Bodyguards In Bed

by Monroe, Lucy; Denton, Jamie; Naughton, Elisabeth

  “No, but . . . most women would be, after everything you’ve been through tonight.”

  “You’ve been through it, too, and you aren’t freaking out, are you?”

  She had a point, but in his experience women like her behaved one way, and one way only.

  She stood up. “You’ve met my brother, Finn. Freaking out isn’t part of the Kauffman doctrine of life.”

  He picked up the knife, slid it back into his pocket as he stood and carefully studied her eyes. They didn’t look wild, didn’t look dilated. If anything, they looked normal. In control. “I don’t see how that—”

  “While I’ll admit running from crazy men isn’t part of my normal, everyday routine, freaking out about it isn’t going to do me any good. We need to figure out what happened and why, who those guys were and why they killed Javier.”

  Okay, that sounded way too rational. Why wasn’t she melting?

  “I’ve seen death before,” she said with more confidence than he expected. “Granted, it wasn’t like what you did to those guys on the roof, or what happened in the club, but it was still death. I was with my parents the night our car was hit by a drunk driver and they were both killed. I watched the light go out of my father’s eyes, saw the gruesome details of my mother’s death. I even survived the loss of my grandparents when I was in high school. For a long time it was just me and my brother before he went off to figure out his own life.”

  “Yeah, but—”

  She held one hand out to the side. “This is not the product of a pampered upbringing like you and a lot of people think. I fell into this gig in college when they were filming a commercial on campus. One day I’m walking through the quad and the next I’m being offered a modeling contract. When you’re thirty thousand dollars in debt, you don’t have much of a family to lean on and the job market isn’t looking all that promising, sometimes you don’t question the whys of things, you just take the opportunity that’s being offered.”

  He couldn’t quite keep up with her. “I thought—”

  Irritation flashed in her eyes. “You thought what? That because I’m a model Im some sort of diva? That’s your problem, Tierney. You thought wrong.” She took a step toward him and jabbed her index finger in his chest. “I’m good in a crisis, in case you haven’t noticed. I’ve got brains, and even when this body’s different, I’ll still have those brains. I’m not some spoiled princess who needs you to hold her hand.”

  She turned away, but he snagged her by the wrist, compelled to soothe what he’d just riled. “That’s not what I think at all.”

  She whipped back, fire brewing in her light blue eyes. “Could have fooled me.”

  “Lauren—”

  “Hedley told me what your issue is. He told me about Sylvia.”

  Finn stilled at the mere name. A name he purposely didn’t think of because it reminded him what a schmuck he’d been. The trouble he’d caused. How wrong he’d been about one person who’d had the power to fuck up not only his life but several others’ as well.

  He let go of her. “I don’t know what you’re talking ab—”

  Instead of stepping back as he expected, she moved forward. “Bullshit. I’ve met her, you know. The modeling industry isn’t all that big. Former models turned model-agency owners aren’t that rare, but Sylvia Grace’s agency was on the rise. I even considered signing with her at one point. Would it surprise you to know I decided against it because I thought she was a bitch? And that was before all the shit about her little side business hit the papers.”

  Finn’s chest chilled. Sylvia’s side-business had been a high-class call-girl ring. She’d been recruiting models that just didn’t have that extra spark to make it in the industry, then conned them into working for her.

  Her moonlighting had been going fine until one girl wound up dead after a date with a Middle Eastern U.N. ambassador, in New York for a summit meeting. The girl’s father had dug around, found out about Sylvia’s scam, and threatened her life. Sylvia’d wigged, hired Aegis for security, claiming a former fan was stalking her. And Finn had been assigned to protect her. Of course, he hadn’t known what she was doing behind closed doors. Not when he’d started. Not when she’d seduced him. Not when he’d been dumb enough to fall for her looks and charm and fame.

  He swallowed back the deep burning humiliation and the guilt for what he’d put Aegis through when he’d found out and walked. “Good thing you decided not to sign with her.”

  She ignored his smart-ass comment. “Mick told me how she turned on you. How she made trumped-up allegations that you were involved in her prostitution ring, how the publicity jeopardized not only your job, but Aegis’s reputation as well. Do you honestly think I’m at all like that woman?”

  His skin tingled. No, he didn’t think Lauren was a madam in disguise. Earlier he’d been suspicious that she was somehow involved with what had gone down tonight, but in his gut he knew that wasn’t possible. The problem was, his gut had been wrong before. And where this woman was concerned, he wasn’t sure of anything anymore.

  “You’re attracted to me, Tierney. We both know it. Only you’re too afraid I’m like Sylvia to take a chance on something we both know could be really good. Look at me, Finn. Take a good, long look. And tell me. After everything you’ve learned about me in the last week, do you honestly think I’m some spoiled heiress who’s going to use you and ruin you when I’ve had my fill?”

  His throat grew thick as he stood in the bathroom, studying her eyes, trying to get a handle on the sensations pinging aroundin his chest. A tiny part of him cursed Hedley for ratting him out, but another part was glad. She’d pinpointed exactly what he was afraid of. Learning the truth about Sylvia hadn’t just bruised his pride, it had nearly cost him his job and the trust of a man who wasn’t just his boss, but a good friend as well. And taking a chance on yet another client—a model to boot—had bad news branded all over it. He knew better.

  Don’t let history repeat itself. . . .

  And yet . . . everything Lauren had told him tonight suddenly made sense. Everything he’d noticed about her in the last few hours finally gelled. And tonight, right now, she was proving she wasn’t at all what he’d originally thought.

  Which made her that much more enticing. Intoxicating. Irresistible.

  His heart picked up speed. The room suddenly felt hot and cramped. And the fact she was naked beneath that towel was all he could focus on.

  As if sensing the struggle within him, she moved closer, the fire from her hot little body swirling until it was all he could do not to reach for her.

  “Tell me something,” she said softly. “If you weren’t my bodyguard, if I weren’t a model . . . if we’d just met one day on the beach, or in a club, or even at the coffee counter at the mall, what would you be doing right now?”

  He swallowed hard. “I don’t drink coffee.”

  She rolled her eyes. Smiled a sexy little grin that sent the blood singing in his veins. “Frozen yogurt counter then. Focus, Tierney. If we’d met anywhere else, what would you be doing to me right now?”

  “Slim, people under extreme duress do things they wouldn’t do otherwise. I—”

  “Stop stalling, Tierney, and answer the question. What would you be doing now?”

  His blood pounded hard in his ears, and his groin tingled with awareness. The look in her eyes said she wouldn’t let him go until she squeezed out every ounce of truth left in him. And some small part of him didn’t want her to let him go.

  The words left his lips before he thought better of it. “I’d be stripping off that towel faster than you could gasp.”

  “Done.” Victory flashed in her eyes a split second before the towel dropped from her hand. It hit the floor at their feet, leaving her naked and wet and his for the taking.

  A dim, last warning flashed in his brain. “Lauren—”

  She pressed her hands against his chest, jackknifing heat through his torso until she was all he could feel. And then she leane
d in, her kiss-me lips millimeters from his, just begging him to take a long, succulent taste. “The next move is yours, Tierney. What are you gonna do now?”

  CHAPTER 5

  He was too far gone to think of what he was going to do next. He simply acted.

  Finn’s mouth came down on Lauren’s, harder than he planned. When she groaned, he eased back, but her hand fisted his hair, her mouth opening to take him in. This time the groan wasn’t pain, but pleasure. The sound he’d heard echoing in his dream. A sound he wanted to hear again and again and again.

  His tongue slid into her mouth, his arms wrapped around her small waist to tug her close. The long, naked lines of her body pressed up against his, heating his blood to explosive levels. He changed the angle of the kiss, tasted her deeper, pushed her back until she bumped into the sink. He forgot about everything going on outside these walls and focused only on her.

  She grabbed on to his shoulders, wrapped her legs around his waist as he lifted her from the floor and set her on the counter. As she kissed him crazy, her hands went to his waistband, tugging the shirt up and over his head.

  He broke the kiss, let her tear the garment from his body. Then he pressed his hungry mouth to hers again, sliding his hands up her ribcage to caress her warm, plump breasts while her tongue did nasty things to his mouth. She tasted like sin and seduction, felt like everything he’d been missing. As her fingers found his belt buckle and made quick work of the button and zipper, he tried to slow things down, tried to tell himself not to attack her as soon as she freed him from his jeans, tried to keep some semblance of control.

  She pressed her palm against his lower belly and slid it into his boxers to grip his aching shaft. “Mmm,” she moaned into his mouth, “I knew you’d be worth waiting for.”

  That was it, as much as he could take. The taste of her hot little mouth, the feel of her warm hand gripping his length . . . he wasn’t going to last much longer if he let her go on like this.

  He lifted her off the counter, swung around toward the door. She gasped, her legs clinging tight. “Where are we going?”

  “Bed. I’ve dreamed of this body in a bed. Not in some grungy bathroom.”

  She laughed as he reached the side of the bed, grabbed the comforter and ripped it back. He dropped her on the cool sheets. She sucked in a breath as he lowered himself and his lips found the soft skin of her earlobe.

  “Oh, God, Tierney . . . you dreamed about me? I thought you said I was too skinny.”

  “I never said that.” He trailed his lips down her throat to the indent between her shoulder and neck, ran his finger over the chain of her necklace, kissed the hollow of her throat.

  “Yes . . . yeah. I think you did.” She swallowed as he brought his hand up to her breast, palmed the heavy mass and skimmed the tip of his finger over her nipple. “You, um . . . you said I was like a teenaged boy.”

  He drew back, looked down at her glistening skin, her taut nipples, her narrow waist and the triangle of blond curls that led to what he wanted most. “I had to have been high.”

  “You said—”

  His brows snapped together. “Why the hell would you listen to me? You know I’m full of crap. Yer proving it right now, aren’t ya?”

  That victorious smile spread across her gorgeous face again, and she reached for him, pulling his mouth back to hers. “You’re damn right, I am.”

  He lost himself in her kiss, in her mouth, in the softness of her body. He trailed his lips down her neck, over the gem at the apex of her cleavage, to her breasts, laving his tongue across one nipple, then the next, drawing each deep in his mouth until she writhed on the bed and begged for more.

  His body screamed for release, but he didn’t rush things. He loved the sounds she made, wanted to see just how far he could push her before she lost her famed control. She wasn’t a melted puddle after everything they’d been through tonight? That was fine. That was great. But he wanted her to melt beneath him just the same.

  She tensed when his lips passed over her belly button, moaned when he kissed the top of her mound and groaned long ad deep when his tongue finally ran between her folds and he tasted her for the first time.

  “Tierney . . .” She lifted her knee, planted her injured foot on the bed, pressed her hips against his mouth, urging him on.

  He licked her slow, tasted her deep, flicked his tongue over her tight knot again and again until her whole body tensed and she came in his mouth.

  Not nearly as satisfied as her, he sucked the skin between her hip and torso until she groaned, then pushed himself up and wrestled his way out of his jeans. Her eyes were heavy with desire as she looked up at him, her body limp from her release. He climbed over her, took her mouth again and kissed her deep as his naked skin finally came into full contact with hers.

  “Finn,” she whispered, kissing him back, “oh, yes . . . yes.”

  Her knees fell open, and he sank into the vee of her body. Heat consumed his pelvis where he pressed against her. The tip of his cock slid into her slippery folds, and she lifted her hips in invitation, groaning again into his mouth. “Oh . . . yeeeeeeesssss.”

  Common sense had funny timing, but he was thankful it snapped in now. He broke the kiss, eased back and reached for his jeans on the floor.

  She pushed up on her elbows, her lips plump from his mouth, her hair wild around her face. “What are you doing?”

  He grabbed the wallet from his jeans, pulled out the condom, waving it as he leaned back over her. “Protection.”

  “You take this gig seriously, I see.” She smiled and took it from his fingers, kissed his lips. “Let me.”

  “I’m a professional, you know.” He let her push him over onto his back, stared up at the ceiling as she kissed her way down his torso. And lost all sense of humor when her lips found his hip and her soft fingers wrapped around his erection. She stroked him once, twice, and he closed his eyes, groaning at the feel of her hand sliding along his flesh. But it wasn’t until he felt her lips wrap around the tip of his cock that he knew what true heaven really was.

  “Lauren . . .”

  She ran her tongue along the underside of the flared head, then sucked him deep. His dick swelled in her mouth. He lifted his hips, but she didn’t need the help. She knew just how to tease him to drive him mad. Somehow he had the strength to push her back just before he lost it for good. “Lauren . . .”

  “I love it when you say my name.” That victorious grin was becoming a permanent fixture on her face. She tore open the package, slid the condom down his length. Before he could push up to help her, she was climbing over him, lowering her body to his and claiming his mouth with her own.

  “God, you feel good,” he whispered against her mouth, wrapping his arms around her waist. Don’t repeat history? Shit, nothing and no one could ever compare to this woman. He wasn’t repeating history. He was blazing a new, more dangerous trail. “This is a really bad idea.”

  She lowered her hips until the tip of his cock found her opening and his aching length was pressed up inside her one reaching inch. The red gem of her necklace fell against his chest, warm from her skin. “Not a bad idea, Tierney. The best idea. Let me show you.”

  He was too far gone to argue with her now. She lowered the rest of the way, took him deep inside her hot little body. Squeezed him so tight he thought he would come right there and then. And then she began to move, riding him hard, taking him deeper with every stroke, drawing him closer to the edge until she was h every ste could see and feel and touch. Until madmen, gunshots, drug cartels and all the reasons he couldn’t have her slipped right out of his mind.

  Until, in that last moment before she arched her back and reached the peak, the body and face and woman he’d sworn to protect became the only thing that mattered anymore.

  She must have fallen asleep, but how long she was out, Lauren didn’t know. When her eyes fluttered open, she was lying on her back, the sheet was pulled up to her chest, and Finn was stretched out beside
her on the small bed, leaning on his elbow, watching her in the dim light coming from the bathroom.

  “If you weren’t my bodyguard,” she said with a smile, turning into his warm, strong chest, “that could come across a little creepy.”

  Something wary crossed his features, but he got the hint when she slid her hand around the nape of his neck and tugged. He leaned down and kissed her. “Just doing my job, Ms. Kauffman.”

  The way he said Ms. Kauffman struck her as odd, but she ignored it. With every other guy she’d worried her career and celebrity status would eventually ruin their relationship—which it had. Finn was already hesitant about being involved with her. And so far they didn’t even have a relationship—just good sex. Really, hot, sweaty, bone-melting sex. Just the thought of what they’d done earlier sent heat careening through her veins all over again.

  She ran her finger over his pec, down his sternum. Wondered how easy it would be to get him to go for round two. “You don’t look tired.”

  “I’m not.”

  Okay, something was up with him. “How long was I asleep?”

  “Not long. An hour.” His gaze slid to her throat, and he touched her necklace. “This is pretty. I don’t remember you wearing it before tonight.”

  The mention of the necklace brought memories crashing back in and shattered the serene moment. She saw Javier, the club, the gunmen, heard the shots and screams and horror.

  She closed her eyes tight, took a deep breath.

  “Hey,” Finn said softly. “You okay?”

  She managed a pathetic laugh. “You know I said I was good in a crisis, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Apparently not so good after.”

  “Come here.” Whatever was bothering him seemed to disappear. He tugged her close, until the strength of his arms surrounded her and her body pressed into his, her cheek against his warm chest, her legs entwined with his. Okay, this she could get used to. She valued her independence, didn’t need anyone to take care of her, but this comfort, this sense of completeness she could definitely use more of. “It’s gonna be okay.”