Object of His Protection

by Brenda Jackson

  “Breaking into the coroner’s office to find your boss’s original autopsy report on Dennis as well as that key.”

  “What!” She would have jumped back in shock, but the moment her mouth opened to exclaim that one word, he was right there on it. And that was the last part of their conversation that she remembered.

  Chapter 10

  She moaned.

  The sound made Drey delve into her mouth that much deeper. He had no business kissing her this way out in the open where any of his neighbors could observe, but at the moment he didn’t care. The only thing he cared about was kissing Charlene, tasting her.

  He ignored the warning bells, he disregarded the danger signs. All his body and mind could comprehend was both need and greed. Warmth was spreading all over him, shooting right to his groin area. He wanted her. That fact he understood. And whether she knew it or not, she wanted him too. He could tell in the way she was kissing him back. All they needed was a bed…and, oh yeah, a little privacy.

  He quickly remembered again just where they were and grudgingly pulled away from her mouth. “Come on, let’s go inside,” he whispered hot in her ear while taking her hand in his.

  He could tell the instant she regained her senses. She pulled her hand away from his. “Why? No. We can’t. We need to talk.”

  He couldn’t help but smile at all the words that tumbled out of her mouth. A mouth he wanted to devour again. “Okay, let’s go inside and talk. Anything in particular you want to discuss?”

  She looked at him as if he were dense. “You’re suggesting breaking and entering and you want to know what in particular I want to discuss? What about the thought of being arrested? How does that sound for starters?”

  He began walking and noted that she was moving beside him. “Not good. You’re right. Forget the idea.”

  “Now you’re sounding reasonable,” she said, nodding.

  “It’s something I can do on my own. You stay here until I return.”

  She stopped walking and swung around and stared at him as if he’d completely lost it. “What! Are you crazy?”

  “Don’t think so,” he said, smiling at the way she got overexcited at the least little thing. He wondered if she showed that same degree of excitement in the bedroom.

  When they were back at his place he took the keys out of his pocket to open the door. He followed her inside, closed it behind them and leaned back against it. “Has anyone ever told you how cute you are when you get stirred up about something?”

  She took off her jacket and tossed it across a chair before giving him an irritated look. She then crossed her arms over her chest. “This isn’t funny, Drey.”

  His gaze moved from her face to her chest, more specifically, her breasts. The way her arms were folded lifted the twin globes up, pressing them against her blouse where he could clearly see the nipples. “No, it isn’t funny,” he said. “I might find a number of things amusing but never what I’m looking at now.”

  He could tell that at first she didn’t comprehend what he’d said, but seconds after she did, she quickly dropped her hands by her sides at the same time he heard her grit her teeth.

  He slowly crossed the room to pull her into his arms and kiss her. Surprisingly, she didn’t resist him. Moments later he disconnected their mouths and then proceeded to cradle her face in his hands and kiss her again. He didn’t know any other woman who in addition to having a high degree of sensuality was capable of igniting his enthusiasm for any little thing. Go figure.

  Moments later, he withdrew his mouth from hers thinking he would never get tired of kissing her. The feel of her lips beneath his was a sensation he just couldn’t explain. “I think I’ll kiss you every time you get pissed off with me about something,” he said softly. “Anger must do something to your taste buds. Electrify them. Make them addictive.”

  He then stepped back and gestured over to a huge book cabinet on one of the walls. “There’s a bunch of movies in that top drawer over there if you want to watch one while I’m gone. And if you get bored doing that, you can tackle all those video games that I—”

  “I’m going.”

  He frowned. “No, you’re not.”

  “Yes, I am.”

  He shook his head. “What you said by the pond made sense. There’s no need for the both of us to go to jail, so you stay here.”

  “I’m going, Drey. You don’t know your way around once you get inside. Besides, you won’t know what you should look for. You’ll need me to identify just what you need.”

  He stared at her. She did have a point. “Okay, then, let’s get moving. Like I said earlier, you need to change into dark clothes.”

  She nodded and then he watched as she rushed off toward the guest room.

  They were both going to end up in jail, Charlene thought as she stood with her body pressed close to Drey’s while he used something that looked like a hair clip to force their way inside. And this might not be the best time to think about it, but she thought he smelled super good.

  “And you’re sure there’s not an alarm system?” he asked her over his shoulder.

  “I’m sure.”

  It was dark but she didn’t need any lights to see the dangerous yet sexy glint in his eyes. She had noticed them on the drive over. Whether he admitted it or not, she knew he was enjoying this. She could just see the headlines now.

  Former Police Officer Arrested for Breaking into Coroner’s Office.

  She hadn’t figured out yet just how they would broadcast her part in it, but there was no doubt in her mind that they would. At that point she would have to kiss her job goodbye. She should never have insisted on coming, but then she couldn’t imagine watching a video while waiting for him to come back.

  Charlene heard a click and knew Drey had gotten the door open.

  “Right or left?” he asked her in a whispered tone.

  “Left then straight for around 5 feet and then turn right,” she responded. They would not be turning on any lights other than a penlight he held in his hand. They would stop by her desk to get the key that would open the file cabinet where the autopsy reports were kept. They intended to get both Harmon’s and Joe Dennis’s autopsy records. Then they had agreed to search Nate’s office for the missing key.

  “Okay, here’s your desk.”

  Charlene nodded and within minutes she had the key to the autopsy room in her hand. “I got it,” she whispered. And then she gave him directions on how to get to the autopsy room from where her desk was located.

  Reaching their goal was done with little difficulty, but that didn’t stop fear from flowing down Charlene’s spine. Although the coroner’s office didn’t have an alarm system, it did have a security guard on payroll who made periodic checks. The key was to get in and out between the security officer’s visits.

  Drey whispered most of his words while she quickly opened the file cabinet and began thumbing through for the autopsy reports on Harmon and Dennis. The penlight had been replaced by a slim flashlight and within minutes they had retrieved the reports they wanted.

  “Where to now?” she whispered close to Drey’s ear, trying to ignore the stirrings in the pit of her stomach. How could she be thinking of wanting him at a time like this?

  They carefully made their way from the autopsy room toward Nate’s office. At one point they paused when they thought they heard a sound and discovered it was only the hum and click of the air-conditioning system.

  Drey and Charlene began searching Nate’s office in earnest, making sure to return anything they picked up to its proper place. After a few minutes of searching they still had not found the key. However, they did come across a copy of Joe Dennis’s original autopsy report. It was in a folder with other documents labeled “To Be Destroyed.”

  After searching high and low with no success in finding the key, Drey whispered, “Evidently the key has now changed hands. Let’s not waste any more time in here looking for it.”

  Charlene was about to agree wh
en they heard footsteps coming down the hall. Drey killed the beam from the flashlight immediately and pulled Charlene with him into a small closet in Nate’s office.

  Charlene was standing behind Drey and clenching his shirt when fear gripped her. What if someone had heard them moving around in Nate’s office and had called the police? What if they had guns?

  “Relax,” Drey whispered. “Your breathing has changed. Take it easy.”

  That was easy for him to say, she thought as she pressed her body even closer to his back. Panic surged through her and had her clenching his shirt even tighter. From a crack in the closet door she could see it was one of the security men making his rounds. She might have been imagining it, but Drey didn’t appear in the least bit nervous. He stood there, cool and ready for action. Silently she prayed that they didn’t see any.

  The security guard—who had a gun strapped to his waist—seemed to linger in Nate’s office longer than necessary. Glancing over Drey’s shoulder and gazing through the crack in the closet door, Charlene saw why. The man had taken a seat on the edge of the desk and was using the computer, namely the Internet.

  She and Drey watched as the man signed on and went to a pornography Web site. Her view wasn’t as good as Drey’s but she saw enough to know the man was enjoying looking at the photos of all the naked bodies that appeared on the screen. It was downright embarrassing, Charlene thought, and wished there was some hole she could crawl into.

  After about half an hour, it seemed the man finally remembered he had a job to do, and reluctantly signed off the computer. Charlene had been afraid of getting caught the entire time. Fear had clogged her throat at some point, making breathing difficult.

  Once they were sure the man had left to go to another part of the building, Drey came out of the closet and pulled her with him. After having stood in the same cramped position for so long, her legs felt stiff and her joints ached.

  “Come on,” Drey said taking her hand. “We got most of what we came for. Let’s get the hell out of here.”

  Chapter 11

  An hour later after taking a shower Drey took the time to remember everything that had happened that night at the coroner’s office. It had been like a scene from a James Bond movie. The only difference was that he hadn’t had in his possession any of that fancy technology. But he had been stuck in a very dangerous situation with a beautiful woman—a woman who was now probably asleep, dead to the world, after tonight’s action.

  He hadn’t failed to notice that Charlene hadn’t said much of anything during the ride home. And once they had gotten here she had said good-night and raced off to the guest room.

  While preparing for his shower he had heard the one in the guest bath going. Visions of her standing naked under a spray of water had given him a boner and he’d ended up taking a cold shower before settling down and taking a warm one.

  Thinking back on the evening, he realized getting into the coroner’s office hadn’t been a complete waste of time. He had gotten copies of Harmon’s and Joe Dennis’s autopsy records, as well as the discarded original autopsy record for Dennis. But they hadn’t found the key. Chances were Nate had gotten rid of it by giving it to whomever he was in cahoots with.

  Feeling the need of a cold beer, he left his bedroom and was rounding the corner when he heard a sound. He stopped, glanced over at the window and saw Charlene standing there and staring out.

  Drey paused and looked at her thinking she was definitely a picture of beauty wearing a long velour white bathrobe. Even from across the room he picked up her just-showered scent that mingled with vanilla.

  He couldn’t help noticing that she was shaking. The heat was on in the town house so he wondered what was wrong with her. Then he knew. She was having a flashback to what had happened earlier that night. She was probably thinking about what could have happened had they gotten caught. More than likely she was reliving the fear, the excitement and the intensity of the situation they had found themselves in.

  “Charlene?”

  He said her name softly and she turned. The look he saw in her eyes made him swiftly cross the room and pull her into his arms. “Hey, it’s okay. You’re safe now. We’re both safe.”

  Inwardly he called himself all kinds of fool for letting her talk him into taking her. As a police officer he had been in such dangerous situations before, but she had not. However, tonight he had exposed her to danger and because of it, she was going through this. An aftershock.

  Drey continued to hold her with her face buried in his chest. He whispered over and over that she was okay while her shaking continued. What she needed was something to drink, preferably a glass of wine. But he didn’t want to leave her alone for the time it took to fix her one. He just wanted to stand there and hold her.

  A few moments later the shivers in her body began to ease. He tried not to think about just how soft she felt in his arms, how nice she smelled or how good her body felt pressed up to his. And most of all, he didn’t want to remember just how delicious her mouth tasted.

  But he did remember. And when she lifted her head to stare into his eyes, he no longer saw tension in them. He saw desire so thick it made his breath catch. Before he could react in any way, she stood on tiptoe and placed her mouth on his. And then she eased her tongue into his mouth.

  He wasn’t exactly sure what was driving her, but he knew what was driving him when he took control of the kiss. It was as if something inside him snapped and he wanted to gobble her up. And the way she was returning the kiss let him know that she wanted to be gobbled up. He thought the other kisses they’d shared had been intense, but they couldn’t compare to the heat and passion they shared now. There was nothing simple about this kiss. It was the hottest kiss he’d ever endured and he felt his entire body ignite in flames.

  He tangled his hands in her hair, trying to keep her mouth immobile while he plundered it in pleasure, and when she pressed even closer to him, molded her body intimately to his, he felt an explosion just waiting to happen. He knew just where he wanted to be when it did.

  Inside her.

  That thought made him pull back to end the kiss. She wasn’t in the right frame of mind for him to have such thoughts, and he refused to take advantage of her. He would do the right thing even if it killed him, and right now it almost was. His entire body was on fire. More than anything he wanted to make love to her. But he wouldn’t.

  “Why did you stop, Drey?”

  He heard her words, felt her confusion and knew he would be honest with her. “Because you aren’t in your right mind now. You’re thinking that you want something you really don’t.”

  She shook her head, disagreeing with him. Instead of saying anything verbally, she leaned up on tiptoe and took his mouth again and he didn’t deny her. What he did do was fight for control, though he found it hard to do. This time it was she who finally pulled back. “I know what I want, Drey. I know what I need,” she said in a whisper. “I need you. Now.”

  He gazed into her dark eyes, saw the desire there. That same desire stabbed him in the chest and he was tempted to pull her back into his arms to taste her some more. To gobble her up again.

  He remembered what he’d said after their first kiss and the promise he’d made about not taking his desire for her any further until she gave the word. Although she had just done so, he wanted to make sure she understood what she was asking of him.

  “You want us to make love?” he asked, so there wouldn’t be any misunderstanding, no morning-after regrets.

  “Yes.”

  He heard her response but pressed on to make absolutely certain. “I want to get inside you, Charlene. I want to make love to you the way a man makes love to the woman he wants, the woman he desires. I want to take you to the edge and back. I want to hear you scream, and in the end I want to make you come. Again and again. I want to feel it. Taste it. Are you absolutely sure those are the things that you want too?”

  She stared at him, and he watched as she nervously
licked her lips. She probably hadn’t expected him to make things so blatantly clear. He watched her eyes darken and heard her breathy sigh before she said, “Yes, I’m sure that I want all those things. I want to share every single one of them with you.”

  In one smooth move Drey swept her off her feet and into his arms. He moved toward his bedroom, hoping she knew what she was agreeing to because he planned on keeping his word and making love to her all through the night.

  Charlene’s heart began beating faster the moment Drey placed her on his bed. A part of her wanted to tell him the truth about her experience level in the bedroom, but then another thought it best not to say anything. She needed him and she wanted him, and she wouldn’t tell him that she was a virgin. He would find out soon enough.

  Through heavy-lidded, desire-filled eyes, she watched as he stood back away from the bed to remove his clothes. This was the first time a man had ever undressed in front of her, and she was giving him her undivided attention. When he dropped his pajama bottoms, her breath caught. His shaft was large, hard, thick and ready. She felt the muscles in her womanly core tighten, either in fear or anticipation.

  Would she be able to handle that? Inwardly she forced herself to relax. She believed what he said. Under his skillful hands she would experience her first orgasm and she was looking forward to it. After everything she had gone through tonight, she needed it. She needed to be a part of him and wanted him to be a part of her. Regrets, if there were any, would come in the morning. But not tonight.

  She then watched as he reached into a nightstand to pull out a condom packet. Several of them. The area between her thighs felt hot and edgy at the thought that he intended to make love to her more than once and hoped when he discovered that she was a virgin that he wouldn’t change his mind.

  He returned to the bed and reached out, and with practiced movement he removed her robe and nightgown. When she was completely naked before his eyes, he began touching her all over, letting his strong fingers cover her entire body, caressing it tenderly, methodically, while heightening the desire inside her.