CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

“Can I watch it again?” April asked.

JJ shook his head and put his phone back in his pocket.

She pouted at him.

“You’ve watched that video twelve times already,” he told her, something she knew.

“I know, but it’s so fascinating! And, I have to admit, satisfying to see the cabin go up like it did.”

While JJ, Bob, Chappy, and Cal had ridden in the chopper with their women to the hospital, the rest of the guys had stayed behind. They’d taken Ryan’s body and put it in the cabin, using the path April had amazingly laid out for them, then used the remote detonator they’d found in Ryan’s pocket to blow up the cabin, not willing to wait and see if he’d set any timers.

They’d given the place a wide berth before blowing it up, which was a good thing, because the resulting explosion set off all the bombs and IEDs Ryan had planted. The fireball had risen high in the sky, and it was truly an impressive sight.

Luckily, because of all the land Ryan had cleared around the cabin, there wasn’t much danger of starting a huge forest fire, though the nearest trees got hit by bomb shrapnel.

It all worked out well enough, and with Tex’s assistance handling the local authorities, the story had been tweaked enough to keep the women out of the media. Officially, a man had attempted to kidnap four women, and his plan had been foiled when he’d gotten caught in his own trap and died in the resulting explosion. The narrative had been accepted at face value.

JJ didn’t get the chance to thank the men of Ace Security, Silverstone, or the Mountain Mercenaries in person. He’d been too focused on getting to the hospital with April and the other women, but he’d emailed each group. And received a return email from Rex this morning with the footage of the explosion.

April, Carlise, and Marlowe had been checked out at a hospital in Denver and released the same day. June and little Max were kept a few days to make sure everything was all right, with Cal by her side and everyone else in a nearby hotel, refusing to leave without them.

But now they were all back in Maine. A little more aware of their surroundings and more grateful than ever for their friends.

The women had visited Cal and June’s house every day since, not able to go a single one without seeing each other. Their men didn’t object, not in the least. Whatever they needed to heal, they’d give them without question.

As for JJ, he’d done as he promised and gotten April in front of a justice of the peace as soon as he could. The day they’d gotten back to Newton, he’d brought her straight to the municipal building, purchased a license, and married her immediately after. He’d never been so glad Maine didn’t have a waiting period as he was then. He still needed to get her a ring, but she didn’t seem the least bit concerned about that.

He’d spent their wedding night checking every inch of her body for any bruises he might’ve missed before, kissing them better. The bruise on her cheek and her black eye were fading, which was a relief. Every time JJ saw them, he wanted to go back in time and kill Ryan himself.

Rex didn’t detail how Ryan had died in the email he’d sent with the video, but he’d told Tex. Ryan didn’t have an easy death. Tex, in turn, had given him the details, but JJ would never share them with April. She didn’t need to have that kind of thing on her conscience. And even though she wasn’t upset that Ryan was no longer living, she’d be horrified if she knew exactly how the man had died.

But JJ was satisfied, as was his team. They’d suffered not only at the hands of his brother but at Ryan’s when their women had been taken. JJ never wanted to experience anything like those few days again.

“Pleeeease?” April begged, looking up at him and batting her eyelashes.

“No,” he said. “I have other plans for you.”

“Yeah?” she asked with interest.

“Yup.” JJ waited a beat. “It’s inventory day at the office.”

April burst out laughing and smacked him on the shoulder. “You’re mean!”

“Me? You were the one bitching the other week about having no idea where we stood with office supplies or how much oil was left for the chain saws. And now that we’ve had the first snow of the season, I thought we could lock ourselves in the back office and . . . count.”

“Is that what we’re calling it now?” April asked with a seductive smile.

JJ smirked.

“You know we have a perfectly good bed here. And it’s comfortable.”

“Oh, you don’t want to go to the office?” he asked. “Do I need to take you back to the doctor? You always want to work.”

April’s smile died. “That was before. Now, I want to live life to its fullest. I don’t want to work as much. I spent way too much time there, trying to avoid you and the thought that you didn’t want to be with me.”

“I wanted you,” JJ said, grabbing her around the waist and picking her up in one fluid motion.

She squealed a little and clung to his neck. “Jack! Put me down!”

He strode toward their bedroom and dropped her on the bed. “There, you’re down.”

To his delight, his wife stretched sensuously and put her arms over her head.

“Yes, I am,” she agreed.

JJ was straddling her in a heartbeat. He caged her in with his body and held her arms down by the wrists. “I love you,” he said.

“I love you too.”

“Is it too much?”

“What?” she asked.

“Me,” he said simply.

“Never. I love your intensity. Your protectiveness. Your desire to ‘scorch the earth,’ as you put it, to show everyone what will happen if they touch me.”

JJ closed his eyes in relief.

“You might be a scary, badass former military stud to a lot of people, but to me, you’ll always be my lumberjack.”

JJ opened his eyes and smiled down at her. “Yeah?”

“Yes. And speaking of which, I have an idea for a new advertising campaign. It involves you standing with one leg on a tree stump, wearing a red-and-black flannel shirt, and an axe over your shoulder.”

“We don’t use axes,” he told her.

“I know, but a chain saw wouldn’t have the same feel. So you’ll do it?” she pushed.

“No way in hell,” JJ said with a straight face.

“Damn. Well, it was worth a shot.”

JJ shook his head. April kept him on his toes, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. He didn’t tell her that if she pushed a little harder, he’d pose however she wanted. Hell, she could’ve asked him to stand there butt-ass naked with an axe, and he would’ve done it if it made her happy.

For April, he was a marshmallow lumberjack. To everyone else, he was a coldhearted bastard who glared at anyone who came too close to his woman.

“Jack?”

“Yeah, sweetheart.”

“Thank you for coming for me.”

“I’ll always come for you,” he told her.

She stared at him for a beat, then she smiled, then started laughing hysterically.

Shaking his head, JJ let her get it out of her system before asking, “What was that about?”

“You’ll always come for me?”

JJ rolled his eyes. His woman was a dork. But he loved her anyway. No, he loved her because of it.

Lately, she’d been using humor to try to deflect attention from herself. When she had nightmares, she tried to brush them off. When she had flashbacks, or when she saw anyone towing a trailer, she tensed, then immediately made a joke, usually at her own expense. JJ hated it, but he understood her need to gain control over her fears.

He didn’t exactly regret showing her the video of the cabin exploding, but it might bring some of those fears back to the surface. That it could’ve been her and her friends inside the cabin when it blew. He planned to distract her from asking to watch it again, and he knew just how to do it.

“Keep your hands there,” he ordered, squeezing her wrists to emphasize his point. He felt her squirm under him and knew she was on the same page.

“Bossy,” she muttered but didn’t move when he let go to slide down her body. He kissed her belly through her shirt, then teased the hem before slipping his hands under the material. He palmed her tits through her bra. She moaned and arched her back.

“You like that?” he asked.

“You know I do. Stop teasing,” she scolded.

“But it’s so much fun,” he said before moving his hands out from under her shirt. He grabbed hold of the elastic pants she wore and roughly yanked them just below her ass.

She giggled as she writhed and tried to help as much as possible without moving her arms from over her head. Then she was lying under him, naked from the waist down.

JJ leaned down and inhaled deeply. He’d never get tired of this. Of her. He licked between her folds and was immediately rewarded by her legs parting and her heels digging into his back.

No more words were spoken as he got to work pleasuring his wife.

His wife.

JJ had gotten to the point in his life when he thought he’d never find someone to spend the rest of his days with. True, he wasn’t exactly old at thirty-nine, but he’d just assumed any chance he might’ve had was in the past. April scared the hell out of him from the moment they met because he could instantly imagine himself sitting beside her when they were old and decrepit.

He’d made mistakes in his life, the worst of which was letting his own fears and insecurities get the better of him. But she was his now, in every way, and he wasn’t going to let even one day go by without her knowing how much she meant to him.

April clutched his hair as he nearly went into a frenzy, eating her out. He couldn’t find it in him to complain; he loved the way she tugged on his hair, letting him know exactly how good he was making her feel. The harder she pulled, the more intense her pleasure.

As soon as her orgasm began to peak, JJ got to his knees and fumbled with the fastening of his jeans. Cursing himself for not getting naked before starting this, he sighed in relief as he pulled out his rock-hard cock. Looking down, he saw April smiling up at him lazily, her arms still over her head.

“Ready?” he asked, not wanting to do anything without her permission.

In reply, she reached down and stroked him once, then pulled him forward by his dick, notching him between her legs.

In one smooth move, JJ buried himself deep in his wife’s pussy.

They both inhaled sharply. He would never get enough of this. She felt amazing. He moved slowly at first but eventually gained speed until he was hammering in and out of her just the way she loved the most.

Her hand snaked between them and began to rub her clit, and almost immediately he felt her inner muscles tighten around him.

It wasn’t long before he was following her over the cliff. He was still dressed, and she still wore her bra and shirt, but neither cared when he collapsed on top of her. Her hands slipped under his shirt, and she ran her fingernails gently over his back.

“Okay, inventory can wait,” he muttered.

April laughed, and he felt it everywhere. Especially around his cock.

“Love you, Jackson Justice.”

“Love you, April Justice.”