Drake Sisters 07 - Hidden Currents

don’t need to say it.â€
    â€œYou think I don’t know you were born into a high class, elegant family and I came from the biker camp from hel ?â€
    â€œIt doesn’t matter where anyone comes from, Jackson. Once you’re grown up, you stil have a choice about who you want to be and how you want to live.â€
    Now she real y sounded prissy and he couldn’t stop the smal grin that wel ed up from inside him.
    His hand curled around the back of her head. “I love you, El e Drake. In case I haven’t told you lately.â€
    El e blinked. She looked startled, like a panicked deer caught in the headlights of a hunter’s truck. “You’ve never said that before.â€
    â€œI’m sure I have.â€
    â€œI’m sure you haven’t. Believe me, I would have remembered.â€
    â€œYou probably weren’t listening. I especial y love your nasty little temper. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a lot warmer and I’m completely naked under here. Things are beginning to perk up and I wouldn’t want you to get al scared on me.†His hand slid down her back in a slow glide that didn’t ask for anything at al , simply took her in.
    â€œI’m not afraid of you, Jackson,†she whispered. “I’m not going to let him do that to me. I won’t.†But maybe she was. A little. A lot. What if she couldn’t do with him the things that she’d done with Stavros?
    He spat out an ugly curse. “You’re not going to do anything with me you did with him, El e. When we come together, we’l be making love, not fucking. Hel , what he did wasn’t even fucking. What he did to you was rape. Control. Power. That is never going to happen between us, honey.
    When I look at you, when I want to touch you, it’s because I love you and I want to show you that.â€
    She pressed her forehead against his, closing her eyes. “What if I can’t do the same back, no matter how much I want to? What if he keeps coming between us? I’ve heard that happens, Jackson. Before I went on the assignment, of course we thought if I was captured they’d kil me, but in my research on human trafficking I read about long-term effects on women who are subjected to physical and emotional abuse over long periods of time. The trauma affects them their entire life, even with counseling.â€
    Jackson noticed she’d said “them,†not “us†or “we.†She stil could not identify herself as a victim. “Of course it would, El e.
    Do you think I’m not affected every damn day of my life? I wake up in a sweat, my heart pounding and adrenaline rushing. I have a gun in my fist tracking the room before I’m ful y awake. I have a room ful of weapons and I practice shooting nearly every day. I work out with weights and run to stay in shape, not because I want to look good, but because I want to be prepared. I worry that I’l be a paranoid husband and father and drive you insane.
    And don’t tel me you haven’t worried about it either, because we both know you have.â€
    â€œBut you can make love, Jackson. I can see it in your eyes, feel desire in your mind and hunger in your body. What if I can’t satisfy that?â€
    He rol ed over, gently putting her aside. His face was smeared with her blood. “We’ve got to clean up before anyone sees us and freaks out.
    Let’s take a shower.â€
    El e sighed. Stil weak, Jackson, who had already gone through so much, had to carry her into the bathroom and set her in the shower. She managed to remove her clothes while he turned on the water, blasting them both with heat.
    â€œThat feels so fu—er . . . good,†Jackson said and wiped the blood from her face with a washcloth, his touch tender. “I’m going to wash and condition your hair, El e.â€
    She swal owed hard, unsure which would win, the rising panic, or her wish to please him. He hadn’t asked her, but she knew if she put up her hand and stopped him, he wouldn’t protest or question, he’d let her be. Her hair had been so important to her. Blazing red. Thick and long and feminine. It was her only feature she thought truly astounding and Stavros had made her hate it.
    She braced herself, waiting for bile to rise in her stomach, but Jackson’s hands felt