“I know what reading is,” Kel retorted.
“Ah, I was starting to wonder, what with the body-builder muscles and the gun shooting and the action movie stunt driving. I didn’t think you could have time for any hobbies at all.”
“I have hobbies. Many hobbies that involve… scholarly pursuits of sorts,” Kel teased. “Need I remind you about judging books by their covers?”
Sofia giggled and moved closer, her body nestled right up next to his. The thought of being so lucky to have someone he could snuggle like this any day of the week, year in and year out, almost broke him.
Even if this were just a temporary thing, Kel vowed he’d start looking for the real thing after this job was done.
Besides, clients snuggled together to keep warm and told jokes in abandoned houses in the middle of nowhere at night, right?
“Thank you,” Sofia said out of nowhere.
“Don’t mention it,” Kel replied, reaching down and tossing another log onto the fire before bringing his arm back around her.
“No, I mean for saving my life. I didn’t thank you properly earlier.”
“Ah… well, you’re welcome…? Or, er, your wish is my command…?” Kel said awkwardly, caught off guard by the remark. Nobody had ever thanked him for saving their life. They just paid him what he was owed, maybe with a bonus if they were extra “grateful.”
Somehow, this woman’s sincere words meant more than all the money he’d ever accumulated in all his years.
“I’m sorry I didn’t say something earlier in regard to what you said,” she said.
“About what?”
“About being different. I don’t think you’re different. I think you’re pretty amazing, Kel,” Sofia said, taking his arms and wrapping them a little closer around herself like a pillow. Everywhere she was he could feel the softness of her body hidden beneath blankets, tantalizing him.
“Ha-ha, well, tell that to my family.”
“What are they like? Are they mean?” she queried.
“Not at all. I just mean they’d get a kick out of hearing it from someone else for the first time, since I never believed them. And with the kind of childhood the three of us had, it’s anyone’s guess how we all came out in one piece.”
“What was your past like?” she asked sincerely, turning a little and looking up at him. Her beautiful dark-brown eyes glimmered with orange and yellow, reflecting the firelight next to them.
Kel pondered for a moment if he wanted to talk about personal things with her. Sharing stories and unspecific details about his previous missions was one thing, but the past and his family were altogether different subjects that he rarely, if ever, broached with clients.
He was certain this client was worth it, though. At least his tiger seemed to think so.
And that was the first lesson childhood had taught him.
Always listen to your tiger.
4
The night was certainly going in a direction Sofia had never anticipated.
And she liked it.
At first she was just glad to not be freezing anymore. Between living in temperate, tropical environments for almost a decade and being a jaguar made to live in similarly warm surroundings, Sofia didn’t know how she was going to make it through the night. But with Kel so close, she’d warmed right up.
And then she’d warmed up in a different way. A new kind of heat that was foreign but exciting.
“I don’t know why you would care about my past,” Kel said.
“You strike me as the type of person who comes from an interesting background,” she said. “Plus, it’s a good way to start getting to know someone.” She loved the way his strong arms came around her, but she didn’t feel the weight of them on her at all, despite the strong, corded muscles that ran their entire length. It made her feel safe, perhaps for the first time in a very, very long time.
Kel gave a little huff, threw another log on the fire, and started. “First off, how much do you know about dragons?” he asked.
Sofia had heard of their existence. Most shifters knew enough to at least fear them, but from what she’d heard from her parents, they weren’t to be trifled with, and you just prayed you never met one in your lifetime.
“A little. Just that they exist.”
“Good. So tigers, as it’s understood, were created to serve dragons as the enforcers of the shifter world. Dragons, of course, take care of all the really big picture stuff, but as things got worse and worse over the years, we were developed to work for them and help carry out their mission of keeping things in line and protecting the knowledge of the existence of shifters from humankind.”
“Sounds pretty harsh, being bred for such a purpose.”
“Well, it makes sense. As cats, we can’t be detected by any other kinds of shifters except other felines. And as tigers, we have the strength of a bear, the speed of a wolf, and the stealth of a cat.”
“So basically a perfect killing machine?” The thought was unnerving. Yet, knowing Kel, she knew she had nothing at all to fear.
“Exactly. But we didn’t know that growing up. My brothers and I never met our father or our biological mother. For all we know, they just donated genetic material and left. We were raised by a wolf shifter mother, and all of us just called her Mom. She’s the closest we had. I was probably closest to her, though. For a good number of years anyway,” Kel said, his voice sounding far off, the memory of distant things in his tone.
“What happened?”
“She died from a disease that afflicts wolf females. At that point, Carter, the oldest, was just old enough to get a job. So he and my other brother Jace took whatever work they could so we could stand on our own. The last thing we wanted was to be separated by the foster system.”
Despite having lost her own parents, Sofia couldn’t think of a worse scenario. Never knowing your real parents and then losing the only person that had cared for you like a real one should.
“So how did you guys survive?” she asked.
“It was actually a few months later when the three of us were approached by some mysterious guys who asked us if we wanted to start a new life. A life free from hunger and a life with purpose.”
“Who was it?”
“Dragons. Apparently, we’d been created to serve them this whole time and we didn’t even know it. So they took us in, fed us, clothed us. And then they trained us.”
Sofia didn’t respond, just listened intently.
“They taught us to do everything. Track a wolf in a snowstorm. Take down a bear bigger than a car. Identify a cougar’s scent from a mile away. Tactics for one-on-one fighting and training to survive in the wilderness for weeks or even months.”
“Sounds like shifter special forces.”
“Something like that,” Kel said, grinning.
“So what are you doing in the private sector?”
“That’s the thing. For the first time in our lives, we felt like we had a purpose. A reason for existing. Some might call that stupid, thinking violence is a purpose. But when shifters die every day because brother turns upon brother, clan upon clan, it was good to know we were fighting for the good guys. Working for a cause that focused on the preservation of shifter-kind and bringing justice to those that disturbed the peace.”
Sofia could feel the tension in Kel’s body, his fists clenching slightly. She held his gigantic hands in hers and ran a thumb over it instinctively.
“So Carter and Jace were both employed by the dragons who brought us in, one as a bounty hunter and another as a policeman working undercover amongst humans. Both serving the same purpose but in different ways.”
“But you don’t work for the dragons, though?”
“I had hoped I would. More than Carter and Jace combined, I wanted to get out into the world and prove my worth. For years, I’d been the younger one, the one that needed to be taken care of. And because of the way I look, I got a lot of crap in school and from kids on the block. Sometimes even pa
rents. Being brought in by the dragons was like a wish come true. That was until I turned eighteen. Then it was ‘Sorry, we don’t think we can use your services. You’re free to go. Have a nice life,’ out of nowhere.”
“What do you mean? So after all that time, they didn’t want you?”
“I think they just kept me there after my brothers had left out of obligation. But with my size and the way I look, I don’t imagine the dragons ever planned to utilize my skills.”
“How could they do that?”
“You’d be surprised what living for hundreds of years does to a person. Sometimes you get so focused on the big picture that the people below you end up just being pawns. But maybe that’s just me being bitter. I don’t fault them for it, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
Sofia got the feeling Kel didn’t share this with just anyone. And despite his calm demeanor, there was probably a lot of pain he’d kept locked inside over the years.
Sofia knew something about that.
“So you were turned away just because you look different?”
“An understatement, but yes. They needed people that could blend in. People like my brothers who, though much larger than the average human, don’t look like pale giants. I mean, let’s be honest. I don’t fit in,” he said with a chuckle, sounding more like his normal self.
Sofia didn’t know if she should laugh with him or not, so she just stayed attentive.
“So how did you get into being a bodyguard, then?” she asked, not wanting to keep Kel on a subject that didn’t seem to have the best memories for him at all.
“I was walking past a club one night when some rich dude going in asked me if I wanted to make a few bucks and be in his entourage. I said yes, and it just so happened that was the night someone tried shooting him. I saved his life. Word spread. I got more offers. The rest is basically history,” he said casually.
“And now you’re a paid blanket?” Sofia joked, feeling deliciously cozy with his hands around her and the comforter-like warmth he surrounded her with.
At that, Kel laughed, a deep sound that resonated from his chest and filled the house. It was the first time she’d heard it, and it made her wonder how often he did it.
“Yes, the best damn blanket in the business, at least for you. But don’t go giving any referrals. I don’t want my other clients to think I’ve gone soft,” he joked.
Sofia groaned at the pun but laughed with him as they snuggled together. The fire crackled next to them and outside a strong wind blew against the house. But so long as Kel was here with her, Sofia felt like she had nothing to fear.
“So now that all my deep, dark secrets are out for the most part, what about you? What things are you hiding from me?” he said, leaning down and whispering into her ear.
Sofia tried to think, but she couldn’t hear her own thoughts over the pounding of her heart. The longer they were together like this, the more her body responded to his. His muscles felt like heaven and his arms were like home.
The jaguar in her was growling for more of something she’d never known she wanted. An experience so new that the very idea of it tantalized her.
For some reason, Kel being willing to share all of that with her made her feel special, unique. Made her feel trusted by this huge, overprotective man, and in turn, she felt she could trust him. Like she could trust him more than anyone she’d ever met since her parents’ death.
And somehow, it unlocked something inside her. Perhaps it was naivety. Perhaps it was just sexual inexperience mixed with the fact that he had saved her life. But for years the animal inside her had turned away advances from other men, warning her and keeping her from harm. But right now, the closer Kel got, the more it purred with satisfaction and nudged her toward him.
The only question was did he feel at all the same way about her.
As she was stuck in her own head, trying to figure things out, she robotically ran her fingers up and down the length of Kel’s arm wrapped around her, enjoying the feel of soft skin over hard muscle.
She was brought out of her reverie by Kel’s body shivering and tensing abruptly around her.
“Hey, stop that. It tickles,” he said.
“Doing what?” Sofia asked, her imagination full of ideas suddenly interrupted.
“That thing you’re doing.”
“Does it bother you?”
“No, it’s just sensitive.”
The thought that such a huge man could be even a little ticklish made Sofia smile.
Then the thought of his powerful hands on her flashed in her mind, giving her an altogether different feeling.
What she wouldn’t give to have that.
“So you’re saying if I do this,” she said, raking her nails along his forearm lightly, “it tickles?”
Kel shivered again and wrapped his arms more tightly around her. “Yes. No. It’s hard to explain. I warn you, though, that’s two strikes. Three and there will be consequences,” he said playfully.
Sofia wanted to know what those consequences entailed.
She looked over her shoulder up at Kel, who glared at her in mock offense with a raised eyebrow. She extended the claws on one of her hands to fine razor tips and held it over his forearm. His eyebrow rose higher, and he shook his head in a playful warning.
Then, with a motion so light it was like the brush of a feather, she stroked her nails down his forearm again, feeling the contour of each muscle as she passed down it.
Kel laughed and threw his head back. Somehow, seeing him lose control like that was intoxicating in its own way. A huge, powerful, competent man with a weakness like that, which only she knew about.
“Consequences!” he exclaimed as his fingers instantly found their way to her sides beneath the layers of coat and blankets, tickling her.
Instantly, she lost all control, her body contorting beneath his touch.
“Ha-ha, no, stop, ha-ha-ha,” she tried to blurt out as she tried to escape his grip. But his hands were unrelenting and inescapable.
Dammit, when did she become so ticklish, too?
It had been a long time since she’d let anyone anyone get this close to her, let alone touch her.
Yet, with Kel, it all felt okay. Even right, somehow.
Sofia pitched forward onto the other side of the couch and onto her back, hoping to escape him for a moment. But he followed, coming on top of her, his fingers still finding her most sensitive spots immediately. But as much as she struggled, she couldn’t escape.
“Have you learned your lesson?” he asked, smiling above her as he continued his barrage.
“Yes. Truce,” she said between laughs.
At that, the tickling ended, leaving her gasping for air and endorphins rushing through her body. Without the sensation, though, she became acutely aware of his body above her, straddling her on the couch. She could feel his muscled thighs against her sides, could see the definition of his pecs beneath the shirt he wore, could smell his exotic scent as it mixed with the smell of oak wood and embers in the living room.
She was warmer now than she’d ever been, her entire body burning with desire.
Kel leaned over her, coming close to her face and propping himself up on his thick arms, surrounding her everywhere.
“If we’re going to work together, Sofia, we’re going to have to set some ground rules,” he said, his breath faster than normal, too, and the slightest hint of a smile pulling at his lips. At this distance, she could make out the details of his face perfectly. His light-blue eyes caught the reflection of the fire next to them, appearing like a flame dancing on water. His lips were contoured against his light skin, begging to be kissed.
What was going on?
And what could she do to keep it from stopping?
“Like what?” she asked, teasing him closer.
“Well… you, for one, are going to have to stop looking at me like that,” he said, his grin widening as he moved just a hair closer. They couldn’t be more than a fo
ot apart, and she could feel the warmth radiating off him and the light brush of his breath over her, enticing her.
“And what if I don’t?” she asked. She could almost taste him, her mind running wild with erotic thoughts.
“Consequences,” he said, his gaze trailing down her body and back up to hers. It was like the air was full of electricity, running over her skin and coursing between them, magnetic and pulling her closer and closer.
“Like what?” she challenged, her heart racing.
“I don’t know,” he said, hesitating above her, teasing her.
“Show me what you had in mind,” she prompted, her lungs barely able to contain enough oxygen to speak, her body so tense.
Sofia could feel the conflict between what he wanted and what he knew he should do. As a professional, she could understand the quandary, his desire in direct opposition to his duty.
But Sofia was a grown woman. She could make her own decisions. And if today had taught her nothing else, it had shown her life was too short to allow her to let other people make decisions for her. So what if this wasn’t long term? So what if it broke her heart? Better to have lived and felt pain than live safely and feel nothing at all.
For too long, she’d been doing that.
Somehow, this man made her want to feel alive again.
Before Kel could respond, Sofia brought one hand behind his impossibly thick neck and pulled herself up to him, taking his lips in a long kiss that ignited a bonfire of emotion and sensation inside her.
Show me how to feel again, Kel.
5
Kel felt heated desire wash through him as Sofia’s lips met his in a surprise kiss that caught him completely off guard. They were soft and full against his, and though it was pretty obvious she wasn’t the most experienced kisser, she made up for it in pure, unadulterated energy.
Kissing her was even better than he’d imagined, a thought that had been running through his mind every other second for the past hour.
But then whenever his mind became set on showing her all the pleasure he wanted to give her, he remembered he was a hired gun. That he had a duty to fulfill, not only to his employer, but more importantly, to her.
A Tiger's Destiny (Tiger Protectors Book 3) Page 4