A/N: Thank you SO much for the wonderful response for all the previous chapters! Ya'll rock!

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It was one of those days.

One of those days when, for no apparent reason, I was feeling elated and charged and ready to face the day with gusto. Though, it was not logical for me to feel so after the happenings of the previous night. Namely, the fact that I had been about to be ravished against my will by a fifty-year-old psycho.

Still, as I opened my eyes to the new day, a sigh of contentment escaped my lips. The cold uneasiness I'd been feeling the night before had disappeared. It was replaced by a warm feeling, like I was wrapped up comfortably in an impenetrable thick blanket. Even though, I was actually covered up in a thin, very penetrable sheet.

I didn't know exactly why I was feeling like this, but I had an inkling. The idea disturbed me a little as it played through my mind. It was wrong, I knew. But, still, I couldn't help my feelings.

Turning my head to the side, my eyes rested on the object of my inkling. He was sleeping soundly, his long eyelashes resting on the crests of his cheeks. I blinked, the scene from yesterday replaying itself in my mind. I couldn't get the picture of Jesse ripping the intruder off me and felling him with a couple of harsh blows out of my mind. Even though, when it had happened, I had barely noticed what was going on from shock, as I lay in bed the next morning, I could look at the events more clearly.

It dawned on me that old man must have been someone in a high position, for men his age didn't fight. And Jesse had beaten him up. For me. The thought caused a little thrilled shiver to run down my spine. It was soon replaced by fear, though. And, I realized with not-so-little surprise, the fear wasn't for me. It was for Jesse. Because if that old man had been someone of high ranking, Jesse was surely in trouble for hitting him. And that too, for a foreign girl like me.

But even through the fear for him, I couldn't get rid of the sense of serenity that had descended upon me. Not serenity, I realized soon. It was a sense of security. I felt safe at last. After two days of constant fear for my life, I'd finally found a place where I felt one hundred percent safe. That was anywhere near Jesse. He would protect me, I knew, from anything in the world. I had seen it in his anger at me the night before. I'd seen the worry and fear that he'd thought he'd hidden quite well from me.

And that was what was disturbing me. The fact that this man…this villain, cared so much for my safety. And what was more was, I cared back for his safety. For the safety and welfare of the man who had been responsible for the destruction of my home and may as well have been responsible for the death of my mother.

Frowning slightly, I stared at him. Soon, fascination overtook my other thoughts. I'd never been this close to a man before. Not even one my stepbrothers.

He was lying on his stomach, his muscular arms wrapped around the pillow below his head. I ran my eyes along the smooth contours of the arm in front of me. My hands were suddenly itching to trace the ridges of the muscles in the brown satiny arm. My gaze flickered over to his face. Asleep, he didn't have the cold alertness that his smouldering eyes normally emanated. A strand of his sable hair had flopped onto his eye as usual.

I couldn't help but think how vulnerable he looked as he slept, without his towering height and intimidating personality to keep predators away. But then, the intensely powerful arm wrapped around his pillow caught my sight again and I almost giggled. It was like he was giving me proof of his invulnerability just as I was thinking otherwise.

My eyes drifted downwards along his long lean body. I gulped as I realized that he was naked. Well, his upper body, at least. And then, suddenly, all the olive glory I was inspecting was interrupted by the whiteness of the sheet that covered him waist downwards.

I scowled for a fraction of a second before realizing what I was doing. The heat rising to my face, I averted it and stared up at the ceiling. What the hell am I doing? I thought vehemently. I was just checking out Jesse! Oh God.

I forced myself to continue staring at up at the ceiling. But then, who'd want to look at a dreary white ceiling when there's a breathtakingly gorgeous sleeping man to look at beside you?

Sure enough, a second later, my traitorous eyes drifted back to my captor's sinfully handsome form. I narrowed my eyes as I thought over the question which was floating in my head. Which was: What is beneath that sheet? I mean, I knew what was beneath that sheet around his waist, but the thing was, was that thing beneath the sheet clothed or not?

I bit my lips to keep myself from bursting out into a fit of giggles. And at the same time I was shaking my head at my own less-than-innocent thoughts.

Curiosity overrunning my entire being, I lifted myself up into a sitting position. I gingerly grasped the sheet with inquisitive fingers and was about to pull it down when—

Smack!

Gasping loudly, as a large calloused hand slapped my hand away, I looked up, wide-eyed. My heart was thumping loudly in my chest.

"Don't you know," Jesse said amiably – well, for him – as he rolled over onto his back. "That it is not nice to ogle at a sleeping man?"

I blinked rapidly and opened and closed my mouth like a goldfish. Then, finally gathering my senses up, I replied in the most disdainful voice I could muster.

"I was not ogling at you, Jesse. God, you really shouldn't think of yourself so highly," I said.

He raised his eyebrows, sitting up. "Oh, then would you please tell me what exactly you were planning on doing once you pulled down the sheet that was covering me?" he said. His face was grave but deep in the chasms of his eyes, I could make out the dancing hilarity.

Burning redder than I'd ever gone before, I said sourly, "Shut up and go back to sleep, Jesse."

He silently lay down again, stretching himself out leisurely. It was the first time I was seeing him so loosened up. He didn't go back to sleep, however. I felt him continue watching me. He was a man of few words, this one.

Feeling the expectant air radiating from him, I asked him, "Jesse?"

"Yes, Susannah?" he answered quietly.

Looking down at his face, I thought he looked like some ancient Greek god of war. So beautiful, so fierce.

"How'd you know what I was doing? You were asleep, weren't you?" I asked. Then, seeing the almost indiscernible quirk of his lips, I realized that this was the question he'd been expecting me to ask. I rolled my eyes exaggeratingly, letting him know that I knew his intentions. This only caused him to widen his lips into a faint smile.

"A warrior—"

"Terrorist," I corrected.

"—always trains his instincts," Jesse said, ignoring my interruption. "In time, even when sleeping, we get alerted to possible danger."

"Oh, please," I muttered under my breath. "Danger? Of what? Me seeing your butt?"

Jesse continued without heeding my interruption. "This skill helps a lot when an enemy launches a surprise attack, especially at night." He became quiet again, evidently finished explaining in three sentences.

A comfortable silence fell over us again as we basked in the warmth of the sunlight from the window. There were a million questions I had to ask him – for instance, what was up with the whole companion thing? – but at the moment, I just wanted to drink in the comfort of the moment.

I realized that I liked it when Jesse became a little more approachable. And I knew that in the future, when his guard was up again, I would do my best to get through it if only to get a glimpse of this Jesse.

After a few minutes of silence, Jesse got up and swung himself off the bed. I could feel the significant rise of the mattress as his weight left it.

To my vast relief, he wasn't naked. He was wearing some sort of black slacks. I'd never actually seen anyone wear that kind of pant before, so I guessed this was the usual nightwear for men from Jesse's country. It was a little billowy, kind of like a more fitted version of the ones Aladdin wore.

His quick glance and minute smirk at me told me that he knew exactly what my intention had been earlier. His look seemed to say 'Got you answer now?' I flushed and flopped back down on the bed amid the tangled up sheets, for need of some movement.

When I looked in his direction again, I was surprised to see him standing there still gazing down at me. I was about to ask him if my hair was looking that bad, when I caught the look in his eyes. My breath hitched.

The look in his eyes as he stared down at me…it could only be described as hunger. Intense, burning hunger. I couldn't believe that such a feeling could be directed at me.

I swallowed hard as Jesse brought one knee onto the bed again and leaned in towards me. His manner was slow, almost as if he didn't want to scare me way. One outstretched hand brushed over my cheek, leaving a trail of hot tingles behind.

And in a flash, I knew what was going to happen if I didn't do anything to stop this. I also knew that I wasn't ready for that yet. But, to stop the sinfully gentle pleasure that Jesse's hand had left on my cheek and his fiery gaze was imprinting on mine…it was difficult. So difficult.

However, I managed to bring my dry lips apart and croaked, "J-Jesse?"

The sound of my voice seemed to break him out of the dark trance he'd been in. Blinking rapidly, he shot out of bed and became still stone pillar again. His poker attitude was betrayed by the slight darkening of the crests of his cheeks, though.

At his questioning look, I blurted out the first question that came to my mind. "Can we buy some shampoo please?"

At this, even Jesse's stony façade had to crack. His wide lips parted in surprise and his brow furrowed a little. I kicked myself inside. Can we buy some shampoo please? What kind of question was that to ask after the – dare I say it? – sensual few seconds before?

No wonder I'd never been kissed before even when all my friends had. My stupidity at handling such situations was just the biggest turn on for men. Not.

"Um, Susannah, I think we do have shampoo in there, don't we?" Jesse said, his voice a slightest bit husky.

"Yeah, but it's almost finished and there's no conditioner and my hair gets all frizzy without it so I was wondering if you could get me some? I haven't shampooed in three days and my hair's getting all greasy so it would be great if you could get some quickly," I babbled in one breath. Then I thought, Great way to seduce a man, Simon. Point out your greasy hair at him, why don't you?

But then, since when was I trying to seduce Jesse?

Jesse, who at the moment, looked like he'd much rather be in battle with bombs and guns than deal with a crazy woman ranting about her hair woes, was silent for a moment. Then, with great effort it seemed, he opened his mouth and said, "Alright, then Susannah. We'll go out to the shops today and you can purchase all the…cosmetics that you need."

He looked distinctly uncomfortable. Ah, I thought. So the great gritty warrior gets uncomfortable when it comes to women's personal hygiene.

I widened my eyes. "You'll take me with you?" I asked disbelievingly.

"Yes, Susannah. Don't you want to go?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

I almost started jumping for joy. I was getting out of here at last! "Yes! Yes, Jesse! I want to go!" I said breathlessly.

And for the first time ever, I saw a real big smile break out across Jesse's face. To me, it looked like sunrise, the moment when the Sun finally burst up through the horizon, it's light spreading over great expanses in that one second. And the fact that my happiness caused Jesse to be happy made me even happier.

I grinned at him, all thoughts of him being a villain gone for the moment. "So, when do we go?" I asked excitedly.

"In half an hour," he replied, walking to the bathroom.

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Thirty minutes later, I walked beside Jesse down the stairs. I was wearing an old pair of jeans and tee that Helene had dug up from her bag of clothes. It had been odd to see these modern clothes among her normal neo-classical gowns. But, she'd informed me that they'd all brought some clothes that would make them fit in here just in case they ever needed to go out as a civilian.

So, it was equally strange for me to see Jesse, in a pair of faded jeans and a white polo that fit to his chiselled form snugly, walking out of the bathroom. I realized that during the past few days, I'd become so used to seeing him and his men in their black turtlenecks and tight pants with their hairs in matching bandanas and their faces covered in black scarves, that seeing him at last in these normal clothes seemed just so…abnormal to me.

Outside, in the gravelled lot, around ten motorbikes stood, gleaming in the sunlight. Their owners were standing next to them, all dressed in casual clothes.

Blinking up at Jesse, who was holding my elbow lightly, I asked, "Are these all your men?"

He nodded. "There are a lot more inside but I asked only these men to come. Too many motorbike riders coming into town at once will draw attention."

"But why do they need to come?" I asked him, frowning a little. I'd thought only Jesse and I would be going.

"For protection," he answered shortly, leading me to a big, gleaming bike. It was just like one of those motorcycles they used in the races, so large and streamlined.

"I don't need pr—whoa," I breathed stopping beside the bike. "Where'd you get all these, Jesse?" I asked.

He smiled slightly. "We brought them with us from the island," he answered. 'The island' was what Jesse's people, or the 'islanders' called their country.

"Oh. So, back there, does everyone go around in motorbikes?" I asked curiously.

His smile turned mysterious. "No, Susannah," he said succinctly. "These are military supplies. Not for civilians."

I was about to ask him then what the civilians used as transportation, when there was a whistle behind us. Glancing around, I saw one of the men leering at me a few yards away. He was handsome, in a very pretty boy kind of way. He had curly brown hair, almost the same color as mine and he looked around Jesse's height.

I was about to ignore him and turn back to Jesse when I heard him growl behind me. Looking at him, I saw his scowl as he looked at the man who'd whistled – who happened to still be grinning, much to my surprise. Instinctively, I put a cautioning hand on Jesse's arm. At my touch, he visibly relaxed and his anger dissolved into mild annoyance.

"Don't worry about him, Susannah," he muttered, swinging his leg and sitting on the motorbike. "Slater whistles at every woman he happens to meet. Seems to find it more effective than pick-up lines." Jesse rolled his eyes.

Then, to my surprise, instead of patting the seat behind him, he patted the space in front of him, as if motioning for me to sit there. He slid back, allowing more space for me.

"Um, Jesse, I'll sit behind you," I said awkwardly, shuffling my feet.

Jesse narrowed his eyes, not having people disagreeing with him often. "You will sit in front of me, Susannah."

I huffed, looking around at the men who were all astride their bikes and were waiting for me to get on with Jesse. "But, Jesse! It looks…" My voice trailed off.

"Susannah." Jesse looked like his patience, already meagre from the beginning, was running out. "If you sit behind me, you do realize that anyone can shoot at us from the back and you'll be my live shield? You will sit in front where I can protect you from all sides," he ended decisively.

I wanted to argue more but hearing the impatient revs of the men's motorbikes, I complied with Jesse and climbed on in front of him. His sculpture-like chest molded perfectly with my back. His powerful arms gripped the handlebars around me, locking me in a powerful, incredibly masculine cage.

And then we were off.

The journey passed on in a two hour blur. The men divided themselves; some riding in front of us and some bringing up the rear. We didn't travel in a cluster; the men led us and followed us at distance so that we wouldn't look like people from the same group.

I remember we stopped at one gas station where Jesse'd bought me a rubber band and asked me to tie my hair since it was flying in his face and disturbing his vision apparently.

Then, we were at the arcade, the biggest one in the county. Jesse had brought me here because I had told him I didn't like the indoor malls.

I drunk in the sight of civilization as Jesse went to give a few orders to his men. The crowd was less than usual – something I could understand, given what the islanders had been up to the past couple of days. But even then, there were people bustling about, shopping bags in their hands. I smiled, glad to be home again.

The next hour went on as I dragged Jesse from shop to shop. He urged me to buy whatever I wanted. But I didn't go overboard. I only bought the necessities. Soap, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, cream…

And soon, I was done.

"Done?" Jesse asked, smiling wryly.

Glancing down at the bags he was holding – he didn't let me carry anything – I replied, "Yeah. I'm done. So…do we go now?"

I suddenly felt the sting of tears. I didn't want to leave yet. I hadn't had enough of home yet.

Jesse looked down at me with uncharacteristic compassion. "I must say, Susannah," he said softly. "I'm surprised at you. You didn't try to escape even once."

I blinked. I was shocked to realize that the thought of escape had never even crossed my mind. Even more shocked to realize that…I could never do that. I could never betray Jesse like that. As he'd said, I was his. If he let me go, only then would I go. But till then, I would stay with him.

And only the day before, I had been planning my escape. It was astonishing how much…adoration and respect I'd developed for him in one day. Even though my hatred for what he'd done to my normal life was just as strong as ever.

"I-I'd never do that," I stuttered, growing hot. "Let's go."

He didn't say anything else, just started leading me back to the motorbikes. I followed him, my eyes lingering on the shops and people. My sadness overweighing any other feeling, I unciously slipped an arm through Jesse's and leaned my head on his muscled upper arm. A small smile tugged at the corner of my lips as I felt him surreptitiously lean back, offering me comfort.

It was then that the bomb exploded.

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A/N: Tee hee… Please review…