Bourne to Love Emma (RED-Stone Operatives Book 1) (10 page)

I sighed.  “Will it take long?”

“Maybe 20 minutes.  As long as you
don’t distract me by trying to take advantage of my body while I’m working.”

My mouth dropped open in shock.  “As
long…what?!”  He started laughing and I slapped his arm.  We walked quietly
into the kitchen so Mia didn’t see us. 

It took about 15 minutes for him to
take pictures of the bruises on my face and body.  I had to take my shirt
mostly off to show him the bruises on my back and collar bone.  And I pulled my
pants down on one side to show him bruises on my hip.  I don’t even know how
they got there – I don’t remember being grabbed or whatever in some of those
spots.  But it’s my neck and jaw that affect Jason the most.  Because he was
right earlier, you can count Dan’s fingers by the bruises he left on my neck.

When we stepped into the living room
after putting the camera away, Mia looked up and grinned at Jason before
yelling, “’son!  ‘son!  Hi!”  Then she ran toward him and tumbled into his
legs.  He picked her up and carried her back to where she was playing with her
cars and blocks.

“What do you say we build a ramp for
these guys, huh?  I bet you’ll love watching them jump off the blocks.”  Mia
squealed as he started building and he laughed and showed her how to help.  My
heart squeezed in my chest as I watched them.

The buzzer for the cornbread went
off, so I went to pull it out of the oven.  I dished up the chili, put the
cornbread in a basket and put two beers on the table in the kitchen.  Then I
put Mia’s beans, mandarin oranges, non-jalapeño cornbread and a cup of milk at
her seat.  I called them in to eat but was required to go admire their car
ramp, first.  Mia demonstrated the way the ramp worked no less than ten times,
her ‘vrooooom’ getting louder with each car.  Finally, Jason snagged her up off
the floor and flew her like a plane to the kitchen to eat.

Dinner was amazing.  Mia loved
sitting at the table with Jason.  She tried to feed him half of her food – and
he happily ate whatever she managed to shove into his mouth.  They were the
cutest thing to watch. 

“Everything was delicious, Em. 
Thanks for feeding me.”

“Well, technically, it was Mia who
kept feeding you – but I’m glad you liked the chili.”  I laughed when he winked
at me before tipping back his beer to finish it off.

I stood and grabbed my plate but he
stopped me with a hand on my arm.  He pulled me to his side of the table and
turned sideways on his chair so I could step between his thighs.  I draped my
arms over his shoulders and he wrapped his around my waist.

“You cooked, I’ll clean.  Why don’t you
get Mia cleaned up instead?”

I leaned down and kissed him softly. 
“Sounds like a deal, sailor.”

“Ready for a bath, Mia?”  Mia loves
her bath time, so we headed down the hall to get her cleaned up and ready for
bed.

When she was clean and dressed in fresh
pajamas, I took her out to the living room to say goodnight to Jason.

“It will just take a few minutes to
get her down.  Are you… will you stay?”

He handed Mia back to me and said,
“I’m not going anywhere, Emma.  Take your time.”  His eyes told me we were
talking about a lot more than just putting Mia to bed.

~Emma~

I finally walked back from Mia’s
room, after making sure she was sleeping well.  Jason was sitting on the couch
with ESPN on the television.  He looked relaxed and comfortable.  I had a
naughty thought and decided to follow through with it before I can talk myself
out of it.  I walked around to the front of the couch, set one knee next to his
thigh and swung the other over his lap, leaving me straddling him.  While he was
frozen in surprise for a moment, I looped my arms around his neck and leaned
forward to press my mouth to his in a brief kiss.  When I leaned back just a
little, I smiled at him and said, “hi.”

He huffed out a laugh and brought his
arms up to put his hands on my waist, his thumbs sliding up and down the sides
of my belly.

“Hi.  Damn, Emma.  What am I gonna do
with you?”

“I might have some ideas about that,
actually….”  I sat up a little straighter and pulled my shirt over my head,
leaving me in a silvery grey bra I bought because it reminded me of his eyes.

His eyes didn’t leave mine when I took my shirt off.  His
grip on my waist tightened, but that was the only way I knew he was affected at
that moment.

“Em.  Babe.  I….”  He swallowed hard
as I moved my knees closer to his hips on the couch, bringing my hips over
his.  “Dammit, Emma.  I want to do this right with you.  I want us to go slow. 
You’re too important for me to rush this and screw it all up.”

I stilled for a moment and saw how
serious he was.  My heart sped up for an entirely different reason.  He has
feelings for me and wants to ‘do this right.’  I fell the rest of the way in
love with him in that moment.  I felt the dopey smile slide across my face just
before I put my hands on his face and kissed the hell out of him.

When he took over the kiss, I dropped
my bottom to his lap and rubbed myself against him.  We both moaned into the
kiss.  The pressure and friction were exquisite.  Goosebumps covered me and my
nipples were so hard they ached.  His hands slid up from my waist to my ribs
just below my bra.  He caressed my skin with his fingertips before his thumbs
slid up and stroked them over the satin covering my nipples.  I could actually
feel myself soak my panties in that moment and I rubbed a little harder against
him as I started to feel desperate for more.

Jason broke our kiss and slid his
lips down my neck and chest before tugging the cup of my bra beneath my
breast.  The cool air only touched me for a moment before he covered me with
his mouth.  I cradled his head in my hands, holding him to me.  Hot and wet, he
bathed my nipple with his tongue and suckled gently before his teeth bit down
just enough to send lightning up my spine.

And then Mia cried out.

Our eyes met and held as we froze. 
He released my nipple from his mouth and rested his forehead against my
shoulder as we waited to see if she would go back to sleep.

When she cried out again, Jason
kissed my shoulder and tugged the cup of my bra back up to cover my breast.  I
almost cried.  I was feeling so hot and needy and we weren’t going to do
anything about it!

He pulled me close and hugged me
tight for a few minutes. 

“Dammit, Emma.”

Mia was quiet again, but the spell
had been broken.  He reached to the other side of the couch and snagged my
shirt before helping me put it back on.  I snuggled into his chest again, not
wanting him to go.  After a moment, he braced his arms around me and stood up
from the couch, taking me with him and then letting me slide to my feet in
front of him.

He framed my face with his hands and
kissed me sweetly before reaching for my hand to pull me to the front door.  He
unlocked the door and opened it before turning to me again.  He kissed me once
more and then stepped back.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, babe.  Lock up
for me.”

I know I’m pouting, but I hate seeing
him leave.

“Emma….”

I huff out a sigh.  “Okay. 
Tomorrow.  ‘Night, Jason.”

“Sweet dreams, Em.”

I locked the door.

I checked on Mia again and got into
my pajamas.  The more I tried to go to sleep, the more I kept replaying the
evening in my mind.  I was tired but my body was too revved up to sleep.  Even
the clean panties I put on before getting in bed were damp just thinking about
him.

I slid my hand down my stomach and
under the waistband of my pants and panties.  God I was wet.  As soon as I
stroked over my swollen clit, I moaned.  I rolled to my side and dug through my
nightstand to find my vibrator.  I might not get the real thing tonight, but I
could fantasize with the best of them.

I kicked off my pants and panties. 
One click of the button and the vibrator buzzed to life.  I dragged it through
my lips and groaned when it rolled over my clit.  I did it again.  And again.

My phone chimed on my nightstand
where it was charging, lighting up the room.  I reached for it to see who it
was.

                       
You are so fucking sexy.

Oh my God.  The walls.  He can hear
me over here touching myself. I actually got wetter at the thought even as my
brain told me I should be embarrassed. 

I pulled the phone off the charger
and squeezed my eyes shut really tight for a second before I wrote back.

                       
Thinking of you.  xoxo

I dropped the phone next to me on the
bed and smiled when I heard him groan through the wall right before he wrote
back.

                       
I’m thinking of you, too.

As soon as I read it, I held the
vibrator in both hands and push it into myself slowly.  I moaned as the last
inch slid home.  I found my rhythm stroking in and out of my pussy with the
vibrator while I circle and rub my clit.  I heard another moan from Jason and
my movements became more frantic.  I could feel his hands on me, his body
thrusting into me, his mouth on my breast.  I panted as my body tightened and
my legs quivered and clenched.  So close…. 

“Jason…” I called out as I flew over
the peak.  I could swear I saw fireworks behind my eyelids.  My entire body
throbbed with my pulse and I was slicked with sweat.

And then I heard Jason cum.  His
groan was close and I knew he was just a few feet behind me on his own bed.  I
wish tonight could have ended differently.  But he’s trying to do this ‘the
right way.’ And that is amazing.  He is amazing.  And, at some point, I need to
tell him how I feel. 

My phone buzzed.

                       
Goodnight, beautiful.  See you
tomorrow.

Yep.  He is an amazing man.  I text
him back.

                       
Goodnight, Jason.  <3

~Jason~

            I stayed in bed for a good long while just
thinking about things.  Mostly thinking about Emma, but part of my brain was
still circling the issue of her ex-husband and trying to figure out what I’m
missing. 

I really do want to be careful with
our new relationship – I don’t want to push her too fast and lose her because I
can’t keep a rein on my hormones.  Though, the last couple of days, she’s been
the initiator.  I just find it nearly impossible to say no to her.  I’ve been
disciplined almost my whole life, but I struggle so much with her.

I never pictured myself married with
kids. Part of that is because I never pictured my future without being in the
military.  But losing mom changed a lot of things.  Watching her fade away and
then die was the hardest thing I’ve been through.  It made me face my own
mortality and it made me question my readiness to return to military life.  I
could have gotten back in.  I have the contacts who could have put me right
back with my unit when I was ready.  But I never felt ‘ready.’ 

I had met John a couple of years
before mom got sick.  A buddy of mine had taken me to the rifle range to shoot
some new guns and he introduced me.  At that point, I was a lifer.  I had no
doubt that I would stay with the Teams until I got killed or my mind started
going.  I was on the fast-track to moving up and planned on working my way up
to Commander before making decisions about where to go from there. 

Things never seem to work out quite
how we plan them, though, do they?  Fortunately, John remembered me when I gave
him a call a few months after I lost my mom.  I didn’t need the money so much
as I needed to get myself in some different head space.  I needed action, a
problem to work through, something to keep me occupied while my heart healed.

I dozed off around 3am and was back
up when the sun began streaking the sky.  After chugging a bottle of water, I
threw on some shorts and a hoodie and went for a run.  It was at mile six that
my brain figured out what had been missing when I looked through those
financial records.  I changed course and headed back.  I knew I wasn’t wrong,
but I didn’t understand how I could be right, either.

As soon as I walked in the door I
threw off my hoodie and pulled out the financial records again.  It only took a
second to confirm that there was no money being paid to Emma at any time over
the course of the past year.  It’s possible that he was paying child support in
cash, but doubtful.  Child support is almost never paid in cash because the
payor can’t prove the payment was made and, if they go back to court, you
better be able to prove you made those payments.  Back to court….  Court
Orders….  Shit!

I went into my office and dug out the
report I ran on Emma after I met her.  I had thrown the entire file in my
shredding basket but something had kept me from following through and actually
destroying all of it.  That’s a good thing right now.  But I needed to come
clean to Emma at some point or the shit will hit the fan and I’ll be screwed
for sure.  I made a note of that, mentally.

I carried the folder back to the
living room and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.  The divorce decree
was at the back of the file.  It was a straight-forward document that I had been
over a hundred times in other cases.  Usually, I’m looking for marital property
that might give me a clue on where to start my hunt for someone we’re looking
for at RED-Stone.  Not today.  This decree is too short.  Yes, it was ‘typical’
and that was why I didn’t catch it the first time around.  It was short because
it did not, at any point, reference children born of the marriage between Dan
and Emma.  Mia was not mentioned.  There was no custodial arrangement between
the two parents.  There was no Exhibit showing how the costs to raise Mia would
be shared.  There was no child support agreement at all.

What the fuck?

I took the file back to the office
and sat down at my computer.  It was after 8am now.  Systems should be up
pretty much everywhere.  I pulled up the state’s Office of Vital Records.  In
less than three minutes, I managed to get behind the firewall and was pulling
up their database.  It really is that easy and it is nerve wracking knowing
that there are plenty of people who are just as good as I am and can do this
whenever they feel like it.

The thing about hacking the database
is that I’m not limited to seeing the certificate itself.  I could make a phone
call and get a copy of that in just a few minutes.  But the database will tell
me when it was originally filed, how many times it has been accessed and if
there have been any changes – corrections – to the document itself.  It’s all
about the historical content of the document.  And searching for that just paid
off in spades.  Un-fucking-believable.

I might have looked into this before
had I known that Mia’s last name was also Parsons.  It didn’t raise a flag that
Dan’s name was different because I assumed Emma had gone back to her maiden
name when she got divorced – most women tend to do that.  But you don’t get to
change a kid’s name when you get divorced.

Mia’s birth certificate was initially
filed a month after she was born.  According to the notes in the database, it
was refiled about the time the divorce was being handled.  The revision was
allowed because a paternity test proved that the baby wasn’t Dan’s and that the
father was ‘unknown.’

I stood up and walked away from my
desk for a few minutes.  I haven’t known Emma for all that long, but there is
no way in hell she was cheating on her husband.  And it was completely outside
the realm of believability that she would have been cheating with multiple
partners which would have led to her not knowing who the father of her baby
was.  I call bullshit. 

I sat back down after a minute and
started screen printing what I was looking at on the database.  When her father
was changed to ‘unknown,’ Mia’s name was changed to match her mother’s maiden
name.  Mia Kathryn Parsons had already been through some crazy shit and she
hadn’t even celebrated her second birthday.

Bottom line:  I need to sit down with
Emma and fill in some blanks on how this all went down.  I already have a
theory, but I learned my lesson on making assumptions long ago.