Page 25 of Take

His frown wavered for an instant and then returned full force. “It’s called a nightmare.” Whatever. “What was it about, Max?”

Crouched, arms resting on his thighs and eyes penetrating. And it wasn’t with heated smoldering desire; this was heated anger. He was pissed off. I wasn’t sure why this annoyed him so much. Because I’d woken him up? Or maybe he’d been in the middle of fucking Julianna.

“Nothing.”

“What the fuck was the nightmare about, sunshine? You haven’t had one like that in months.”

I stiffened, eyes darting to him. “What?” How would he know? I knew I had one tonight because of what was happening, but he was right. “How do you know that?”

“My job to know.”

I didn’t believe him. Had he been there? All those times I sensed him near me. Smelling his scent in my room. Feeling as if he was watching me. Had it been true? “Where were you for the last six months?”

He tensed, but after a moment, he sighed and then his face softened. “Been around. Now, what was the dream about?” He moved over to the wall beside me, sat on the floor and leaned against it. Then he stretched out his legs and crossed his ankles as if he was making himself comfortable for a long haul.

Been around? I stared for a second at his bare feet, how his nails were kept short and tidy. For some reason that didn’t surprise me . . . that he looked after himself. “Watching me?”

He ignored my question. “What was the dream about, Max?”

I think that was the second time he’d called me by my name, and despite hating myself for liking it—I did. The way it rolled off his tongue in a deep roguish sound sent tingles across my skin. “My past. Nothing unusual,” I said.

He raised his arm and then in a gentle movement, hesitant, he tucked the hair behind my ear. The second the pads of his fingers touched my face, goose bumps rose and my breath hitched. His expression softened and then he wiped the tears away with his thumb one by one. “They about whoever put those scars on you?”

My breath hitched and I looked away.

“Whoever he is . . . I’ll never let him near you.” I didn’t believe him and why should I. I was a job to him and when it ended, he would leave and those words meant nothing.

“Do you lie to all your jobs?”

It was like a light switch went off in him and suddenly he was stiff and tense. The softened expression was gone and in its place was a harsh, cold anger.

“You scream like that in the wrong place, wrong time and it’s a fuckin’ beacon. I plan to live long enough to get my job done.”

I had no misconceptions of who this man was. However, Xamien probably did. He was an assassin and killed for money. But this job was the opposite. He was getting paid to protect me. I wondered why he’d even do it? Why would an assassin take this job? It didn’t make sense.

“Do you really not know who is after me?”

“No. I wasn’t given that info.” His harsh grip on my chin slipped away and he was silent a minute. I started to get up to go back to bed when he seized my arm. “Are you going to have any more nightmares tonight?”

I shook my head. I never had more than one a night. At least that was how it had been for the last few years.

He nodded, got up, walked into the adjoining bathroom and turned on the shower. My heart stopped and a sliver of unease shifted through me. Why would Jasper do that? How did he know I had a hot shower after a nightmare? Even when we’d first met, he hadn’t known why I’d been showering at midnight.

He came back out and walked straight to me and reached out his hand. I stared at it for a second and it was a second too long because he leaned over and grabbed my arm, hauling me to my feet.

He led me into the bathroom then turned to leave.

“How did you know?” My words stopped him.

He paused and I saw the tension in his shoulders, but I wanted to see his face, because unless Xamien told him, which I was a hundred percent sure Xamien wouldn’t talk about my nightmares with anyone, then Jasper had found out some other way.

“You’re cold and sweaty. Simple deduction.”

Before I could say anything more, the bedroom door opened and I caught a glimpse of Julianna standing there wearing a red negligee that accentuated all her curves and left nothing to the imagination. I never had the need to feel jealous, but I did now. I wanted to run over to the door and slam it in her face. Better yet, grab Jasper and kiss him right in front of her.

I did neither.

“Everything okay, mon cheri?”

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