Page 7 of Her Older Protector

“Lots of large cash deposits and withdrawals, but I’m not seeing any steady employment. All of the transactions are just below the IRS reporting limits and regularly timed. Several accounts at foreign and domestic banks. Someone is helping him fly under the radar, because this isn’t even very well concealed.”

I swore under my breath. “Leah isn’t involved, is she?” I hate to ask the question at all, but I need to cover all my bases if I want to help her get free of this asshole.

I hear the Front Desk typing madly, and she hums to herself as she pulls up information on Leah. “No chance of that. She tried to file a report last year, and then wound up in the hospital with a concussion. She withdrew the complaint right after that.”

A red mist descends over my vision and I suck in a deep breath. This cannot be about my anger—this is about helping remove a threat from Leah’s life so she can live safely and make her own choices. “Can you send that information over to me? Especially the bank account stuff. I need to call in some favors.”

A soft ding sounds through my computer’s speakers as an encrypted file lands in my secure inbox. With a few quick keystrokes, I open the file and sift through the contents. It’s some shady shit, all right—and not even very well-concealed. Patrick’s high-status connections really are the only thing keeping him out of trouble.

And he chooses to spend his free time terrorizing a woman who doesn’t want him. It makes my blood fucking boil.

“Thanks, F.D.,” I say through the microphone. “I’ll call you back if I have any other questions.”

“No problem,” she replies. “Have fun with that piece of shit.”

I forward the encrypted file on to one of my contacts and relax back in my chair. If this goes the way I think it should go, then Patrick is about to have averyhard time. And I don’t regret ratting his ass out one bit.

My head drops back and I let my eyes drift closed. I barely slept last night, and after working on Leah’s house all day and worrying about her, I’m completely bushed. My thoughts drift to Leah’s gorgeous body, that short, tempting kiss on her porch and the way she fit so nicely into my arms.

Beep

Beep

Beep

My eyes snap open again. That’s the sound that I rigged up for Leah’s panic button. I slam my thumb into the fingerprint lock on my little gun safe, and grab the Glock inside, then reach over to a second box to grab a magazine, slamming it into place before I click the safety off. I burst out my front door just seconds later, in time to see Patrick pull out of Leah’s driveway in a shower of gravel and take off down the dirt road.

I snap the safety back on and jog up to Leah’s porch.

“Leah,” I call out. I knock hard on the wooden door. “It’s Jake. He’s gone.”

A lock clicks and the door opens just a few inches and Leah peeks out.

“Are you sure?” she asks, her voice shaking slightly.

“I saw him drive away,” I tell her as I gesture toward the road. “I don’t think he’ll be back.”

She closes the door again to disengage the door chain and then flings it wide open, reaching out to drag me inside. Before I can say anything else or offer to take a look around, she throws her arms around my neck and pulls me in close. Her lips land hard against mine, hot and aggressive, and almost instantly, our tongues swirl together, sending electricity shooting down my spine.

Leah breaks the kiss and burrows hard against me as my arms wind around her.

“Show me what it could be like without him,” she says. Her voice is soft and pleading.

I kick the door shut behind me and reach back to lock it again.

“My pleasure,” I say.

Chapter 5

Leah

I am so fuckingtiredof Patrick dictating my choices. Breaking up with him wasn’t enough. I still can’t go where I want, have a decent career or spend time with other men. I have no hobbies. No friends. I can’t even spend money on myself—I’m constantly saving every penny I scrape together for the next catastrophe that he unleashes into my life. I can’t live like this any longer, with a man I don’t want in charge of every single choice I make.

But Jake? He kept me safe last night, and today, he worked all day to give me my own space back. He made a security system from scratch to protect me. He doesn’t doanythingwithout asking me first.

“Show me what it could be like without him,” I say. I want this so badly—to steal some kind of pleasure for myself while I can, with a man I truly want, who would never harm me or try to control me.

A slow grin spreads across his face as he kicks the door shut. “My pleasure.”

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