Protector: Doms of Mountain Bend Book 1

by BJ Wane

  “Not much help but better than nothing,” she uttered out loud, thinking she could use another dose of the anger-infused bravado that had deserted her way too soon earlier.

  An eerie sense of foreboding assailed her as she huddled in the dark, listening for sounds other than those coming from the pissed-off skies. Without anything to do, her mind took the path she’d tried to avoid, and she started wondering how her deranged stalker had found her. She’d given up long ago trying to figure out who he was, and what she’d done to earn his attention and hatred.

  A creak came from the hall – bathroom, bedroom? Shaking inside and out, Lisa discarded the blanket and gripped the flashlight before standing up and peering down the dark hallway. Another sound, maybe of a window opening, sent her heart into her throat and her feet into motion toward the front door.

  “Liiisa.”

  The whispery voice dragging out her name filtered through the dark and sent her racing outside and into the storm just as headlights turned into the driveway. Soul-deep terror formed a ball of nausea in her abdomen that threatened to come up as she stood undecided in the drenching rain, unable to see who was behind the wheel.

  A whimper slid past her constricted throat, and her knees went weak as she watched Shawn unfold his large frame from behind the wheel. She’d recognize that hat and ground-eating stride anywhere and almost tripped over herself to get to him, and safety.

  “Lisa!”

  “Thank God,” she warbled, throwing herself against him, her whole body quaking against his solid strength. “I heard…something…a voice…so scared.” She was shaking so hard she couldn’t form a coherent sentence, could think of nothing except never letting go.

  His arms came around her, righting her world once again, and she simply crumpled, turning into a shaking, garbling, sobbing heap against him.

  “Fuck.” Pivoting without releasing her, he reached out and opened the passenger door to his cruiser and lifted her inside. “Stay put while I check the house. Lock the fucking door and don’t get out until I return.”

  Shawn’s familiar, deep, commanding voice penetrated her shocked senses enough for her to give him a shaky nod. He backed out, the slam of the door rocking the cruiser and galvanizing her into action. Lisa hit the locks, her eyes never leaving his broad back as he sprinted inside the house. What seemed like hours was only minutes later when a vehicle roared down the street behind her, taking the corner with a loud screech that cut through the rolling thunder. She kept her eyes glued to the open front door, waiting for Shawn to reappear. When he didn’t return fast enough to suit her frazzled nerves, her mind went down the scariest path of the night.

  He’s hurt, all because of me. Oh God, what if he’s dying, or dead?

  She could no more refrain from trying to help him than she could control the weather. Welcoming a return of grim resolve, she pushed the door open against the wind and rain, not bothering to shut it again in her haste to get to Shawn. Fearing the worst sent adrenaline pumping through her blood as she ran inside only to come up against the brick wall of his powerful chest.

  “God damn it, I told you to stay put.” He clasped her arms, trying to disengage her choking hold.

  “You’re okay, you’re okay,” Lisa chanted over and over, refusing to let go as a combination of profound relief and blazing lust changed her body temperature from freezing cold shivers to instant flaming heat. “I thought…are you hurt…I…” She choked, desperate to feel something other than the sheer black fright of the past hour.

  “Lisa, everything’s fine. He’s gone. You’re safe.”

  She shook her head against his damp shirt. It’s not fine because I’ll never be safe. He wants me dead. He could have hurt Shawn, or worse…oh God. Frantic now for a diversion from imagining him dead and to take what she’d wanted from first setting eyes on the man her childhood rescuer had become, she slid down to her knees. The brief flash of lightning outside the window behind her helped her find his belt buckle before the room went dark again.

  “Lisa, no, not like this.” His hands dropped to her shoulders, the warmth of his palms seeping through her damp shirt. “You’re acting on fear…shit!”

  She smiled as his hot, heavy cock fell into her hands, the tense anxiety of the last hour already starting to fall away. “I’m acting on pure want, Master Shawn,” she whispered against his smooth crown.

  “Damn it, we need to…” He sucked in a tortured breath, and she swept her tongue over his seeping slit. “Fuck…”

  “Yes, exactly what I want to do, but not yet.” His scent and taste filled Lisa’s senses as she swept under the rim of his cock head, teasing the sensitive area then sliding her way down his throbbing shaft.

  “Fine,” Shawn ground out, his hands lifting from her shoulders to cup her head. Lisa shuddered as he held her still and took over, grateful for his insight about what she really needed right now. His dominant control. “If you regret this, I’ll spank your ass until you can’t sit down for a week.”

  If that threat was supposed to give her pause, it failed. The frenzied storm inside her matched the intensity of the one raging outside, and she welcomed the heat of his hard flesh in her mouth wiping away the last tremors of fear. Tightening her hand at the base of his cock, she reached behind him with her free hand and gripped one taut butt cheek, loving the way he held her head immobile and took over by fucking her mouth.

  “That’s it, Lisa, suck hard, yes, like that…come on now, take a little more.”

  His guttural tone vibrated above her head, his cock jerking as she accepted another inch and swirled her tongue around his rigid girth, tracing over the bulging, pulsing veins. She moaned around him, and he swore. She scraped her teeth as he pulled back, and he swore. She released her hold on his cock to cup his balls and press his scrotum, and he swore. Lisa locked her lips around his silky cap to keep him from pulling out of her mouth completely, but failed, and she swore.

  “Why did you… Oh!” she gasped as he grabbed her arms, hauled her up, and pressed her against the wall.

  “We’re going to have a long overdue talk come morning. Brace yourself.”

  Shawn ripped off her top and yanked her bra open, his aggression sending a wild, primitive longing sweeping through Lisa’s senses. Her torso was still damp and cold until he put his hands over her breasts, kneading and squeezing before rotating his rough palms over her nipples.

  “Yes, sir.” She arched into his hands, perspiration pooling on her lower back as slick heat filled her pussy.

  Mindless with need, she reached down and undid her jeans with one hand while searching for his straining erection with the other. There was something both intimate and carnal about groping in the dark with only an occasional lightning bolt to provide a shadowy glimpse of his dark face. His breath was hot and heavy against her neck then on her breast as he clamped his mouth around her right nipple.

  With a sharp nip that went straight to her empty sheath, he shoved her hands aside and helped free one leg from her jeans. “Lucky for you, I have a condom with me,” he rasped, pulling it out of his back pocket and slapping it into her hand.

  “Just one?”

  His low laugh rumbled from his chest against hers as she ripped it open then worked the thin latex over his cock.

  “Now, Shawn, please,” she begged without shame as she released him.

  “Hold on.” Grasping her buttocks, he lifted her, and she wrapped her legs around his hips as he worked his way inside her with a slow but relentless push. “Jesus, I forgot how tight you are.”

  Lisa groaned as he filled and stretched her pussy, gripping his bulging biceps and wishing she’d thought to at least open his shirt. She craved to touch his bare skin, feel the warmth of his thick muscles under her hands and lips. Then he was grinding into her with deep thrusts that pressed her against the wall and robbed her of coherent thought.

  Their breathing turned to harsh pants, the only sound in the room besides the rain beating against the windows
to the tune of rolling thunder and the slick merging of his pounding cock burrowing into her wet core. He went deep, bumped her cervix and she whimpered. She shuddered as he circled inside her, teasing the tissues up and down her vagina until stars lit up the darkness behind her closed lids with the first contractions.

  “That’s it, Lisa.” He bit down on her earlobe. “Come for me…yeah, there you go,” he breathed against her lips before covering her mouth with his just as she rippled around his ramming cock with an explosion of white-hot pleasure.

  Clinging to his arms, hips, and mouth, Lisa gloried in the mind-numbing climax ripping through her body. Impaled against the wall by the strength of his rough possession and massive body, she rode through the storm of untold pleasure, praying it never ended. This was what she’d tried to achieve for as long as she could remember, and no matter how he felt about her afterward, this glorious escape from reality into euphoric madness was worth the risk.

  Hot licks of pleasure gripped Shawn’s cock as he plowed through Lisa’s snug, squeezing pussy seconds before his orgasm erupted in a fierce torrent of heat. Flames tore through him as he pumped into her with the rutting intensity of an undisciplined bull. He would berate himself, and her, for that lack of finesse as soon as he returned to sanity. She was the only woman who had managed to strip his control enough for him to trade what he should do for what he’d wanted all along.

  He finally regained enough of his senses to slow down and loosen his grip on her ass. Teasing them both by changing his rapid, forceful thrusting to unhurried, in-and-out dips aimed at caressing her still quivering swollen muscles, he kissed her with softer pressure and less demand. By the time the last spasms of his climax abated, their sweat-slick bodies were cooling, reminding him of their damp clothing and how they had gotten wet in the first place.

  He muttered a curse and pulled out of her body one final time, releasing her mouth to say, “I’ve sworn more in the last hour than I did my first month in foster care. Are you all right?” Letting go of her buttocks, he stepped back far enough to give her room to drop her legs while holding onto her hips.

  “More than all right. I don’t know where to start in thanking you,” she replied, her voice breathless and rushed.

  “I’ll let you know in the morning. Until then” – he reached over and flipped the lock on the front door – “let’s turn in. I saw only two bedrooms when I searched the house earlier. Show me which one you’re sleeping in.”

  “You’re staying?”

  Surprise and relief colored her voice, and he didn’t know whether to pull her close for a reassuring hug or put her over his knee for scaring the hell out of him earlier. Erring on the side of caution, he did neither, instead snatching her hand and pulling her in front of him.

  “You couldn’t run me off, even if you were foolish enough to try. Crap but it’s dark in here.”

  “First door on the right, across from the bathroom.”

  “Got it.” As they entered the bedroom, the electricity flickered back on, the living room lamp offering enough illumination to find the light switch. “Better.” He winced, eyeing the bed. “Only a double, huh? I hope you don’t mind being crowded.”

  “I don’t mind. Shawn…”

  Placing a finger over her lips, he shook his head, seeing the fatigue and residual fear in her eyes. “In the morning. I’m as wiped as you look.” He knew just how emotionally shell shocked with fatigue she was when she didn’t argue.

  Shawn stripped her of the ruined blouse and bra, making a mental note to replace them. She managed the leg of her jeans on her own while he yanked down the bedspread. “Get in. I’m going to take one more look around.”

  Lisa padded over, unabashed by her nakedness, and he placed a hand on her butt as she slid under the covers he held up with his other hand. She opened her mouth to say something but clamped it shut again after looking up at him. He didn’t doubt his face reflected the turmoil she’d caused him or his resolve to get to the bottom of tonight’s break-in.

  Pivoting, he left the bedroom and double-checked the front and back doors even though there was no need. He’d been thorough in his search after the perpetrator had taken off through the neighbors’ backyards. Not willing to leave her to chase him, he’d swept through the house then hightailed it to the front door where she’d taken years off his life when she’d barreled into him. Nothing could have prepared him for her terrified greeting when he’d first arrived or the gut-wrenching fear and anger he’d experienced hearing her petrified rambling as she shook in his arms.

  No one deserved to suffer a traumatizing event once in their lives, let alone twice. The most pressing question he needed answered was if this was a random B&E or something more personal, more sinister. He was tempted to call Father Joe, but he preferred hearing everything from Lisa and didn’t want to alarm the priest if this was an attempted robbery. Mountain Bend was a peaceful town, for the most part. They had their bar fights, drunk drivers, wild teenage parties, and domestic abuse, but home vandalism was rare, and given Lisa’s reticence toward opening up to him, he couldn’t help but think trouble had followed her here.

  Returning to the bedroom, he stripped and climbed into the bed, pulling her sleeping form next to him. With him here to protect her, tomorrow would be soon enough to get answers.

  ****

  Lisa awoke from the best night’s sleep she could remember getting in months, disappointed when she discovered Shawn’s body was no longer wrapped around her, keeping her warm. Then again, all she had to do was think about his rough fucking against the wall last night and his slower, gentler assault on her body in bed hours later to chase away the chill of rolling out of bed. However, with wakefulness came a return of guilt, and regret for the way her silence had inadvertently put him at risk. She’d never wanted to bring her troubles to his doorstep, but sometimes doing what you think is the right thing can return to bite you on the butt.

  Spotting his shirt tossed on the floor, she picked it up and slipped it on, enjoying the soft, worn cotton against her skin and the way it dwarfed her smaller frame, much like his hold all through the night. If she wasn’t careful, she could get to liking him sharing her bed way too much. She had to keep reminding herself his protective streak was in his DNA, as much a part of him as his rich mahogany hair and gray eyes. Shawn’s insistence on sticking around last night had nothing to do with strong feelings for her but more with doing his job as both a cop and a Dom.

  With that in mind, Lisa dashed across the hall to use the restroom before following the enticing aroma of coffee into the kitchen. Her heart executed one of those disconcerting flips the moment she saw him leaning against the counter holding a cup of coffee in one hand and his phone to his ear with the other. Her mouth watered as she eyed his bare wide, thick chest and smooth broad shoulders for the first time, recalling the strength in those corded arms as he’d held her pinned to his thrusting hips. She didn’t need the sexy look of his unsnapped jeans riding low on his lean hips and emphasizing his six-pack abs to renew a lust that exceeded anything she’d felt before, with anyone else.

  First things first before she could entice him into jumping her bones again – a long overdue talk was needed to clear the air.

  “Thanks, Dakota, I appreciate the offer. My thoughts exactly. Later.”

  Shawn clicked off, his gunmetal gaze following her move toward the kitchen island, his jaw tightening as he eyed her bare legs below the shirt’s knee-length hem. “Good morning. I helped myself to your kitchen, but all I could find for breakfast was the coffee.”

  Lisa noticed he didn’t apologize for making himself at home, not that she cared. Sucking in a deep breath, she placed her hands on the small island separating them, and blurted, “I’m sorry about last night, and…”

  “I hope you’re not apologizing for throwing yourself at me and begging me to fuck you. Because that would piss me off.”

  She gave him a rueful smile. Of all her regrets, that wasn’t one of them. “N
o, you won’t get an apology for my panicked pleas. I was talking about not telling you about a stalker I picked up back home and hoped to put off my tail by escaping here for a short time.” Her eyes watered, irritating her as he grew blurry for a moment before she blinked them away, refusing to shed one more tear because of that creep.

  “How long has this been going on?” Pulling a notepad from his back pocket, he searched for a pen lying around.

  “Top drawer behind you. For several weeks before…” Lisa paused as a shudder went through her in remembering how her brakes had failed, and the terror of bringing the careening car under control. “Sorry,” she muttered, shaking her head.

  “Tell me,” he demanded, handing her a cup of creamed coffee across the counter.

  After taking a fortifying gulp of sweetened caffeine, she relayed everything she could recall from the first time he contacted her with a hate-filled text up to her failed brakes and enlisting Father Joe’s help. Retrieving her phone from her purse by the front door, she handed it to him, glad she’d kept every ugly, nerve-wracking message.

  “At least you were thinking straight enough not to delete these.” He drilled her with a disapproving glare. “I can’t say the same about your thinking since we met again. Care to explain why you didn’t come to me right away with this information?”

  Lisa’s temper shot to the forefront, a defensive reaction, she knew, to her dismay from knowing she’d earned his disapproval. “Get real, Shawn. How would you have reacted if the kid you rescued twenty years ago suddenly showed up at your door and claimed to need your help again? I can just imagine your skepticism.” Watching him closely, she saw his hesitation, the look hinting she had a point. “Aha, I’m right, aren’t I?”