“Anything?”
Alyson glanced up. Jami was standing behind the small island, his eyes dancing with wicked intent. “I said just about anything. What if this is for Victoria?” she asked him, holding up the card.
Fishing in the fridge for ingredients, Jami’s muffled voice floated back to her. “Who would be sending her flowers?” He paused, and then rose, turning slowly to face her. “Unless…”
Nodding, Alyson felt grim realization wash over her. “Unless…Jami, what if this is from Tony? What if he found them?”
Slamming the refrigerator door closed, Jami placed his palms flat on the counter standing between them, and pressed down. “Then you can’t stay here anymore.”
“Can’t stay here? This is my place,” Alyson argued. “We don’t even know if it was him that sent the flowers.”
Shoving away from the island, Jami scraped his palms down his face in frustration. Alyson watched as he paced back and forth, each long stride taking only three steps to reach one side of the kitchen before having to turn back. “I knew this was going to happen. Ever since that shit with your office getting broken into…I fucking knew it!” he railed.
Alyson tensed as she watched Jami begin to lose control. He wouldn’t hurt her, but it still scared her to see him like this. “How about we sit down and talk calmly and rationally about this,” she coaxed him.
“The time for talking has passed, Ally,” he growled at her. Rounding the island, Jami grabbed her face in his hands and kissed her. “This whole thing has been steadily escalating, whether you want to believe that or not, and I’m done taking chances. You’re coming to stay with me and Coach.”
Irritated by his demanding behavior, Alyson glared at him. “Yeah, and what about Victoria and Miles? Do your plans include them, too?”
Jami let go of her and stepped away. His face was a mask of tension and indecision as he looked away and back again. “Come on, Ally. I care about them, too, but they’re the reason for this shit storm heading your way. Do you really expect me to bring them along?”
Folding her arms, Alyson stared defiantly back at him. “Yes, I do.”
“You can’t be serious.” Oh, but she was. There was no way she was about to abandon ship, alone or otherwise, but he’d just made her decision all the more clear. She wasn’t going anywhere. If this supposed shit storm really was headed her way, then she was going to meet it head on. Seeing that her decision was already made, Jami threw his hands up. “Fine, you don’t want to come with me? Then I’m coming to you.”
He stormed off and Alyson chased after him. “What is that supposed to mean?” she asked, grabbing his arm to make him stop.
“It means,” Jami said through clenched teeth as he turned his head to look at her, “that you had better get out some extra blankets and pillows, because you’re about to gain another roommate.”
***
Jami awoke with his shoulders bunched and the worst kink in his neck, but it still wasn’t as bad as the one that had developed in his lower back two nights ago. It’d been almost a week since he moved in. Alyson wasn’t happy about it at all, and she showed her disapproval by casting him out of her room to sleep on the couch, but he couldn’t care less. It was worth the persistent aches and pains as long as he could keep his eyes on her.
In the kitchen, he could hear Victoria and Miles moving around, making breakfast and getting ready for the day ahead. He’d learned that Miles adhered to a regular school schedule and Victoria was job hunting—all good things to help maintain some semblance of normalcy while they made their transitions in life.
Slipping his hand under his pillow, Jami pulled out the card that had arrived on Ally’s doorstep from the person he suspected to be Victoria’s wayward husband. They hadn’t told Victoria about it, and they didn’t intend to unless they had to. There was no sense in upsetting the delicate balance they had created with conjecture. Still, the note bothered him.
His eyes followed each point of the sharply written letters. He didn’t need to read it to know what it said. He’d already memorized every word, every curve of the ink. That bastard was sending a message, and the thought shook him.
What shook him more were the feelings he was developing for Ally. The moment danger struck, he had experienced a compelling need to take action in order to keep her safe. Nothing new there, but that he wanted to lock her away, bar the door, so no one could ever bring harm? Now that was a little unsettling.
He’d begun to drive her to work in the morning and pick her up in the afternoon, putting an end to the bus rides he had never approved of in the first place. He kept a watchful eye on her always, even at the gym when he and Don worked out his body, and she worked out hers while she waited.
They were spending nearly every waking moment together. They ate breakfast and dinner at the same table each day, relaxed on the same furniture watching the same shows each night. They laughed together, had fun together, fought together, and when the moment struck, sometimes they even showered together.
The most amazing and telling part about the whole thing was that he wasn’t anywhere close to being sick of her. In fact, Jami wanted more time with her. He wanted to hold her hand always. He wanted to shower with her always. He wanted to sleep in her bed, brush his teeth by her side, and set his shoes down next to hers each and every day. He looked forward to those moments from the second he opened his eyes in the morning. Ally had forced a change in him. She was domesticating him.
Sitting up, Jami tucked the card into his pillowcase and planted his feet on the floor. Scratching his hair, he stood and stretched his arms over his head, then headed into the kitchen to see if he could lend a hand.
“Nope, we’ve got it covered,” Victoria told him, shooing him away with an aggressive wave of her hand.
Ignoring her, Jami headed for the cabinet where Ally kept the mixing bowls and pulled down the largest of the set. He liked feeling useful, and with the hours he kept at the gym, he wasn’t around often to help out. And maybe he was feeling a tad guilty about forcing himself on Ally and the two of them, even though he wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.
Their safety, her safety, was his top priority.
“What are you doing, Jamison?” Victoria asked him in a chiding tone. “Go get your shower. Miles and I have everything covered in here.”
“You always have everything covered, Tori,” Jami explained, using he’d given her upon moving in. “This time, let me help. You make the bacon, and I’ll teach Miles how to whip up the best pancakes you ever tasted.”
“Okay,” she said slowly, eying him skeptically. “But just this once.”
“Just this once,” Jami promised, knowing he would be back in the kitchen soon enough.
Gathering all the ingredients, Jami showed Miles how to make a recipe he’d memorized from one of Don’s late wife’s incredibly old cook books. After eating a few himself, Jami placed a couple on a plate for Ally. “Enjoy your breakfast,” he told Victoria and Miles as he walked out of the room.
Tapping on Ally’s door to announce himself, Jami twisted the handle and went inside. She was lying on her side, balled up beneath a bundle of blankets.
He couldn’t resist.
Setting the plate down on a bedside table, Jami drew back the fluffy blankets and slid inside. Cozying up to her back, Jami let his hands glide down Ally’s bare thighs, reveling in her silky smooth skin.
He knew the moment she woke up. Her breaths growing deeper and more controlled, Ally stayed still as Jami felt his way along her body. Trailing his fingertips along her side, Jami skimmed the strip of exposed skin at her belly and underneath, across her ribcage to cup her breasts. His body stirred, pressing against her ass as he gave her a soft squeeze and tweaked her nipple.
Gasping with pleasure, Ally rolled onto her back, then her side, bringing them face-to-face, throwing one long leg over his hip and crushing herself against his chest.
“Good morning,” she said against his throat, placing s
oft, tiny kisses there.
“I brought you breakfast,” Jami told her, her firm globes filling his palms as he kneaded them and pulled her closer for a tight fit.
“Mmm, you?”
“No,” he chuckled, “pancakes. Homemade.”
“Homemade pancakes?” Her eyes shooting open, Ally shoved Jami onto his back and reached for the plate. Straddling him, she started eating.
“How is your day looking?” Jami asked as he caressed her ankles.
Alyson shrugged. “Work as usual,” she said around a mouthful of food. “But you don’t have to worry about driving me. It’s been a whole week and nothing bad happened.”
Slanting a stern frown at her, Jami shook his head. “You know how I feel about you taking the bus.” On this he would not bend. He was deadly serious and she knew it.
“Yeah, yeah. No bus,” she smarted. “I’m going to go hop in the shower. Thank you for breakfast.” Leaning over him, she gave him a syrupy sweet kiss. Tossing the plate on the table, she jumped out of bed. Jami folded his hands behind his head and watched Ally breeze around the room collecting clothes from the floor, until she had a full outfit to go to work in.
“You’re a slob,” he remarked with a grin. “How do you find anything in this mess?” Looking around, he noted the complete disarray. Clothes, used towels, hair brushes, even dishes were among the mess. He’d tried to clean up after her, he really had, but she was a lost cause. “For that matter, how do you not have cockroaches?”
Stopping in the open doorway, Ally pointed a threatening finger at him. “Don’t start. I have a system. I know where everything is. It’s you clean people I can’t wrap my head around.”
Jami was still smiling as she ran off to get her shower, and he began to collect her dishes. He was on his way back to the kitchen when the phone rang. Entering the room, Jami stalled his steps. Victoria stood at the end of the couch with the phone to her ear. She wasn’t saying anything, just listening, but it didn’t appear to him that the person on the other end was speaking—just total silence.
“Something wrong?” he asked Victoria as he headed toward her.
Holding the phone away from her ear, she looked up at him with a puzzled frown. “That’s the fourth time this week. Whoever it is just calls and doesn’t say anything.”
Taking the phone from her, Jami asked, “Hang-up call?”
“No, they just sit there. I always hang up first.”
He’d see who hung up first this time. Pressing the phone to his ear, Jami snarled, “Listen here, asshole, unless you’re a fucking mute, you better open your damn mouth the next time you call here.” The line clicked. “He hung up,” Jami informed Victoria as he slammed the phone back down on its base.
“What’s going on?” Ally asked as she walked into the room rubbing a towel through her hair. “I thought I heard you shouting.”
Jami rounded on her, determined to get to the bottom of this. He had a feeling that this wasn’t just some fluke, but that everything that had happened, between the break-in at the office, the flowers, and now this, were all tied together. “Tori said that she’s been getting hang-up calls all week.”
Her eyes widening, Ally’s arms dropped like weights at her sides and when she spoke next, her voice came out small. “He’s calling here too now?”
Jami felt his eyes narrow into slits. “What do you mean, ‘too’? Has this happened before?”
Her gaze instantly dropping to the carpet, Ally fidgeted with the towel. “I’ve been getting calls here and there for a while on my cell. They never speak.”
“And you’re just now telling me this?” Jami shouted at her. “Jesus Christ, Ally, what were you thinking?”
“I just thought it was a hang-up call. You know, some kid got ahold of my number and decided to mess around,” she explained, her voice quivering. “I didn’t think it was anything to worry about.”
“That seems to be a recurring theme with you, doesn’t it?” he snapped, and for whatever reason that, more than his yelling, sent her over the edge.
“It’s not my fault,” Ally cried. “How was I supposed to know it was significant?”
Pissing him off even more, Jami watched as Victoria rushed to comfort her. From the corner of his eye, he saw Miles hovering in his bedroom doorway like he was afraid to come into the room—as if he was the bad guy here. “This is a bunch of horseshit,” he cursed, furious with himself and the whole damn situation. “I’m calling the police and ending this right now.”
The women and Miles sat quietly on the sidelines while he made the call, but it was a wasted effort. “Sir, unless you can prove where the call originated from, there’s really nothing I can do.”
“What the hell do you mean, there’s nothing you can do? We’re being harassed. Isn’t there a law against that?”
“Sir, the only thing you can do is to call your service provider and have them monitor your calls. I would also suggest that you keep your own log detailing the times and dates that these calls occur. After that, we might be able to do something for you.”
“Yeah, a lot of help you are. Thanks for nothing.” Furious, Jami took off for the bathroom, needing to be alone. He needed another trip to the gym. He needed to vent before he exploded and did something he would regret later. Flinging back the curtains, he’d just stepped into the shower when he heard the lock on the door click. Great, just what he needed—another confrontation. “I’m not in the mood, Ally. If you want to talk or fight or whatever, you’ll have to wait until later,” he said as he bent his head into the streams of water and let it pelt his face.
He heard the scrape of the hooks across the bar as the curtain was drawn back and a moment later, he felt Ally’s warm arms tie around him. Her hands rested against his stomach, her fingers stroking his abs. He’d never allowed himself to be around anyone when he got like this. Worked up to the point that he felt like he needed to punch something or else he would explode.
Her touch instantly calmed his nerves, soothing his fury until it was reduced to a low simmer. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the calls,” she murmured against his back. “I didn’t know…” Her voiced hitched, the sound tugging at his heart. As he tugged her hands free from his waist, Jami turned around. His arms instantly went around her and hers around him. They held each other close, absorbing all the comfort and love they had to offer.
“It’s not your fault, babe,” he said into her hair. “I’m sorry I yelled at you. Just knowing that bastard has been calling you…” His hold on her tightened. “If anything happens to you, I’ll kill him.”
“You don’t mean that,” Ally sniffed as she clutched him to her.
“The hell I don’t,” Jami told her as he grasped her head in both hands and tilted it back to look at her. “I love you, Ally. You’re my best friend. If anyone so much as looks at you wrong, they’re done. You understand?”
Her eyes held his, searching, but he wasn’t sure what for. Then, with a deep breath, she nodded. “Yeah, I understand.”
Satisfied for the time being, Jami released her and reached for the shampoo. “Good, now turn around so I can wash your hair.”
She laughed as she turned her back to him. “I already took my shower, remember?”
“Not with me, you didn’t.” Squeezing a glob of pink, strawberry scented shampoo into his palm, he began lathering her hair. “You haven’t started your day off on the right foot until you’ve had a Weston scalp massage.”
“Mmm,” Ally moaned as she leaned back against him. “What about an all-over body massage?”
Gliding his soapy hands down her shoulders and around her front, Jami cupped her now stiff and heavy peaks in his hands. Dipping his head, he placed his lips against the shell of her ear, “I think that can be arranged.”
TWENTY-FOUR
As the rest of the week passed, Alyson could no longer deny that she kind of enjoyed waking up to Jami invading her personal space. He’d pretty much taken over the apartment—when
he was there, anyway. During the times that he wasn’t, they were required by Weston Law to keep the door bolted shut, the curtains drawn, and only answer the phone after the answering machine picked up so they could see who it was first. As oppressive as it might have sounded to some people, she understood his reasoning. Jami was used to having full control over his environment, and now someone was threatening to take that away.
Miles and Victoria were on edge, too, so they didn’t seem to mind having their own personal body guard. They eagerly followed Jami’s commands to the letter. It seemed the only person to rebel was Alyson, but after seeing how this whole thing affected Jami, she was trying to be better about it.
The only thing about this whole arrangement she could say she was truly enjoying was the riding in an actual car to work every morning. Exactly why had she thought public transportation was just as good as driving in her own car was beyond her. Now that Jami insisted on taking her to work every morning, she was becoming spoiled with the quiet, relaxing, comfortable drives. She could even listen to the radio! And when she needed groceries, she didn’t have to limit what she bought. She had a ready trunk at her disposal. The luxury of it had her reconsidering her decision to continue on the bus when it was all said and done. She was already thinking about possible car choices.
Alyson was trying to be realistic. She couldn’t expect Jami to drive her around everywhere all the time. He had a life outside of her, as much as she hated to admit it. Even if he could take her everywhere she needed to go every day, what would happen when he started traveling again? Once he hit the road, she would be on her own. It was something she found herself thinking about often lately, and it wasn’t very comforting. Her reaction alone, the deep sadness of the potential loss, threw her for a loop. She had been independent for so long, and now here she was, relying on Jami for everything.
How Jami had punched his way into her life and changed all the carefully laid rules she had set in place she didn’t think she would ever fully understand. But as she had already acknowledged, she couldn’t say that she wasn’t enjoying some of those changes.