Free The Intruder by Joannie Kay Page A

please be circumspect until you check with me... at least until you get to know everyone I work with a bit better."
    "I will," she promised.
    "And now, young lady, you are going to bed, and if I catch you up before eight o'clock, you'll get a spanking and sent back to bed." He scooped her up and carried her, giggling, to the large master suite and put her in bed and tucked her in. Goodnight, sweetheart," he said as he leaned down to kiss her.
    Kari returned Jake's kiss with passion, and was disappointed when he ended their embrace. "Go to sleep, sweetheart. We need to get a wedding planned soon," he said.
    "I'm sure you're the one, Jake. I don't care if you join me here..." the invitation was for more than 'sleeping' and he knew it. She loved Jacob Tobias and didn't want to wait any longer to make love.
    "You've been ill, sweetheart, and I don't want you to make a decision like this until you're well, and when your body isn't full of desire. I don't want to seduce you unless I'm sure that you are sure. If you want to wait until our wedding night, I'll wait. I might be impatient and think I'm going to die of frustration, but I'll give you time... all that you need, Kari. He kissed her once again, and then left her alone in the huge bed.
    Kelly came back the next evening, and Jake went looking for Quincy Darles. He didn't find Darles, but found one of his minions. The man was tying up loose ends for Darles and was to meet him elsewhere. Jake questioned him for hours but couldn't find out where Darles went. Rosenberg said he was to fly to Detroit and wait to hear from Darles. Jake asked him about Jenna's friend Deborah, and the man told where she was sold and he gave up several other names as well, trying to minimize the time he would spend in prison. Jake contacted the FBI, and heard a few hours later that they had found Deborah and she was being treated at a local hospital. The other girls were released from captivity, too, and Kari shivered to think that Darles was intending to do that to her, too.
    "You aren't going back to your apartment, Kari," Jake told her the next morning.
    "But, I can't afford..."
    "Hush, sweetheart. You cannot stay there. It isn't safe. I'll go and pack up the rest of your belongings, and I'll take you to my place, or to Ma's if you'd rather stay there until we're married...?" he gave her an option to consider. He didn't want her to set foot in her old apartment. Quincy Darles and his hired goons wrecked the place and left graffiti on the walls. A lot of her furniture was destroyed... and he didn't want her seeing any of the destruction.
    "I want to be with you, Jake. I'm sure of my feelings for you, and as long as you won't think less of me, I want us to be together. We can have our wedding night before the wedding, can't we?"
    Jake nodded. "If that's what you want, sweetheart. If you're sure...? I'm not going to rush you into this."
    "I wish the wedding was tomorrow," she shocked him by saying. "Couldn't we just call a judge and do it? Or fly to Vegas?" she suggested.
    Jake flipped out his cell phone and hit a number. Her eyes lit up as she listened without shame as he spoke to Judge Benson and arranged a time for them to get married. Then he hit another number. "Ma, what are you doing tomorrow? Could you plan a small wedding reception? Kari and I are going to get married at the court house at five o'clock."

    * * *

    "This is not fair, bro, and you know it!" Jason fumed as he straightened Jake's tie. "I've been engaged for a few months now, and you're beating me to the punch!"
    "Just lucky, I guess," Jake grinned, and then said seriously, "If Kari wanted a fancy wedding, I would have waited, bro. She didn't, and I know she meant the words. I'm a lucky man. No tux!" he teased his brother.
    Kari's father was there, a stunned expression on his face, and one of her cousins came to be her matron of honor. Jake's family was there, too. His Ma, Jason, and even Jenna was there, looking very unhappy and