Rescuing Jenna - Anna Blakely Page 0,40

admitted quietly. “So I don’t know if that’s what this is. But what I do know is you make me feel things. Things I’ve never felt before.”

“Adrian?”

“You make me want to be a better man, Jenna.” He framed her face with both hands. “You make me want to be a better person. So yeah, when it comes to you, I want to fucking count. And baby, I promise if you went missing, I’d move heaven and earth to find you.”

He took her mouth in his. He could taste the salt of her tears. And as their lips and tongues moved together in perfect harmony, Adrian put all his energy into showing her how he felt with that one, powerful kiss.

When they finally pulled apart, Jenna was breathing hard—and blinking away more tears. When another escaped, he caught it with his thumb and gently swept it away.

“I feel the same way about you, Adrian.” She whispered softly. “Except…”

“Except what?”

Her eyes locked onto his in a way that made him feel as though she could see into his soul. “I’m pretty sure I love you.” Jenna’s long hair swooshed around her shoulders as she shook her head. “I know it’s crazy fast, and I’m not asking for you to say it back or to even try to figure out your feelings for me right now.”

Holy. Shit.

Adrian could barely breathe, let alone speak. This woman…this crazy, wonderful woman…loved him?

Say something, dickhead!

“Jenna, I—”

“You know what?” She cut him off. “Forget I even said anything. None of that matters right now, anyway.”

None of it…

Frowning, he opened his mouth to ask what the hell she meant but she beat him to it.

“What does matter is that missing woman,” Jenna continued on as if she hadn’t just filled him with more joy than he’d ever known. “And all the other women in this city who are in danger of going through what I did. I can’t go back home and pretend like it didn’t happen. I can’t go to sleep at night and forget that those men are still out there, preying on innocent women.”

Yeah, he was still back on the whole declaration of love thing. But she’d obviously moved on, so he let her.

For now, because baby…we will be revisiting that particular conversation very soon.

Clearing the emotion from his throat, he set it aside and asked, “What exactly are you wanting to do?”

“I want to stay here, in Gulfside Harbor. I want to go back to that club, and I want to find the man who drugged me. The bartender said the guy was his friend. I figured I could start there. Maybe the guy who drugged me is connected to the missing woman. Or maybe what he and the other two men did to me was a random, one-time thing. Either way, somebody needs to be out there trying to figure it out.”

Adrian ran a hand over his jaw. He thought about his sister, and how he’d wished a million times over someone had been looking out for Bree when he couldn’t. Someone like Jenna.

He glanced back down at her. Saw the determination in her eyes and knew. If he didn’t help her, she was going to try to do this shit all on her own.

The idea of her going anywhere near that night club again left his gut churning. The thought of her going there alone?

That fucking terrified him.

“Fine.” He finally gave in. “We’ll go back to the club. Together. But first, I want to meet with my GHPD contact. See if they know more about your case.”

“Okay.”

“And when we do go to the club, or anywhere else for that matter, if I tell you to do something, you do it. No arguments. No questions asked. Understood?”

Jenna wasn’t as quick to agree to those terms. Adrian could tell she wasn’t keen on the idea of taking orders from him, but she didn’t argue.

“Okay.” A wide smile lit up her entire face just before she threw herself into his arms. “Thank you.”

He hugged her back. “Don’t thank me yet, sweetheart.”

“Why not?”

“You need to go into this thing with your eyes open. We may not learn anything new or helpful. I just want to make sure you don’t—”

“Get my hopes up. I got it.” She leaned up and planted a sweet kiss on his lips. “At least we’ll know we tried.”

Adrian pulled out his phone, making a quick call to Jason Ryker. The Homeland agent was an arrogant prick, but he knew how to get shit