Protecting His Brat

by Sorcha Black

  Casually, I surveyed the room. Dinner had been long and drawn out, and now they were lingering over after-dessert coffee. One of my old scars made my thigh twinge, and I let it keep me from getting distracted by her breasts with every breath she drew.

  Too bad I couldn’t wear earplugs or listen to music while I worked. The last thing I wanted to hear was the young puppy marvel again at how much they had in common—as though a love for the same TV show was a meaningful connection.

  He even talked to her about her plans for the future, and what she planned to do with her inheritance, which he somehow seemed to know about.

  It was a bit pushy and strange, as far as I was concerned, but she didn’t seem to think it was odd to talk money on a first date. Then again, they’d known each other for a while, and he’d framed it more as him not knowing what to do with all of his own money. How sad for the poor little bastard.

  God, I hated him for being right for her. I wanted to wring his scrawny neck and leave his desecrated body in the river.

  At the three-hour mark, Miss Kincaid finally started to wrap things up. I felt edgy and aggressive and couldn’t wait to be off duty. I desperately needed to work off some of my negative energy in the gym while she was asleep, dreaming about the rich kid who looked like he belonged in a boy band.

  As they moved out to the sidewalk, two photographers rushed up and snapped pictures. I shooed them away while she and Courtland shared a few quiet words. The busy street teemed with prospective assailants.

  When their conversation was done, I urged her toward her car, warning away another photographer who got too near. Courtland grabbed her hand and pulled her close. Her eyes flashed wide in surprise as his lips came down on hers. The kiss was fleeting, but hot aggression seethed through me, along with the need to teach the little fuck to keep his hands—and mouth—off my girl.

  Get a hold of yourself, Blue. The girl isn’t yours.

  When Courtland let her go, she allowed me to guide her into the car. After I’d helped her in, she lifted her hand in a small wave as Courtland moved off to claim his car.

  The silence in the car hissed like a lit fuse as we pulled away from the curb.

  “That went well,” I said mildly. The ugliest possessiveness I’d ever felt—hot anger I had no fucking right to—brimmed in my mind, threatening to spill over.

  “He’s nice,” Miss Kincaid replied. “Fun.”

  “Good,” I lied.

  “I’m glad you convinced me to go.” She pulled a tissue out of the holder in the door and squirted it with sanitizer from the dispenser before scrubbing at her mouth. She caught me watching. “I hate lipstick.”

  I grunted noncommittally and watched businesses flash past my window.

  “What did you think of him?” she asked.

  “Seems fine.”

  If I could stomach sticking around to watch her fall in love with the boy, how long would I stay? Until they got engaged? Got married?

  Silence fell between us again.

  When we got home, Aberdeen seemed to have forgotten about me entirely and went to shower. Dustin took over, and I changed into workout clothes and headed for the basement, anger roiling. I met up with a young member of the cleaning staff who was headed upstairs, and the kid cringed back, flattening himself against the wall when he saw my expression.

  “Have a good night,” I muttered.

  The guy gave me a sickly smile and fled.

  The gym was empty. I skipped stretching and beat the living piss out of the heavy bag. The image of Courtland’s mouth on Aberdeen’s was burned onto the back of my eyelids, and I saw it every time I closed my eyes.

  Every punch was a ridiculous grown man’s tantrum, but even though I was ashamed, I couldn’t seem to calm down. By the time I’d exhausted myself, sweat dripped but my temper was still high.

  I wiped down with a towel then stalked back to my room. Aberdeen was standing in her doorway, wearing flannel ducky pajamas and talking to Dustin.

  Great.

  She sent him away when she saw me.

  “Call him back over here, Miss Kincaid,” I snapped. “I’m off duty and I need a shower.”

  I kept walking, but she followed me to my doorway, hesitating at the threshold of my quarters for a split second—then probably remembered her mother owned the place.

  I rounded on her. “Get out.”

  “No.”

  “Suit yourself.” I broke my own rule, shutting my door and sealing her in with me. Whatever. The little jerk wanted to be around me when I was on edge like this? In my space even though she knew she shouldn’t be?

  I stripped out of my tank top and track pants, not missing the shock on her face, yet also not missing the fact that she didn’t glance away from my naked body.

  “I didn’t know Courtland was going to do that,” she whispered.

  “It was a date. Dates often end with a kiss, unless they go further.”

  I went into my attached bathroom and turned the shower to hot, then stepped under the deluge. She followed me into the bathroom, watching me through the glass shower wall.

  Eventually, she understood I planned to continue ignoring her, and she left.

  When I was done with my shower, I found her sitting on my bed, looking sad and ridiculously cute in her PJs, with her damp curls wreathing her face.

  “Why are you still in here?” I grabbed clean track pants and a tank top then dragged them on.

  “You’re angry.”

  “No.” I shouldn’t be, but I was.

  “You are! I did what you told me to, and now you’re punishing me for it.”

  True.

  She picked up the remote and turned on the TV, then cranked the volume on an action movie. Life around me was making her sneakier.

  “Did you close the door to your room so people think you’re in there?”

  She nodded. “I told Dustin you’d promised to stay up and binge-watch movies with me because I had cramps. He ran away.”

  At least he was out of our hair for the moment, but that also meant I was fucking stuck with her until Dustin’s next scheduled shift.

  “I told you I didn’t want to go,” she whispered. “What was I supposed to do? Be rude to him once I was there, even though he was nice? We’re friends. That was the first date I’ve ever been on—God forbid I should enjoy it. You have to know he wasn’t my first choice.”

  “Oh? Who would you have preferred in his place?” I asked, sounding absurd even to myself.

  Aberdeen rolled her eyes at me. “I don’t know. Jason Momoa? I’ve always thought Ruby Rose has pretty lips. Maybe she would have been a better kisser than Courtland. I know you are.”

  I stood there glaring at her, thinking about the letter of resignation that was sitting in my desk drawer. This was so fucking immature. I had to stop.

  She fiddled with the top button of her pajama top then popped it open. “There is one thing that date did for me.”

  “What?” I swallowed, trying not to follow the movement of her fingers as she went for her next button.

  “He made me realize I was an idiot for wasting my time with—what did you call him? A little vanilla boy who will never give me what I need?” The next button came undone under her fingers, and even though I’d seen her breasts before, I couldn’t bring myself to look away.

  “So, instead, you’re going to throw yourself at an old man who’s covered in scars and who isn’t in the position to be long-term with you?”

  “You’re only ten years older than me, Blue. And your tattoos and scars make you sexier.”

  “God—get out of my room, little girl.”

  “So I can go to bed and touch myself again while I imagine you bossing me around? I’m getting tired of fantasizing when the real thing is right next door.”

  I swallowed hard, trying to rein myself in. “I’m not interested in fucking you.”

  The brat made a sound that sounded suspiciously like, ‘ha.’ “You were so jealous you didn�
�t know what to do with yourself.”

  I would not dignify that observation with a response.

  “Don’t bother lying,” she continued. “I thought you were going to murder him right there on the sidewalk, right in front of the photographers. I almost orgasmed on the spot.”

  “Jealousy isn’t hot, it’s childish,” I told her. “And I wasn’t jealous. I was worried about your safety, standing out in the open like that.”

  I needed to grab that resignation letter out of my desk and walk down to Ms. Kincaid’s study to deliver it. Immediately.

  “Uh-huh.” She unfastened another button, which left her shirt open almost to the waist without revealing her breasts. Even through the flannel, her nipples looked hard. “So, after watching him kiss me, do you think you can handle the idea of him on top of me, spreading my thighs, pushing into me?”

  I remained silent, trying not to rise to the bait. The lure of her smooth, bared skin and the delectable freckles that kissed every inch of her was almost more than I could bear.

  “He asked me to go away with him next weekend.”

  God, why wouldn’t she get the fuck out?

  “To Belgium. Should we go with him?”

  Silence.

  Blushing, she slid aside one edge of her top to expose a pink-tipped breast. My teeth ached to bite the tender flesh.

  “I wonder if he’ll like touching me, since you don’t seem to want to anymore.”

  I had a last, fleeting thought about Ariel’s warning as she slid her hand up her belly to cup her breast. She caught her nipple between thumb and forefinger and tugged hard, arching her back as she gasped.

  I was on her before I even knew what I was doing, yanking down her PJ pants and stripping off her top while snarling obscenities. She kissed me hard, even though I didn’t want her to, and then I was kissing her, erasing Courtland’s lingering invisible mark on what was mine.

  When we came up for air, my lips felt bruised, and I was pretty sure my bottom lip had a cut from her little white teeth. Panting, we stared into each other’s eyes. Somehow, we’d ended up half on and half off the bed, with her bent back at a strange angle.

  Real smooth, Blue.

  “Tell me the truth,” she whispered smugly. “You were jealous.”

  I didn’t answer.

  “It serves you right.”

  “Because I made you go on the date?”

  “Yes! And because I have no idea where you go when you’re on your days off, then you come back determined not to come near me!” She swatted my shoulder, and I raised a brow at her in warning. “The first time I thought I did something wrong, but then I realized there’s something out there in your real life that’s stopping you. Are you, like…married, with kids and a mortgage or something?”

  I snorted. “No.”

  Her blue eyes went round and shimmered with unshed tears.

  “Would being with me mean you’re cheating on someone else?”

  “There isn’t anyone else. Not even casually.”

  She inhaled a long breath through her nose, as though trying to avoid a sniffle.

  “I’m not dating anyone, but I have a life outside of here, princess.”

  “With whom?”

  “I share a house with two friends. No, I don’t sleep with them. I also have a sister I need to see. She lives in a supervised facility, and I’m her only outside visitor.”

  She chewed her bottom lip.

  “What?”

  “You keep flirting with me then pushing me away. You make me feel special, then you act like I’m an annoying pebble in your shoe. I’d almost convinced myself it was because you were in a relationship with someone else.”

  I got to my feet, the desperate need I felt for her slowly coming back under my control. She sat up and clung to my wrist, trying to pull me back down, but her small hands couldn’t counter my gentle hold break.

  “I always tell you to stop flirting with me and to behave yourself because you don’t belong with me. You don’t, Aberdeen, no matter what either of us wants.”

  “But this is what I want. You’re the only man I’ve ever wanted.”

  “You honestly fantasize about being manhandled and stripped naked by your bodyguard?” It was difficult to keep my gaze from drifting downward to admire her nude form, but looking wouldn’t help me retain my tenuous hold on my self-control. “You’re my client, you’re innocent, and your mother expects you to be associating with your peers. I’m supposed to be a professional—which my friends remind me of whenever I talk to them. I shouldn’t be trying to seduce virginal little vanilla girls.”

  She slid a bit closer, but I ignored the urge to step back from the temptation she represented. “I’m the one trying to seduce you, not the other way around. I’m not a little girl…and I’m definitely not vanilla.”

  Her expression was so fierce I had to laugh. “Fine. You’re not a little girl—you’re the ripe old age of twenty-one, and you’re very kinky.”

  “I am kinky! At least…I think I am.”

  “You should probably get dressed and go back to your room now.”

  “Mixed messages!” she hissed, scrambling up and grabbing her pajamas. “You are the most frustrating man I’ve ever met! You think you know what’s best for me and act like it’s your business to boss me around. Guess what? I like calling you Daddy to get a rise out of you, but you’re not my father!”

  We stared at each other, our battle of wills silent but meaningful, as always.

  She was only leaving me two choices—give into my baser instincts or resign.

  Lord help me, but I couldn’t make the decent, rational choice. I should push her out the door and call someone to take over. I should go to her mother first thing in the morning and tender my resignation.

  But yeah…I wasn’t going to.

  I was going to cave and give the little brat what she was begging for. Maybe it would teach her not to play with fire.

  I stretched out on the now-vacant bed and forced my hands behind my head to keep them from touching her.

  She stood there, clutching the ball of flannel pajamas to her chest. I let my gaze trail over her, from the crowning tangle of red curls, on down every curve and dip of her sweet body, to her dainty bare feet. It was her face, though, that kept drawing me back. Such a sweet face, and so much unexpected pent-up mischief behind those eyes.

  If Aberdeen Kincaid ever discovered how deliciously perfect she was, no one on earth would be safe. I already wasn’t.

  Slowly, she approached me, as though I was an animal that might spook and run. Or attack. She dropped the shield of her clothing, then knelt beside my bed.

  “Give me an honest answer, Blue. If the answer is no, I’ll leave, but only if you mean it.” She swallowed but didn’t break eye contact. “Don’t you want to be my first?”

  “The answer should be no.”

  “But?” Her eyes lit with tentative elation.

  “I’ll give you tonight, but after that I’m not touching you again.”

  Chapter Nine

  I felt cold and small kneeling beside Blue’s bed, begging him to touch me. It was exactly what I’d fantasized about doing so many times during the past few weeks. I’d tried to imagine how he would respond to me presenting myself this way, but I hadn’t expected him to threaten me.

  “I’ll probably hurt you.”

  “I have a safeword.”

  “What are your limits?”

  “Um…I don’t know enough to know, to be honest. If I get too scared I’ll use my safeword. I want you to do what you want.”

  He groaned. “Kid, you don’t know what you’re asking for.”

  “But I do. Remember the darker book you bought me? That’s what turns me on.”

  “In theory.”

  “Well…yes. I wouldn’t want to get kidnapped for real.”

  He stared at me for a long while.

  “You know I want you.” It sounded like an apology before a dismissal.

&
nbsp; “Then quit trying to act all noble! You’re torturing yourself—and me. I’m sure you can think of more entertaining ways to punish me.”

  He made a sound of frustration. “This is your last fucking chance to back out. I’m done playing games.”

  “You’ve never been a game to me.”

  A crease formed between his brows. “Things between us can’t get serious.”

  “I know.”

  “And we’d have to be discreet.”

  “Who would I tell?”

  He rubbed a hand over his grim face. “I tried to resign. I couldn’t make myself do it.”

  My heart lurched. “You were going to leave me?” I felt like I’d been stabbed.

  “I’d thought it was the right thing to do, but…”

  But…what? He needed the money? Jobs were hard to come by? Or was it me he’d had trouble leaving? Because he felt sorry for me, probably. Poor trapped rich girl—weirdo with no friends, no freedom. Stuck in a transition between childhood and adulthood and never allowed to step over the threshold. I was ashamed I’d let my mother keep me this way, but until Blue had come, I hadn’t seen my life for what it was.

  “What stopped you from leaving?”

  He sighed heavily, but his gaze on me was soft.

  “You didn’t really want to leave me, did you?”

  His dark eyes glittered. He didn’t answer.

  “Mother always used to talk to me about how important our family is. Of course, when I finally fall in love, I’m the one who’s not good enough.”

  He levered himself up and sat on the edge of the bed, his jaw clenched. “You’re not in love with me.”

  “I am,” I admitted, leaving no room for argument.

  “It’s a crush.”

  “Lie to yourself if it makes you feel better.”

  “But you don’t know anything about me.”

  “I know how you treat me. I know how you make me feel.”

  “I get paid to be nice to you.”

  “You only get paid to protect me.”

  “Maybe I feel sorry for you.”

  My face prickled, and I willed away the tears that threatened to escape. He was being mean out of a misguided concept of what was for my own good, and I could tell.