Chapter 4
Delaney’s face lost what little color remained in it. “What? How?”
Ethan read the rest of the text. “He had outside help. Investigators said he ditched his prison-issue orange jumpsuit and boots while working on the east side of Bozeman. Probably got a change of clothes from his accomplice.”
“I don’t understand.” She wobbled and the drinks fell to the ground, clattering and spilling liquid on the pristine hardwood floor. “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
He grabbed a towel and mopped up the mess, then picked up the two cans and placed them on the counter. “Not sure,” he said, taking her cold hands in his while holding her steady. “But Pace is stupid. And I can deal with stupid. Does he know where your new place is?”
“Half of Eagle Rock was on my payroll when I built this house because Kerry Ann suggested we hire local since we grew up here. I totally agreed.” She leaned her forehead against his chest. “Plus, anyone can find out where I live if they put their minds to it.”
Her voice wavered and Ethan heard the tears in her words. She’d been through hell today. Acting on autopilot, he released her ice-cold hands and wrapped his arms around her. Just to comfort her. That’s all. Yeah man. Keep telling yourself that bullshit.
“You think he still has friends or family living here in Eagle Rock?”
She moved a little closer. “His parents moved to Arizona a few years ago, but I imagine there are few people living here who’d help him out.”
He stroked her back. “You remember any names?”
Man, oh man. His pants grew uncomfortably tight. She was perfect with curves in all the right places molding to him as if she’d been made for him. Focus on the damn situation. Not how hard she’s making you. He needed a serious dose of ice down his pants, but still, he didn’t let her go. Not when she needed him.
“Dan, maybe Wade,” she said. “They’ve had their own run-ins with the law. Mostly petty stuff when they were in high school. Though they’ll be hard to find because they live off the grid—they’re into that anti-government stuff.”
Fuck. That would make them hard to find, but he’d give Hank and the sheriff the information just the same. “Anyone else?”
“I don’t know,” she said, wrapping her arms tighter around his waist.
“What about Kerry Ann? Does she have a list of people who were on your house construction payroll?”
“Sure. She put everything in place while she was here a few years ago, and she keeps meticulous records.”
“Did she supervise the hiring?”
“No, a local construction company took care of that after she set the project in motion, then she returned to LA. She hasn’t been back until now. She had no reason to return after her parents died. Truthfully, she couldn’t wait to get to LA after we graduated. Eagle Rock wasn’t the place for her,” Delaney said. “We had so many plans. So many crazy dreams. We still laugh about the days of eating bowls of ramen noodles. We’ve accomplished a lot since then.”
“You got everything you wanted and more.”
“Everything including a nut job stalking me.”
The atmosphere in the room seemed to grow misty. Time slowed to an infinitesimal beat, yet his heart pounded loud as a drum in his ears. He wanted to do so much more than hold her. He wanted to kiss her, feel her move beneath him, feel their flesh sliding against each other.
The gentle slap of trees hitting the windows brought him back to his senses. “Tell Kerry Ann to get a list of the construction company’s employees. Also, have her include anyone who might have a grudge against you.” Briefly, he wondered if Kerry Ann held one. Doubtful. She’d been in the Jeep with Delaney and could have been killed in the accident. No way she’d risk her own neck. Besides she’d been the first to insist that Delaney hire him.
“Can it wait until morning?” She lifted her head, her beautiful green eyes glittered with unshed tears. “I just want one night where I can pretend no one is after me. That no one wants to hurt me. Please. Ethan. Just hold me. Don’t let me go.”
“You’re tired.” He didn’t break their fragile contact. But he should. He really needed to create some distance between them. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from acting on every wild impulse he had about being with her. “You need to get some sleep.”
“I’m afraid. What if John comes here?”
“Don’t be. I’ll be right outside your bedroom door.” Fuck. She looked so damn vulnerable, but he couldn’t take advantage of her fear. “He’d have to get through me first.”
“I don’t want you outside my bedroom door.” She stroked her hands up his back until they reached the base of his neck. “I can’t stand the idea of being alone tonight.”
He shouldn’t. No. Nada. No way should he agree to be with her. There had to be some code in the Brotherhood Protectors’ manifesto against crawling into bed with their clients. But he understood all too well the aftereffects of dodging danger. The adrenaline rush followed by the realization that death nearly caught you in its snare.
“I’ll stay with you,” he said. “Hold you. But nothing more. I won’t take advantage of you.”
“That’s okay, as long as you don’t stop me from taking advantage of you,” she said, kissing his jaw and moving her lips closer, closer still to his mouth.
Ethan stiffened briefly when Delaney sucked in his lower lip, but he didn’t pull back. Thank goodness. She didn’t know if she could handle it if he pushed her away now.
Instead, he deepened the kiss, drawing her tongue into his mouth, hungry and as powerful as she’d expected he’d be in the taking. This. This was what she needed, wanted, craved. Over and over, their tongues tangled, danced against each other. Feasting. Exploring. Tasting.
Oh, the tasting. He tasted so good. She’d never been with a man like him: so big, so carnal, and so incredibly intoxicating. In his arms, she didn’t feel afraid. Or vulnerable. Or like a target.
He lifted her, still kissing her, and they bumped their way out of the kitchen, down the hall, and into her bedroom. She felt his erection when he slid her down his torso, still not breaking their intimate contact.
Words weren’t spoken as they removed their clothes, first kicking off their boots—then shucking their shirts, jeans, and underwear. Hands on each other, touching, exploring one another as every inch of their skin was exposed until they tumbled naked onto her king-sized bed.
They’d gone from avoiding their attraction to succumbing to it with a vengeance. Every sensitive, sexual part of her pulsed, throbbed and tugged exquisitely.
He scraped his calloused fingers over her nipples and she nearly jumped out of her skin. “Ethan. Yes. Don’t stop.”
“Tell me what you want.”
“This. More. I want it all.”
She arched her back and thrust her breasts into his eager hands. Electricity shot through her with ever tweak, pinch and tease. “You like it when I play with your nipples—what else do you want me to play with, Delaney?”
His sexy, growly tone and his dirty question made her insane. “Touch me.”
“Where, Delaney? Where do you want my hands?”
“I want to feel your fingers on me, in me down there.”
“Down where? Tell me what you really want me to do.” He tweaked her nipples one-by-one and then replaced one hand with his mouth, sucking her bud deep, swirling his tongue over it.
Heat pooled between her thighs and her clit throbbed with need. She hitched her hips, felt his cock’s length jutting into her thighs. She spread her legs, moving her wetness across his skin. “Here. I want you to play with my pussy,” she said. “Make me come. Make me forget everything but this moment. Please make me forget.”
She wanted him to touch her there. To touch her everywhere. Then she wanted him to take her hard, fast, deep.
Still sucking one breast and then the other, Ethan stroked his hand down her torso, gliding it between their bodies, parting her slick folds. She
moaned, writhed on the bed beneath him, but he held her pinned with his strong body.
He dipped first one, then another finger, into her and she bucked against his hand, wanting. Needing him to bring her to the edge and then send her over it. Ethan pumped in and out of her, abrading her clit with his palm, then swirling her juices over it.
Waves began to build deep. They escalated, intensified, cresting and pulsing everywhere, bringing her higher, higher still. “Yes. God. Yes.” She clutched his hair, held him to her breasts and lifted her hips to bring herself closer to him.
She took, received everything he had to give her with total abandon. The sensations in her core ripped through her, shattering her until stars burst behind her eyes and she screamed his name.
The aftershocks of her orgasm rippled through her sex and still, she wanted more. She wanted him inside her. Pulling him away from her breasts, she brought him back to her mouth and kissed him deeply while spreading her legs to give him full access.
“Delaney,” he rasped. “We can’t. I haven’t got protection.”
“I’m on the pill.” She nipped his lower lip and stroked the length of his sweat-slicked back until she cupped his chiseled ass. “You get a clean bill of health after your last physical?”
“I’ve been pure as the driven snow for months.”
“I’ll guess that’s a yes.”
“You guessed right.”
He took her mouth with his and slid his tongue against hers while rocking into her with one long stroke until he filled her completely. She raised her hips and took him deeper, deeper still. And then there was nothing but the sound of their bodies slapping against each other, moving faster, faster, and faster.
Skin against slick skin, hands entwining as they held on for the ride, body sliding against body. She could feel his cock grow larger inside her. More pressure built down low, and another orgasm began to rise, heat and the exquisite tension coiling and tightening until she thought she’d explode.
She released her grip to slide her palms down his back and held onto his ass, pushing him inside her until she no longer knew where she ended and he began. Thought flew. Reason jumbled. There was only him. Only her. And the amazing sensation of him driving into her, completing her, making her wild, crazed.
And alive. Oh, so wonderfully alive.
Sensation built upon sensation. Sex, sweat, and her arousal scented the air. The taste of him on her tongue, the feel of him moving so deep in her made her hot. The blaze burned through her until her mind went blank and her orgasm crashed through her. She bucked beneath him until she felt him shudder. He went rigid, then thrust one last time, pouring himself into her, and they crested over the edge together.
Chapter 5
Ethan collapsed on top of Delaney, rasping. Weak. She made him so damn weak he could barely breathe. He sure as hell couldn’t think. Didn’t want to. He wanted to stay here. Inside her. Never leave.
Bad move. He knew it down deep. But he didn’t want to break away.
She stroked his back. “That was—you were—wow.”
“I . . .” He didn’t know what to say. She’d been amazing but he’d been rough. Too rough. She’d just had her head bashed by a fucking door and he’d screwed her brains out. Probably get fired for that—he raised up on his elbows and stared at her, winced at the multicolored bruise blooming on her forehead. “I shouldn’t have…”
Delaney pressed a finger against his mouth. “Don’t you dare say this shouldn’t have happened,” she said. “I needed you. You wanted me. We had crazy wild sex and I loved every minute of it. So, don’t tell me you have regrets, or you’ll spoil my current good mood.”
“Yeah. Well, the doctor said to monitor you, not fuck you.”
“I’d say this was a heck of a great way to monitor me.” She nipped his chin. “In fact, I’d love it if you continued monitoring me. All. Night. Long.”
“I see.” He grew hard inside her and moved slowly, loving the feel of her muscles clenching around him. “Well, if I’m going to stay awake all night, this is one way to make it happen.” This time he’d take it slow, enjoy her body inch by delectable inch, and show her a gentler side.
“Mmmm. Yes. This kind of monitoring is so good.” She wrapped her legs around his waist.
“Damn good.” He thrust deep inside, all the way to her hilt and cruised his mouth over her lips. “You feel incredible, Delaney. So wet. So hot. I want to take you slow, easy, and make you come all over again.”
“I want it all.”
“I’m going to give it to you. I want you to scream my name again when I go down on you.”
“Down?”
“Yes. Down. I want to make you come with my mouth. I want to taste you, Delaney. You want me to go down on you?”
“I don’t know. I never . . .”
Her juices flowed and he could feel her engorged nipples on his chest as he moved in and out of her, teasing her with his length. “You do. You want me to kiss you down there.” He cruised a hand over her breasts, flicked his thumbs across her tight buds. “Tell me, Delaney. Would you like to feel my tongue on your pussy?”
She moaned. “Yes . . . I want you to kiss me there.”
His heart thrummed and his cock throbbed, the head pulsating. “You have no clue what you’ve been missing out on.” The idea that he’d be the first man to ever bring her over the edge with his mouth made him so fucking hot. But he’d take his time getting there—slow and easy. Then he’d figure out just how bad his All American Good Girl Movie star could be for him.
“Show me.”
He licked his way down her throat, still moving inside her, getting her even wetter with his cock. Then he made his way over to her gorgeous, rosy-tipped nipples and sucked them in one-by-one. He'd had a lot of amazing lays in his life, but Delaney? Fuck. She was unlike any woman he'd ever been with and even if they only had a temporary thing going on, he might as well go for it now that he'd crossed the professional line between them.
Her scent filled the air. She smelled so fucking good—like spicy peaches. And Ethan had always loved peaches. He pulled out of her, then licked his way down her belly until he reached the apex of her thighs. He parted the folds, glided his tongue over the seam of her sex.
She hitched her hips high to meet his mouth. Yet at the same time, she protested. “I don’t know. I can’t.”
Ethan lifted his head to look at her. She was a goddess with her auburn hair waving around her sex-flushed face. And those kiss swollen lips made his cock jump, grow even harder. “Oh, but you will.”
He kissed her clit, licked the nub and slid his finger between her sweet folds before slipping it inside her hot, wet pussy. She clenched around him, moaning his name. She bucked higher and he inhaled her juices, drinking in her essence while pumping his finger in and out of her. The first tremors of her orgasm pulsated around him and she flowed honeyed heat onto his tongue.
“Now. Oh. God. Now,” she cried. “Oh . . .”
Quickly, he moved over her, sliding his cock into her as the first waves of her orgasm spasmed, clenching around him. “That’s it.” His cock head filled with blood, throbbed, and his balls contracted. “Come with me.” He plunged into her, over and over again.
He drove deep, deeper still. She drew him in, rising and falling with him in an age-old dance, primal and wild.
They matched each other stroke for stroke, the intensity of their connection building, building, building until everything inside him poured into her again. She cried his name, taking him, and possessing even as he possessed her.
Night turned to early morning dawn, and Delaney rested her head in the crook of Ethan’s shoulder. Tracing her fingers down his chest, she skimmed his bronzed skin and explored every dip, every shadow of his torso. Light filtered in through the half-open blinds, casting an otherworldly glow in her bedroom.
For the first time in what seemed like a lifetime, she didn’t fear the unknown. She didn’t worry about the possibility of som
eone attacking her. She didn’t need to look over her shoulder, wondering who hid in the corners.
Not when she had Ethan beside her, protecting and sheltering her. And so much more. My, oh my, she did have him.
Every. Which. Way. Possible.
Who knew there were so many interesting sexy positions to try in bed? Or in the shower? Or against the wall? Her sex ached in the most exquisite way as the memories flashed through her brain.
The man was a machine and he was all hers.
For now.
And while they’d escaped reality for a brief time, she couldn’t ignore it much longer. Still, she wanted to stretch out the morning just a little longer. She feathered her fingers over the puckered scars on his right hip. “What happened to you?”
He played with her hair, brushing it from her forehead. “Ambush. We had intelligence—falsified by our local informant—that an enemy cache of weapons was stored in a village near our post. Went in. There were definitely assault rifles, but they were in the opposition’s hands. Got shot after I got most of my unit out of there.”
Ethan’s voice was devoid of emotion, but his abdominal muscles tightened beneath her touch. Her heart tip-tilted and her insides quivered. While she’d been in danger during these past twenty-four hours, she had someone to rely on. To trust. She couldn’t imagine the betrayal, the fear, and pain he’d endured.
“You could have been killed.”
“Damn near close. But I was lucky,” he said. “Not everyone in my unit got out alive.”
Heat pricked behind her eyes, and her nose itched. These were some of the people he’d told her about—the stories he’d used to distract her from her problems. They’d been his friends. Some of them never came home other than in coffins draped with American flags.
“I’m sorry.” She didn’t bother giving him pithy platitudes or try to go all Pollyanna on him. “But I’m so glad you survived.” Delaney meant it. Not just because he’d given her the most incredible night of her life. No. She couldn’t imagine going through the last two nights without him, regardless of why he was here.
Brotherhood Protectors: Falling for Her Bodyguard (Kindle Worlds Novella) Page 4