The Guardian (A Wounded Warrior Novel)

by Anna del Mar

  I grabbed my duffel. Where the hell were my boots? I stalked around the room, collecting my things. The battle raged inside of me. The grown up I’d become fought against the neglected kid. But it was Jade, the marine, who tackled Jade, the skeptical. It was an all-out war.

  Goddamnit, marine, get your act together, forget that pitiful crap and get yourself some sweet game warden ass. What the hell are you doing, thinking about packing your crap? You’ve got a top-notch specimen out there watching your six. He’s offering you something you want—don’t argue with me—you want that hunk for yourself and you know it. You want a goddamn future with him, even though you wouldn’t admit it under interrogation if they sliced off your nipples and set your tits on fire. He’s smart, he’s honorable, and he’s fucking hot. What the hell are you waiting for?

  The marine in me had saved my life more than once. I ought to listen to her.

  The duffel fell out of my hand. I abandoned it on the floor and ambled out to the balcony where the moon inked a trail on the sea, a path of light that stretched to the horizon. The pink and purple bougainvillea casing our balcony danced in the balmy breeze, leaves rustling secrets.

  You already love him.

  Holy crap. My stomach clenched. Was I really capable of love? Could I love him well, as he deserved?

  Saddle up, marine. Time’s up.

  Standing against the railing, I reached to the back of my neck and undid the single clasp that held my halter in place. The silk rushed against my skin, dropped along my body and pooled at my feet. I stood there for a moment, pressing my bare belly to the railing’s cool metal, feeling out this new world, a world in which I was willing to take on Matthias and he was willing to take a chance on me.

  Slowly, progressively, the thought began to feel right, as if I had the right stuff for this, as if I had just tapped into huge reserves I didn’t know I had. I rolled my panties down my legs. It was a crapshoot but I was so going down.

  By the time the key rattled in the door, I sat on the hammock sideways, head cradled on one side, legs dangling over the opposite side. My feet didn’t reach the floor, but every so often, my toes pushed off the nearby chaise, maintaining the motion that gently rocked the hammock. As to the rest, I’ll have to figure it out later. For now, I was naked, exactly as Matthias had asked.

  The door creaked open. I sensed a wave of fear hit the room—why not? Heroes had fears like everybody else. What made them different was what they did in the face of fear. Like Matthias. Act of valor number one: He wanted me, the feral creature I was, the wildness in my heart, the wilderness in my head. Act of valor number two: He’d set everything up to give me a choice even if it went against his grain. Act of valor number three: He feared I’d taken the out and yet he still climbed those steps and opened that door.

  Yeah. He’d earned his medals tonight. The half-packed duffel abandoned in the middle of the room probably told him the story. Had it been the other way around, I would’ve run in the opposite direction, as far and fast as I could go. I still kind of wanted to do that. But lust won out and kept me in the hammock. A few moments passed. Next I knew, his figure cast a long shadow as he came out to the balcony.

  He stopped before me, naked as I was. His eyes narrowed on my face with an intensity that sent shivers all over my body. I sat up in the hammock and took him in, his feet, bare against the terracotta; his legs, a wondrous fusion of biological and technological engineering; his body, so lean and balanced, so beautiful to my eyes; his cock, fully engorged and as impressive as the rest of him.

  He bent over the hammock and kissed me, a wet, warm, contact of lips and affection. I kissed him back in reply, a taste of dark rum and lime that made me drunk with his flavors. And then I was done waiting, doubting, thinking. Instinct took over. I leaned back on the hammock, parted my legs and offered myself to him.

  There was no pretense between us, no hesitation. He stepped closer and led his cock to my pussy. For a moment, he perched on my opening, allowing me to get used to his presence, dipping his cockhead in my well and spreading the moisture around. Then he pressed and broke into my body with a quiet groan.

  The pleasure of that first glide was more than I could take. I could’ve come right there on the spot. Instead, I held back, closed my eyes, and moaned, a sound that came from the bottom of my throat.

  “Jade,” he rasped, leaning over me, breath hot against my mouth. “I know it wasn’t easy for you to stay, but I swear, I’m gonna make it worth your while.”

  I curled in my hips and pressed myself against him, taking more of him, taking all of him that I could. How could he know me so well? It was as if his mind was connected to my brain. He lowered his lips to my breast and nursed on my nipple, persuading me with his mouth to accept more of him.

  The feel of him was divine. He was a large fit and hard as steel but also silky and flexible. My pussy was stuffed to the rim and pulsing like an angel’s song in high heaven. His strokes were firm and demanding and his balls bounced quietly against my sex with satisfying claps that echoed in the balcony and joined the sound of my breaths, coming in sharp, short pants. I gasped when his hand landed on my sex. His thumb found my clit, circled it and rubbed it until I was out of my mind.

  “I’m going to come,” I rasped, writhing under his stare. “I want to come, right now.”

  “Well, that isn’t a bad thing.” He smiled down on me as he thrust in and out, leaving behind a thorough trail of pleasure. “But,” he added, with a devilish twinkle in his eye, “I’d like for you to hold on for a sec, given I have some things I wanna say to you.”

  “Now?” I gasped and groaned at the same time. “Not now. Later, please?”

  “Now,” he said. “Can’t think of a better time. Try it, please?”

  “Okay,” I said but I sounded like petulant child.

  “I told you I was serious about you and I mean it. You’re mine. From now on, I’m the only one you fuck.” He brushed his lips against mine. “Say it.”

  As if I wanted to be with anyone else in the world but him. “You’re the only one I fuck, but…”

  He froze in place. “But what?”

  “I’m the only one you fuck.”

  He grinned. “Absolutely.” He plunged in me, filling my every corner with his heavy, satisfying bulk. “If you’re horny, you come to me. If I’m horny, I come to you.”

  Shit, shit, shit. I gasped for air. He needed to stop talking.

  He withdrew before he glided back with a stroke that made me both replete and complete. “If you’re sad, when you’re happy, whatever you need, you come to me.” He thumbed my clit until he had me hissing with pleasure. “We deal with stuff together. Are we understood?”

  “I come to you, yes.” I lifted my head off the canvas and nodded, eagerly, desperately, because I was hanging on by a very thin thread and it could snap at any time.

  He leaned over me again and kissed me. I swear, having his tongue and his cock in me at the same time was the most exquisite feeling I’d ever felt. I clasped my legs around his waist and pulled him deeper in me. His thrusts quickened. His eyes were narrow but bright. His lips were white, straight, and beautiful.

  “One last thing,” he said.

  “Yes?” I said, delirious with need.

  He planted his root at my root. “I want you to be my forever woman.”

  I squeaked. “What?”

  “I know, cliché, but I’m thinking more along the lines of a forever stamp.”

  “A forever stamp?”

  “Years from now, I’m gonna be there for you and you, you’re gonna be there for me. And one day, not too far into the future, you’re gonna marry me.”

  I croaked. “What?”

  “Yeah, Jade. Mark my words. You’re gonna marry me.”

  I went off like a nuclear explosion. I rattled in that hammock, nails digging into the canvas, legs shivering, voice hoarse as I cried out my pleasure. My pussy squeezed around his cock and every molecule of my being rejoi
ced with the knowledge that maybe, just maybe, I’d found my match, the one person in the entire universe who’d been meant for me. I had a chance at my first, last, and only forever man.

  Matthias

  Jade was still in the throes of her orgasm, unhinged and lost in the waves of pleasure racing through her body, when I lifted her, turned on my heel and plopped down on the hammock. I did this without severing the exquisite connection giving me such an epic bliss. No way was I letting her go now.

  She landed on my lap with a sexy groan. I grunted at the feel of my cock surging inside her. Christ help me. I almost lost it. The breach taught me a new angle of shocking pleasure. My cock claimed brand new territory deep inside of her. I clutched her hips and urged her to move, sliding her back and forth on my lap. I curled my hips and thrust in her, caught in her body’s moist, addictive pleasure.

  Her tight channel accepted me, stretching to accommodate my increasing width, gorging on me with the same hunger I had for her. I journeyed through her body, slick with her moisture, a trip that sent waves of pleasure to challenge every ounce of my strained control. She rose above me like a majestic swell. Nothing I could do but relish the thrill of surfing in her body and hang on for dear life.

  “Jesus, babe,” I rasped. “You’re so goddamn wet and tight. I love your body. I love the way you move. You’re goddamn spectacular.”

  I caressed Jade’s ass, separated her cheeks and circled her tight little back entrance. At the same time, I kneaded her clit and suckled on her delicious breast. Her hard nipple tightened against my palate, generously stretching as I suckled her, hard and hungry. I wanted to give her the same extraordinary pleasure she was giving me. I egged her on, bouncing her on my lap to give her more motion, more thrust, everything that she needed, everything that I’d wanted to give her, everything that she deserved and more.

  She braced on my chest, hands splayed over my pectorals, grounding her tight, wet pussy against my groin. My balls contracted, my dick lurched, and I hung on, but only barely. She leaned over me and kissed her way up my neck, nibbling on the cusp of my Adam’s apple. She trailed her mouth across my chin and found my lips. I surged up, engaging her tongue and devouring her mouth.

  I drank in the look on her face: her irises, sparkling with emerald fire. Her pupils dark and dilated as she rode my body’s cadence. Her breasts flailed a sexy dance. Her ass slammed against my groin like hands on a drum. She used her own weight as leverage to intensify the sensations raking my body, sliding up and down my shaft, pleasure on the up, pleasure on the down. Snared on my shaft, she closed her eyes and lifted her face to the sky as she started to come again.

  Christ help me. I was shocked by the intensity of her orgasm, by the sheer power of her pussy squeezing my dick, by her body’s ability to lift my pleasure to a higher level. I’d had my share of women along the way, but Jade? She had the capability of elevating sex to an art form, to transform pleasure into bliss. She was the woman of my lifetime.

  As soon as she finished coming, I pulled her down and clutched her hard to my chest, gliding my cock in and out. Her breaths came in short rasps. Her nipples tickled my pecs. She tilted her head and looked up at me, meeting my gaze, riding me like a jockey in a steeplechase. I splayed my hand on her ass, quickened my pace, and watched as a third wave of pleasure lit her wide eyes. It was my cue. I curled my hips, arched my back, and fired my come with a final groan.

  We fought through the orgasm together, punching through layers of pleasure that took me higher with every breath. I held on to Jade through the journey. Bright flashes of light illuminated her face as I came. For a few moments, we breathed, felt, and soared together.

  Afterward, I remained hooked on her, my body limp but satiated, emptied of everything but brimming to the rim with the scents, sights, and sounds of Jade. For a few minutes, I was unable to move, utterly devoid of coherent motor skills but happy to stay just as I was for the rest of my life. After a few moments, I gained enough traction to turn us, so that she laid on her side cradled against me, with her head on my shoulder. The hammock enveloped us in a canvas cocoon. Christ. I never wanted to leave this hammock and this woman.

  Danger lay ahead. I had no real assurances of a future with Jade, but I was on a high and I had confidence in myself. I’d taken the first step to make Jade mine and she? She’d made me hers.

  23

  Jade

  I woke up enveloped in Matthias, enclosed in the deepest bend of his body, with my back pressed against the warmth of his chest and my ass tucked in the recess of his lap. The curls of his pubic hair tickled my skin. His nose was buried in my hair. His breath blew deep and steady in the vicinity of my ear. His leg was thrown over my thigh and his arms encased me in an unbreakable hold. I needed to go to the bathroom, so I tried slowly slipping out of his hold. With a gasp, his body came online and his grip tightened around me.

  “No running,” he rumbled sleepily. “Remember? You promised me.”

  “I wasn’t going to run.” Not that I knew, anyway. “I was just going to…”

  “Later.” He kissed the back of my neck and showed me that his whole body was fully awake now, rubbing his erection against my ass. “We’ve got to wake up right.”

  He turned me around in his arms, lifted my leg over his waist, and buried himself in me. I gasped as he glided in a generous combination of my moisture and his cream, reminding me of the pleasures we’d shared all night long. He tucked my head against his neck and hugged me tightly against his body gliding in and out of me as if we’d been lovers for years instead of hours.

  I put my arms around him, enjoying the feel of his athletic body and the rippling of his fit muscles beneath my palms. My fingers slid over his back and settled on the halves of his hard-working ass. His lower back curled against me in an exquisite, rhythmic dance. His glutes bulged and squeezed beneath my touch, generating the powerful grind that fueled my bliss.

  I kissed the perfect line of his jaw, the strong muscles of his neck, the apex of his Adam’s apple and went on to nibble along his shoulder’s wide ridge. I nestled my face against his chest and found his nipple. I ran my tongue around the smooth skin of his flat areola, tripping over the pebbled tip, teasing it, gnawing at it, until I got a groan from him. I wasn’t going to last very long. With my sex revved up to supersensitive and my full bladder, every stroke felt sharp, poignant, and divine.

  I gasped, letting out whimpers that hardened his erection and quickened his pace. We broke out into a fast tempo, a frantic, desperate trot that I wanted to push into an all-out gallop.

  “Jade?” he rasped in my ear. “Slow down. This is not a race. This is us. No need to compete when your pleasure is also mine.”

  I opened my eyes and met his brilliant gaze. My mouth matched the curve of his smile and my heart swelled with the sheer sweetness of him.

  He queried me with his eyebrows. “Together?”

  I brushed my mouth against his lips. “Together.”

  We both groaned in unison, shuddering in each other’s arms, welcoming the new day with a matching pair of phenomenal releases.

  “Morning, babe,” Matthias murmured in my ear after a little while, his voice rough and raspy.

  “Morning,” I mumbled faintly, legs still trembling, senses enthralled by the novelty of having him naked and in my bed, of being full with him. When his tongue returned to occupy my mouth, I knew I was the luckiest woman on earth.

  He tasted like me and sex, or should I say like me and my sex? He smelled like fire, come and pussy, like divine glory in the flesh seasoned with a touch of peppery spices. I loved the way he felt between my arms, hot and vital, every muscle engaged in the act of loving me.

  I looked up and ran my fingertips over the shade of his stubble, which had darkened and thickened overnight. His lips came up in that sexy smirk that made every contractible part of me perk up. I kissed him and although it was probably unwise and totally unfair to my bladder, the rest of me thoroughly enjoyed the new sex
ual debacle that ensued.

  I felt weirdly happy, hopeful even, totally unlike my usual skeptical self; as if this thing between Matthias and I maybe had a remote chance to work out, even if it was early in the game and the dangerous world beyond our doors remained on standby, at least for the moment.

  Matthias

  We stayed in bed for the next two days and even then, the sexual binge didn’t do much to relieve our ever-growing appetite for each other. This thing between Jade and I? It was powerful. My time alone with her felt like an epic indulgence, but my operatives had found no trace of Drake, Zeke reported that all was quiet at the station, and Rem’s encrypted texts had us in a holding pattern. Jade and I had a few precious hours to be together. I wasn’t gonna waste them.

  I was starved and needed to gorge. My body was obsessed with Jade’s. No sooner did we finish exploring sex one way, we started again, trying some other way. I loved the way she felt beneath me, the tight, moist fit of our bodies, the vital rippling of her breasts when my strokes shook her flesh, the splash of my balls as she turned my need into glorious pleasure.

  I was in awe of the way her body took on mine, able, willing, and eager to keep up with my cravings. I’d been right all along. We were not just compatible. We were physically built for each other and we both wanted to last longer, feel harder. My woman was a firebrand between the sheets, passion in the flesh, the perfect match for a guy like me.

  For mandatory cool downs, I had gourmet meals delivered to our room and we ate them in bed or on the balcony. I ended up licking an array of curried sauces directly from Jade’s succulent nipples. On a few occasions, we tried to watch football or play videogames. I said “try” because we hardly ever finished a game. How could we, since we were both naked and struggling to control our desperate need for each other?