Page 20 of Blake

“Shut up. You know what I mean.” She dug him in the belly with her elbow in punishment for his laughter.

“I do know. I can’t promise we’ll live happily ever after and have a house full of kids. I can’t promise we won’t have moments where we want to kill each other but I can promise to be honest with you and to put you first. Is that enough for now? Can we give this a go and see where it goes?”

Pax liked everything he said. It was honest and sincere, not flowery bullshit promises or declarations meant to manipulate. The fact was, she did want it. She had wanted it before, but Blake had been putting up barriers too. But now his were down and he was offering them a chance. Could she take it?

“What about Eidolon and Zenobi? They don’t exactly play nice together. That’s a pretty big stumbling block if Roz or Jack don’t like it.”

“It is but I don’t believe Roz would stop us. She’s a hard ass but she also knows what it’s like to be in love and she and K make it work with Fortis and Zenobi. As for Jack, let’s cross that bridge when we get to it. Maybe we make a rule that we don’t discuss work at home. Lots of couples make that work. I’m sure we can find other things to do instead.” His devilish smile made desire shoot through her.

“You have a one-track mind.”

“Me? I was talking about watching boxsets.”

Her smile was wicked. “Sure you were.”

“There it is, the secret smile that first got my attention.”

Pax felt herself blush. “I don’t have a secret smile.”

“Yes, you do. You smile like you have a delicious secret that no one but you knows about. It made me want to be in on that secret.”

“Want to know what it is?” she teased and then lifted up and whispered in his ear, making him throw back his head and belly laugh. It was a sound she was growing to adore.

Chapter Nine

Blake lay on the couch thinking about Pax. Watching her lose control and give herself over to the pleasure he’d given her earlier had been one of the most erotic things he had ever witnessed. His cock was still hard from the visual effect, his balls heavy and almost painful with the need to come but he wanted to give her time.

Pax was scared and it was obvious she didn’t like the feeling. Nobody did, but with her, he sensed it was more than normal fear. She liked to come across as confident, but she didn’t value herself as much as she should. He wanted to show her that she was important and had worth. He also wanted to wring the neck of the person that had taught her she wasn’t either of those things.

He turned over on the couch which was comfy for a short time, but this was night three and he was over it. He knew he could have crawled into bed with Pax tonight, but he didn’t want to rush her. So he lay on the couch and tried to sleep. When that didn’t work, he got up and went to collect his laptop from the kitchen so he could see if he had any more emails from Will who had done as Blake suggested, and so far, had found nothing but he was going to go back further and see if anything broke.

As Blake passed the front door, he saw a shadow move. His senses went on alert as he listened for the slightest noise and heard nothing. Moving towards the living room he snagged his gun from the side table and moved towards the window. Staying hidden behind the curtain he peered out trying to see if he could catch any suspicious movement when a loud crash came from above his head followed by a scream.

Pax!

Taking the stairs two at a time he raced towards her bedroom and flung open the door. In a split second his eyes took in the broken glass all over her carpet and the brick that had landed there. His eyes went to Pax who was unharmed but shaking and disorientated in the middle of the bed. Blake was beside her in a heartbeat, holding her to him as he moved until she was between him and the wall.

Nothing would get to her without going through him first. He had no time to see if she was okay, he needed to find the threat and neutralise it.

“Get dressed and call Jack.” He kept his voice low as he ushered her to the bathroom and threw some clothes inside. “Lock the door and don’t come out until I say so.” He handed her the gun he knew she kept in the drawer by her bed despite it being illegal here in the UK.

He watched her go without an argument. Her fear had gone, but she was following orders knowing she couldn’t help him injured as she was and would only distract him.

Moving to the window he saw a man move across the lawn. Hitting the stairs, he raced to the back sliding doors and wasted precious seconds on the lock before he threw them open. He had his gun cocked as he stepped out and was hit by a wall of muscle that took him to the ground and knocked the gun from his hand.

Blake’s body hit the decking with a thud as he and his attacker rolled jockeying for position. Blake managed to land a blow to the man’s jaw and heard the grunt of pain. He couldn’t see anything past the ski-mask, especially in the darkness. The man, larger than him with twenty pounds more muscle, caught Blake with an uppercut that sent him careening into the rattan garden furniture with a crash. Blake grabbed a pair of garden clippers to use as a weapon as he and the man eyed each other, waiting for the other to move.

Blake feinted right, his opponent read him, and Blake missed his mark and only caught the man across the bicep with the clippers instead of the chest like he had intended. The blow knocked the clippers from his hand. He had done a little damage though and he now had the advantage.

Blake blocked a kick to the head and threw a punch, but his attacker blocked and caught him with a ridged hand strike to the throat which caused him to lose balance, then the fucker took out his injured knee with a knee wheel strike that caused him to almost black out from the pain. Going to the ground, he turned to face his assailant, but the man had already taken off towards the hedge at the back of Pax’s garden.

Blake knew he couldn’t go after him as he struggled to stand, limping as he put weight on his injured leg. Motherfucker had known just where to strike which made Blake wonder who the attacker was after.

Blake heard the sound of cars pulling up outside with a screech and when he turned back, the only sign of the man who had attacked him ever being there was Pax’s destroyed furniture.

Blake walked back through the sliding doors closing and locking them before casting his eye one last time around the surrounding area and finding nothing. He limped to the front door as he heard hammering on the door. He didn’t need to ask who it was. Roz was more than making herself known.

“Open this fucking door or I swear I am going rip your balls off and feed them to you.”