Monroe, Marla - The Edge of Night [The Protectors 3](Siren Publishing Classic)

by Marla Monroe

  Morgan hurried her outside where everyone was waiting. Tyler even hugged her.

  “You okay?” he asked. “What about the baby?”

  “I’m fine. So is the baby.”

  The twins nodded at her.

  “Okay, we need to find another hotel for the night and then get an early start in the morning,” Jethro said.

  “Can we go ahead and ride for a few hours tonight? I really don’t want to stay here,” Amanda said.

  Jethro looked over at Morgan. Morgan felt the same way, but wasn’t sure if it was a good idea for Amanda. She turned her face up to him with a begging expression that he couldn’t ignore.

  “Okay, we’ll ride another hour or so and find a nice place to stay up the road. First, though, we need to find a pharmacy and get something filled for her,” Morgan said.

  “Saw one around the corner from the hospital,” Justin said.

  “Amanda, I want you to ride with the twins until we get to the next town. I don’t think you should be riding the bike this soon after you fell,” Morgan told her.

  “I want to ride with you, Morgan. I’m fine. The doctor said I was fine.”

  “Regardless, if you want to ride with me tomorrow, you’re riding with the twins tonight. End of conversation.” He frowned at her when she opened her mouth again.

  He wasn’t a bit surprised when she pleaded with her eyes, then gave him a dirty look. He knew she wasn’t comfortable around them, but he felt like he was doing what was best for her and the baby. He could still see the picture of that little being inside of her. It made it more real to him that she was pregnant. Had he been fooling himself into forgetting that she was all this time?

  Jethro drove, and Justin helped Amanda up into the truck to sit between them. He looked at her through the windshield and could see the fear in her eyes. He hated seeing it, but felt like he was doing the right thing.

  They stopped at the pharmacy. He went in and got the prescription filled while everyone else waited. He took a package of peanut butter crackers and a candy bar to the truck for Amanda.

  “See that she eats something on the way.” Then he handed them each a bottled water.

  They drove for about three hours before stopping in a little town not too far from Stillwater. Had they driven another two to three hours, they would have been able to make it into Stillwater, but Morgan didn’t want to push it. He felt like Amanda needed the rest.

  They pulled off the interstate and found a hotel with vacancies. So far their luck had been holding that they could get connecting rooms with double beds. They pulled around back. Morgan was there by the truck when it was Amanda’s turn to scoot out of it. He helped her down and walked her to their room.

  “Did you eat anything?” he asked.

  “I had a package of peanut butter and crackers,” she said without looking at him.

  “Are you going to be mad at me for long?” he asked, amused.

  “I don’t know yet. I’ll let you know when I know,” She huffed and walked over to the bathroom.

  “At least she didn’t slam the door,” Tyler said with a grin.

  “She’ll get over it. She’s afraid of the twins, but I trust them with her life. I’m worried about her riding the bike right now after falling and all.”

  “It was a controlled fall, though, so I’m sure she and the baby are fine,” Tyler told him.

  “The doctor said she needs to put on some weight. She’s bordering on not being healthy. The baby is getting what it needs, but she isn’t.” Morgan sighed.

  “So, we’ll have to all feed her. Once we get to Dodge’s place, that will be easy. Plus she can rest all the time. His place is big enough for all of us.”

  “Hell, I still can’t believe that bitch left him when he came home like he did,” Morgan said with a growl.

  “He’d built that house for them and everything,” Tyler agreed.

  “No talking about her while we’re there,” Morgan reminded Tyler.

  “Not a problem here.”

  The bathroom door opened, and Amanda came out freshly showered wearing a T-shirt and panties. It was her T-shirt, so it showed more than Morgan’s would have. She climbed into bed and covered her bottom half.

  “I hate to always be complaining, but I’m hungry, Morgan,” she said.

  “You’re not the only one. How do you feel about pizza again?” he asked.

  “Sounds good to me.”

  “Her baby is going to come out looking like a pizza, Morgan. She needs some fruit too,” Tyler fussed.

  “I’ll get the twins to stop by the grocery store and grab some.”

  “Don’t go to all that trouble. When we get where we are going, I’ll get some fruit then,” Amanda said.

  Morgan just shook his head and knocked on the connecting door. Jethro opened it with just a pair of jeans on. He had obviously taken a shower.

  “How about pizza tonight?” he asked the other man.

  “Sounds good to me. We’ll go get it if you’ll call it in using our name. Justin is in the shower.” Jethro finished buttoning his button-fly jeans.

  Morgan turned and noticed that Amanda was studying the bedspread, and he grinned. “Do you mind stopping by a grocery store on the way and picking up a couple of bananas?” Morgan asked.

  “Naw, be glad to. I plan to get a couple of six-packs of beer. I think we could all use a drink tonight.”

  “Good idea.” Morgan slapped the door facing and turned to Tyler, who was already looking through the phone book.

  “I’m looking,” Tyler said when Morgan walked over and sat on the edge of the bed next to Amanda.

  “How are you holding up other than being hungry?” he asked.

  “I’m fine. My hands sting a little bit, but they should be fine by morning.” She looked up into Morgan’s face and smiled a sad little smile.

  “What is it, baby?” he asked, concerned.

  “It’s all going to be over soon, right? Your friend Dodge has something that could keep Guy from coming after me and the baby?”

  “That’s what he says. I trust him, and he always pulls through for us.” Morgan cupped her face with his hand.

  Amanda rubbed her cheek into the curve of his hand and sighed. “Now that it is almost finished, I’m not sure what I’m going to do.”

  “You still have time to think about that. You can pick a place, anywhere you want to live, and we’ll get you set up there.”

  Morgan felt a knot grow in his throat when he told her that. The idea of her choosing somewhere besides where he was hurt right then. But he wasn’t sticking around, so there was no reason even thinking about where she chose to live. Still, it weighed heavily on his mind over the next few hours.

  “Okay, I ordered five large pizzas in Jethro’s name,” Tyler said.

  “I hope one has everything but olives on it,” Amanda said with a teasing smile.

  “Of course.” He grinned at her.

  Morgan bit back a retort. Tyler was only being nice to her. He had no business jumping on him. Besides, Amanda wasn’t his property.

  When Justin and Jethro walked over, they were talking between themselves about something concerning a woman. It wasn’t about Amanda, though. He knew them. They went after a certain type of woman, one who enjoyed a threesome and a little dominance.

  “Pizza ready yet?” Jethro asked.

  “Should be by the time you get finished with the grocery shopping,” Tyler said.

  “Let’s go then,” Jethro said.

  They unlocked the door and left. Morgan relocked the safety bar and dead bolt. He figured they’d be gone about an hour. He’d watch for them.

  “Morgan?” Amanda asked.

  “Yeah, baby?”

  “Tell me a little about Dodge. You talk about him all the time, but I’d like to know more about him.”

  “Well, for a couple of years, he, Tyler, Logan, and Riley were all in the same unit I was. We worked well together. Saw a lot of action. Then we were hit wit
h an ambush, and Dodge saw this little boy who’d been running and fallen down. He ran after him and dragged him to safety and covered him with his own body. A bomb went off near them, and Dodge took a lot of shrapnel in his body. He lost part of one leg to it.”

  “The little boy?” Amanda asked.

  “Was fine. Not a scratch on him. Dodge saved his life,” Morgan said.

  “Then he’s a hero,” she said.

  “Yep, he’s a hero. But don’t say anything to him. He’s still trying to deal with it all.”

  “Okay, I won’t. Is he going to be okay with all of us descending on him like a horde?”

  “He’ll grouse about it good-naturedly, but he will enjoy the company,” Morgan assured her.

  “Hey you two, I’m going to go take a shower while we wait on the pizzas,” Tyler said and disappeared into the bathroom.

  “Tyler is nice, but a flirt,” Amanda said with a laugh.

  “He is at that. He was the one always ready to party when we got back to base. Even when we’d all had a pissy detail or mission, Tyler was ready to go dance with the ladies.” Morgan laughed. “He got us in more trouble flirting with everything in a skirt.” Morgan shook his head.

  “Do you think he’ll ever settle down?” she asked.

  “I don’t know. It’s hard to imagine someone catching his attention for longer than a few nights. I suppose it’s possible, though.”

  “What about the twins? How did you meet them?” she asked.

  “Not long after we got back to base from that clusterfuck, they reassigned me to another unit. I ended up with the twins and a few other men. We all got close as well. The twins are crazy. They will do just about anything,” Morgan told her. “They took every dangerous assignment available. Jethro was a sniper and Justin his spotter. They got into places no one else had ever been able to breach. We depended on them to keep the enemy off our back when we were in the field.”

  “They scare me. They’re so big,” Amanda whispered.

  “Baby, they would never hurt you. Women to them are precious. They’ll go to their death to protect one.”

  About that time, Tyler emerged from the bathroom in jeans, rubbing his hair with a towel.

  “Better wait a little while for the water to warm back up, Morgan.”

  “I’ll wait till after we eat.”

  Amanda’s stomach growled, and they all laughed.

  “Jethro and Justin better hurry up, or she might start looking for something else to gnaw on,” Tyler teased.

  “I’m going to call and let Dodge know what’s going on,” Morgan said. He stepped into the other room and dialed the number.

  Dodge answered on the third ring. “Where in the hell are you?”

  “About two and half hours from Stillwater. We’ve had some setbacks.”

  “What happened?” Dodge asked.

  Morgan filled him in on the ambush and Amanda’s trip to the hospital.

  “Shit, you’ve had a rough day. Sounds like she has, too. Look, when you get here, I need to talk to you alone. The others are fine, but Amanda doesn’t need to hear all the details,” Dodge told him.

  “So what you dug up is bad?” Morgan asked, a sick feeling in his stomach now.

  “Yeah. The man is sick. She’s damn lucky she got away from him when she did.”

  “What about his fiancée now? Does she need to be warned?”

  “He won’t screw up his public image. He’s too intent on getting to be mayor. I think he has an eye on an eventual seat in the Senate,” Dodge said.

  “Okay, I’ll get her settled somewhere to take a nap, and we can talk. She’s going to want to know right away what you have. Tell her you’ll tell her once you get one more confirmation. Then we can talk and decide what she needs to know,” Morgan told him.

  “Sounds good to me. Be careful. Just park anywhere when you get out here. I’ll put up Juniper so he won’t scare Amanda.”

  Juniper was Dodge’s guard dog. He could be vicious, but knew Morgan and Tyler. He wouldn’t know the twins, though, or Amanda.

  “Good thinking. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Morgan hung up.

  There was a knock at the door in the other room. He walked in as Tyler looked outside the door.

  “Pizza is here.” He unlocked the door and opened it wide for the twins to walk in with their load.

  “Hold the door,” Justin said. “I’ve got one more load.”

  Morgan held the door while Justin brought in a small paper bag and handed it to Amanda. “Fruit and some milk,” he said.

  She looked up at him and smiled slightly. “Thanks, I appreciate it.”

  Justin just shrugged and headed toward the pizza.

  “Amanda, what do you want before they scarf it all down?” Tyler asked her.

  “Everything but olives,” she called out. Tyler brought her two big slices and a napkin.

  Morgan watched and smiled. She had warmed up to everyone fairly well over the last few days. She was still wary around the twins, but he figured that was for the best. He didn’t need anyone else competing for her. He stopped and cursed himself. He was not sticking around. He looked over at her eating the pizza. She licked some sauce from her upper lip, and he groaned. He was such a fool.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Later that night, after everything had been cleaned up, Amanda borrowed the bathroom before Morgan took his shower. When she returned she looked like she’d washed her face, due to the healthy glow. He climbed into the shower next and hurried through it, anxious to return to the room. He wanted to hold Amanda before she drifted off to sleep. It was one of the times in the evening he loved best.

  He found her and Tyler laughing and talking about some of the things they’d gotten into during their days in the army. Morgan winced when he heard what they were talking about at the time. Evidently nothing was sacred with Tyler.

  “You’re kidding!” Amanda said with an astonished look on her face. “He really did that?” She turned to Morgan. “You actually screwed some woman in a tree?”

  “Um, that’s really not a good thing to be talking about right after dinner, Tyler,” he said.

  “I’m learning all sorts of things about you, Morgan,” Amanda said with a smirk.

  “Perhaps I should tell you about Tyler and how he likes to—”

  “That’s enough, Morgan. I didn’t share anything like that.” Tyler frowned.

  Morgan chuckled and ruffled Amanda’s hair. He sat next to her on the bed and wrapped her in his arms. She snuggled into him and leaned her head back against his shoulder. All he could think about looking down at her was licking her breasts, sucking on those elongated nipples.

  He ran a hand over her breasts through the material of her T-shirt. Her nipples poked up. He nosed aside her hair and licked at her neck. She tasted like sunshine to him. When he ran his hands beneath her T-shirt and latched on to her nipples, she moaned and thrust them further into his hands. He took his time and plucked at them before rolling them between his thumb and forefinger. His mouth watered for a taste of them.

  “I’ve got to have you, Amanda. I almost lost you today.”

  Morgan pulled her shirt over her head and tossed it to the floor. He leaned her back to the bed, then kissed his way from her neck to her nipples. The sight of her breasts, large and firm, plump and entirely edible, hardened his cock to the point of pain. He bent over her and drew one long nipple into his mouth to suck. He mounded the other breast with his hand, then switched nipples to give the other one the same sucking treatment.

  “Fuck, you’re so hot. I could love on your breasts all night.”

  Morgan moved down her body to her rounded tummy and paused there. Morgan hesitated to touch her there. Finally he laid his lips across her stomach and moved further down to where her panties covered the bare mound he wanted to taste. He slid his fingers inside the waistband and drew them down her legs, leaving them dangling at her ankles. He didn’t want to leave her mound long enough to pull them off. He
didn’t have to worry about it. Tyler was there and slipped them free of her feet.

  Amanda looked down to the end of the bed, where Tyler knelt shirtless, watching as Morgan sipped at her mound. She looked back at Morgan, holding his gaze with hers.

  “He doesn’t touch, Amanda. You know that,” Morgan said. “He only wants to watch.”

  “I know.”

  Morgan nodded at Tyler. The other man stood up and slipped out of his boxers and climbed up on the other side of the bed.

  “You’re so fucking beautiful, Amanda,” Tyler said.

  Morgan eased to the foot of the bed and spread her legs with his wide shoulders. One of her legs touched Tyler’s. He felt her freeze for a few seconds before she relaxed again. He eased between her legs and latched on to her pussy with the enthusiasm of a starved man. The taste of her exploded on his tongue as he licked her pussy lips, then sucked them into his mouth. There wasn’t another taste like her in the world, all spice and honey dripping from her hot cunt just for him.

  He looked up the long line of her body to see her moving her head back and forth, moaning and mewing as he teased her pussy with his tongue. She grasped the sheets with her hands, pulling on them as he latched on to her clit and sucked on it.

  Tyler was tugging on his dick, watching him pleasure her with his mouth. He could tell it spurred Amanda on because when she looked in his direction, she’d gasp and roll her eyes back, moaning with each thrust of his tongue. Once again he sucked on her clit, until this time she shoved her hand in her mouth and cried out around it. He quickly climbed up her body and positioned his cock at her opening

  He started to enter her, then looked over at Tyler and saw him watching intently as he slowly pumped his cock with one hand. His other hand rolled his balls. Morgan lifted her right leg over his arm and plunged forward into her hot cunt.

  “Fuck yeah,” Tyler groaned.

  Morgan had given him a better view of him taking Amanda’s sweet pussy. He slowly pushed in and pulled out, over and over, until she was bucking, trying to speed him up. He smiled and deliberately stopped moving.

  Amanda growled and, reaching up, grabbed his nipples and tugged.

  “Fuck!” He chuckled around the pain. “Okay. All you had to do was ask.”