Free Jace by T.A. Grey

said try it . “First off, you wouldn’t do that because you’re a good
person and that’s too mean for you—” she blushed fiercely at the strange
compliment, “—and secondly, you won’t be able to shake me. I’m too good and if
for some reason I lose you, I have a whole team of professionals available at
my call.”
    “Oh, aren’t you fancy,” she
said under her breath.
    Jace strangled the steering
wheel. “Mara, damn it, I’m sorry for what you saw back there. But when I walked
in, I saw him a man hit you. He needed to be put down, so I did it. Next time,
he’ll hesitate before making an ass out of himself.”
    “Are you even listening to what
you’re saying? ‘He needed to be put down.’ This isn’t a rabid dog you’re
talking about, it’s a human being.”
    His eyes flashed irritation “I
guess you’d prefer I stood by and watch him hit you again? Maybe wait until he
broke skin open before I intervened? Then maybe I could politely ask him to
leave the building, buy him a free drink to calm him down, and escort him
outside while patting his back. Yeah, I’m sure that would have worked,
sweetheart.”
    Mara sucked in a breath and
faced him. “I hate you!” She wanted to say so much more. She wanted to say she
wasn’t that mad about him saving her. Not really. But she couldn’t tell
him what this was really about. No way, ever. Because the reason it hurt so
much to be sitting next to him right now was the disappointment.
    He was not the kind of man she
thought he was.
    “Yeah well, that’s too bad,
because I’m not going to drop this. You need protection, Mara. This guy is bad
news.”
    “You really don’t need to tell
me that,” she said with a growl.
    His eyes snapped to hers, just
as angry. “I know that, but I don’t think you really understand just how bad
this is.”
    She sputtered. “The man beat me
for almost as long as we were together. For two very long years. You have no
idea what that’s like.”
    He squeezed the steering wheel.
“I grew up watching my mom take beatings from Ray. I was on the receiving end
of it a few times. I do know what it’s like, Mara.”
    She blinked, dumbfounded. He
was so big and strong. How could anyone have ever hurt him? Is that why he grew
up to become a bodyguard?
    “I’m sorry,” she found herself
saying.
    “Don’t be sorry. Just tell me
you’ll take my help.”
    She wanted to say yes so badly…
“I can’t.”
    “Why not?”
    They arrived at her house. Her
cute little one-story tucked away at the top of the hill under her great willow
trees.
    “Because I don’t want to be
around you.” The words held a grain of truth making them hard to say.
    Jace ground his jaw but didn’t
say anything for a minute. “I’ll be out here tonight, but I need to do a sweep
through your house first. If anything goes wrong, I’ll be here.”
    He got out, then said over the
hood of the truck, “Get out, Mara.”
    She did, feeling haughty with
him telling her what to do.
    “Open the front door.”
    Now her jaw slid side to side.
“I do not take orders.” Yet, she found her unlocking the door for him.” Corey
used to control her with disgusting, humiliating ease. Being with him had
warped her mind. She’d sought his approval and would do anything to get it.
    “Open the front door, Mara, so
I can check out your house.”
    Muttering under her breath, she
unlocked the damn door. When he started to go through her house, she followed
on his heels. “Where are you going?”
    He didn’t stop. “Checking your
windows and doors to make sure no one’s here.”
    “No one’s in here,” she said.
Of course, she had no proof of that.
    “Excuse me, but I’m a security
specialist. I’ll be the judge of that.” He tested all the windows and the front
door with disgust. “This is awful. You have bedroom windows which don’t open
more than halfway, then living room windows that open so quietly you’d never
hear someone enter. Your back door has a