Page 9 of Teach Me
“Okay, Boss.” She picked up the handset. “Ms. Kingston?”
Con didn’t stay to hear the rest. He headed for the elevators and the hot Atlanta night. The niggling feeling at the back of his neck, the one he hadn’t felt since he’d come home for good, told him trouble was on the way. Even the rumble of his motorcycle’s engine between his thighs and the searing wind scouring his body couldn’t rid him of it. Nothing could take away what he already knew, way down deep in his gut: Jess threatened every decision he’d made for the last four years.
The question was, would he come out the other side unharmed? Would she? Or would they both carry scars—this time on their souls?
* * *
Steven took her to work the next morning. She hated to ask, but despite his somewhat nerdy-engineer demeanor, he had a permit to carry, and she wasn’t leaving the apartment building on her own. So she surrendered to the inevitable and let Steven drive her.
After a workday spent unsuccessfully trying to lose herself in the latest copy she needed to write, security called her a cab. It went directly to the parking garage connected to the downtown high-rise that housed JCL Security. There was not one sign of a black SUV the entire trip. After glancing warily at the dim recesses of the garage, Jess jogged to the elevator, through the open doors, and hit the button for level four with a shaky hand. When the doors slid closed with a near-silentwhoosh, she sagged against the wall like a deflated balloon.
Jesus, it was starting all over again.
Eyeing the defeated figure in the polished steel of the closed elevator door, she thought back to the day she’d left the hospital after Brit’s attack. Her injuries hadn’t allowed her to stand upright, and she’d vowed then that she would stand up and face whatever was coming, no matter how scared she was. The memory stiffened her spine, her legs, her muscles, until she faced the soon-to-open doors with the same determination she’d felt walking into that coffee shop Monday morning.
One step at a time, Jess.And the first step would be through the elevator doors.
Thedingannouncing her arrival sent a flush of adrenaline through her body. Forcing her face into a calm mask, she stepped through the doors and into JCL.
The receptionist’s desk sat in a tranquil cocoon of soft blue walls, leafy plants, and the soothing trickle of water from a fountain in the corner. More upscale spa than what Jess had imagined a security company would be, but it certainly calmed the nerves, as did the smile on the receptionist’s face. The woman was in her midforties, with short, curly hair and eyes that said she’d seen it all and could handle any of it. A return smile tugged at Jess’s mouth as if afraid to disappoint the woman.
“Hello. You must be Ms. Kingston. I’m Lori; we spoke on the phone.”
Jess relaxed even further under the lilting influence of Lori’s sweet Southern twang. “Please, call me Jess.”
“I will then.” Lori gathered a clipboard and pen before ushering Jess toward the deep sofa sitting near the water feature. “Let’s get your paperwork filled out, and we’ll be ready to go.”
By the time Jess had signed her name on the last page, the flowing water and calm surroundings had worked their magic. It wasn’t hard to see now why the lobby was set up the way it was. Her muscles were loose and her mind free of tension as she handed Lori the papers and followed the woman down a long hall to the left.
“We’ll meet your instructor and get you started right away,” Lori told her. “You’re in very good hands.” She stopped at a door almost at the end of the hall and led Jess inside.
A complete workout room took up the massive space. The latest models of fitness equipment marched like sentinels along the inside wall, directly opposite a row of floor-to-ceiling windows allowing a view of the darkening Atlanta skyline.
“Wow. I don’t think the gym I used to work out at is this well equipped,” Jess said.
Lori nodded. “Our guys spend a lot of time sitting, waiting…seeing some pretty bad stuff. They need a place to blow off steam. Plus,” she said, amusement boosting her accent a bit, “it’s great for my waistline.” Moving farther into the room, she pointed toward the opposite end. “You’ll be down here.”
The back half of the enormous room was wide open, the floor covered in large blue interconnecting mats. As Jess followed Lori, she noticed a pair of men wrestling on the mats, their sweat-slick bodies tangled into a seemingly inseparable pretzel. Grunts filled the air as the opponents jockeyed for a hold, shifting and reshaping but never gaining or losing an inch. Lori waited until she and Jess stood at the edge of the mat and then cleared her throat.
Both men glanced up, startled.
Jess gasped.Conlan.
Chapter Five
A quick surge of butterflies broke loose in her belly. She didn’t even glance at the other man, only had eyes for Conlan as he unfolded his long limbs and stood. How could she have forgotten how big, how utterly sexy he was? Tall, broad, wearing a thin T-shirt that hugged his sculpted body and black athletic shorts that revealed a lot—a whole lot—of heavy muscles and naked skin and a thick scar down one thigh. Her fingers itched to trace that scar.
What had to be a huge, totally sappy smile stretched her cheeks until they ached. She didn’t bother hiding it. “Conlan!”
“Jess. It’s good to see you again.”
The solemn tone, broken only by his accelerated breathing, dimmed the flutter in her belly. Before she could question it, the second man stood…up and up and up. She’d thought Conlan was tall. This man topped him by a few good inches. Like Conlan, he added dark and handsome to his height: dark brown hair, tan skin, all muscle. A trimmed beard and mustache outlined his strong jaw and surprisingly full lips. Brown eyes narrowed on her, unreadable, intimidating. This was no one to fool around with.
“Jess, this is my best friend and co-owner of JCL, Jack Quinn. Jack, this is Jess.”
Jack stepped forward to shake her hand, a quirked grin lighting his eyes and making him much more approachable. Jess met the smile with her own and prayed her growing nerves hadn’t dampened her palms as their hands joined.
“Jack, it’s nice to meet you. I’m eager to learn whatever you have to teach me.” Very eager, given the last twenty-four hours.
