The Protector

by Cristin Harber

  Jane didn’t need more convincing. They switched places, and she repositioned the driver’s seat to reach the pedals. Her heart galloped, but she wrapped her hands around the steering wheel.

  “Ready?”

  She couldn’t explain her nerves. “I’m a little scared.”

  “I won’t let you get hurt.” He lounged in the passenger seat as though they weren’t tempting death with her at the wheel.

  Still, her stomach tied in knots. “What if I destroy your truck?”

  Impish humor curled on his lips. “Don’t do that.”

  Jane pressed her head to the steering wheel. She really wanted to drive into the mud. The consequences were terrifying. They could wreck. They could… die. Along with any number of possibilities that existed in between. She rolled her head until she could see him. Chance terrified her. He was beautiful, she was plain. He was amazing. She was normal. Yet he didn’t see the same thing she did. In his eyes, she was beautifully amazing, and in his words, he wouldn’t let her get hurt. Jane met his eyes, trusting what he believed, and sat up. “I’m not going to wreck your truck.”

  He nodded. “I know.”

  “You’re pretty amazing, Chance.”

  “Eye of the beholder, babe. But I’m glad you think so.”

  Her heart squeezed, and Jane shifted into gear. “Here we go.”

  She licked her lips and pressed the gas pedal. She clenched the steering wheel tighter as they approached the mud pit, and the split second before they dove down, her breath locked in her lungs. She closed her eyes as it felt like the truck was free-falling. A split second felt like a century. The truck straightened. Her eyes flew open. Jane hollered and fed the truck more gas. They rocked side to side. Mud splashed. The wheels burned and churned. Her fingers ached and her heart slammed against her ribs until they summited the far side of the pit.

  She took her foot off the pedal and threw her arms into the air. “I did it!”

  His grin matched hers—but without her ecstatic screaming. “Now do it again.”

  So she did. Jane flew through the field. They raced and spun through mud. She traversed hills and valleys, searching for their next run. The wipers barely kept the mud off the windshield. She trusted herself, and he trusted her. Jane crisscrossed the field until she didn’t think her body could fly any higher.

  Jane eased up. They slowed, and she shook her hands out and took a long breath. This had been cathartic. Her nervous tension had ramped up but disappeared somewhere in the mud, leaving her relaxed and alive.

  “Go that way.” Chance pointed toward the darkening tree line.

  Jane eased them from the field and headed onto a new trail. They rolled along a rocky road. The steering wheel easily slipped back and forth in her hands. She let the truck rumble as it found its path, knowing she was still in control as they headed deeper into the woods. Shadows wrapped around them. The sinking sun only reached them in patches between the branches, seeming to promise that they were the alone with nature. It felt like there was nothing near them for miles and miles.

  Jane slowed at a fork in the road. “Which way?”

  “Your choice,” he said.

  “Mine? I don’t have a clue.”

  Chance gestured. “That way leads out.”

  She studied it, not sure she wanted to leave the quiet oasis where they’d taken respite but not sure that she wanted to rumble in the mud again. After all the excitement, she liked sitting next to him in the quiet. “What about the other way?”

  His blue eyes met hers. The connection sparked over her as though lightning cracked. Chance bit his bottom lip as if he wasn’t sure where the other path led. Then his jaw ticked. He cocked his head toward the mysterious trail, and no matter what he said, she was certain she wanted to go that way. “Eventually, it’ll lead to a dead end.”

  Lightning cracked between them again. Her fingers tightened on the steering wheel, and she shivered. Alone with Chance. No one to interrupt. He didn’t say another word. He didn’t have to, and she realized what he had done. Jane had to choose what she wanted—which, of course, was him. Saying that she wanted him, doing things that signified what she wanted… that made her vulnerable. She had to trust herself and him. She had to believe that he wanted what she did, no matter what barriers she’d once constructed in her mind.

  Looks didn’t matter. Assumptions were pointless. She wasn’t as bold as him, honestly answering and reacting to whatever came before him. But that was what he needed from her.

  Baring herself in this way was impossible. Her heart tripped over itself, racing with desire and… certainty.

  Jane closed her eyes, certain what she wanted… what they wanted. Serenity filled her chest, and Jane opened her eyes. The corners of her lips curled as she angled his truck along the path that would give them time alone.

  They didn’t say a word as she drove. Arousal warmed in her blood, and while she anticipated what might come, she was embarrassed of her desire. The trail disappeared. Jane shifted into park when she didn’t see anywhere else to go.

  “We’re here.” Her heart slammed as she turned. “The middle of nowhere.”

  His mouth quirked. “You handled the mud like a pro.”

  “Thanks.” She chewed on her bottom lip. Jane didn’t know how to act next now that she’d made clear what she wanted. Her short breaths couldn’t keep pace with her sporadic pulse. She’d half-expected Chance to jump across their seats, but she knew better. He liked to be deliberate. That careful, intentional way he went about kissing her made her ravenously weak.

  His seatbelt unclicked. Her heart jumped. Slowly, as if he were savoring her tense, shaking breaths and multiplying desire, he reached across the truck. Deftly, Chance released her seatbelt. The metal latch unclicked. The chest restraint rolled back. Neither were a sound she ever noticed before, but now, they caressed her senses like a promise of what was to come.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  Strong hands lifted Jane from the driver’s seat. Chance pulled her onto his chest as though she were light and graceful. His next fluid movement dropped the back of his chair. She became acutely aware of their proximity, and had this compromising position happened any time before today, she might not have enjoyed it as much. But she did, reveling in the way he stared up at her.

  “You approve of the trail I picked?”

  His hands rested on her hips. “I would’ve been good with whatever you wanted.” His fingers squeezed. “But this one had my vote.”

  Jane angled closer and breathed him in. His scent had mixed with the outdoors, and a memory flashed of her first night with him in Syria. His lips brushed hers, and she melted against his mouth, falling prey to its infinite sweetness.

  She let herself go. Heat built into their kisses. Her body hummed. His hands and tongue explored her. Unguarded, she basked in his touch and sought to bring him a fraction of the pleasure washing through her.

  Chance nuzzled to her ear. “Damn, Jane.”

  She appreciated the tremor of hunger in his voice, understanding she’d caused his reaction. “I like the way you sound.”

  He kissed her as though he had never done so before today and might never have the opportunity again. Chance tasted like heaven and felt like a haven. Her palms explored the slope and angles of his muscles sculpted through blood, sweat, and tears when lives had been on the line, and gratitude filled her.

  Chance reached into her haphazard ponytail and tugged the band free. Her hair swooped down, covering their faces like a curtain closing over stage. He moderated their frantic kisses with lazy, maddeningly sensual circles of his tongue. Desperation flooded her veins. Their clothes hindered skin-on-skin contact. She craved the sensation of their bodies becoming tighter; her soft, sensitive thighs sliding over his powerful masculine ones.

  Needy rumbles purred between them. Jane rocked her hips, savoring the friction of his engorged cock against her sex. With more deliberate motion, she rubbed against him. He sucked in a sharp breath. Hi
s palms gripped her ass and held her in place. Chance flexed against her, grinding his erection with identical speed and pressure—except he was in charge. Jane gasped. Her eyes opened and met his as he held her in place. She didn’t know it was possible to feel so in control of what she wanted, yet simultaneously so completely and so gratefully controlled.

  “How do you do that?” she gasped.

  Chance wrapped his arms around her back, cocooning her in his hug. He whispered, “Do what?”

  Explosive tears caught in her throat. She had wanted to rip their clothes off, but when he stopped stroking his cock against her, she simply wanted to crawl inside his strength and burst. “Take me from zero to a hundred.”

  “Neither one of us have ever been at zero together.”

  That was the truth. Her hand touched his cheek. He let her explore, tracing the outline of his mouth and jaw.

  He kissed the back of her knuckles. “I could watch you all day. Every day.”

  In her mind, a faraway warning reminded Jane he would leave soon. This job was temporary. His home was a world away. Both promised he could never stay. But, instead of listening to the little voice at the back of her head, Jane pressed her lips to his.

  Who cared if he left tomorrow? Today, they were on the same page. They wanted, needed, and tasted each other. She’d never been so safe and fulfilled. Maybe the here and now was all that mattered.

  Jane deepened her kiss and pushed her worries away. Chance would take care of her, and it felt so damn good to give up her role as the responsible one, the person who took care of everything and made sure she was protected, to just live and feel and be.

  As though Chance could read her mind, his hands slid under her tank top. His rough, calloused palms skimmed up her spine and held her in place against him. She flexed onto him, rocking for the needed friction. His fingers kneaded her back, melting her neck muscles and fueling the desperation in her core. His hands curved around her ribs until the weight of her small breasts filled his rasping hands.

  She writhed. Need spiraled deep inside her body. Arousal soaked her underwear. “Chance—”

  A horn blared. Jane jolted upright. Not a car horn. A freaking air horn. Then her world spun topsy-turvy. Her head spun, and she blinked until she could find her bearings.

  They weren’t on the passenger side of the truck. The steering wheel wasn’t far from her face. Chance’s mountainous weight had her pinned beneath him. She struggled against his hand clasped over her mouth. Then she froze.

  She didn’t have his attention. Laying prone, he searched the mud-splattered window. His hand held a gun.

  Where the freaking hell had that come from? And, more importantly, what the fuck was happening?

  Chance repositioned, fruitlessly searching out the windows. “Stay down.”

  A metallic thump echoed from the back of the truck. Before she could freak out, Chance rolled out the passenger door in one fluid motion. His fierce face and drawn handgun pointed toward the woods, leaving Jane to watch whatever might happen.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

  “Easy there, son.” The raspy words from a pack-a-day smoker chuckled as though it weren’t the first time he’d had an armed man barrel roll out of a truck. “Lower your weapon.”

  Jane twisted to her knees to watch but couldn’t see out the back window. Her head swiveled to watch Chance. He relaxed and lowered his gun. “Didn’t expect company.”

  His tone was decidedly more apologetic than when he’d ordered her to stay down. Jane peeked out. Chance strode closer to the older Marlboro Man who caught sight of her leaning out the door. Jane jerked back into the truck.

  “I can see that,” the Marlboro Man chuckled. “But everyone’s supposed to get gone at sunset. Ya’ll need to head out.”

  “We lost track of time.” Chance and the Marlboro Man both sounded as if they were coming from a place of understanding.

  Jane wasn’t sure what she thought about that. Did he bring girls here? To this… wooded lovers’ lane? She scowled as their conversation wrapped. Just like that, the horn-blaring emergency ended.

  Chance shut Jane’s door and then ambled to the driver’s side. He gave her a wink when he climbed in and fired up the engine. Her cheeks heated as though they’d been caught necking at a high school dance—except, they’d been caught in the throes of foreplay by the Marlboro Man. Embarrassment curled down her spine.

  The air-conditioning immediately blasted. She realized that their make-out session wasn’t the only thing that had made her hot. Despite the tree coverage, the summer heat did her no favors. She tied her hair into a ponytail again and grumbled. “What’s with the air horn?”

  Chance laughed.

  “I thought we were under attack.”

  He quickly glanced her way as he threaded them through the grounds. “Sometimes it’s best to announce yourself.”

  Probably good advice. They picked up speed over an empty field. The setting sun had dropped behind the forest, making the sky an orangish purple. It reminded Jane of dinner in Abu Dhabi. She and Chance had danced with each other that night and crash-landed in an elevator lip-lock. How did that advice pertain to them now? They’d made their intentions and desires clear. The only thing that wasn’t clear was what the future would hold.

  Chance mumbled to himself then turned on the radio.

  “What?”

  He eyed her with a quiet head-shaking laugh. “Definitely didn’t realize it was so late.”

  True and funny, but there was an uneven cadence in his laughter that didn’t sound as amused as he let on to be.

  Jane bit her lip. “Time flies when you’re having fun.”

  ***

  The truck rumbled along the trail. Gravel spun in his wheels. Branches and bushes slapped the side of truck bed. Chance fiddled with the radio, aggravated with himself. It was a good thing that old man had come along when he did. A few minutes later, he would’ve had Jane in a far more precarious situation. From the sounds she made and the way her body moved with his, she would’ve been on board to strip their clothes away.

  A fresh wave of arousal needled down his spine. They’d been so close. So fucking close. It killed him that Jane wasn’t on his cock that very second. His chest heaved, and he slapped the radio off as he turned the truck onto a paved road.

  She repositioned her legs. “Back to civilization.”

  “Yup.” A heavy silence blanketed them. Now that they’d left the densely packed woods, they seemed to be in another country.

  “Do you always have a gun with you?”

  “Yeah.” Chance glanced at Jane. It was easy to forget that most people didn’t assume an enemy lurked behind every corner. “It’s part of the job.”

  She nodded. “Our real worlds are so far apart.”

  Chance didn’t know what a weapon had to do with their jobs. After all, it was her job that brought them together in the first place.

  A gas station sign glowed ahead, and he pulled over. Not only was he hungry, but in his hasty rush from the Mud Palace, he hadn’t cleaned up his mirrors and windows like he should have. After a few minutes of scraping mud from the mirrors and loading up on junk food, he returned behind the wheel. Jane sorted through the options, splitting snacks between them as he pulled onto the road again.

  They ate in silence. The miles became a blur. After a few mile markers, he noticed the uneasy tension was gone. Chance polished off the last cookies from a snack-pack, realizing that sanity had crept back to mind. Getting busy in the woods hadn’t been his intention. Even when he told Jane he wanted to kiss her without interruption, that hadn’t meant fucking in his truck. At least not the first time they got together.

  What he needed was another list to accentuate his first one, appropriately titled ‘places to kiss Jane’. That second one would be called ‘places to kiss Jane.’ He grinned, eager to show her the differences between his lists.

  They pulled up at the gate that surrounded the Thanes’ exclusive neighborhood. Ch
ance stretched in the driver’s seat. He hadn’t realized how tight his muscles were and couldn’t think of any reason why—unless the vicious blue balls that always seemed prevalent around Jane had metastasized into knotting aches in his back, shoulders, and chest.

  “Oh no.” Jane wrinkled her nose. “They’re not going to let you in.”

  He scowled, long limbs aching to get out of the truck. “Yeah? Why not?”

  She eyed him as though green antennas sprouted from his head. “They have rules.”

  “Who?”

  “The people who live here. Think of it like a homeowner’s or condo association with the world’s most particular board.”

  “Yeah… that doesn’t mean much.”

  “There are rules,” Jane explained. “But even if there weren’t, Gigi Thane has many rules that can be generalized in one tenet. Only perfect things may enter the Thane bubble.”

  God, these people. Chance pinched the bridge of his nose. “We’ll go find a car wash.”

  “There isn’t one close by. Folks over here have help for that.”

  “Right.” He shook his head, not believing—yet totally believing—that his truck wouldn’t pass neighborhood muster. “Well…” Chance decided to test their luck and inched toward the gate house anyway. “The truck is a perfect mess.”

  She snort-laughed. “Nothing fazes you, does it?”

  He gave her a quick look. “You do, sometimes.” He winked then rolled down his window, greeting a guard. “Evening.”

  The man stepped out, gesturing for the truck to back out. “This is a closed community—”

  Jane leaned over and waved. “Hi, Sal.”

  A vaguely horrified expression crossed the guard’s face when he peered into the cabin of truck. He squinted, still ready to wave them away like muddy river lunatics, when he caught sight of her. “Jane?”

  She tilted her head and cheerily greeted, “It’s me, Sal. Can you let us in?”

  Sal didn’t look convinced. His expression darkened with concern, and casting Chance a wary look, he carefully asked, “Is everything all right?”