Keeping Her Close

by Suzanne Rock

  “Max—”

  “Shh, let me work.”

  “But I’m too boney . . .”

  “Like I said before, your body is perfect. Now, I don’t want to hear any more about it.” He dipped his tongue into my navel and I moaned as desire burned between my thighs.

  Okay, fair enough. It was getting more and more difficult to form a coherent thought anyway. I decided to let him continue, and as seconds passed, desire and curiosity overcame the bulk of my insecurities.

  He kissed down past my navel, hooking his fingers under the waistband of my jeans. “Plant your feet on the bed.”

  “What?” His command surprised me, not because of what he said, but because of my reaction to it. His words were like an aphrodisiac, causing my desire to surge.

  He leaned back from my body and raised his brow.

  I did as he asked. Max leaned back and tugged on my jeans. “Now lift your hips.”

  This time I didn’t hesitate. Pushing down with my feet, I lifted my backside into the air. With a smooth pull, Max removed both my jeans and panties until they pooled around my knees.

  “That’s enough.” His voice was gentle, but firm. I lowered my hips and he took my clothes off the rest of the way.

  “What are you going to do now?” I asked as he stood.

  “Isn’t it obvious?” he grasped my legs and dragged me across the bed until half of my backside hung over the edge. “I’m going to feast on your sweet pussy until you have the best orgasm of your life.”

  I widened my eyes as he knelt between my legs. Placing my feet on the edge of the bed, he eased my thighs apart and leaned forward.

  The second his tongue touched my skin, pleasure bolted up through my center, causing me to gasp. “Oh my God.”

  No one had ever touched me like that down there before. Ever. I fisted my hands into the sheets and closed my eyes as he slid his tongue over my opening, then moved up to my clit.

  My vibrator could never do anything like this. I nibbled my lower lip as he pressed his tongue against my sensitive nub then rolled it back down to my opening. The room around us faded away as every part of me focused on the man between my legs and the wicked things he was doing with his tongue.

  After a long moment, he pulled back, allowing me to gather my wits. I opened my eyes and lifted my head off the mattress.

  “Why did you stop?” I asked as I adjusted my weight on my elbows.

  He glanced up from his work and smiled. “Oh, I’m not stopping. I’m just getting started.”

  He wasn’t lying. Using his fingers, he spread apart my folds and inched down out of view. There was something highly erotic about seeing the top of a man’s head in between your thighs. I nibbled my lower lip as anticipation rippled over my skin and wondered what he was going to do next. More important, I wondered if it was going to feel just as good as what he had done before.

  It didn’t feel just as good, it felt better. Max was an experienced man, and it showed. I squeezed my inner muscles as he dipped his tongue just inside my opening, then flicked it out with rapid butterfly movements. The stimulation was enough to tease but not enough to satisfy. Then, just when I was getting used to his presence, he pulled away and repeated the same movement with my clit.

  “Don’t stop,” I said as he started to withdraw. Moistening my lips, I leaned up and grabbed his head. He chuckled as I curled my fingers into his hair, then he gave me exactly what I needed.

  Tension filled the air as I watched him work. My muscles tightened, and a sense of urgency built in my core. It was a familiar feeling, one I had elicited many nights with my vibrator. This sensation was stronger however. Much stronger.

  “Deeper,” I commanded. He pushed his tongue into my opening and slid it along my inner walls. Tightening my grip, I pushed him closer to my body, then groaned as he entered me once more.

  In and out, then up to my clit. The movements were quick and random, leaving me guessing as to what he was going to do next. My groans turned into feminine cries, and before I realized what I was doing, I was undulating against his tongue.

  “Please.” Pressure built, and every muscle in my body wound tight with anticipation. He wasn’t deep enough, not by a long shot. Giving up on the hip movement, I settled back onto the mattress and spread my legs in the air. The change in position caused his tongue to slip a little deeper inside.

  “Yes,” I whispered. “Oh God, that’s it.”

  Letting go of his hair, I leaned back on the mattress and grabbed my breasts, massaging them in hopes that the added stimulation would send me over the edge.

  It wasn’t enough. I was so close, and yet something was preventing me from going over the edge.

  “Max . . .”

  He knew. I don’t know how he knew I was struggling, but he did. As if obeying some silent command, he removed his tongue and replaced it with his finger, thrusting deep inside my body. At the same time he tongued my clit, then slid his teeth along my sensitive skin.

  I cried out his name as my entire world exploded. I came hard, hard enough to see spots, and as the pleasure rolled through me, I felt every muscle in my body turn to water.

  Through it all he continued to work, shifting his tongue back to my opening and lengthening my orgasm. Eventually the pleasure faded however, and as he gently brought me back to reality, I felt slightly embarrassed over how loud I had been.

  “I think the people next door heard us,” he said as he came up onto the mattress and stretched out next to me.

  “Sorry?”

  He laughed and captured my mouth. I could taste myself on his lips, and I couldn’t help the warm satisfaction that ran through me.

  “Don’t be sorry. I’m not. I don’t think that any woman has ever been so responsive to my touch before,” he said as he pulled away.

  I stiffened, unsure of what he meant by his words. I didn’t know that there was a certain etiquette in the bedroom and wondered if he could tell I was inexperienced. I scolded myself for not researching this more. Perhaps he preferred a woman who was more experienced and didn’t scream his name when she came.

  “You think so?” I asked.

  “Of course.” He slid his hand over my belly, and I thought about what might happen if it got out on the internet that I was inexperienced. Needless to say, I had to do damage control.

  “Good. I was acting.”

  A stunned look crossed his face as he stilled his hand and glanced up at my face. “You what?”

  I placed my hands behind my head and offered a cool smile. “I was acting. Just like we were with the kiss downstairs. Remember the challenge?”

  “That wasn’t acting.”

  “Of course it was.” I crossed my arms. “You’re just being a sore loser.”

  He looked as if he wanted to say something, but a knock on the door drew our attention. It wasn’t a normal knock, but three rapid taps, followed by two slow ones.

  Max frowned and got off the bed. “Stay here.”

  “Who is it?”

  He didn’t answer, but threw on his pants and strode toward the door. After a brief hesitation, I scrambled to my feet and pulled on my clothes. If he thought I was going to sit in the bed, naked, as he talked to someone at the door, then he had another thing coming.

  Chapter Six

  Max

  I was thankful for the distraction. Tess’s words unnerved me more than I cared to admit. While I didn’t believe for a minute that she was faking it, the fact that she felt she had to lie about it made me realize how vulnerable she really felt.

  Human frailty and weakness was a soft spot with me. It was a big reason why I became a cop. My protective instincts came out at a young age when I stopped a bully from beating up my younger brother in the school yard.

  Outside, in the hall, I had thought that sex with Tess would somehow get her out of my system. I was wrong. Instead of clearing my head, I was even more attracted to her. This was going to be a problem. She was my job, my charge, and the more ti
me I spent thinking about her soft body, the less I was trying to catch whoever wanted to hurt her.

  Even now, I wanted to throw open the door and yell at Vash for interrupting us. My cock felt cheated that I didn’t get to finish what we had started. The women I had been with before were mechanical and less spontaneous. Tess’s enthusiasm was a refreshing change, and I didn’t want to give it up.

  I paused at the door and adjusted myself so I didn’t press so hard against my zipper. Then I took out my gun. If the person outside wasn’t Vash, then I had to be ready.

  “Are you going to open it?” Tess asked. Her voice sounded close, too close for someone who was supposed to be under the covers on the other side of the room.

  I glanced over my shoulder and saw her standing there, wrapped in a bedsheet. “I told you to stay in bed.”

  “I know.”

  “You didn’t listen.”

  The knock repeated, and the three quick raps followed by two slow reminded me that the longer Vash stood outside, the more likely someone would notice him.

  I peered through the peephole in the door to confirm it was Vash, then opened the door a crack. “Are you alone?”

  “Of course.” Vash pushed open the door with his elbow and walked past me with a large box of supplies. Frowning, I stepped out in the hall and looked around to see if someone was watching. Confirming that we were alone, I let out a breath of relief and returned to the room.

  “Took you long enough,” I said as I placed the gun on the table.

  “You wouldn’t believe the zoo it was down there. It was hard to get away.” After placing the box on the table, Vash frowned at the mussed bed, then glanced at Tess. “You okay?”

  She nodded. “How’s Kami?”

  “Kami?”

  “My friend. The guy I was traveling with.”

  Vash’s communicator clicked, and voices erupted over the line. He turned down the volume. “He’s alive, but I don’t know much beyond that. They took him away in the ambulance.”

  She turned to me. “I have to see him.”

  “It’s too dangerous.” I crossed my arms and rose to my full height, hoping that my size and presence would dissuade her. No such luck.

  “You don’t understand.” She turned to Vash. “He’s my best friend. I have to know if he’s all right.”

  “She has a point,” Vash said. “Perhaps we can work something out.”

  “No.” I shook my head. “It’s too dangerous. Until we have a better handle on what’s happening, she doesn’t go anywhere.”

  Vash stared at me in surprise. Part of our training was to help calm and alleviate the fears of the people we were protecting. Instead of calming Tess, I was riling her up with my stubbornness. Agitating her would only push her to do something stupid to put us all in danger. I was forgetting my training, something that had never happened before. My protective instincts were in overdrive and causing me not to think clearly. There was something about Tess that made me throw protocol out the window where she was concerned. I had to get a grip before I got us all in trouble.

  “Any chance you could head over to the hospital and check on him?” I asked Vash.

  “I’m the point person on this case now, so I’m on standby to go over and question him once he wakes up.” Vash glanced at Tess. “I can give him a message for you, if you want.”

  “Not good enough,” Tess said. “He doesn’t trust people easily. If it’s information that you want, then it’s best if I see him.”

  “I’m afraid that isn’t possible,” I said. “We haven’t cleared the hospital staff or officers outside our team yet. We have no idea who was involved on the attempt on your life.”

  “Then it’s even more important that I see Kami. You left him under the protection of your men, men who may want to kill him.”

  “He wasn’t the target, you were,” I said as irritation sliced through me. She was questioning my judgement. After fighting so hard for this position, I didn’t appreciate her questioning my decisions.

  She stared at me as if I was a child. “What better way to get to me than to kill the ones I love.”

  I ground my teeth at her obvious show of affection. I didn’t like the guy when we first met, and I liked him even less now.

  “There’s more you should know.” Vash glanced at Tess. “Could you excuse us for a minute?”

  Surprise lit Tess’s features as she nodded. “Sure. I can unpack while you talk. Then we can visit Kami.”

  Vash started to protest, but I shook my head. The woman was determined, and we were wasting precious time arguing. It was far more important to gather information and decide our next steps.

  As Tess moved toward the box of supplies, I motioned Vash to follow me out into the hall.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” he asked when I closed the door behind us.

  “What do you mean? I’m protecting our target.”

  “Protecting someone and having sex with them are two different things.” He pointed his finger at me as I started to protest. “And don’t deny it. Even if that room didn’t smell like sex, I know you too well. I can tell when you’re lying, Max, and you have a guiltier look than that bank robber they brought into the precinct last week.”

  I sighed and leaned my shoulder against the wall. “Okay, you’ve got me. We were talking, and things got a little out of hand.”

  “Out of hand? Max, if our boss found out about this—”

  “I know. Look, it won’t happen again.” Maybe. I was only human after all, and my cock still ached from not finishing what we started. “The important thing is that someone not only found out what route we were driving, but knew which car to hit, even though Tess shot the entire plan to hell.” I pushed my hand through my hair and let out a long breath. “Whoever is doing this, either has close cop connections or is a cop himself. I’m sure of it.”

  “I haven’t had a chance to do background checks yet. I’m not sure I’ll find anything if I do them.”

  “Do them anyway. The more people we can exclude, the more help we can get. But be discreet. We don’t want word to leak out about what we’re doing.” I nodded to his watch. “What did the team find?”

  “Not much. The guy in the other car is dead, and that guy she was traveling with is in a coma. Frank is calling everyone back for a briefing.”

  “Typical Frank. Everything has to be decided by committee. Anything else?”

  “I can tell you this. That car was a rental. I have people following up on that lead, but don’t hold your breath. I’ve also contacted her father, who seemed convinced that Tess was kidnapped.”

  “What?” I pushed away from the wall as shock slammed into my system.

  “Yeah.” Vash sighed and pushed his fingers through his hair. “He is telling anyone who’ll listen that she’d never leave an accident without speaking to authorities first. Someone must have taken her away.”

  “That’s ridiculous. The entire mission was compromised and my number one priority was keeping her safe. At the time, we had no idea if the people trying to harm her were still on site. At the very least, we knew that these people were aware of our mission and could identify the cars of the motorcade. You were there Vash, the place was in chaos and our limo was blocked in gridlock. I had seconds to make a decision and get her to safety.”

  Vash held up his hands in surrender. “You don’t have to justify your actions to me. All I’m saying is that he’s making a convincing argument, and others are starting to believe him. He’s brought in a special FBI task force to investigate whether or not it was a kidnapping.”

  “This is crazy. What did Frank do?”

  “What could he do? They outrank him. We’ve all been ordered to follow these guys and do whatever they ask. They’ve already started digging around in your files and asked for your records with the department psychologist.”

  “You’re kidding.” I had been assigned to take some sessions several years ago after an assignment I had been on
turned bad. Vash had been shot in the arm, and I blamed myself. “I was cleared after six months.”

  Vash shrugged. “It proves an unstable mental state. Rumor is, they are going to start interviewing people you have hung around with the past several months.”

  “You don’t mean . . .”

  “Yeah. Vicki and Tasha will just be the beginning, I’m afraid.”

  I swore under my breath. Both of those women were put out when they learned that I wasn’t dating them exclusively. Neither of them would paint a very pretty picture of my mental state.

  “You have to talk to them.”

  “And say what?”

  “I don’t know, anything. How I’m a good cop.”

  Vash shook his head. “I think we just need to find these guys very quickly, before things get any worse.”

  “You’re right.” I rubbed my chin in thought. “Her father was the one who tipped us off about the threat. Do you think that this all could be tied to him?”

  Vash shrugged. “It’s worth checking out.”

  “Thanks, man.”

  “I also got you this, like you asked.” He took out a card and pressed it into my hand. “It’s for the room next door.”

  “Thanks. Hopefully we don’t have to use it.”

  “At first I thought you wanted me to reserve this second room in case there was trouble, but after seeing the mess in there, I’m beginning to wonder if you just wanted a little more privacy.”

  I smirked. “Perhaps it was a little of both.”

  Vash laughed. “Hopefully you won’t have to stay here too long. With any luck, we can get that other driver to talk and . . .” His communicator blipped, a sign that someone was trying to contact him. He frowned as he turned up the volume.

  “You there, buddy?” Scott’s familiar voice came over the line. I motioned for Vash to not tell our dispatcher anything about me or Tess. Vash nodded and put his watch up close to his face.

  “Yeah, I’m here. What’s going on?”

  “Got word that the blogger’s friend is waking up. Thought you might want to talk with him.”

  Vash glanced at me before responding. “Sure thing. I’ll be right there.”