The Seduction (Finding Forever #2) - Jessie Jones Page 0,64

for getting others to do your bidding. As beautiful as you and Patrick are, I'm sure women have always fallen at your feet. You both can be very charming when need be."

The British billionaire chuckled at his kitten. His woman didn't know how right she was. Even as a young lad, John and Patrick had never had a problem getting women to take care of their needs, and not just the sexual ones. "I may have been able to get some help from the ladies."

"Help, huh? You sticking with that lie?" the American asked as she continued to feed the Brit. John was even more beautiful when he was relaxed and letting down his guard. "Just how old were you when you lost your virginity? If I had to guess, I would say fifteen."

"Very close, kitten. I was fourteen, and the lovely Hadley was thirty."

"You slept with a grown woman? But you were just a child!"

"But she didn't know that," John interjected, swallowing another bite of the food. "I always appeared older than I was, and she couldn't resist the Kenric charm. I might have lied and told her I was nineteen. Either way, that was a long time ago."

"She must have been someone special, though, for you to remember her name after all these years. Did she know you were a virgin?"

"No, she didn't," John added as he took another drink of his juice. "As for being someone special, it's not what you're thinking. Hadley wasn't a girlfriend or mistress. Pat and I had taken some property back from a local mobster who had actually stolen it from us. One of his thugs caught us crawling out a window and shot at us. One of the bullets lodged in my shoulder, and I was bleeding rather profusely. As we ran, fate bumped us into Hadley who just so happened to be an ER nurse. She patched me up and took us in for a bit, at least until we took care of the mobster. When Pat and I began to amass our fortune a couple years later, we tried to find her and repay her for her kindness, but she unfortunately had been killed in a bus accident."

Gillian ran her fingers over a small scar that was on John's left shoulder as he spoke. "Is this the wound?" she asked when John finished his story. When he nodded his head, Gillian bent her head down and gently kissed the spot. Her eyes met his as she said, "I wish Hadley was alive so I could thank her for patching you up. I'm assuming this is not the only gunshot wound you have?"

"No, it's not," John said seriously, wanting her to accept not only him but the lifestyle he led. He refused to lie to her or sugar coat the truth. Watching something flicker in the depths of her emerald eyes, he asked, "Does it bother you that I run the underworld, kitten? As I told you last night, my world is dangerous, but I'm not going to hide that from you. I have killed men, and I will again, but only those who deserve it. It may sound contradictory but there is still honor among thieves in my line of work. Not all of us follow this code, but those who work for me do."

"I don't like knowing that you have killed people, Bear, but I do believe you when you say that it was necessary," Gillian replied softly, her fingers toying with the hair on his massive, muscular chest. "I just don't want to know about it if you have to do it, okay? I hate knowing that you are in danger, but I feel as though I am beginning to understand you. I want you to promise me, though, that you will always have guards and won't do anything stupid. Remember, you are now a man in a relationship. I care what happens to you, Bear."

John loosely gripped her neck and brought her centimeters from his face. In a hoarse, smoker's voice he asked, "Are you saying you care about me, kitten? Maybe even love me a little?"

She wanted to tell John how she really felt, but the anxiety of John rejecting her tightened her throat and made her unable to voice the words. Unable to look at him for fear her eyes would reveal her true feelings, Gillian abruptly jumped off the bed. But before she could leave the room, John grabbed her hand and barked,