by Bonnie Dee
“No. I don’t think so.” Her smile widened, and she wiggled a little in her chair like a kid with a secret to tell. “Because you’re being hired in a different capacity. By me. I’m hiring you to be my personal gigolo-slash-bodyguard. Which means you basically have to hang around here and satisfy my every sexual whim and keep me safe by sticking close to me at all times. That’s right. I’m hiring you to be my gigo-guard.” She laughed as if she’d actually said something funny and only stopped when she realized Ja-hun wasn’t smiling with her. “What?”
“You know I’m not going to work for you.”
“Why not?” She sat up straight, staring at him. “It’s perfect. You’ll have a job and we’ll be together constantly. I’m not even fussing about being watched all the time. See how I’ve changed?”
He shook his head. “You can’t keep me like…some kind of pet.”
“Oh, hell. I was just kidding about the gigolo thing. Seriously, Ja-hun, I do want your security expertise, as well as some time to find out if we fit together.” Her expression was more serious than he’d ever seen it. “I think we could really have something. But if you leave, we’ll never know.”
“You’re talking about a relationship. Me and you.”
“I know you think I’m not your type and that I don’t fit into your…metaphorical color scheme.” She indicated the gray room around them. “But I have layers, too. I like the cool and quiet and woodsy mashiki scent of your room. It’s a haven. I’m willing to learn to enjoy the things you like, if you’ll do the same for me.”
Ja-hun picked up the jabarta piece and turned its rounded surface over and over in his hand.
She leaned forward and reached out to touch his hand. “Go ahead. Tell me something you like.”
He couldn’t remember a time in his entire life when someone had asked him that. And since no one had asked, he’d rarely considered the question. “I like…” He thought hard, then spoke the words quietly, feeling embarrassed to say them aloud. “I like walking on forest paths on misty mornings. I like the way everything is gray and the leaves glisten with moisture.”
“Good. This is easy, ’cause I like that, too. I especially like spider webs when they have drops of dew spread like diamonds over them. And when the fog is so thick around your feet you can’t see them. Seems as if you’re walking on clouds.”
He looked at her sharply, checking to see if she was teasing him again, but her topaz eyes were sincere and her smile genuine.
“I like sitting on the beach under a blazing sun, watching the swimmers in the water and little kids building sand castles, people sunbathing on the sand, the blue sky overhead and the blue-green water below, maybe a boat or two sailing across the horizon. I really love the sea,” she said.
Ja-hun couldn’t think of anything he liked less than being at a crowded beach under a burning hot sun, but when he imagined her golden-tan body lying on the beach beside him he nodded. “I could learn to like that.”
“So, you see, you’ve got to stick around a while. Be my bodyguard.”
“You still want me after what happened? You were the one to rescue both of us. Maybe I should be hiring you to be my bodyguard.”
She grinned. “I did kick ass, didn’t I?”
Ja-hun set his jabarta piece down on the board and pushed it diagonally four spaces. “All right. We’ll give this a try.”
“Great!” She captured his piece, setting herself up to take the gold lokosh on her next turn. “You realize I’ve won this game, right?”
“Yeah. I know.” He handed her the lokosh then rose from his chair, swept the board free of playing pieces, braced his hands on top of it, and leaned across the table to cover her mouth with his.
Chapter Eight
“Morning.” The bass rumble near her ear woke her from a sound sleep.
Leelah batted at the hand toying with her boob. “Stop it. I’m sleeping,” she grumbled, squeezing her eyes tightly shut.
“Not any more. You have to wake up for work. You wanted a job. You got it, and now you have to show up on time every day.”
She growled. Did he have to remind her of that? The man started his days entirely too early and with too chipper an attitude.
Soft lips on her shoulder and the brush of a wet tongue between her shoulder blades made her smile. Ja-hun’s fingers stopped teasing her nipple, and he cupped her entire breast in the snug, warm cradle of his palm. “Want me to wake you up the easy way or the hard way?”
“The easy way, please.” She sighed as his hand slid from her tit all the way down her belly to her pussy. Still kissing her shoulders and back, he teased his finger between the folds of her labia to wet it with the sudden gush of juices. He circled her clit with light touches designed to ease her slowly into a sexy frame of mind.
“Like that?”
His husky voice sent a chill up her spine and made her nipples peak. “Oh, yeah. Just like that.” She snuggled into his embrace, enjoying the feel of his hard chest against her back, the weight of his arm wrapped around her hip, and his morning erection resting in the groove of her ass. His cock was so thick and solid her pussy was already opening and aching to feel his girth stretching and filling it.
Leelah relaxed and enjoyed his tender manipulation of her clit in a semidrowsy state, but after a bit, Ja-hun pulled his hand away. He moved from behind her, flipped her on her back, and burrowed under the blankets to spend more quality time with her pussy. His firm licking and probing fingers woke her right up. She whined softly and lifted her hips toward him.
When he had her thrusting steadily, her juices flowing and her inner muscles pulsing around his fingers, he crawled up her body and emerged from beneath the covers. She laughed at his tousled black hair and smoothed it down, her fingers lingering in the silky strands. Leelah loved his hair longer like this. She’d forbidden him to cut it in the two months they’d been together, and now it fell over his forehead in floppy bangs and curved where it ended at his shoulders. Ja-hun had threatened several times to crop it to his old style, but she’d only had to murmur how sexy he looked with it long and he left it alone, although he grumbled.
He propped himself on his hands and looked down into her eyes for a moment. “Good morning.” Then he slowly lowered his face to kiss her. The tang of mint and her juices on his tongue blended with the sweet honey res in her mouth. Res implants, which secreted flavorful juices and prevented tooth decay, were one of the best inventions in recent years in her opinion. Waking with fresh breath was priceless, especially if you intended to indulge in early morning lovemaking ‑‑ as she and Ja-hun did nearly every day.
He slid his tongue over, under, and around hers then kissed her with small presses of his lips to the corners of her mouth. He kissed her cheeks, the tip of her nose, her jaw, and her neck until she squealed and pulled away, clamping her cheek to her shoulder.
“Cut it out!”
Ja-hun chuckled, a warm, rich sound that filled her senses like the taste of a morning cup of chamti. Goddess, it was good to hear him happy. It had taken so long for him to graduate from a small smile to a broad grin and then to a soft chortle. A hearty belly laugh was still a prize to savor from a man who’d had such a hard, lonely life that he’d never learned to laugh.
Leelah was more than ready for him to be inside her now, and she could feel from the poking hardness against her leg that he was ready, too. She reached between their bodies, parted her lips, and guided him to her open channel. A sigh escaped her as he glided slowly inside. The sensation of fullness, not only in her body but in her heart and her life, suffused her with a feeling of well-being. Oh, yes, this was so much better than a morning cup of chamti.
Ja-hun seated himself deeply inside her, then withdrew almost his entire length before plunging in again. The head of his cock hit her sweet spot, sending delicious waves of pleasure through her. She groaned and arched her pelvis toward him.
In and out, he thrust in a smooth, easy rhythm, the new rhythm of her morni
ngs. She thought she might be becoming addicted to Ja-hun and didn’t know if she could get up out of bed anymore without this kick start to her day. His sharp-boned face, so broad from one cheekbone to the other, his eyes heavy-lidded and a glistening jet-black were the sun in her morning.
“Harder, susura,” she urged, gripping his buttocks. “Wake me up the hard way.”
He smiled, and his eyes narrowed even further, creasing at the corners with happiness. “All right.” With no further preamble, he plunged into her deep, jolting her so that she grunted from the force. Again and again he filled her, driving in with such intensity it pushed her body up the mattress until her head hit the headboard.
With every stroke, he continued to hit that perfect spot inside her until the vague, swirling hints of bliss drew together into a strong surge of ecstasy. Leelah bucked hard beneath him as her orgasm exploded through her. She cried out and dug her fingers into his ass, hauling him even more deeply inside her.
His excitement at her pleasure moved him to follow her lead. A few more grunting thrusts and Ja-hun froze, his body trembling with the force of his climax as he released. His eyebrows knitted in a deep frown, and his mouth opened as though he might burst into song in his rapture. Leelah smiled at her fancy, imagining Ja-hun singing from happiness. She’d heard him muttering a tune in the shower before. It wasn’t a pleasurable experience.
His eyes opened, and he caught her grinning. “What are you smiling about?”
She shook her head. “Nothing. Just enjoying my wake-up fuck. You’re very good at it.”
“I’ve been getting a lot of practice.” He smiled back at her, then disengaged and rolled off her to lie by her side. “You’re a demanding woman. You’re going to wear me out.”
Leelah raised her arms above her head and stretched hard enough to crack her back. “I suppose I’d better get showered and dressed. Who knew being part of the workforce would be so exhausting? If I’d known, I might have kept my mouth shut and lived off my dad for the rest of my life.”
He turned on his side and rested his head on his hand, gazing down at her as he drummed a pattern on her taut stomach. “But now you’re stuck helping the poor and disenfranchised. Life’s so unfair.”
“And you’re stuck making sure nothing bad happens to me and keeping me satisfied sexually. That’s a rough gig.”
“I may have to quit and go back to work for Crin-tai.” He leaned over to draw the tip of her breast into his mouth, sucking and tugging before letting it go with a wet pop.
“Mm. Life’s so hard.” She stretched again and smiled. Twitching back the covers, she sat up. “Come on. We’re going to be late. Hurry up,” she said, as if he was the one who’d been malingering in bed.
She actually loved her job at the Center and knew Ja-hun enjoyed his, too. He was a lot more than her bodyguard, having gotten sucked into working at the Center when they discovered how many languages he knew. With his calm temperament, he was a natural at helping upset clients get their forms filled out while he listened to their problems.
Leelah paused a moment before heading to the shower, to watch her contented lover rise from the bed. He’d definitely been striking when he was stone faced and mysterious, but now, he was even more attractive with a sweet smile curving his lips and his eyes sparkling. And a naked Ja-hun was better than Ja-hun in a suit anytime.
“Hey. Don’t forget we have Trianne and Burdah’s party tonight,” she reminded him. “And don’t grimace. You know we have to schmooze with the rich to keep donations high.” Her friends had turned out to be a tremendous asset to the Center with their flair for hosting events everyone wanted to attend.
“I didn’t grimace. I’ll be there.” He never complained about the socials she dragged him to, but Leelah knew sometimes he craved the quiet solitude that was his natural bent.
“Want to go to the mountains this weekend?” she asked. “I can almost guarantee you a misty morning walk on a forest path.”
The smile returned to his face and the sparkling glint to his eyes. “Can we play kidnapper and victim at an isolated mountain cabin?”
“Absolutely. You bring the handcuffs. I’ll bring the gag.”
“Shenje, you’re on!” Ja-hun gave another of his satisfied chuckles. His black eyes glowed with warmth and life.
THE END
Bonnie Dee
Whether you're a fan of contemporary, paranormal or historical romance, you'll find something to enjoy among my books. My style is down to earth and my characters feel like well-known friends by the time you've finished reading. I'm interested in flawed, often damaged, people who find the fulfillment they seek in one another.
For more information on my back list of books go to http://bonniedee.com