“Beckett is always growly,” Jesse remarked, noticing her fiddling with her wedding band and diamond ring before peering at his left hand on the steering wheel, forgetting he’d removed his band before the op and hadn’t put it back on. But they weren’t actually married, and now her family knew the truth, so . . .
“I’ve got you,” she noted. “We’ve got this.” She reached for his right hand resting on his jeaned leg and squeezed. “Or we could pull over and go tomorrow instead,” she added with a chuckle. “I could give you, what’s it called? Road head?”
The truck nearly went off said road when he spied her licking her lips, her gaze settling on his crotch, making his dick jump at the idea of her luscious lips wrapped around him.
“I still haven’t tasted you. It’s not fair,” she tossed out and threw in a sexy pout to taunt him.
He lightly laughed and shook his head but quickly tore his gaze back to the road. They hadn’t gone through hell overseas just to get into a car accident now. Pulling his hand free from hers, Jesse clutched his stomach at the pain that flared up. His abdomen still hurt like a motherfucker, and although the saying, laughter is the best medicine might be true, it definitely didn’t apply after you’d been stabbed in the gut.
“You okay?” she asked, cutting off his thoughts.
He bit down on his teeth and nodded, hoping she wouldn’t notice how much pain he was in. He’d refused to take any more meds since he’d left the hospital, preferring to “get through it like a man” as Ella had repeatedly chided during the previous day, giving him a hard time for not even taking Advil.
“I’m fine, but hey, if you recall, I wanted to make love last night in our hotel room, but you turned me down. Taking a naked shower in front of me, knowing full well the doctor said I wasn’t allowed to shower yet. You’re looking for trouble, tempting me like that.” He shifted his palm to his crotch, the discomfort there more than his abdomen now.
“First of all,” she began around a soft chuckle, “showers are best taken naked. Pretty sure that’s the point. And secondly, you’re still recovering from being stabbed. I didn’t want you to get hurt if we had sex.”
“Nothing wrong with my dick, I can assure you.” He shot her a devilish grin, noticing her legs pin together at his words.
“Oh, we’re here.” Her abrupt announcement snatched his attention to the road and away from the sight of her hand as it landed between her thighs like she was aching for his cock to fill her.
Jesse peered at the sign, Hawkins Ranch, and his shoulders fell as he turned onto the road leading to the ranch. There was still a decent stretch of distance between where they were now and the main house on the property, at least.
Feeling a bit fidgety, he flicked the brim of his ball cap, then spun it around backward. Then faced it forward again, deciding maybe he ought to hide his eyes a little for when they showed up.
“I’ll handle Beckett. Don’t worry.” She patted his leg. “But Mom said on the phone that your dad is there too.”
The tightening of his abdomen at the mention of his father had his stomach hurting again, but it now competed with the pain filling his chest at the idea of facing that man. “You think Zoran’s son, Nikola, will be okay?” he whispered at the memory of the stricken look on the boy’s face, and he could only hope he didn’t grow up to become like his father. “I think I became a fighter because of my dad, and so . . .” He gulped, and she smoothed her hand up and down his jeaned thigh a bit more to try and comfort him.
“He’ll be much better raised by whoever adopts him than under the care of criminals, and didn’t he say as much himself?”
“Yeah, but I had morphine in me at the time, so I don’t know. Plus, he had to witness all that violence.” He shuddered at the memory.
“Mm. You’re forgetting something.”
He slowed the truck, trying to stall their arrival a bit. “What’s that?”
“He also saw some heroes in that castle too. He saw good prevail.” Ella paused for a moment. “But I’d like to check in and find out what happens to him.”
“Agreed.”
Ella smiled, and damn was it infectious. “And I’m sure that McKenna will also be okay,” she softly added.
“She’s tough like her aunt.” But his heart still squeezed at the thought of what McKenna had witnessed at the sheriff’s station. And from the sounds of it, the damage from the explosive breach set by Yuri’s men and the resulting fire was going to require Beckett to rebuild at least part of the station.
“A.J. said he’s working on him,” Ella said, reading his thoughts.
When the house came into view, Jesse’s heart climbed into his throat at the sight of all the cars parked in the circular driveway out front. A grand welcome back? Ha. Sure. More like he’d be receiving a few punches to the face.
Parking behind Shep’s Jeep, Jesse unbuckled and said, “Let’s, um, just get this done, I suppose.” He released a few shaky breaths, feeling more nervous now than when he was trapped in the room of the castle unarmed.
“Like I said, we’ve got this.” Ella palmed his cheek and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. He held his face near hers for a moment, relishing in the fact this woman was finally his.
A few seconds later, he figured it was time to face the music. Hopping out of the truck, he quickly navigated around the hood and opened the passenger door, offering Ella his hand as she stepped out.
Jesse smoothed his hands along the lapels of the red and black plaid jacket-style shirt to steady his nerves, and Ella went for his hand and laced their fingers together. That helped the harsh pangs in his chest.
Before they had a chance to climb the steps of the wraparound front porch, the door opened, and Bear came barreling out.
Ella quickly dropped his hand and jumped in front of him, arms outstretched to intercept the dog and keep him from jumping on Jesse, as was his habit.
“Protecting me?” Jesse asked with a smile as Rory spoke a command for Bear to sit.
Ella peeked back at him, still on guard. “Always.”
He reached for her hips and drew her back to his chest. “Ditto, darlin’,” he whispered into her ear before he allowed reality to settle back in that he had a whole lot of people to confront.
“There’s my favorite brother,” Rory said in a playful tone, but as soon as Jesse sidestepped Ella, he saw the emotion in her eyes. Relief that he was okay and had made it home alive.
“I thought I was the annoying one,” he responded, thinking back to their text exchange the night three years ago when she’d set him up with Ella in New York.
“The only one,” Rory returned while looping her arms over his shoulders and hugging him, careful of his stomach.
She turned her attention to Ella, swiping tears from beneath her eyes. As Jesse crouched to scratch Bear on the head, he looked up to see Chris exiting the house alongside A.J.
He’d spoken to A.J. since Yuri had died, but seeing his best friend face-to-face after he’d put his little sister in danger was harder than he’d anticipated.
“Welcome home, brother,” Chris said, hurrying down the stairs. He gave Jesse a quick one-arm hug before tossing a look back at the house where everyone had begun filtering out the front door.