AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Addie raises her hand. “I second that vote. Then tell us all about it. I could use some inspiration for my new book hero. Porn is getting old, and Callenishot.”
My mouth hangs open for a hot minute. “Porn?”
Addie shrugs and apparently gives up on the glass when she goes straight for the bottle of wine. I guess the holidays could suck worse. I could be the James sisters, who’ve lost both parents and their grandmother in the past two years. I think my friend may be trying to dull the pain today.
Could I actually do that?
Separate my emotions from sex and basically use Callen to scratch an itch?
Coraline hands me back my phone, and I stare at Callen on the screen.
Damn it. They’re both right. He is hot. He’s also talented with his mouth, his hands, and his beautifully thick cock. Even just thinking about it makes me needy.
Needier.
Maybe I can do this.
Or maybe this is the worst idea I’ve ever had.
Guess there’s only one way to find out.
Islide into the front seat of my cousin’s black Escalade and ignore the glare he throws at me. “Seriously, Jude. Can you protect me more from the back seat than you can from the front?”
Jude is two months younger than me, but he’s trained under Killian’s father, Cade, his entire life. He’s also been part of my father’s world, I suspect, since we were in high school. But I can’t be sure, and he’d never tell.
He’s gorgeous and confident and supremely quiet, unlike the rest of the men in my life lately. To the rest of the world, those men are quiet. But to me... to me, they’re constantly the loudest voices in my head.
He’s been part of my security team since I went to college, and Dad moved him into the main position once I graduated. “Don’t you ever wish you were doing something other than watching me?”
“You’re the job, principessa.”
I wait for more, but it doesn’t come.
Alrighty then.
“Can I ask you something?” He side-eyes me as we turn off Adelaide’s street. “Am I safe?”
I hadn’t planned on asking that, it just sort of slips out without thought.
Damn.
“I mean?—”
“Your father has increased your security since the accident. You may not notice it, but that just means we’re doing our jobs. Everyone is aware of how much you hate having a team. Your mother does too. But whether you want to be or not, you were born high-profile, Caitlin. You’re a Kingston and a Beneventi. You’re a billionaire heiress with mob connections, even if no one mentions that second part. Ignoring it doesn’t make it less true. You shouldn’t have snuck into the doctor’s office that day. All you had to do was tell me where you were going. I don’t crowd you. I never have. I know you fucking hate this, but it’s my fucking job to make sure you’re safe, and I can’t do that if you don’t help me.”
Holy shit.
That might be the most consecutive words my cousin has ever said to me.
And they make me feel like shit.
“I’m sorry, Jude. I didn’t think about it that way,” I admit quietly as a light dusting of fluffy snow begins to fall.
“Well, start thinking about it that way. You’ve got a lot of people who love you and care about your safety. Stop being a brat and start looking at it from their perspective. Keeping you safe is the top priority, principessa. Everything else comes second. It has to.”
He turns onto Callen’s street, and his words ring out like a war cry, loud and booming in my head. Damn him. “Are you talking about my father, my brothers, or Callen?”
Jude cocks an eyebrow as Callen’s house comes into view.
