Love Under Protection
Copyright © 2020 by Aubree Valentine
All rights reserved.
All rights reserved worldwide.
No part of this book may be reproduced, copied or transmitted in any medium, whether electronic, internet or otherwise, without the expressed permission of the author. This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, locations, and names occurring in this book are the product of the author’s imagination or are the property of their respective owners and are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual events, locations, or persons (living or dead), is entirely coincidental and not intended by the author. All trademarks and trade names are used in a fictitious manner and are in no way endorsed by or an endorsement of their respective owners.
Contains sexual situations, violence, sensitive and offensive language and mature topics.
Recommended for age 18 years and up.
Images © DepositPhotos – mandritoiu & kiuikson
Cover Design © Designed with Grace
Published by Aubree Valentine (www.authoraubreevalentine.org)
Editing – Jenny Dillion
Proofreading – JL Anderson
Series Management & PR by Forever Write PR, LLC
Contents
Love Under Protection
Playlist
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Epilogue
Love By Design - Book #16
The 425 Madison Series
Also by Aubree Valentine
Stay Connected
Acknowledgments
About the Author
To Jackie and LouAnn, for always jumping in with honest feedback – even at the last minute.
And for always showing love and support for the fictional worlds I create.
Love Under Protection
HARLEY
My best friend asked me to be his best man at his destination wedding.
With a demanding and stressful job with NYPD, life for me was all work and no play, but a week-long trip to Hawaii to celebrate Jameson's nuptials sounds like the perfect excuse to get away.
Leaving work behind wasn't as easy as I thought it would be, though.
That was until she walked up to me at the bar.
After a night of unbridled passion, I discover...she’s the maid of honor in Jameson’s wedding.
RAYLYNN
My best friend asked me to be her maid of honor at her destination wedding.
After finding my now ex-fiancé in a compromising position, escaping to Hawaii is the perfect excuse to find myself again.
With nothing to lose, I approach the hottest guy in that bar and take a chance on getting my own groove back.
There's just one hiccup...he's actually the best man in Liv's wedding.
It was only supposed to be a fling, but when returning home leads to chaos and one relocation to New York, can these two love birds go from fling to forever? Time will tell.
After all...425 Madison is the perfect place to fall in love.
Each story is a complete stand alone, but trust me, you’ll want to read them all.
Visit www.facebook.com/425MadisonSeries for all the details
Playlist
Worth It – Fifth Harmony
Night Like This – Hilary Duff
Get This Party Started – Pink
Marry Me – Train
Kiss Me at Midnight – NSYNC
Like I’m Gonna Lose You – Meghan Trainor, John Legend
You Make It Look So Good – Thompson Square
Bullet in a Bonfire – Brantley Gilbert
Prologue
Raylynn
A week ago, I was making my way through Paris, possibly the most romantic city in the world, with my boss slash fiancé, Sawyer Flynn. Things were pretty perfect. Or at least I thought they were.
That was, until we returned to the States, and I walked into Sawyer’s office three nights ago to surprise him with a little dinner and dessert. Only this time, the surprise was on me. There was Sawyer Flynn in all his muscular, well defined, naked, glory, fucking Charlotte from Accounting.
When his eyes met mine, he didn’t even bother to stop. In fact, Charlotte had the nerve to smile at me as she squealed his name while he pinched her nipples and rammed harder into her body.
That was the day that I became single and unemployed.
Who would have thought that after a four-year stint as Sawyer’s personal assistant and a year as his other half, things would have ended like this?
I guess it’s true what they say, you shouldn’t mix business with pleasure.
With a hefty and quickly put together severance package to keep my mouth shut after I threatened to let Sawyer’s father - the CEO of Flynn Enterprises, know exactly the kind of stunts his son was doing behind closed doors; and my best friend’s wedding on the horizon - I decided there was only one thing to do.
To celebrate my newfound freedom, I called the Kahala Resort in Honolulu and added two extra days to the front end of my stay. I now had two whole days to myself to drown my sorrows in booze, hot cabana boys and ice cream before I would pull myself together, plaster a smile on my face, and stand proud for my friend as she marries the love of her life.
I spent the first day laying on the beach, soaking up the sun, drinking Mai Tais and eating my fill of cocktail shrimp. Sadly, I passed out in my room at nine o’clock, alone, after a hearty room service dinner and the most amazing soak in the suite’s jacuzzi tub.
But today is a new day, and I have a plan. A plan that includes a shopping spree for some new clothes and a night out on the town. And if I’m lucky, I won’t be coming back alone tonight.
Nope, tonight is the night that Stella, erm, I mean Raylynn, is going to get her groove back.
Chapter 1
Harley
Three months of double overtime and still no solid proof on the suspects in the larceny and theft cases we’ve seen come through NYPD as of late. There’s a huge part of me that thinks this little vacation was a bad idea. But, after working my ass off in a job that I’ve loved for years, I think I deserve the damn break. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll come back with fresh eyes and be able to close this damn case and get that promotion I’ve been gunning for.
Plus, there wasn’t a chance in hell I was going to miss Jameson finally tying the knot.
So, I stuck to my original plan, leaving NYC a day before all the wedding craziness was set to begin. A whole day on the front end—before the bride and groom arrive—to relax, unwind, and blow off some steam. Which is exactly what I’m trying to do at the bar right now.
If only I could put my phone down and shut my brain off. Stop thinking about work. About the damn criminal that is out there stealing from hard-working citizens, scaring families.
What I need is a distraction. A few
drinks and a beautiful woman to take my mind off of it all.
I’m busy scrolling through my social media feed when the answer to my silent plea manifests right before me like some kind of fantasy come to life.
“You look like you’re having a great time.” She leans closer so that I can hear her over the music. Her sultry voice captures me instantly.
Tipping my beer bottle her way, I shrug. “What can I say? I have a hard time separating from work.”
“Hm. Sounds more like you just don’t have the right distraction.” The stranger gives me a saucy wink, and I nearly choke on my beer. I think she’s read my mind.
At this point, I’ve got nothing to lose, so I go for broke. “Are you volunteering for the job?”
She takes a long drink from her martini glass, then extends her hand to me. “I’m Raylynn, and all of that was really cheesy. But, buy me another round, and we’ll see what happens.”
Fuck. I think I’m in love, er, lust. “Harley. The next one is on me.” I give her hand a firm shake, and I don’t waste any time flagging down the bartender to order us both another drink.
For the next hour or so, Raylynn and I make small talk. Nothing too serious or heavy. No “What brings you here, what do you do for a living?” She laughs at my obnoxious jokes and has a few of her own. We flirt and get a little handsy, gentle touches in all the right places. Raylynn matches my every move with one of her own, adding even more excitement to the evening.
I realize it’s the most relaxed I’ve felt in a long time. Yes, taking the extra day for myself before all the craziness was certainly a good call.
“Another round?” I ask when the bartender stops by briefly to check on us.
“A water would be nice.”
“Two waters,” I tell the bartender.
“And the tab!” Raylynn adds at the last second.
Okay then.
She makes no apologies for her forwardness. Instead, she catches me by surprise when she leans in and kisses my lips. When she pulls back, her eyes are glazed over and a small smile plays at her lips. “An appetizer if you will, I needed to be sure what I was feeling was real, and you weren’t just make believe.”
I brush a strand of her light brown hair behind her ear and kiss the sensitive skin on her neck before replying, “I promise you, I’m very real. And that was nothing more than a taste.”
The bartender slides two bottles of water across the bar, Raylynn takes hers, quickly twisting off the cap and taking several large gulps. I fight back a snicker as I sign the receipt, leaving behind a hefty tip.
“Do you want mine too?” I mock offer the bottle of water now in my hand.
“Nope! I’m good.” She practically yelps before finishing off hers. “Is it warm in here? It feels warm. We should get out of here.”
“Nervous? If you’ve changed your mind…”
“Hell no.”
With a laugh, I offer her my arm. Together we walk out of the bar and into the warm Hawaiian breeze.
“I swear, I’m not usually so forward.”
“Raylynn, if you’ve changed your mind, it’s okay. I’ll be the perfect gentleman. I’m not going to take advantage of you.”
“No, it’s not that at all. I want this. Whatever this is.”
That’s all the permission I need to lean in and steal a kiss under the moonlight.
Her hands find their way into my hair and give a gentle tug. When I growl, she moans, and my cock hardens. I palm her ass, pushing her even closer to me so she can feel the effect she has on my body. For a moment, the whole world ceases to exist. It’s just me, her and this kiss.
“Wow,” Raylynn whispers breathlessly as we pull apart.
“We should do that again,” I add.
She gives me a shy grin and nods. “We should.”
“I’m staying at Kahala.” I point over my shoulder. “Join me?”
“I was beginning to think you’d never ask.”
This woman is something. The playful tone in her voice turns me on even more.
It’s a short walk back to the resort. Another five minutes and we’re standing outside of my hotel room, making out like teenagers.
“More,” she pleads, looking up at me through her long lashes.
I take my cue and swipe the card reader. The lock beeps, I turn the doorknob and toe the door open while lifting her into my arms. The second the door slams shut behind us, I pin her against the wall and start kissing her all over again.
Raylynn reaches between us and tugs my shirt free from the waistband of my pants before sliding her hands underneath the fabric and up over the skin of my torso. A hiss escapes as she rakes her nails across my chest.
She pushes me back just enough to groan, “We’re both overdressed.”
Untangling our limbs, I let her feet touch the floor and reach behind my neck to grab the collar of my shirt, pulling it over my head and tossing it to the floor. I move on to loosening my belt and then let my khakis fall to the ground. My fingers are in the waistband of my black boxers while Raylynn drinks me in from head to toe.
The corners of my lips tip upward as she licks her lips and whimpers, “You’re not playing fair here.”
Turning her back to me, she throws a long glance over her shoulder before slowly removing all of her clothing. She teases me with the most erotic dance, removing her bra, then working her barely-there panties down her long legs. When she turns back around, I’m rewarded with a full view of every inch of her glorious body.
Sauntering toward me, she lays a kiss on my lips and palms my hard-on through the fabric that I was too distracted to remove.
“I think it’s time you lose these,” Raylynn purrs, and before I know it, my boxers are around my feet, and she is on her knees in front of me.
Holy fuck.
Chapter 2
Raylynn
When I vowed that “Stella” was going to get her groove back, I didn’t plan on a man like Harley. The man is six-foot-six of solid muscle and extreme talent. His thighs are made to be kneeled at, his body to be worshiped.
There is no doubt in my mind that Harley is made for sin and pleasure.
The power that he temporarily allowed me to hold while I delivered one hell of a blowjob - his words, not mine - was nothing short of magical. But now, the tables have turned. He’s in full control, caressing, nipping, and licking across my skin, leaving a trail of fire in his wake.
For the first time, in a very long time, I feel alive.
His fingers slip inside of me, and my body bows upward. With each move of his fingers, my pleasure builds. Fireworks build behind closed eyelids, and the first waves of an orgasm takes over. My toes curl and my world explodes.
Harley is gently kissing and caressing my body back into orbit as I come down.
“That was quite possibly the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. And I haven’t even fucked you yet,” he growls.
“Mmm, yes please,” I beg, knowing that things can only get better from here.
He doesn’t wait, taking my plea as permission he centers himself between my legs before reaching for a foil packet on the dresser. He’s fully sheathed and inside of me in mere seconds.
Bliss. Pure and utter bliss. That’s all I feel as he buries himself deep, over and over again.
There’s no stopping this man, his stamina could outlast any cross-country runner. I’m sated and exhausted. My body aches in the most delicious ways by the time the sun rises outside his hotel room window.
Harley lies content in bed beside me, one leg still tangled with mine. An arm wrapped around my waist, holding me closely. It’s intimate and sweet.
Somehow, I’ve found more in a one-night stand with a stranger than I did in my relationship with my ex. In a few short hours, Harley has shown me there is so much more. His dominant side laced with compassion and nurture. Something that Sawyer lacked. No, Sawyer would rather boss me around and make demands, taking whatever it was that he needed and leaving me wanting.
/> Because of Harley, I’ll never settle for anything less. Call me crazy, but I’ve absolutely found the me that I lost back when I thought I was discovering a new me, galivanting through Paris with a man who promised he could make my dreams come true.
Harley places a gentle kiss on my bare shoulder. “You’re thinking awfully loud over there.”
Turning to face him, I smooth a hand over his cheek and grin. “It’s your fault.”
He guffaws, “If you’re still thinking, I don’t think I’ve done my job properly.”
I straddle his body and push against his chest. “Mmm, I think you have. And I think that I should repay you.”
Glancing over to the nightstand, Harley grabs an unused condom packet and hands it to me and puts his hands behind his head. “Well, by all means, don’t let me stop you.”
I’m rolling the latex down his shaft when his phone starts buzzing from over on the dresser. Somewhere behind me, I can hear my phone ringing as well.
Love Under Protection (425 Madison Avenue Book 15) Page 1