His to Protect (The Guard Book 3)

by Em Petrova

  Silence descended between them, and he began to wonder if she was finally growing sleepy. But then the soft pads of her fingers soothed over his lower abs. He stopped breathing. When she skimmed over his love trail, he clamped down on his control. The urge to flip this woman over and plunge balls deep between her sweet thighs had him more on edge than ever.

  Then she looked up into his eyes.

  One time while volunteering at the shelter, an older dog broke his damn heart by giving him the same pleading look. Walking away from that dog still haunted him…but he knew he did what was best at the time for the animal.

  Now, he needed to do the same with Sloane. But she’s shredding my damn control.

  “North…Bodhi…” She slicked her tongue across her plump lips, and his guts clenched. “Would you touch me?”

  His stomach hit ground zero. Christ, was she asking for what he thought she was?

  Holding her gaze, he felt his hand move on its own to cup her face. Damn if she didn’t lean into his caress. A soft noise broke from her, and he lost his grip entirely.

  He drew her down, watching her eyes shutter closed as he pressed his lips over hers in the scantest of brushes.

  A quiver surged through her, and beneath his fingers wrapped around her upper arm, he felt the gooseflesh coating her skin.

  She tasted sweet and felt sweeter. When she skimmed her hand down his chest again, he felt his breath catch.

  He deepened the kiss, flattening a hand on her lower back, and she molded to every dip and rise of his fingerprints. A groan lodged in his throat.

  Breaking the kiss, she stared down into his eyes. How did the woman have his guts in her grip?

  “Touch me more, Bodhi.” The whisper fanned across his lips.

  Surging upward, he caught her mouth under his. She melted into his hold, and he rolled her down into the sheets. With her tucked close, he was pretty damn sure he’d never known a better fit.

  He skimmed a hand down her side, and her breathing grew ragged. One stroke of his hand from ribs to hip and he found she wore a tank top and cotton shorts.

  And he hoped to hell he found nothing underneath. The fewer reasons to pause before he made the biggest mistake of his career the better.

  What am I doing?

  He barely registered the question from the analytical sector of his mind, because she spread her hands across his shoulders and pulled him against her in a way that could not be construed as anything other than determination. One thing about Sloane—the woman knew how to get what she wanted.

  When he felt the tip of her tongue stroke over his lower lip, a growl erupted from him. He latched on to her hip. She ground upward into his straining cock.

  There’s still time to stop this.

  Not with her looking at him that way, there wasn’t. Eyes glowing through the darkness and her body so ripe and ready to accept him. Begging, even.

  She stroked a feathery-light touch down his spine. “I was drawn to you the minute I saw you. Don’t you want me too?”

  He hesitated at her admission. She’s my ward. Off-limits.

  No matter how many times he repeated that in his mind, his desire for the strong and beautiful woman didn’t fade. She lifted a hand to tangle in his hair. For a heavy, throbbing heartbeat, their gazes locked, and he gave up the fight.

  * * * * *

  He kissed her.

  The scruff of his unshaven jaw prickled Sloane’s skin, and she sucked in sharply at the first real taste of Bodhi North.

  His tongue stroked against hers, lighting fires inside her that she hadn’t experienced in far too long. The timing couldn’t be worse to want such a thing—people were after her, wanted her dead—but was there ever a better time to seek out the comfort only a beautiful man could offer?

  With a slow flip of his tongue, he unhinged her in so many ways. Her insides jolted with electric desire, and warmth flowed low through her belly. She curled her fingers into his broad shoulders and clung on while he showed her a hint of the promises to come.

  Short, panting breaths burst from her in clusters, and her nipples peaked against her tank top. Against her thigh, she felt the hard length of Bodhi’s arousal and nearly groaned out with want.

  As he angled his head, she drew him closer. Their mouths moved in perfect sync, as though they’d shared kisses in the darkness a thousand times before this. His soft curls brushed against her cheek, and she threaded her hand into his hair.

  He reared away. Chest heaving, eyes burning, he stared at her. Her heart gave a painful jab—would he toss her out of his bed?

  “I shouldn’t be doing this,” he rasped.

  She searched his eyes for remorse but only saw desire staring back at her. “Does it go against your rules?”

  “My rules, the agency’s rules.” He hung his head.

  She reached out and traced the lines of sinew and veins popping on the arm he supported himself on. “The last thing I want to do is—”

  His kiss cut her off. A moan escaped her, and she parted her lips to accept his seeking tongue. The dark passion burning through her made her head spin.

  Abruptly, he tore free and stared down at her. Emotions warred over his handsome face.

  “We don’t—” she began.

  He slammed his mouth over hers again. And again. Need twisted sharply inside her, and she felt herself rock against his hardness.

  A groan vibrated through his chest, and she shivered at the sensation of that rumble against her sensitive, straining nipples.

  He tore his mouth away. With each impassioned kiss, she saw the man emerge from beneath the cloak of bodyguard he wore.

  “God, I fucking want you, baby.”

  She tipped her hips into his again. “Then take me. I want to feel you inside me.”

  All of a sudden, he went so still that her heart gave a flutter of fear. Did he hear something she didn’t? Could the door locks be breached?

  He dropped his forehead to hers. “I don’t have protection.”

  Of course he didn’t. His job was to guard her life, not give in to her advances.

  “I have the birth control shot. And I’m clean. I mean I haven’t—”

  He pressed a fingertip to her lips. When his gaze roamed across her face and lingered on her lips for an excruciating heartbeat, she told herself this was as far as they’d go.

  “I’d never ask a woman to take me without a barrier. Especially you.”

  Her heart fell.

  His stare burned into her. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t give you pleasure.”

  A gasp bubbled from her throat, and she yanked him down once more. Their kiss spiraled on for long minutes, a fire out of control. She let it consume her as sensation ripped through her body.

  He skated a hand down her side and gripped her hip again. She rubbed wantonly against his erection, and they shared a noise of ecstasy.

  “Screw the barrier. I trust you, Bodhi—with my life. In all ways.”

  His intense expression dragged a noise of desire from her. She needed this—needed him. She’d been afraid for far too long, and she’d never met a person who could steal her mind this way.

  Slipping a hand under her top, he skimmed upward to her breasts. The moment he cradled her needy breast in his hand, she tossed her head on a cry.

  “I have to see you, baby. All of you.” He waited for her nod of agreement before he pulled her top off and cast it aside.

  Under his heavy stare, she felt so exposed, so aroused…so beautiful.

  “Christ, I shouldn’t lay a hand on such perfection. If I do, I’ll only mar you.”

  She twisted her hands in his hair. “No, you won’t. I’m not perfect.”

  Slowly, he lowered his lips to the crest of her breast. The first soft heat of the caress enveloped her, and she held a quivering breath as he explored her, kissing over the top curve of her breast, close to her peaked nipple.

  With a shiver, she pleaded, “Take me in your mouth.”

  �
��Fuck!” He moved his lips across her breast, paused, and then sucked her between his hard lips.

  She bucked, and he set her aflame by stealing his hand over her bare torso to her other breast. As he sucked and teased one nipple, he ran his roughened fingertip around the other, circling it until she couldn’t think straight. When he pinched it lightly and drew the bud into a tighter peak, she cried out again.

  “Yessss, it feels so good. Don’t stop.”

  He moaned in response and snaked his tongue around her nipple. He crisscrossed to the other. The moment he pulled on her aching bud with his lips and tongue, she felt a knot tighten in her core. She reached for the waist of her shorts.

  He went still and drew away to watch her ease them down her body.

  “Fuck, you’re natural.” He closed his eyes momentarily and then opened them again.

  She hated waxing and shaving itched. She didn’t have anyone to please but herself, and until a movie role came along that required her being in a bikini, she didn’t care about sporting her natural curls down there.

  She watched Bodhi drink in the sight of her body. The press could call her beautiful. The internet could revere her looks, and she could go onto the cover of any magazine on the store shelf, but she’d never felt as desirable as she did right this minute, beneath Bodhi’s burning gaze.

  She wet her lips. “Do you like it?”

  “Baby, can’t you tell?” He leaned back and molded the cotton of his boxers around his long, thick length. He stroked himself through his underwear, and she nearly orgasmed on the spot.

  “Let me see you too,” she murmured.

  Somehow, this felt like her very first time. Maybe because nobody ever looked at her this way. In a short time, Bodhi knew more about the hidden depths of her than almost anybody.

  He pushed onto his knees. She stared up at him, tingling in places that’d never been stroked before. As he hooked his thumbs in his boxers and eased them down his washboard abs to the dip of muscle banded around his hips, she sucked in a gasp and held it.

  When the rest of his underwear came off, revealing the mushroomed head swollen and leaking precum, she almost swallowed her tongue. She reeled it inside her mouth and moved to reach for him.

  He swayed from her touch. “Not yet.”

  Before she understood what was about to happen, he stretched out on the bed between her legs. With his face at her pussy, she grew aware of his hot breath washing over her flesh. He stared at her for so long she wondered if he’d changed his mind.

  Then he thumbed apart her pussy lips.

  “Oh my God,” she burst out.

  He teased down over her seam, parting her to the slightest stroke of his thumb. He drew it to his mouth and licked the juices off the wide pad.

  Shock tore across her senses. “Show me what kind of lover you really are, Bodhi.”

  Holding her stare, he grated, “My pleasure,” before dipping his mouth to her pussy.

  She lost her mind at the first swirl of his hot, wet tongue on her aching pussy. The need ricocheted through her body, zinging back and forth until she realized she held her breath and needed a gulp of air.

  Her inner thighs trembled. Bodhi clamped his hand on them, pushing her legs up and apart to his feasting mouth.

  He sank his tongue into her folds, burrowing downward until he breached her entrance. The first slick stab of his tongue in her canal had her hips rising off the bed to meet him.

  A moan rumbled through him again as he tongue-fucked her over and over. She covered her straining nipples with her palms to help ease the ache, but it did nothing. She needed more.

  “Please!”

  He withdrew his tongue and in one long, slow lap, licked her pussy from bottom to top. The instant he settled his tongue over her nubbin, she succumbed to need and the feel of her lover’s mouth.

  Chapter Five

  North would pay for this later, after he gained full control of his mind.

  For now, he would give his all, because he didn’t know how to live any other way. He never gave by halves—he wouldn’t now.

  The feminine taste of Sloane drove him wild. His cock ached against the mattress, and he was far too aware that in one wrong brush of the covers, he’d embarrass prematurely.

  As he teased up and down her folds, from drenched hole to hard nub, he groaned at the flavors coating his tongue. She liked her clit nibbled, he learned after only a few tries, and then he focused on tormenting her over and over. Tension shook her thighs around his ears, and her arousal dripped down his jaw.

  Slipping his hands under her ass, he lifted her off the bed. She curled her nails into his shoulders and rocked into his mouth. He swiped his tongue over her bundle of nerves again, and this time he felt the change.

  She clung to the edge. One more flick of his tongue would send her overboard.

  He backed off, and she issued a harsh moan that brought a smile to his lips.

  “Stop teasing me,” she demanded.

  He chuckled, but only for a second, because the moment he eased his finger inside her tight pussy, his focus narrowed. The wet grip of her body on his finger had his mind shooting to how his cock would feel buried in her…he had to grind his teeth to keep from blowing.

  Slowly, he withdrew his finger from her walls. She bucked. He circled her entrance in three swirls and then four before sinking his finger inside.

  This was the closest he’d know to feeling her around him. His conscience wouldn’t allow him to claim her without a condom, even if he did test clean. And secondly, he couldn’t slip up with her—ever again.

  Best he could hope for, he pleasured her and then moved her to the closest safehouse. Sure, the bylines of The Guard had been rewritten recently after two of his brothers blatantly broke the rules, but he believed in keeping his hands off his ward, even if she did drive him abso-fucking-lutely crazy.

  He was already far too engrossed in her. From head to toe, inside and out, she couldn’t be a more perfect woman in his mind. Strong, brave as hell—to the point of insanity when it came to putting herself in danger—North couldn’t have created a more enticing woman for himself if he had a laboratory.

  Staring up her body, he watched her face shudder with ecstasy. Suddenly, her focus centered on him instead of some internal pleasure point. The instant their gazes locked, his heart gave a hard jolt.

  Oh fuck. No. This couldn’t be good. He never experienced shit like this, not even with dozens of women he’d taken to his bed.

  Questions lifted in the fucked-up cerebral part of his brain that never seemed to shut off, but he slammed them away behind a locked door and doubled his efforts by adding a second finger to her tight sheath.

  Juices spilled over his hand. Need blasted through his guts, and he closed his eyes on the urge to pull his fingers out and then plunge his cock in.

  “More! Oh God, I’m coming.” Her rasped words came a split second before she clamped hard on his fingers.

  With a roar of victory, he dropped his mouth to her clit and sucked at the same time he pounded her with his fingers. Mind blanked to anything but the passion smeared over it, he drew her release out for long moments. God, those little moans, the way her lips twisted—it all drove him nuts.

  When she finally issued a final shudder, he raised his head…and received that heart jolt a second time.

  A smile curled her perfectly plump, far too kissable lips. “We can’t stop there.”

  Amazed, he watched her sit up. Perspiration gleamed on her body when she drew him to her. He moved into her arms and folded her against his chest. She captured his lips, and to his shock, moaned as her own flavors sank in.

  He growled in response, barely clinging to control. She reached down his abs to encircle his cock in her soft grip, and holding his stare, she pumped him once and then twice. His balls drew up tight, feeling so full and throbbing.

  “Bodhi, you want me. I want you.” She lay down, guiding him with her, and damn if he could stop himself from
giving in.

  She spread her legs. His length lay against her hot, wet folds. She twitched her hips, grinding over him.

  With a gritty noise, he gripped his cock at the base and guided the tip back and forth over the small bump of her swollen clit, and then up and down her slit.

  On the fourth pass of his cock over her slick heat, she slipped her tongue into his mouth. His growl echoed through the quiet space, and before he realized his intention, he angled his cock to push inside her.

  Buried fully in her scorching walls, he froze, knowing how bad he fucked up—not because of the Church or any oaths he’d taken to keep his hands off his wards.

  Because from this moment forward, he knew he’d never keep his hands off her.

  He gazed down at her in amazement. Wrong or not, the connection between them couldn’t be denied.

  Holding her stare, he tested his position, easing from her pussy slightly and raising a soft moan from her, and then sliding in with one slick shove.

  “Kiss me,” he grated out, claiming her lips. Sweetness flooded his brain, and he churned his hips. The rhythm set itself. With each thrust, he explored a new spot on her body. From shoulder to side, breast to belly to buttocks.

  Leaning on one arm, he did a slow, easy pushup, teasing a rough cry from her.

  “You’re beautiful when you’re about to come.”

  Her gaze centered on his. “How do you know I’m about to—” She sucked in a sharp breath.

  Lowering his hips again, he pushed deep—and a bit deeper still. As her inner walls clenched at him, he felt a contraction building up to her release.

  All of a sudden, he pulled free of her body. His cock glistened with her juices. Fuck, just the sight of her slickness on his length had him wanting to explode.

  Surprise flitted through her eyes.

  He dropped to sit on the edge of the mattress and pulled her across his lap. A shudder shook her as she came face to face with him, legs straddling his hips and arms clinging to his neck.

  “Kiss me again,” he commanded.