Her Devoted HERO (Black Dawn Book 2)

by Caitlyn O'Leary

“And?” she asked.

  “He kept pinging you, but they really started coming in hot and heavy from every profile four months ago.”

  “So right before the first murder.”

  He nodded. He saw her beautiful eyes fill with tears.

  “And Jean? Jean was murdered after I took my profile down.”

  Fuck, she put that together too. He didn’t want too, but he nodded.

  Tears slipped down her face.

  “Warren, we’re done.” He pressed end on the phone. Warren was saying something, but he didn’t care. Kenna was what mattered.

  He tugged her into his arms. “Baby, don’t do this. This isn’t your fault.”

  “I should have been paying attention. I should have done what you did. If I had responded and said I wasn’t interested, then he wouldn’t have gotten upset.”

  They were on the first floor of the house, Penny was in the living room, and Austin was in the den playing video games. He grabbed Kenna’s hand. “Come with me, Baby. We need to talk in private.”

  “Oh God, Austin could have come in during this conversation.”

  “He didn’t. It’s all good.”

  He drew her out of the kitchen. When they walked past Penny in the living room, she looked up from her Kindle. She looked at her daughter, and then at Dex.

  “You got this?” she asked him.

  “Yes.”

  It said a whole hell of a lot about Kenna’s state of mind that she didn’t tear into either of them. She just docilely followed Dex up the stairs.

  ***

  “You make your bed,” Kenna noted absently as she swiped at her eyes.

  “Sit down.” He positioned her on the bed, then crouched in front of her.

  She looked into his worried brown eyes. “I’m all right. Really, I am. I won’t clean even.” She looked past him to the window. If she didn’t clean, and she didn’t go to work, what was she going to do?

  “Kenna―”

  “Nope. I’m fine. Nothing to worry about.” She looked past him to the window. There was bird shit on the screen. It needed cleaning. She turned back to Dex, “I just don’t get it, ya know? I didn’t do anything different than a lot of other women. I thought it was okay. Did I really do something that bad?”

  “Baby, no.”

  “But I must have. I should never have set up a profile, and if I did, I should have...” Her shoulders slumped. She didn’t know what. It was beyond her. An image of Jean in green corduroy jeans and a gold sweater, having a beer in her backyard. She’d been laughing.

  “Baby, you need to stop crying.”

  What was he saying?

  Another time, Jean had been at the hospital crying because a young father had died from injuries sustained in a car wreck. Kenna preferred the laughing Jean, but she’d probably been crying when she died...or screaming.

  “Do you think she screamed? Did he make Jean scream?” she asked Dex.

  “Don’t do this to yourself,” he said hoarsely.

  “You’re right, he didn’t make her scream, I made her scream. It was because of me.” Pretty, laughing Jean. She got her killed. Murdered. Tortured. All because she hadn’t been nice to a man. It made no sense, it hurt her heart, it hurt her head. She gasped out a wrenching sob.

  “I have you.” And he did. She fell forward into Dex’s arms.

  She clutched his shoulders and let a river of pain drown his shirt, his neck. He said nonsense things. Things that she couldn’t hear or comprehend, but they made her feel better. He finally eased her back up on the bed. She hiccupped.

  “Wait here.” He got up and got her a mound of tissue. She sobbed and mopped and blew and then was able to breathe in a steady breath.

  Dex rested his hands on her thighs. “Feeling better?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Can I talk you out of believing this isn’t your fault?”

  She shook her head; her hair went flying. He tamed it back and cupped her cheeks. His brown eyes were intense.

  “Okay, then I need you to talk yourself out of believing it wasn’t your fault. Close your eyes.”

  She looked at him confused.

  “Baby, just do it. Close your eyes. Trust me.”

  Slowly she did. Jean smiled gently at her, then was gone. Her eyes shot open.

  “Close them, Baby. I want to do an exercise.”

  “Okay,” she said slowly. In her mind, she said good-bye to Jean, then closed her eyes.

  “Hold Austin’s hands, can you do that? He’s crying.” Kenna cringed. But she pictured it. “Ten years from now the exact thing that is happening in your life is happening in his. He decided to meet someone and join a dating site. Other men are getting killed by some unknown female, and he knows he’s to blame. He knows it Kenna, and he’s inconsolable.”

  She opened her eyes.

  His hand brushed over her lids. “Keep them closed,” he whispered gently. “He’s a target, Kenna. Austin is a target of this madwoman, but he thinks it’s his fault. He thinks the men who died should hate him. And Austin is a victim. Can you help him let it go? Can you help him past that bullshit in his head?”

  She tilted her head upwards and opened her eyes, avoiding Dex’s gaze.

  Dex was right. It would kill her if Austin were taking on that burden. Was she really going to go through the bullshit of thinking this was her fault? Really? Could she be responsible for some maniac? She tilted her head back down to Dex.

  “Yep, I’m done. This isn’t my fault.”

  “Just like that, huh?”

  “Just like that,” she concurred. His eyes were sparkling. “Because you’re just that good Mr. Evans. Goddamn, fucking, dammit, this is not my fault!”

  “Nope.”

  She threw her arms around his neck and took a deep breath. “Okay, okay, okay. I’m putting that thinking to bed. It serves no purpose.”

  She felt Dex’s shoulders shake.

  “Are you laughing?” she demanded. He couldn’t possibly be laughing at a time like this.

  “Damn right, I’m laughing. You fucking amaze me. I’m so proud of you.”

  “Oh.” She sniffed. “Well, okay then.”

  She sat back on the bed and looked into his dancing brown eyes. Well, she might amaze him, but still.

  “About me being amazing. You like it when I’m a straight shooter, right?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Good. Since you’ve brought up Austin, now I need to. I’ve got a problem. I need your help.”

  “I’ll do whatever I can, you know that.”

  Could he be any more wonderful? She took a deep breath. “Austin has gotten it into his head that I’m someone special to you. Can you please set him straight?”

  “Huh?” Dex looked totally confused.

  “I know, right? Can you explain how things really are? Tell him that we’re just... I don’t know what, but that it’s not a big relationship thing?”

  Dex’s eyes got dark. “What the hell are you talking about, Poppy?”

  “Don’t call me that.” She twisted, trying to get off the bed. He pushed down on her thighs, keeping her in place.

  “Okay, Kenna, then. Explain to me what you mean that we aren’t in a big relationship thing because it sure feels like a big deal to me.”

  She was talking before he even finished. “Look Dex. I know you’re doing the Navy SEAL protector thing, men like you can’t help it. You’re honorable. I get that. But you haven’t exactly been chomping at the bit to get back in my bed.”

  “Haven’t been chomping at the bit?” He shook his head. Slowly he stood up from his crouch and planted his hands on either side of her. She had to lean back to look in his face. His smile was blatantly sexy and amused. “You’ve really got yourself tied up in one interesting knot Poppy.”

  “Don’t call me that!” She shoved at his shoulders, but he didn’t move an inch.

  “Kenna, you were a trembling mass of nerves after that video was sent. Then you went on a cleaning spr
ee. I thought you wanted space.” His eyes softened.

  “I thought.” She bit her lip. She was never in a million years going to tell him what she thought.

  “What? What did you think?” he asked softly, kindly.

  Fuck, she’d gotten it all wrong.

  Time to save face.

  “Just kiss me.”

  “Poppy, you can trust me. Tell me what you thought.”

  She smiled brightly, hoping to change the subject. “It’s nothing, just old tapes.”

  In a maneuver she couldn’t begin to comprehend, he was sitting on the bed, and she was in his lap. “It’s that fucker of an ex-husband, isn’t it. Don’t listen to him. Get him out of your head.” He pushed back her hair, his mouth hovered over hers. She could taste the mint of his breath. “You absolutely do it for me. Everything about you does it for me. Your smile, your eyes, the fire you constantly spit at me. Kenna Leigh, we have your son and your mom as chaperones, I’ve been trying to respect that. But fuck that shit.”

  He went in for the kill. His mouth didn’t slam, didn’t plunder, he feathered a kiss so sweet, so tender, she melted. Tears pricked the back of her eyes as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Even the night they spent together couldn’t match the love she felt pouring from him. That couldn’t be right.

  He lifted his head. “Are you getting it?”

  “Huh?”

  “I love you. I pray to God that you love me a little bit back.”

  Was he for real?

  “Kenna, are you going to leave me hanging?”

  She hit his shoulder. “Oh for God’s sake. You know I’m in love with you,” she spit out.

  He burst out laughing. “I had an idea.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” she demanded.

  “I thought you had an idea,” he teased. “I didn’t know you got twisted in your head.” He brushed a kiss on the corner of her mouth. “But seriously, I thought that with everything that had gone on with the video and moving in here you didn’t need to be pushed. I’m sorry, Baby.”

  “Dammit, Dex, if I’d wanted space, I would have said so. Don’t just change on me. It freaks me out. I don’t know to react. Don’t do it again,” she groused.

  Her scowl turned into a glare when she saw him bite the inside of his lip. “Are you laughing?”

  “Nope,” he said with a laugh.

  “Dammit!”

  He tumbled her back onto the bed. His hands were underneath her sweater, and she began to writhe as he touched her waist, her ribs, her breasts.

  “Is the door locked?” she asked breathlessly.

  “Yep.” He peeled the soft cotton over her head and stared at the swell of her breasts. Need suffused her body. She loved the heated look in his eyes. He made her feel beautiful.

  “Shirt. Off.”

  “Demanding wench.”

  For a just a moment she worried, then she saw his approval, and she grinned. “Yes, I am. Now take off that shirt, I want to see you.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  ***

  He’d seen that flicker of worry, and he was determined that he was going to squelch it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow. But soon this woman he loved would know that she was perfect the way she was. She’d know that there wasn’t a move she could make that was wrong to his way of thinking.

  He pulled off his shirt. He loved the desire shining in her eyes. Her hand fluttered upward, not quite touching. He grabbed it and placed it over his heart. “I want your hands all over me,” he assured her.

  “Honey, that wasn’t reluctance. That was me trying to figure out where to start. You’re a banquet for the senses. I was overwhelmed.”

  “God, do I understand that,” he said in a hoarse voice. “You’re exquisite.”

  Hands greedily slid over each other’s bodies, and he soon had her naked.

  “Not fair,” she breathed. “Why do you still have your jeans on?”

  “Because it’ll be over too fast.”

  “I want fast. I need hard, fast and wild.”

  Dex shuddered at the pictures her words painted in his head. “No, Baby, we’re going for slow strokes and sweet, tender lovemaking.”

  “I’m still voting for hard,” she said as she cupped his cock through his jeans.

  He burst out laughing. “Yes, I think I can guarantee you’ll still be getting hard.”

  She arched up and gave him a hot, lush and wet kiss that made his head spin. His hand swept downwards, loving the warm, lavish contours of her body. He pushed apart her thighs needing the very heart of her. He touched her.

  “You’re perfect. So ready for me.”

  He tested her depths, and she arched against his fingers, gasping.

  Dex gritted his teeth. Could he go slow? He was damned well going to try. His lips skimmed across her breast, and then his tongue softly caressed her nipple.

  “No,” she breathed out.

  His head raised up to look at her.

  “What, Baby?”

  “I don’t need tender and slow.”

  There had never been anyone who needed and deserved slow and tender more, not that he was going to tell her that. Show her, definitely. Tell her, not a chance in hell.

  “I need it,” he said. He rubbed the bristles of his beard against her tummy, and she mewled with pleasure. She clutched his hair. So damned responsive, she made him feel like a god. Touching, seeing and hearing her responses aroused him, but it was knowing that they had a heart connection that kicked him in the gut.

  He stroked her thighs further apart, intent on pleasuring her even more. She pulled his hair. Hard. He lifted his head to look at blazing green, gray eyes.

  “No! I want to taste you this time.”

  He grinned.

  “We’ll get there.”

  “Now!”

  He pulled her fists out of his hair, thankful he kept it military short. Keeping hold of her wrists with one hand, he grabbed her ass with his other, then dipped down and licked.

  “Dex,” she panted. “You don’t fight fair.”

  No, he didn’t. He savored and teased. She trembled. He brought his fingers into play and smiled against her flesh as she gasped and called his name. Then he felt those first flutters that turned to convulsions. Her warmth cascaded down, and he reveled in it.

  Before she had a chance to catch her breath, he stripped off his jeans and grabbed a condom. Her eyes drifted open. “Hey, it was my turn to taste,” she protested.

  “Tonight,” he said softly as he nuzzled her neck.

  “Promise?” Her hands were guiding him inwards.

  “I’d promise you anything if you keep doing what you’re doing.”

  Her long legs wrapped around him, her heels digging into his ass.

  “Harder.”

  “I told you how it was going to be.” He smiled down at her as he pushed in slowly. She clasped him close, and it was heaven. Watching her smile was almost as good as the feel of her tight heat. Almost.

  He surged high and gave an internal roar of satisfaction when she moaned deeply. Oh yeah, he’d found the right spot. Again, and again he made sure he stroked that hidden point. And then he grinned with joy as he had to hold her tightly when she came apart in his arms, and he followed her. Nothing, absolutely nothing, had ever been better than making love with Kenna Leigh.

  Chapter Twelve

  Kenna now knew that Hunter Diaz liked peanut butter cookies. Wyatt Leeds was a madman when it came to Grand Theft Auto. Dalton Sullivan had read almost all of the books she had, and he even admitted to liking one of her favorite romance authors. Griffin Porter had the cutest baby girl she had ever seen pictures of, and he loved his wife beyond reason. But this morning she had a problem that she needed to discuss with Dex before he left.

  She knocked on his bedroom door. She did not sleep in Dex’s room at night. She would go to him after she thought that Austin was asleep, they would make long glorious love, then she would go back to her room to sleep. He
r son could probably handle it if she said she and Dex were lovers, but she didn’t think she could handle having such a conversation. She would probably have a heart attack.

  “Yo! Come in.”

  She went in. He was pulling on his shirt. Thank God it was her, thinking of heart attacks, her mother would have had one on the spot if she’d seen him shirtless. Of course, she would have died with a smile.

  Dex came over and pulled her into his arms and kissed her.

  “Good morning.” He smiled.

  “Morning.” She bit her lip.

  “Uh-oh. What’s up.”

  “It’s Austin. Okay, it’s me too. It’s Mom. It’s all of us. Get us the hell out of here. We need out. But Austin’s the worst. He’s snapping, and grousing, and complaining about things that he would never complain about. Never in a million years. He complained about the macaroni and cheese. He said it was too cheesy, for God’s sake.”

  Dex laughed.

  She grabbed his cheeks. “This is not a laughing matter.”

  “Kids complain.”

  “I’m asking too much of my kid. He knows why we’re holed up here. He knows there’s somebody out to get me, and he’s feeling emasculated about the whole deal. He can’t see his friends, he can’t go to school, and he’s letting down the wrestling team. His words, not mine. I feel like I’m going to explode because I’ve been cooped up here, it’s got to be ten times worse on him.”

  Dex pulled her hands away and kissed the insides of her wrists. “You’re absolutely right, Kenna. I should have thought of that.”

  “No, you shouldn’t have, it’s not your place. I’m his mother.”

  Dex searched her face. “I should have thought of that. Are you getting me?”

  “Um, no.”

  Dex sighed. “Kenna, I want to be allowed to think of that. I want to be allowed...by you...to worry about your son.”

  Shit, she hated the emotional baggage she carried around.

  “Dex, you’re going to have to spell this out for me.”

  “Kenna, before we can move forward in this relationship. I have to know if you trust me with your son. This can’t work unless you will allow me to partner with you in his care and well-being.”

  Her legs trembled. He caught her around the waist. “We matter that much to you?”