Brotherhood Protectors: Texas Ranger Rescue (Kindle Worlds Novella)

by Cynthia D'Alba

  He chuckled. “You don’t know what speed I’m driving. How do you know I’m driving too slow?”

  “Because I’m ready to be home now.”

  The speedometer on his truck hit fifty, cutting the time to Fi’s house in half.

  ***

  The kiss on Fiona’s knuckles produced a throb deep inside her. Arousal flooded her panties. She twisted on the seat.

  “You okay?” Chase asked.

  She smiled toward his side of the truck. “Yeah. More than.”

  When he turned off the engine, she immediately opened her door to climb out.

  “Wait,” he said in a stern voice. “This is a date. I open doors for my dates.”

  “Oops.” She slammed the passenger door.

  “Better.”

  He slid from the seat, walked around the truck and opened her door. Taking her hand, he helped her down from his truck. Her heart raced at the touch of his fingers. She might actually die of a heart attack before tonight was done.

  “You have your key?” She’d given him a key to her house and his own personal code to the alarm system.

  “Yup.”

  She heard the key rattle in the lock and the beep, beep, beep of him disengaging the alarm. The warmth from his body surrounded her as he wrapped her in his arms.

  “Trust me,” he said, and lifted her off her feet and into his arms.

  She might have sighed.

  Okay, fine. She sighed, but hoped he didn’t hear it.

  A thick, muscular forearm supported her from under her knees while bulging biceps pressed into her naked thighs. His other arm went around her back and he pulled her tight against his concrete slab of a chest. She thought about protesting that she was too heavy, but he didn’t seem the least bit out of breath as he carried her into her house and kicked the door shut.

  She snuggled in his hold and threaded her arms around his thick neck. Her lips found the curve of his jaw and she pressed kisses up his face and then nibbled her way down his neck. When she took his ear lobe between her teeth, he swore under his breath.

  He took her mouth in a hard, almost vicious kiss, thrusting his tongue into her mouth. She kissed him back, parrying her tongue with his, then closing her mouth to suck on his tongue. He growled and jerked her tighter against him.

  Her actions produced her desired effect. He took long, quick steps across her living room and climbed the stairs to the next level, all the while continuing to press her against his muscular chest. She had a feeling he was going to set a bar no future sexual partner would come close to.

  “I haven’t been up here,” he said. “Which door?”

  “To the left through the sitting area.”

  Their progress through the house had been noisy with his boots clomping on her hardwood floors and stairs. However, carpet covered her private sitting area and bedroom, so his steps were muffled, and she could hear the swooshing of her heartbeat in her ears. As rapid as her pulse was, she figured her blood pressure must be through the roof.

  She toed off her shoes as they crossed her bedroom, letting them drop silently to the floor, all the while continuing her attack on his mouth.

  As he began to lower her, she tightened her hold around his neck. “Can you unzip me?”

  “Gladly.”

  He set her on her bed—with the clean sheets, thank goodness—and pulled down the zipper closure along her back. The dress immediately sagged off her shoulders and slid down her arms. She was gratified to hear the deep inhale of his breath.

  Followed by, “Damn. You are so beautiful.”

  The dress hadn’t required a strapless bra, but she’d worn one nonetheless. Pulling her arms free from the material, she let the dress fall to her waist, exposing the lace bra she’d worn for him.

  He pulled her toward him and kissed her. Then he kissed and nibbled his way down her throat. When he reached the indentation between her collar bones, he swirled the tip of his tongue there before continuing his downward travel.

  At the same time, he palmed both breasts through her bra, scratching the stiff lace against her erect nipples. Jerking the cups down, cool air flowed around her heated flesh, drawing her nipples tighter. And then his hot mouth was sucking her breast, pulling it deeply into his mouth. He bit then licked the tip, sending waves of lust straight to her core. Her sex pulsed with need. Arousal gushed, soaking her panties.

  She moaned. “That feels so good. Don’t stop.”

  He took time to give her other breast the same loving attention. She felt her bra loosen and drop into her lap. She’d never known his hand had gone behind her back.

  Oh, yeah. He definitely had more experience at this.

  She found the buttons on his shirt and began working them. Used to not seeing what she was doing, she had no trouble slipping the buttons through their holes. She pulled the edges apart and filled her hands with Chase’s flesh. He’d mentioned the scars, and she could feel them as she glided her fingertips up and down his chest and abdomen. Who the hell cared about a few scars? She didn’t. In her mind’s eye, he was perfect.

  “Lift your hips,” he demanded, his lips brushing her lower abdomen as he spoke. When she did, he pulled off the dress, leaving her wearing only a tiny pair of lace panties. “Fuck,” he muttered.

  The cuss word made her pause. “Is something wrong?”

  “Yes. You’ve got me so fucking hard, I’m in pain. I won’t last but a few minutes this first time.”

  She smiled. This first time. That was a promise that there would be more.

  “Lay back,” he ordered, his voice like rough gravel.

  As soon as she was on her back, he pushed her legs apart and seated himself between them. But it was his shoulders between her thighs as he mouthed the soaked crotch of her panties. He sucked, and she almost came off the bed.

  Holy shit. She’d never felt so much tension building inside her, like she was going to explode.

  He pulled her panties down her legs and then it was his mouth on her flesh. She bit down on her thumb to keep from crying out. He licked her from top to bottom and back. He stuck his tongue inside her, thrusting in and out. But when he bit down just the slightest on her clit, a tornadic orgasm tore through her. Her hips bucked off the bed. Her shoulders jabbed into the mattress. Her hands fisted into the sheets as she cried out. Tears rolled down her cheeks as wave after wave of intense pleasure rolled through her.

  When it finally ebbed, she gasped, trying to catch her breath.

  “Hey,” he said, his thumb wiping her tears from her cheeks. “You okay?”

  “I. Don’t. Think. I’ll. Ever. Be. The. Same,” she panted out.

  He chuckled. “Glad to know you liked it.”

  “Gave myself…away, did I?” she asked, still pulling deep breaths into her lungs

  He moved off the bed and her heart sputtered. “Where are you going?”

  “I’m a little overdressed for this party. Did you think I was leaving?”

  She didn’t want him to think her a total rube, so she snorted. “No.”

  His belt buckle jangled and she heard the soft sound of material sliding as he removed his clothing.

  When she’d first been blinded, she’d been irate at God, the world, and everyone in it. But over the last twenty years, she’d adjusted, learned to live in her dark world. Until this very minute, she’d accepted her condition. But right now, this very second, she’d give anything to be able to see him. “Chase?”

  “Hmm?”

  “Remember how I saw your face? With my fingers?”

  “Yeah, and?”

  “Stand by the bed. I want to see the rest of you.”

  ***

  Fuck. He was barely holding on as it was. Fiona’s soft fingers stoking every inch of him would set him off like a firecracker.

  “Honey, as much as I would love that, there’s no way I could hold off.”

  Her forehead wrinkled. “Hold off?”

  “Coming. The minute you touch me, well, I’m
doing mathematical division in my head right now to keep things under control. I’ve been hard since the first time I looked at you. But now that I’ve had a taste, I want you so bad, my teeth ache. I’m a pressure valve ready to blow.”

  “Oh,” she said, as though his explanation had finally dawned on her. “Later then? After the, um, pressure is off?”

  “That’s doable,” he said, his voice tight.

  During their conversation, she’d scooted to the edge of the bed ready to see him with her hands.

  “Scoot back,” he said. “You know you’re on the edge of the bed, right?”

  “Of course I know.” She moved to the middle and then said, “You do have a condom, right? I’m not on any type of birth control.”

  He ripped the condom open and slipped it on. “I’m covered. No pun intended.”

  She giggled.

  Wrapping his hands around her ankles, he spread her legs and settled himself between them. She’d been so wet, he knew she was ready.

  He pressed the head into her and was surprised at how tight her opening was. Then he thrust deep. Her internal walls squeezed his cock like a vise.

  She gasped, her fingers clenching into fists. She held her breath for a minute and then began breathing in pants.

  “Fiona?”

  “Hmm?”

  “Is there something you meant to tell me?”

  “I don’t know what you mean?” He could see that speaking was a struggle.

  “Are you a virgin?”

  “Not anymore.”

  “Fuck, Fi.” He gently pulled from her body. “You should have told me.”

  “Why? Because you wouldn’t have had sex with me?”

  He laid on top of her and brushed away the tears beginning to slide down her cheeks. “Oh, hell, no. I wanted you more than I’ve wanted any woman in a long time. You are mine. I knew that. But I would have taken care not to hurt you. The first time can be a little painful.”

  “For the woman,” she said, with a little smile.

  “Yeah. You okay?”

  “I am now. You’re not going to stop, are you? I mean, the damage is done, and all that.”

  He slowly pushed back inside. Her hips lifted to help her adjust to taking his girth. The muscles in his neck strained as he worked to be gentle when what his body wanted was to slam into her over and over. Finally, he was seated up to his balls.

  “How does that feel?”

  “Unbelievably good,” she said. “I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to be moving now.”

  He chuckled and withdrew. When he pushed back in, her hips moved in concert. As he let his body take over, he began pumping into her faster and faster. Her legs wrapped around his hips, opening herself wider for his cock.

  Then she cried out, her head rolling from side to side. Her canal pulsed and squeezed his dick with her orgasm.

  When he came, his climax hit him like a freight train. He collapsed on top of her with a gasp.

  Chapter Five

  Over the next month, their days were filled with work but their nights were devoted to long hours of lovemaking. He’d discovered she loved when he talked dirty to her. Sometimes, during the day, he’d catch himself thinking of seriously nasty things he could say in her ear. And then he would find himself with a raging erection and have to do division distraction to get his mind on something else.

  He didn’t stay every night. In fact, a lot of nights he would return to his hotel to catch a couple of hours of sleep before he showered and returned. He was sure some psychiatrist would say he had some type of commitment phobia, but that wasn’t it, or at least he didn’t think it was. He told himself he was giving her space. They worked together in her home every day. If he stayed every night, he ran the chance of her tiring of him. He knew he’d never tire of her, of hearing her voice, of making love with her. But she’d been through so much. He wasn’t going to push himself into her life. She would have to invite him in.

  The oddest thing had been Fiona’s assistant’s reaction to discovering they were seeing each other.

  Early one Friday morning when he arrived at Fi’s house, Lori was the only person downstairs.

  “Where’s Fi?”

  “Oh, poor baby. She’s in bed with a massive migraine headache. You know that strong daylight gives her problems, right? I think all the Saturdays on your bike have finally caught up with her.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Chase. She’s not used to a life like that. She’s used to quiet and peace. You’ve come roaring in here with your Harley and your promises, and I think she’s overwhelmed. She asked me to make sure every drop of sunlight was blocked out of her bedroom and not to bother her.”

  “She told you to tell me not to bother her?”

  Lori laughed and fiddled with the collar on her blouse. “Well, no. She didn’t mention you directly. I can only assume that she meant she wanted no one to come into her room today.”

  He nodded his understanding. This was the first time Fiona had suffered from a headache since he’d been here. There’d been no reason for her to mention that she got migraines from time to time, so there was no reason he would have known.

  “Fine. I’ll head up and get to work on yesterday’s narration. Let me know if she wakes up.”

  “Of course. Poor baby,” she said, her eyebrows furrowed in sympathy. “She looked awful.”

  “I won’t bother her then.”

  He didn’t see her all day, which, he had to admit, surprised him. He’d figured she’d take something and be over it by lunch, if not early afternoon. Lori was still in the kitchen when he came down at five. That was also strange. Typically, she was gone by noon on Fridays to get an early start on the weekend.

  “Still here?” he said.

  “Yes. I checked on her about an hour ago and got growled at.”

  “Think I should take her to the hospital emergency room? It might be something more than just a migraine.”

  “Oh, no. I’ve seen her with these before,” she assured him. “She should be right as rain by tomorrow. You go on home, have a nice evening, and don’t worry about her. She’ll be fine.”

  “I feel like I should at least stick my head in the door.”

  “It’s your head, but trust me when I tell you that she will not be glad to see you.”

  He ran his hand through his hair. “I guess you’re right. If she’s resting, I wouldn’t want to disturb her.”

  “Exactly. Call her in the morning.”

  “You’ll check on her before you leave?”

  “Of course. Don’t worry.”

  “Tell her if she needs anything, just call me.”

  “Sure will. Once you’re gone, I’ll finish up down here, check on our girl, and I’ll be out of her hair, too. Have a good weekend.”

  “You, too, Lori. I’m glad you’re here with Fiona. I know you’ve been a lot of help.”

  “I’m glad to. This is the best job I’ve ever had.”

  “Night then.”

  “Night, Chase.”

  On the drive back to his hotel, there was something Lori had said that had jumped out at him at the time. Now, he couldn’t remember what that was for the life of him.

  Taking Lori’s advice, he picked up a six-pack of beer and a pizza for a night in. He had some work for Brotherhood Protectors he needed to finish and get back to Hank. It was looking like a perfect night for that.

  As he chewed his all-meat pizza, he thought about Lori. Fiona had never mentioned how she found her assistant. Ad? Reference? Job posting on the internet?

  Now that he thought about it, what did he know about Lori Wood? How much did Fiona know? How much of a background check had she done?

  Really, the assistant had done nothing that deserved his critical eye, but now he was curious. He knew very little about her. Her name, of course. She’d mentioned that she’d lived in Big Branch growing up and that her family had moved to St. Louis when she’d been a child. Her parents were both decease
d, and she had a brother named Bobby. And that was about it. He had no idea where she and Bobby lived.

  Still, it was a start.

  He began an online search for Lori Wood by checking all the social media sites. Lots of Lori Woods, but none of the pictures on the accounts—when there were pictures—matched Fiona’s assistant.

  Bobby Wood, another very common name, brought up a ton of social media accounts but he didn’t have much to work with. Name and state. Otherwise, nothing. And he had to face it, Texas was a big state with lots of Bobby Woods living here.

  He sat back and drew a long gulp of his beer. When he’d been looking up Fiona, he’d found some limited information but nothing about her accident or her blindness. There had to be some newspaper accounts.

  In a way, he felt like he was invading her privacy by looking. On the other hand, auto accidents, especially those involving drunk drivers, were news and usually reported.

  He started with the local paper, the Big Branch Chronicle. There was nothing on the internet, which now that he thought about it, made sense. The accident that took her sight was over twenty years ago. Odds were that a small town newspaper hadn’t digitized their daily papers back then. So a dead end there.

  Some fancy internet guru he was.

  Still, he put in the year of Fiona’s accident and the details he knew. A story popped up about a local delivery man who’d been drunk on the job and had crashed the store’s delivery truck into a car driven by a man with his daughter a passenger in the car.

  He pulled up the story but the details didn’t match. In this accident, the man had his son with him and the son was killed in the accident. The other driver died but his daughter had lived. So two dead and two walked away. Not Fiona’s accident. This one had taken place in Dallas. Close to what he understood happened, but not the same. Funny that there had been two similar accidents within the same year.

  It was close to midnight when his phone rang. He startled awake and snatched his cell off the table.

  “Hello?”

  “Chase? This is Shade Gruber.”

  Chase shook his head to wake up and looked at the kitchen clock. “What’s wrong?”

  “Probably nothing, but I was taking the kids’ new puppy out for his umpteenth pee and noticed lights on the third floor of Fiona’s house. I was hoping you were working late.”