Protector: Doms of Mountain Bend Book 1

by BJ Wane

  Dakota nailed Shawn with a black-eyed glare. “You find the fucker and give me five minutes with him. You’ll have your answers. I’ve got work to do. You two clean up.”

  He stalked away, heading to the stables without another word, and Shawn grinned at Lisa’s puzzled expression as she said, “I thought he didn’t want to get involved.”

  “Dakota’s all about getting revenge. He usually saves his energy for finding whoever murdered his mother, but once in a while, he’ll remind us he’s not as cold as he comes across,” Shawn replied.

  “You wouldn’t seriously let him…”

  Clayton laughed and shucked her under the chin. “No, darlin’, we wouldn’t, but that look on your face would tempt a saint into coming to your defense.” He gave her hair a playful tug, asking, “Are you sure you don’t have a sister since Shawn has already laid claim to you?”

  “What?” Her startled gaze flew to Shawn.

  Shawn liked the idea of claiming her way too much to dispute Clayton, so instead, he changed the subject, noting the time. “Lisa, use the restroom before we go riding.” When her eyes turned frosty, he realized his mistake in making that sound like an order instead of a reminder about removing the plug.

  Standing, she snatched her hat off the table and plopped it on her head. “I think I’ll go hang out with Angel while you two take care of the table.”

  With that rebuff of his remark, she spun about and trounced across the yard, both men’s eyes drawn to her butt twitching in the short skirt. As they stood, Shawn responded with a primitive urge to stake that claim Clayton mentioned.

  “Excuse me, but I have a more pressing matter to see to right now.”

  Donning his own hat, he stomped after her as Clayton said in reminder, “Dakota’s in that stable.”

  “What’s your point?” he returned without slowing or looking back.

  “Perv,” Clayton called out with a snicker.

  Maybe I am, he admitted but thought it was more that he wanted what he wanted, and he wanted Lisa. With his blood pumping hot and fast through his veins, Shawn entered the stable and looked toward Dakota, who stood grooming Phantom’s coal-black mane and tail. The darker coloring stood out against the Morgan’s dark-gray coat, the huge stallion a stunning horse that always drew eyes. With a jerk of his thumb toward the rear, Dakota indicated Lisa’s whereabouts.

  Shawn lifted his hand and traveled the wide brick aisle between stalls with ground-eating strides, his cock already full and aching to sink into her tight, wet pussy. He remembered the plug, and damn near spewed his seed imagining the extra snugness it would create. Her little snit was working in his favor.

  Rounding the corner, he spotted her bending over next to the apple barrel, reaching for a dropped apple. Without pause, he strode forward, grabbed her hips, and nudged her feet apart with one booted foot.

  “You know, Lisa, for someone with your experience, you’ve been awful defensive to your Dom lately. Grab your ankles and hold tight.”

  “Shawn!” she squealed as he flipped up her skirt and yanked down her panties to reveal her plugged ass and creamy, glistening slit.

  Keeping hold of her right hip, he ran a finger through her damp folds. “You were saying?” he asked as she sucked in a breath and groaned.

  “What…what if someone comes…in?”

  She knew Dakota was already inside, so she was referring to other ranch hands. He remembered her penchant for exhibitionism with a slow smile. Confident Dakota would keep everyone else out, he pumped three fingers inside her pussy, loving the quick grip of her muscles and added tightness, omitting that tidbit from his reply. “Since there’s always that chance, I’d better hurry.” Pulling out of her sheath, he ripped open a condom with his teeth and made short work of freeing his throbbing erection.

  “I’m glad you ignored common sense for once and didn’t remove the plug,” he said, working his cockhead through the narrow gap of her labia. With short, repeated jabs inching in deeper each time, he labored without pause until he slid home with a final push. Home. That’s the right term for what he felt every time he was inside her.

  “Oh!”

  Pulling back, he ground out, “Is that a good oh, or bad?”

  “Good, Sir, so good.”

  Hell, yeah, she’s mine. A few more strokes and her pussy stretched to accommodate him with the plug, leaving him free to plunder her depths with the rigorous fucking they both craved.

  Lisa’s head swam from both the upside down position and the escalating arousal Shawn’s pussy-invading thrusts were igniting. His tight grip on her hips helped anchor her, leaving her free to concentrate on the fast-building pleasure sweeping her senses. She thought of how fast she’d switched from disappointment to anger when he’d bypassed Clayton’s assumption she was his and casually instructed her to use the restroom, referring to removing the plug. Had she known another bout of rough sex would occur, this time with the smell of hay, leather, and horses surrounding her and one of his best friends a few feet away, she would have skipped lunch and headed out here sooner.

  The relentless tension of unfulfilled arousal built to an aching crescendo, the hours of orgasm denial he’d put her through responsible, in part, to her fast, cock-hugging response as soon as he’d crammed his thick erection inside her. Discomfort from the packed fullness of the dual penetration heightened her arousal, her nipples contracting so tight they hurt, feeding fuel to the fire raging below, or in this position with her butt elevated upward of her torso, above. Nothing mattered but the pounding together of their hips, the forceful thrusts of his steely cock invading her welcoming pussy, and a euphoric end to the torment of being kept on edge for hours.

  If it weren’t for Shawn’s hold, Lisa’s knees would have buckled as her climax exploded in a bright flare of heat and powerful contractions kneading his cock and the plug. She lost track of time and place as he ground into her over and over, every ripple of her muscles releasing more sparks of pleasure. He grunted and held her hips still as he orgasmed, the telltale tremors of his flesh against her sensitive tissues producing another round of answering quivers within her body.

  By the time he pulled both his cock and the plug from her well-used orifices then lifted her to wrap an arm around her waist and snuggle her back against his front, nestling his shaft between her cheeks, nothing mattered except these few moments of enjoying the aftershocks of his possession in his arms.

  ****

  “I’m surprised Shawn agreed to this given his watchdog attitude,” Jen said as Lisa settled on the passenger seat of her car and shut the door.

  Thinking of Shawn’s retaliation over the weekend for her snippy mood his hovering had precipitated produced tingles down her spine. Here it was, Wednesday, four days later, and she still quivered when she recalled the raw carnality of their coupling in the stable and the tight squeeze he didn’t let deter him from taking her fast and furious. Her imagination had been running amok with other possible places and scenarios on his ranch where he could take control of her.

  “I doubt he would have if he could have gotten off work this afternoon, but his boss called in sick, putting him in charge, and I flat-out refused to hang around the station all afternoon. I’m just glad you could get away.”

  With conferences scheduled for Thursday and Friday, school had closed at noon today to give teachers a chance to work on grades. When she’d told Shawn Jen was free for lunch and had invited her to go sightseeing at the nearby ghost town, he couldn’t argue when she’d pointed out there was safety in numbers. The area had seen an increase in visitors with the spring opening of the popular tourist attraction and start of turkey hunting.

  “He didn’t tell you?” Jen asked, driving toward the deli they’d agreed on for lunch.

  “Tell me what?”

  “Shawn called Drew and asked him to accompany us today. He’ll meet us after lunch, though, since the last guest to check in doesn’t arrive until twelve-thirty.”

  “I should have
known his compliance was too good to be true, not that I don’t like Drew,” Lisa added hastily, realizing how that sounded.

  Jen laughed and gave her a quick glance. “I get it. We love ’em, but also want our girl time, or alone time.”

  “Oh, it’s not like that with us.” Love? She couldn’t afford to fall in love with Shawn, even though she was halfway there already. And he’d never said a word about wanting anything more than a temporary relationship, despite his possessive, caring attitude of late, not even when Clayton had given him the perfect opening the other day.

  “If you say so. Just remember, I’ve known Shawn a long time, and I’ve never seen him so taken with anyone. And believe me, he’s had his choice since high school.” Jen parked in front of the deli and grabbed her purse. “Come on. All this talk about guys has my stomach growling.”

  “For food?” Lisa asked as they entered and veered toward the only vacant table left.

  “I’m always hungry for other things, but, yes, food. Oh, good, Hattie made her German potato salad today.”

  Jen went to get their order while Lisa held the table for them, greeting people she knew as they came in and walked by. Every time she went someplace in Mountain Bend now, she recognized townsfolk she’d talked to or become acquainted with in the last month. She was even getting good at picking out the visitors: who was a tourist passing through as opposed to a year-round resident. The slower-paced way of life in small-town America had grown on her, so different from maneuvering through traffic to work and shop in a city as big as Phoenix, the population too large to offer many chances for a random meeting with a friend.

  She’d grown closer to Jen in this short time than she’d bonded with anyone else, either at the Phoenix club or school, maybe because she’d never cultivated a friendship with anyone in the lifestyle. She liked having someone she could hang out with and not have to watch everything she said, someone who understood why submitting worked for certain people and didn’t judge.

  Lisa thought of Father Joe and how much she missed him, then imagined how much she would miss Shawn when she returned home. With a pang, she realized her feelings for her childhood rescuer were already entrenched deeper than was wise.

  “What are you thinking about that makes you look so sad?” Jen set a tray down and took a seat.

  “Nothing other than wishing whoever is after me would get tired of his game.” Jen and Drew were the only ones she’d told about her stalker, and that was because she had to let them know why she wouldn’t be at the house for a while, and that they should keep an eye on their property. She’d expected Shawn to mention it to Dakota and Clayton in case the trouble followed her out to their ranch. “I really appreciate you and Drew taking off for me today.”

  “You bet. We’ve got your back, girlfriend, but I have no doubt Shawn will find this perv. Now, perk up and try that potato salad, you’ll love it.”

  The Rueben and salad did help, and Lisa managed to put aside the melancholy that threatened her mood by the time they left to meet Drew.

  ****

  Bruce couldn’t believe his luck had finally changed when he happened to see Halldor exiting the deli up the street from where he’d parked in front of the gun shop. It had taken a week of furtive, limited surveillance to figure out she was staying at the sheriff’s ranch, and what a huge kink that put in his plans. From what he’d seen, and learned about Deputy Sheriff McDuff, he wasn’t a man to mess with. He’d spent time mapping out the route they took from her school and the station and the drive to the ranch, unable to come up with a way to get to her. With his patience shot to hell and his temper a hair-trigger away from exploding, he made the snap decision to follow her when he didn’t see her watchdog anywhere around.

  Malicious glee filled him as the two women drove past the city limits, but he held back from running them off the road with all the traffic. When they pulled into a parking lot down by the river, and he noticed the old buildings, he groaned in frustration. Now I have to wait while she plays tourist? Yet one more delay to piss him off further, his anger increasing when a man joined them and they walked toward the entrance of the old mining town together. If he had his way, Lisa Halldor would join the ghosts haunting the one-hundred-fifty-year-old buildings today.

  ****

  What was I thinking? Shawn gave up trying to fill out reports in favor of listening to his sixth sense that always told him when something wasn’t quite right. Since everything here at the station was calm and quiet, and his uneasiness began at noon when Lisa called to say she was with Jen, as he’d asked, he heeded his instincts. Striding out to his cruiser, he whipped out of the parking space and sped out of town, toward the river ghost town.

  Lisa followed Drew and Jen out of the century-and-a-half-old saloon, sipping the last of a sarsaparilla as they walked down the boardwalk toward the exit. Touring the old mining town had been a fun diversion from worrying about a crazy person. The buildings alone spoke of the history without a tour guide reciting a prepared monologue. She didn’t need to see or even believe in ghosts to get a chill when Drew led the way through the incredibly preserved buildings, telling her about the terrible confrontations that had erupted between the miners and mining companies, many ending in violence and death.

  “So, you learned all that in high school history, and actually remember everything? I’m impressed,” she told Drew as they wound through the parking lot toward their cars.

  “Don’t be. He’s a history buff and continues reading everything he can get his hands on, especially books about Idaho’s past.” Jen tossed her bottle into a recycle bin as they reached the back row.

  “What can I say? It’s a lot more interesting than current events.”

  The loud rev of an engine caught her attention as Lisa stepped away from her friends to walk around to the passenger side of Jen’s car. Pausing in the lane, her heart jumped to her throat seeing the approaching car speed up and aim right for her. Drew’s shout reached her as she started to jump out of the way, but the body-slam of a familiar build propelled her on top of the trunk, and she landed with Shawn’s heavy weight pinning her down, his labored breathing and low curses ringing in her ears.

  “Fuck, Shawn, he came out of nowhere!”

  Lisa caught Drew’s face out of the corner of her eye as he glared toward the vehicle roaring away. “Shawn, you’re crushing me so I…can’t breathe.”

  He swore again and lifted off her, both him and Drew taking her arms to help her stand, which was a good thing given her wobbly legs and shocked state of mind. Tears pricked her eyes even though she wasn’t hurt. The very idea someone wanted her dead, hated her to that extent without knowing why, not only left her terror stricken but grieved in a way she’d never experienced before.

  “Why, Shawn?” she whispered in a tremulous voice. “Why is he doing this?”

  “I don’t know, Lisa, but I won’t let him get away with it, I promise.”

  His rough tone carried a note of grim resolve, and she could almost feel his fury as he held her close. She shouldn’t count on his promise, but hearing it helped ease her tremors and her mind.

  “I believe you.” Pulling away enough to look at his face, she asked, “What are you doing here anyway?”

  “He probably didn’t trust me to watch out for you, which turned out to be a good thing.” Disgust laced Drew’s voice. “I tried to get the license but the plate was covered with mud.”

  “On purpose, no doubt,” Shawn returned. “You were right there, Drew, and would have saved her from serious injury if I hadn’t cut you off. Don’t beat yourself up over what that asshole’s doing.”

  Jen squeezed her husband’s arm. “Shawn’s right, you were on top of the danger immediately. Lisa, are you sure you’re okay?”

  “Yes, still digesting how fast that happened, but I’m not hurt. Thank you, all of you.”

  “You can thank me after I lock the bastard up and throw away the key. Come on, let’s go home. Jen, Drew, we’ll get in touch
later.”

  Bruce vibrated with rage as he saw Halldor clinging to the deputy sheriff and knew where the couple would go next. Determined to end this now, without further delay, he kept driving until he reached the turnoff for the back road they would take to the ranch. If he moved fast enough, he could set up in the woods several yards from the road, cocked, aimed, and ready to fire. This time, he wasn’t taking any chances on failing, and if her bodyguard got in the way, he’d take him out along with Halldor and the threat she posed to his way of life.

  Shawn couldn’t recall a time in his life when he’d been so terrified. As he got on the road back to the ranch, he couldn’t keep from checking on Lisa, just quick glances to ensure she was all right. In the split second he’d seen that car coming around the bend into the last row in the parking lot where she stood with Drew and Jen, he only had time to register the threat before leaping from his SUV to rush forward.

  Whoever this person was, he was hell-bent on taking her out, for whatever reason had gotten into his warped head. Not trusting anything to chance, he shifted on the seat to reach his cell and press Dakota’s number while maintaining a constant eye out for someone tailing them. As soon as Dakota answered with his usual clipped greeting of “What’s up?” Shawn gave him the rundown.

  “Who do you have close enough to the road to watch for a muddy blue sedan?”

  “Pete and Casey for sure. I’ll check in with Dave and Scotty. Hang tight.”

  Dakota clicked off, leaving Shawn confident he would have their backs if this prick was foolish enough to come after Lisa again today.

  “I’m proud of you, Lisa. A lot of women would be in hysterics right about now.” He sped past a herd of buffalo who often grazed on their land near one of the watering holes, one reason why they left the majority of acreage unfenced.