Free You Only Love Twice by Lexi Blake

I should probably move the kiddos. I think Grace is going forward with the
party after Charlotte stops yelling at Ian. We’re pretty sure the cake won’t
last so this shower is happening. If you think about it, it’s really kind of
fitting. Shower and an interrogation. It welcomes Cooper to the family
properly.”
    Li had Carys and Tristan in either arm. He stopped in front
of Jesse. “You need some backup?”
    Jesse’s face was perfectly stony as he shook his head. He
didn’t even look Li’s way, his eyes steady on her.
    Pissed. This was what Jesse Murdoch looked like when he was
pissed. She’d never seen this side of him. He was usually so casual, so tender
and polite with her. When she’d first met him she’d spent months studying him
and trying to figure out who the hell he was. She’d envisioned him as hardened
and cynical, as though she would be able to see his darkness immediately.
    She saw a little of it now. She was shocked to find out it
didn’t have the effect on her she thought it would have.
    Jesse was always sweet. When he looked at her with such
softness on his face, she couldn’t help but think about Jamie and the way he’d
been.
    She wasn’t thinking about Jamie now. Her body tightened at
the way Jesse leaned over, his eyes hard and that sensual mouth of his a flat
line. He put both his hands on the table and squared his shoulders.
    “What is your mission?”
    A simple enough question and she wished she could answer him,
but that answer led back to the one question she had to ignore. “To keep
McKay-Taggart’s books in tip-top shape.”
    “Do you think I can’t handle you, sweetheart?” The words
rolled from his mouth, dark and deep and rich.
    Was this the man who spent his nights at Sanctum? She knew
what happened there. There was no question in her mind when she dismissed him
for the night, he went to Sanctum, and she’d come to loathe the place though
she’d never been inside. All she could see was Jesse finding the affection and
comfort she couldn’t provide. She’d closed her eyes more than once and been
able to see him making love to another woman, but she’d never really seen him
like this. She’d expected he was just as sweet when he made love as he was with
her.
    What if he was dirty?
    “Do you think if you put me off enough I’ll walk away and
let you be? The time for that is over. It was over the minute you pointed that
rifle at my chest. I know I’ve been following you around like a pathetic moron
for months, but that’s over, too. It’s going to be my way all the way from here
on out.”
    Her heart was thumping in her chest, her body warming.
Arousal. At least she remembered what to call it. She’d felt it with him
before, but Jamie always hovered between them. When Jesse would reach for her,
she would see Jamie’s sweet face and back away. Jesse wasn’t reaching for her
now. He was clearly drawing battle lines, and something about it called to her.
A primal energy started to run through her system.
    “Your way?” Her voice deepened, her body prepping for
battle. This was what she needed. She needed him to see the real her. She
needed to test herself against him and find out who was going to come out on
top.
    “Yes. Mine. I don’t suspect you’ll like my way so it would
be easier to give me what I want and we can go our separate ways.”
    She didn’t want to go her separate way. That was the whole
problem. The idea of even spending a couple more hours with him tempted her
beyond belief. Even if he spent the whole time interrogating her.
    She let go of trying to play sweet Phoebe Graham and allowed
Phoebe Grant to surface for the first time in a long time.
    Phoebe Grant was what Jesse would very likely call a brat.
She wondered how Jesse would handle Phoebe Grant. “Bite my ass, sweetheart.”
    A little thrill went through her spine as his eyes flared,
emotion showing for the first time since he’d walked into the room. “Don’t say
I didn’t warn