I had the chance, and for that, I am sorry.” Jagger pulled her into his bare chest, loving the way she wrapped her arms around him.
“Listen, Dean will get Jules back, and you and I need to focus on staying out of plain sight. We have the green light to get out of here for a few days, but we will still need to lay low.”
Justice looked hesitant. “I don’t know, Jag. Maybe we should go back and try to help find Jules. They want me, and if I just—” Jagger put his hand over her mouth before she could say the rest.
“No fucking way, Justice,” Jagger growled, cutting her off. “There is no fucking way I will allow you to hand yourself over to Wolf or your father to save my sister. I made you a promise our first night together that I wouldn’t hand you over, and I plan on keeping it.” Justice stepped around Jagger to go into the kitchen. He could tell she hated being told what she could and couldn’t do. Honestly, from everything that she told him about growing up as Tony Hobbs’ daughter, he couldn’t blame her. She never had a voice and was never asked how she felt about anything. She was expected to do as she was told, no questions asked. He loved her fighting spirit and couldn’t imagine ever taking away her voice, but he wouldn’t let her just walk back into the lion’s den. It would be playing right into their hands.
“If you go back there, Justice, you know as well as I do that they won’t let Jules just walk away. They will have the two women I love most in this world, and I won’t be able to do a damn thing about it,” he growled. The thought of losing both Jules and Justice gutted him. Justice gasped and covered her mouth with her trembling hands. He retraced his words in his mind, trying to figure out what he said that would upset her.
“You said you love me,” she whispered behind her hands. He didn’t plan on just blurting that out, but he wouldn’t deny it. He was in love with her.
“Yeah.” He stared at Justice from across the room, afraid that he would spook her if he went to her. She looked like she needed to process everything. “I do,” he whispered. “I don’t know how it happened or even when, but I’ve fallen in love with you, Justice.” She shook her head as if in disbelief.
“You can’t love me, Jagger. This was all just pretend.” Justice waved her arms around, and Jagger could see the panic in her eyes. She wasn’t ready to hear how he felt, and he knew he probably fucked things up with her. He held out his hands as if trying to talk down a jumper from the ledge of a skyscraper.
“It’s all right, Justice. Let’s just forget I said anything and get ready to go. We could both use some fresh air.” She eyed him suspiciously, and he hated that he opened his big mouth and allowed her to throw up another wall between them. He would have to work like hell to rip this one down because, from the look on her face, Justice wasn’t going to accept the way that he felt without one hell of a fight. That was fine with him—he loved a challenge, and he was quickly learning that Justice was worth the fight.
CHAPTER TEN
Jagger drove them to the ski resort, and Justice almost had a mind to ask for two separate rooms or at least a suite with two bedrooms. She needed time to think about what he said to her. Justice needed to decide if she wanted to follow her own heart and admit she felt the same way about him, even if that meant opening herself up to hurt and disappointment. She also knew Jagger wouldn’t allow her that much distance. He hadn’t let her out of his sight since the day he found her in the alley. She was pretty sure he would follow her to the ends of the earth, and his declaration of love proved that to her today. Justice was afraid to hope for anything from Jagger, especially his love. But when he admitted to her what she had been secretly hoping for, she acted like a complete ass. She just couldn’t let herself believe it was all so easy, falling in love. This was all so new to her that she had no real frame of reference to judge what was happening between them. She wished that she could call her grandmother or a friend to talk through her feelings, but that wouldn’t change the way she felt about Jagger. She was in love with him.
Her mother used to tell her that when she met the right man, it wouldn’t feel like such a fight, that they would just click, andshe would know. She felt that way about Jagger, but given the circumstances of the way they met and how they got together, she doubted her feelings, even putting up walls to protect her heart.
Jagger opened the door and deposited their few bags in the bedroom. She stood in the living area of the suite and stared out at the view of the ski slope just outside their balcony. It was breathtaking. The skiers looked like little ants making their way down the massive mountain, and she couldn’t wait to spend the day out there. She had been cooped up in a tiny cabin for two weeks, missing her friends back in Harvest Ridge. Dean relayed a message from Sunny that they were all thankful she was safe and that they understood she couldn’t talk right now. She knew that Sunny’s due date was fast approaching, and it made her sad that she was probably going to have to miss the birth. She promised to take care of the bakery for her friend while she was out on maternity leave, and she hated leaving her high and dry. Justice sometimes wished she could just go back to her old life, but then Jagger would walk into the room and remind her that her new life wasn’t so bad.
“You’ve been quiet,” he said, watching her from across the room. He kept his distance since blurting out that he was in love with her, letting her have time to process his words. Honestly, she needed more than just a couple of hours to figure out how she felt about his declaration. Justice worried that his admission would change things between the two of them, and that was the last thing she wanted. If she admitted her feelings now, he might think she was just telling him what he wanted to hear. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t be being true to herself or her feelings, and that wasn’t who she was. It was almost time for dinner, and her stomach protested loudly.
“I’m just tired and hungry, and I’d love a bath.” She knew she was being a coward again. Justice was trying to hide fromJagger, and that was something she promised not to do. But she needed some alone time, and a hot bath sounded like heaven.
“I’ll go down to the restaurant and order some food. You can take your bath, and I’ll have dinner ordered by the time you are done. But I won’t let you hide away from me forever, Justice. Sooner or later, you and I are going to have to talk about what I said. You’re going to have to stop hiding from me and admit how you feel, for better or worse.” He smiled at her, crossing the room to give her a quick kiss. Justice knew he was right, but she needed to talk to her best friend. Sunny would know exactly what she should do. Hearing her voice and getting her opinion about Jagger would mean everything to Justice, but that would mean sneaking a phone call. Jagger would never let her take a chance and call back to Harvest Ridge. Since she didn’t have a phone, that would mean using the one in the room, and she worried that he would find out at checkout that she went against his orders and called back home. But by then, he wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. Her Granny Norma used to say that when it came to men, it was better to ask forgiveness than permission. She didn’t quite understand what her grandmother meant until now.
Jagger headed down to the lobby and the little restaurant and told her he would be back in about thirty minutes. That didn’t give her much time, but she knew she could quickly explain everything to Sunny and hopefully get some of her friend’s advice about the whole messed-up situation before he returned. Justice watched through the peephole in the door to see Jagger get on the elevator. As soon as the doors closed, she ran into their bedroom to find the phone. She hesitated, feeling slightly guilty about breaking the rules, but in the end, she gave up the fight and dialed Sunny’s number, hoping her friend would pick up.
“Hello,” Sunny’s voice felt like a balm to her frayed nerves. “Who is this?” Her friend’s question reminded her that she was calling from an unknown number.
“Sorry, it’s me, Sunny—Justice.” She choked back her sob. She couldn’t waste her time crying on the phone—she had too much to say.
“Justice! Where the fuck are you? Tell me that you are all right, honey.” Sunny seemed to explode with questions, and Justice worried that her time was ticking by.
“I’m fine, Sunny. Listen, I don’t have much time. I’m safe, but I’m not supposed to call you. I might be putting you all in danger,” she said. Justice second-guessed herself for calling. She was being selfish and possibly hurting all the people she loved.
“I don’t care about that, Justice. It’s so good to hear your voice. Your friend, Dean, called to tell me you were safe and that you were with some guy named Jagger. Tell me that you haven’t been abducted and are being held against your will.” Justice barked her laugh into the phone. She couldn’t tell her that—it would be a lie. Except now, she was willingly being held by Jagger every night.
“Well, it’s a long story—one that I don’t have time to explain, but I will, someday,” she promised. “I am with a guy named Jagger, and well, he’s my husband.” Sunny gasped into the phone, and she couldn’t help her smile. Not much surprised her friend, so it was nice to hear that she could keep her on her toes.
“Husband!” Sunny yelled back into the phone, making Justice pull the receiver from her ear. “Husband,” she confirmed. “Another long story, but I will fill you in later. Jagger married me to keep me safe from my father. My dad had plans to marry me off to a business associate named Jordan Wolf.” Sunny gasped into the phone again, but this time Justice didn’t give her time to ask questions. “Just stay with me, Sunny. I’vefallen in love with Jagger, but I don’t know how that’s even possible,” she whispered.
“Stockholm Syndrome,” Sunny barked. “He’s brainwashed you. You are being held against your will, and now you think you’re in love with your captor.” Justice laughed at Sunny’s assessment.
“I thought the same thing at first. But I’m not being held against my will. He gave me my truck keys back the same night that he took me and told me that I’m free to leave anytime. I’ve chosen to stay, to marry him, and to fall in love with him. He said he loves me, but I’m too chicken to say it back,” she admitted, feeling like an awful coward.
“You’re telling me that he let you go and you stayed?” Sunny whistled into the phone, and Justice felt panicked. Was her friend right? Should she have hightailed it out of there when she had the chance? At first, she stayed with Jagger to save her ass and because she wanted to help Jules. But, if she was being completely honest with herself, she stayed because she felt this indescribable force drawing her to him. Justice felt it every damn day they were together.
