by Abby Blake
Viper wrapped his arm around Bianca’s shoulders as they stepped into the quiet street. They walked several blocks before stopping outside the front of a closed restaurant. Viper rapped his knuckles quietly against the glass window, and after a few moments a woman hurried into the area, unlocked the door, and gave Bianca a radiant smile.
“About time you two dropped by. It’s been nearly a week.” She grabbed Bianca by the hand and practically dragged her into the empty restaurant. Viper turned, locked the door, and followed the two women.
“Maya makes the best coffee in town.”
Cam didn’t really know how to respond to that, so he nodded and smiled at the woman. She was dressed casually in jeans, a sweater, and comfortable shoes, but even that couldn’t hide her delicious curves. She was tall and fit looking with generous breasts and, from this angle, what looked to be a heart-shaped ass. Despite being surrounded by near-naked women in the club, this was the woman who made his cock twitch in his pants. Her confident demeanor with Viper also suggested that she wasn’t part of the BDSM lifestyle—something else that, in Cam’s mind, was another tick on the plus side.
“Maya, this is a good friend of mine, Elijah Cameron.”
“Cam, this is my sister, Maya.” All the blood that had been quickly draining south to his cock suddenly reversed back to his brain, leaving him with a roaring headache. It didn’t matter how beautiful the woman was, friends didn’t think those sorts of things about their friends’ sisters.
Maya must’ve seen his reaction because she laughed and leaned over to smack Viper upside the head affectionately. “He’s not my brother,” she said to Cam as he watched the man laugh like a big brother teasing a younger sister. “He’s my sister’s brother-in-law. My sister married his brother. Why she’d want to marry into such a strange family is beyond me.” She grinned, threaded her arm around Cam’s elbow, and whispered conspiratorially, “But apparently love can’t be stopped.”
Cam grinned widely, enjoying her simple, platonic touch way more than he probably should. It was true that he hadn’t had a woman in his bed for a long time, but it didn’t quite explain his off-the-chart reactions to this one.
“How do you have your coffee?”
It took a moment for the words to make sense, but he finally found a part of his brain that was still working and answered, “Strong, sweet, and black.”
“SEALs,” she said affectionately with a roll of her eyes. She grinned impishly and turned to Viper. “I’ll get you your usual—decaf caramel latte with extra cream.”
Viper roared with laughter, but simply settled his big frame into a comfortable-looking sofa and pulled Bianca onto his lap. She curled into his embrace and closed her eyes. Cam watched the woman for a moment and nodded slightly in approval. It seemed that whatever was making Bianca sad, Viper wasn’t the problem.
Unsure what to do with himself, Cam lowered into a chair and tried not to wince at the familiar pain pulling at his knee. It was damned frustrating, the ache almost mocking him for the years of peak physical fitness that he’d taken for granted.
He ground his teeth together and tried to ignore the fact that he only had himself to blame for tonight’s stiffness. He’d ignored his physiotherapist’s advice once again and overdone things. If he played by the rules, his leg didn’t ache.
The trouble was he’d never been much for playing by the rules.
* * * *
Maya watched Cam try not to react to the pain in his knee. She’d recognized him as a SEAL the moment she laid eyes on him. Being raised a Navy brat and surrounded by men like him all her life made it easy to spot them. Although, she suspected by the cane that he carried and the slightly lost look in his eyes that he was no longer on the active duty roster.
She poured two black coffees, sweetened them the way both Cam and Viper liked, and carried them, and two cappuccinos with extra chocolate for her and Bianca, back into the main area of the closed restaurant.
She served the coffees and took a seat opposite Cam. It was probably a silly move—she’d vowed never to get entangled with a military man again—but she couldn’t quite keep her distance from this one. There was something intriguing about him. He called to her in ways only one man had done since her divorce.
Unfortunately, Viper had a way of reminding her exactly who that man was.
“Derek sends his regards.” Viper said the words with a knowing grin, almost as if he could see into her mind and pluck out her most intimate thoughts.
Cam’s gaze bounced between her and Viper. It was obvious he wanted to know what was between her and Derek, but Cam was polite enough to mind his own business. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for Viper.
“I still think you should drop by the club to see him.”
“Ah, no,” she said, trying not to shudder. Derek’s specialty at Viper’s Dungeon was to flog naked women with strips of leather until they screamed in orgasm. It might have been one of Maya’s secret fantasies, but that didn’t mean she wanted it to be a reality. She’d never told anyone about her curiosity, but it seemed that both Viper and Derek had noticed something about her that she’d thought she kept well hidden.
Viper gave her that assessing look that he did so well, nodded once, and then changed the subject. Fortunately, he turned the conversation to Cam’s recent discharge from the Navy SEAL teams.
Maya watched Cam grimace as the inevitable question was asked.
“So, what are you going to do now?”
“I have absolutely no idea,” he said with what seemed to be a casual, but expertly feigned, shrug. “But I guess I’ll figure that out when I get home.”
“Where’s home?” Maya asked, feeling a strange sense of loss. She’d only just met the man. It shouldn’t matter to her where he went or what he did now, but somehow she couldn’t rein in her curiosity.
“About a thousand miles from here,” he answered with another of those feigned-to-look-careless shrugs.
“When are you leaving?” Oh, crap, she did not just ask that question out loud. Did she?
“I was thinking of grabbing a hotel tonight and heading out tomorrow.”
“Don’t be silly,” Viper said casually. “Maya has a spare room upstairs.” Maya gave her not-quite brother-in-law a look that should’ve fried him on the spot, but the frustrating man just grinned unrepentantly.
“Oh, I couldn’t possibly impo—”
“Of course you can,” Viper said quietly. “Maya lives upstairs, and Derek and I have been concerned for her safety since the break-in last week.”
Maya ground her teeth together and tried not to be angry at Viper. She should have known he had something like this in mind. Derek and a couple of the other Doms from Viper’s Dungeon had dropped by several times in the last few days. She’d understood their concern, and maybe even felt relieved to know someone was looking out for her, but delivering a bodyguard to her doorstep was probably a little over the top. Especially when it seemed that it was the first poor Cam had heard of Viper’s plan also.
She glanced at his knee and knew without a shadow of a doubt that it would barely slow him down if an innocent person were threatened. He’d gladly pay later for aggravating his own injury if it meant protecting someone who needed protecting. She’d known enough good men to know that for certain.
“You don’t hav—”
But again, Viper cut off her words. “He can and he does,” Viper said without glancing at the man. When she tried once more to protest, Viper placed Bianca on the sofa and moved to stand in front of Maya.
At first she thought he was going to give her some sort of order like she was a submissive at the club, but then he seemed to think better of it and squatted down in front of her so that they were eye to eye. “Derek has barely slept in the last four days. When he’s not on duty at the precinct, or on duty at the club, he’s been parked out front of your restaurant keeping an eye on you.”
“He has?” she asked numbly. Derek was a good man, an excel
lent police officer, and from what she understood, an incredibly intuitive Dom, but nobody could function properly without sleep.
“He has,” Viper said solemnly. “Let Cam watch over you, at least for tonight, so that Derek can get a decent night’s sleep.”
Faced with an argument like that, Maya could only agree. She glanced at Cam, glad to notice that far from being annoyed at Viper for dragging him into this mess, Cam seemed almost happy. She would like to have believed that Cam was pleased to be staying the night with her—in the guest room of course—but she knew SEALs well enough to know that it was more likely the prospect of facing an enemy that painted the smile onto his face.
“Okay, I’ll just go and get linens for the guest bed. Please tell Derek that I am well protected, and for him to get a good night’s sleep.”
“Will do,” Viper said, already helping Bianca off the sofa and wrapping her coat around her. “We’ll see you in a few days.”
Bianca nodded and leaned over to give Maya a brief hug. “Thank you,” the younger woman whispered quietly. It was obvious by how tired Bianca was that she’d been worried about Maya also. She was horribly embarrassed by the fuss, but sensible enough to know that she herself would sleep much better knowing that Cam was across the hallway.
Well, with a gorgeous, available, very appealing hunk of manhood in her guest bed, “sleep better” might be stretching the truth, but she would certainly feel safer.
* * * *
Cam followed Viper and Bianca to the front door.
“Was she here when they broke in?”
Viper glanced at Bianca as if he didn’t want to tell him details with his submissive present, but must have noticed the mulish glint in Cam’s eyes. If he was going to protect the woman, he needed to know what he was protecting her from. A random break-in didn’t warrant the sort of protection Viper and Derek seemed to have been supplying.
Either there was more to the story, or Viper was playing matchmaker. Judging by the grim expression on his face, Viper wasn’t standing in for Cupid.
“Yes, she was here when they broke in,” he said quietly. “Derek said the police report says that there were seven of them, three inside, four in the lane behind the restaurant, when she took a broom handle to one of the guys who came upstairs.” Cam tried not to smile at the image of Maya swinging a broom at invaders in her home. There was no doubt she had it in her. Viper actually grinned with him, as a silent mutual appreciation for the woman’s fighting spirit passed between them.
But despite the brief levity, Cam knew there was more to the story.
Viper nodded. “Trouble is,” he continued, “she broke the leader’s nose in front of his gang members. If he’s the guy the police think he is, he’ll be coming back to teach her a lesson.”
Bianca’s sharp inhalation of breath proved that she’d known nothing about that last part.
“Does Maya know?”
Viper shook his head, pulled Bianca closer, and turned to the door. “I’ve got a couple of friends looking into it. I’ll let you know if I hear anything.”
Cam smiled at his old friend. They’d met through Cam’s swim buddy Logan many years ago. As friendships went they’d probably spent less time together than most people would consider necessary for a true friendship, but the SEAL teams attracted a certain type of personality, so it didn’t take much to build a connection each man could rely on.
“I’ll keep her safe,” Cam said as he shook Viper’s hand and then locked the door behind him and Bianca.
* * * *
Maya stared at the clean bed linens and wondered how the hell she was going to sleep when her hormones were behaving like those of a curious teenager. Physically, Cam was delicious, but it was his eyes that caught her attention over and over. Despite what had obviously been a difficult time for him, Cam had managed to smile through their conversation. Each time he’d flashed that cocky grin, the humor had reached his eyes, and she’d felt a genuine affection for the man.
Of course each time she’d gazed into those ocean-blue eyes it had taken far longer than was probably polite for her to look away. Fortunately, whatever the she was feeling, Cam seemed to be feeling it too.
It was quite strange to sense a connection so quickly, yet surprisingly she found she didn’t want to deny it.
“Can I help you with that?”
Maya nearly leapt out of her skin. She’d been so focused on her own internal thoughts that she hadn’t even heard Cam come up the stairs. Hell, that did not bode well when she was supposed to be listening for someone breaking into her restaurant again.
“Um…sure,” she said even as she shook her head. Oh, fabulous, the man was going to think she was a fruitcake. “I mean…” She trailed off as she tried to figure out what the hell she did mean.
She was honest enough with herself to realize that the physical attraction she felt toward Cam was similar to the desire she felt toward Derek. But the difference between the two men, the one thing that truly set them apart, was that Cam wasn’t a Dom. It had been obvious by his reactions to both Maya and Bianca that he was an attentive, caring, wonderful man—same as Derek—but that he wasn’t into the whole BDSM lifestyle.
It was the only way she could explain her instant and sizzling desire for a man she’d only just met.
“I…um…I…” He stood calmly waiting for her to get to the point. When she shook her head again, she was completely horrified to realize tears clouded her vision. What the fuck was wrong with her?
“Maya?” he said in a voice so deep and kind that she wanted to throw herself into his arms and cry like a baby. “It’s okay to be scared. I promise I will protect you.”
Shit. His kindness just made her want to cry harder. Fortunately her own emotions were starting to piss her off, and the anger meant she was finally able to find the internal fortitude she usually relied upon.
“I’m sorry,” she managed to say with a small hiccupping type of laugh. “I haven’t slept very well the past few nights, and my emotions are all over the place.” He just nodded and waited. Of course that’s precisely when her inherent honesty and emotional lack of control dumped her in the shit, and her mouth started talking before her brain had decided on sharing. “It’s just that I’ve been alone for a long time, and you know, I’d really like a hug about now, but the only guy I really know well enough to ask anything from is the one guy I don’t want to encourage because, you know, I’d just hurt him because he’s a Dom and I don’t have a submissive bone in my bo—”
Her words cut off when strong arms wrapped around her and pulled her into a warm embrace. She tried to protest, but he simply shushed her and held her tighter.
It was ridiculous really. She didn’t even know him. Obviously Viper trusted him or he wouldn’t have brought Cam here, but it really wasn’t appropriate to fall into the man’s arms and sigh like she’d finally found a safe haven.
Good grief. Considering how much pride she took in her ability to stand on her own two feet, it should have been a tad humiliating.
But Cam just stood there and hugged her until she finally relaxed in his arms and drew mental strength from the feeling of not being alone. “Good girl,” he whispered as she snuggled into him.
She had no idea how long they stood like that, but it finally occurred to Maya that perhaps she wasn’t the only one who’d needed a hug. Cam had lost so much of himself over the past months. Maybe he’d been feeling just as lost and just as lonely as Maya had.
“Cam?”
“Hmmm,” he said without loosening the embrace.
“Would you hold me in bed?” She felt her face heat as embarrassment overtook her. “I mean, just hold me. We don’t know each other well enough for anything else, but I just thought it might be nice to, you know, not be alone together.” And could she possibly shut her mouth before embarrassing herself even more? Apparently not, because she added, “Please.”
A deep sigh escaped him before he said, “I’d like that very much.”
“No sex,” she added as she felt her face turn scarlet.
A deep rumbling laugh went through his broad chest. “No sex,” he said in that deep voice that she was finding way too sexy. “Just two friends holding each other while we sleep.”
“Okay,” she agreed in a small, breathless voice.
* * * *
Cam held her closer and tried to convince himself that crawling into bed with this beautiful woman was just him staying close enough to protect her. He knew he was lying but didn’t really want to examine his real motives, so he ignored that annoying little voice in the back of his head.
“Go get ready for bed, sugar. I’ll just do a perimeter check—”
“You don’t nee—” Either she interpreted his stubborn look correctly, or she’d been around enough military men to know that he would do a perimeter check with or without her consent. She pressed a soft kiss to the underside of his jaw, whispered, “Thank you,” and headed out of the room.
Fifteen minutes later Cam was fairly certain that nobody would get in without making one hell of a racket. Maya had set a tray of precariously stacked glasses against the back door. If someone did manage to pry open the door quietly enough for them not to hear the noise upstairs, the movement would knock the glasses to the floor and warn them early enough to be prepared.
Cam copied her idea and set a similar alarm at the front door. He doubted that he would sleep through the slightest noise, but when it came to Maya’s safety, he wasn’t going to take any chances. A thorough check of all of the windows revealed most were for display and not capable of being opened without smashing the glass. Only the ventilation windows in the kitchen were capable of opening, and they were too small to fit even a small child through.