Blackstone's Heart (Blackout Security Inc. Book 1) Page 5

  Chapter 4

  Ethan sighed as he walked through the front door of his home. After leaving Krista's he and his team had returned to Blackout and started going over everything they had learned so far. Which wasn't as much as Ethan would have liked. Though he hadn't told Krista yet, he had Grant cancel the background on Jerry.

  The guy was just way too honest and protective of Krista for him to be part of this mess. That and after a long talk with Jerry's mother in New York, he had to admit Jerry was not the guy they were looking for. He draped his motorcycle jacket over the back of his chair before placing the helmet in the seat. Groaning as his neck cracked, he moved through the living room to his home office.

  Ethan’s brain was running a million miles a second it seemed as me walked toward his desk. He needed to start figuring out a game plan for Krista’s upcoming New York trip. That meant deciding which two of his men he could spare for four days so they could accompany her and Jerry. He also needed to work out a rotation for Krista’s guard detail when she went out. Tomorrow she and Jerry were going shopping and surprisingly, Grant had been the one to volunteer for the job.

  Firing up his MacBook, Ethan leaned back and let his mind replay the day's events. It had been strange seeing Krista again. She was still as beautiful as ever and still a spitfire. Yet, there was a fire to her eyes now that he hadn't seen nine years ago. A fire his dark side would love to play with, to learn more about.

  Shaking his head, he began a file on Krista's case. Jimmy and Cain had handed over copies of all their findings and the letters, along with individual photographs of the gifts. He entered all the data and saved the information. When he began looking through his team’s schedule for the time frame of Krista’s New York trip, Ethan paused and just started at the calendar.

  A part of him was screaming at him that HE should be the one that went with her. That she was his. Yet what right did he have to make such a claim? He had been the one that ended things before he joined the Marines, he was the one who never wrote to her during his twelve years in the service. Nope, he had no right to claim any part of Krista Jameson.

  He was startled out of his gloomy thoughts by his phone. "Blackstone."

  "Hi."

  "Krista? Is anything wrong?"

  She giggled a little. "No, nothing's wrong...I...hell, I honestly don't know why I called."

  Ethan smiled a little, leaning back in his chair. "You don't?"

  "Well, I guess...I just wanted, just wanted to check in. That and to hear your voice."

  "My voice?"

  "Silly I know. But even when we were younger your voice was always calming to me. You remember when I got sick? You would sit by my bed and tell me what was happening at school. You made me feel..."

  Ethan closed his eyes as he too remembered. She had caught the flu and was home bedridden for a week. Every day after school he would come over with her brothers and fill her in on the school gossip.

  "I made you feel what Krista?"

  "Safe." She whispered.

  The husky sound of that whisper shot straight to his dick. "I want to see you."

  "What? Right now?"

  "Yes. Right now."

  "Okay. Um, where?"

  "Kirby Lane?"

  She giggled. "I'll meet you there in twenty."

  "Twenty."

  Ethan disconnected the call and bolted upstairs.

  ***

  Krista sat at a back booth at Kirby Lane diner watching the door. Why the hell was she feeling like a virgin on her first date? She was just meeting Ethan for crying out loud. They used to come here all the time back in high school, she and her friends still came here after a girl’s night out. Lifting her eyes from her coffee cup, her breath died as Ethan strolled through the door. She felt electricity shoot through her when his eyes locked on her. Licking her lips, she watched him move to her.

  He walked with purpose toward her. She rose to her feet just as he reached the booth. "Hey."

  "Hey. You been waiting long?" He asked as they both sat down.

  "No, maybe ten minutes. Course they were pretty busy when I pulled up." She replied.

  The waiter walked up and Ethan gave his drink order and also ordered the chips and queso. "Always loved that stuff. Never did find a place that made it as good." Ethan grinned.

  "Right? Even in New York they never came close." Krista agreed.

  "Nick said you lived in New York up until last year?"

  "Yep. After we graduated Jerry got a job for a publishing house out there, the same one that published my first book Dress Blues. So obviously it made sense to go with him."

  "I saw the cover in your writing studio. It was impressive."

  Krista took a sip of her coffee, then smiled. "That cover was my baby. I knew what I wanted and it took nearly six months before I got it right. To save on cost, Jerry and I went to the Photography club at the university. When it was submitted to the publisher they went nuts over it and put it to print right away. The novel had been approved, edited, revised, edited a second and third time by that point."

  "How many times was the damned thing edited?"

  "Oh, a total of three times. Not to count the hours and hours I did my own editing before sending it to the publishing house. Publishing a novel doesn't just end once the story is written. There's editing, copyediting, revision, and a whole host of things that make a good novel."

  "Where did you come up with the title?" Ethan asked as their appetizer was brought out.

  Krista fell silent. She wasn't sure how to tell him that he had been the inspiration for her hero in the book. Taking a deep breath, she decided to be honest. "Well, you had a big hand in that novel."

  Ethan looked shocked at that. "Me?"

  Krista nodded as she ate a queso covered chip. Polishing it off with the coffee. "Yep. My hero, Deckland Marks, was a Marine. After he was injured in Afghanistan, he got out and returned home. He becomes a PI. Anyway, he's asked to help on a FBI case, enter FBI Special Agent Sarah Mitchell."

  "Wow. Sounds interesting." He commented.

  "It was fun to write. Jerry was the first person who read it. After I finished a chapter he used to sneak onto my laptop to read it. By chapter four I just sent him each completed chapter to save us both trouble." She laughed.

  "So, that's why the guy on the cover looks like me?" Ethan asked with a raised brow.

  Krista shrugged. There was silence for a bit before she spoke again. "Ethan, the night you told us you were going into the Marines, why did you wait till then to tell me?”

  Ethan sat his own coffee cup down and his eyes locked with hers. “Honestly, I was scared to tell you alone. I know, that’s weird to hear coming from me, but there you go.”

  “Why? Ethan, we were always able to tell each other anything and everything back then. Did you think I was going to hate you or something? I would have supported that choice. I even told you that night that I wouldn’t have been mad.”

  Ethan nodded and rubbed the back of his neck. “Krista, I knew that back then, but I was still too chicken shit to tell you alone. But looking back on that night, I should have told you alone instead of when I told everyone else. For that I am sorry.”

  Krista reached out and took his hand in hers. “Ethan, you have nothing to apologize for. I just always wondered why.”

  “So, is that why the guy on that cover looks like me and the girl looks like you?” He asked lifting a brow.

  “I guess…I really don’t know why but well…oh hell take it however you want.” She stammered, feeling a slight blush creeping onto her cheeks.

  “You’re blushing Krista.” He laughed.

  "Oh bite me Blackstone." She hissed, dipping another chip.

  Ethan laughed even harder, yet Krista barely bit back a moan at the sound. His deep laugh was doing wicked things to her. Heat speared through her, her panties were becoming just a little wet and her nipples were throbbing. Had the man always had this effect on her? When he stopped laughing and looked at
her, she felt her breath catch. There was no mistaking the teasing look in those grey-blue orbs that were now burning into hers.

  "I just might have to read it." He winked.

  "I can get you a copy if you want. Though I didn't take you for a romance guy." She teased, leaning forward just a little more.

  "Hey, I was romantic when we dated."

  It was Krista's turn to laugh. "I don't think taking me to Lake Travis just to get in my pants counts as romance Ethan."

  "I don't recall you complaining when I had my cock in you." He growled as he leaned in closer and his voice dropping lower so no one overheard them.

  Okay, her panties were soaked now and she was pretty sure she was panting. Her blue eyes locked onto his. Those stormy orbs were alight with lust and something that hinted at dark pleasure. Energy charged the air between them and she knew he felt it too. There had always been chemistry between them, but this? This was out of the stratosphere compared to when they had been teenagers.

  ***

  Ethan felt his dick twitch as he stared across the table at Krista. If the way she shifted slightly in the seat was any indication, she was feeling the same heat he was. That caveman voice in him was growling for him to take her, claim her. But should he? Hell, she was a client. He had never ONCE crossed that line with a client in the two years since he opened Blackout. At this moment however all he wanted was to be buried deep in Krista.

  "Ethan."

  "Krista."

  "What’s going on here? What are we doing?"

  He let out a sigh, running his fingers through his hair. Something he found he did often where she was concerned. "The hell if I know. Look, we're not kids anymore. We have history."

  "Yeah we do." She agreed.

  "I've never lied to you. I will tell you right now, I just want to get you and me somewhere with a bed and bury myself deep inside you." He whispered.

  "Oh god." She whimpered.

  "But, you're also a client. I have never crossed that line. I've never even considered it. However, just like when we were kids, you seem to be the exception to the rule for me Krista."

  Trying to get his raging emotions under control, he picked up the glass of sweet tea he had ordered and took a deep swig as he studied Krista. His words seemed to have just as big of an impact on her as they did on him when he gave them voice. She licked her lips and closed her eyes, tiny shudders wracked her body. A body, he admitted, turned him on more now than it had when he was seventeen.

  "What would you say if I said wanted the same thing, Ethan? That I wanted you to break that rule?" She asked breathlessly.

  A growled escaped him as he clenched his hands in his lap to keep from reaching across the table and grabbing her. "You're tempting me Krista. I mean it. I'm not the boy you once knew. I’m not as caring or tender as I used to be. I don’t even think I could be anymore."

  Krista opened her eyes. "I know that. I can see you've changed. Our dads talked a lot about you after you came home. You parents had come over for dinner one Sunday about six months after I came back home. I had gone to the study to tell them dinner was ready."

  Ethan watched her pause, almost as if she was thinking twice about telling him this. He thought back to the time frame she had mentioned. About that time would have been when he, Tony and Lance had gone to the Naval Academy in Annapolis for a demonstration.

  "Your dad was telling mine that he was getting a little about you. That you were working too hard. Almost like you were trying to run or hide from something. I knew that your last mission with MARSOC had ended with you getting hurt and losing a few men, but I didn’t agree with your dad and I don’t agree with you now. You say you're not the same Ethan I knew. That's true, but seeing you now, I still see some of him. Like the fact that you're telling me you've changed proves that. Even back then you were careful of my feelings."

  Ethan let out a breath as he hung his head a little. "You really aren’t getting it are you? When I was seventeen I was naive on a lot of things, so I only knew how to be sweet and gentle. I can’t say that now.”

  Krista chuckled as she leaned over the table, her chin resting in her cupped palms. "You really are trying to turn me off aren't you?"

  Ethan's head snapped up. "What?"

  "I'm not sixteen either. Wanting my first time to be sweet and gentle. You think I don't like it a little down and dirty between the sheets?"

  "Christ woman, you really are trying my patience. I'm trying to be noble out of respect for Nick. Out of respect for you. My company was hired to help protect you not to screw your brains out. And let me tell you something baby, the thoughts running in my head right now? Screwing your brains out is me being polite in terms of the things I’m thinking of doing to you."

  Krista sighed. He watched her stand and pull out her wallet from her back pocket. "That's always been your problem when it came to us Ethan. Always worried about Dad’s opinion about you where I was concerned or you trying to shelter me." She tossed a few bills on the table. After slipping on her motorcycle jacket and snagging her helmet she faced him again. "When you’re ready to actually talk about those so called dark thoughts or whatever you think is so bad that I can’t handle? Call me. You got the number.”

  "Krista I…"

  "You've changed, but guess what? So have I Ethan. I'll talk to you later." She stated cutting him off.

  Ethan sat in shock as she walked out of the diner. What in the hell had just happened there? Feeling unnerved, Ethan polished off his drink, dropped a few more bills on the table with Krista's then left. Climbing onto his Thruxton, he pulled out into traffic and quickly caught up to Krista’s own motorcycle. Despite the awkward ending to the night, he still had to make sure she made it home safe and sound. He at least owed her that at the moment.

  ***

  Krista was pissed by the time she got back to her house. She slammed the door then set the alarm as she heard Ethan’s bike drive past the house. Grumbling about idiotic Marines, she went to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of wine and glass. She went to the living room and dropped onto the sofa. Without thinking, she picked up her phone and called Jerry.

  "Hey doll."

  "Why are men such assholes?"

  Jerry laughed. "Excuse me?"

  Pouring herself a healthy dose of sweet red, Krista filled Jerry in on what had just happened with Ethan. "Then he just fucking sat there, Jerry. Like I had just told him the sky was purple."

  "I'm sorry I'm still trying to picture that hottie's manly bits."

  "Christ Jer, focus! What the hell am I supposed to do? I mean, yeah I thought I was over him but then this morning he comes waltzing back into my life and suddenly bam. I'm all hot and bothered like some horny teenager." Krista groaned.

  "Doll, Ethan Blackstone would get anybody hot and bothered. As for what you do? I'd say let him make that next move."

  "Why? Why should I have to wait for the insufferable man to decide?"

  Jerry sighed. "Krista, as you told him, you two have both changed. As for you being over him? Ha, that's a laugh honey. I knew you still had it bad for him after reading Dress Blues. Come on, that photo shoot? How the models had to look a certain way? Look like you and Ethan for example? Tell me, why were you so damned specific on that cover?"

  Krista was silent as she contemplated his words. "I...I guess, well I...oh hell."

  "Bingo. You never got over him. Now, you let him decide the next move because his move will tell you what direction you two will go."

  "And if he just wants to get in my pants?"

  "Well, then you enjoy the hell out of Mr. Marine hotness and move on."

  Krista groaned. "Yeah. Well, I'll see ya tomorrow. And thanks for listening."

  "You're welcome, but you never have to thank me for being there for you. Love ya honey."

  "Love you too Jerry. Night." Krista smiled a little as she ended the call.

  Leaning back on the couch she sipped her wine. Jerry was right. She had made her position clear to Et
han. It was now up to him to decide what he wanted. No longer feeling like a fool, she gathered the wine bottle, her phone and headed for her studio. She would see if a long writing session would help clear her mind.

  Chapter 5

  Krista sank into the chair at the food court at the Hill Country Galleria. She was tired but satisfied. Though her bank account probably wasn't. Jerry sat across from her while Grant took the seat to her right. The three had just spent the last three hours hitting the stores. Yet, after the previous night’s ending and her confusion over Ethan, her mind was actually clear. Guess her girlfriends were right. Retail Therapy was the best kind.