Текст книги "His Lover to Protect"

Автор книги: Katee Robert

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But he sure as hell wasn’t going to open up about that to this woman who seemed to like taking him out at the knees. “I fucked up my knee saving a man’s life. Running marathons might not be in my future, but he gets to go home to his family because I was there.” Saved the patient, but let my brother-in-arms die. A great fucking legacy to have. Not that he was going to tell her that. She didn’t deserve a window into the private pain he lived with.

Luke braced himself for the sympathy or, worse, pity that he got when he told the abbreviated version of how he got hurt. But she surprised him. “Heroic thing to do.” She raised her eyebrows. “But if you’re at peace about it, then why the hell do you stomp around, dragging your knuckles and glaring at everyone? No, I don’t think so. Luke, I do believe your nose is growing by the second.”

Voices raised on the other side of Alexis, two burly men shouting about… He couldn’t quite catch it. But the writing was on the wall when the taller of the two shoved the other. Shit. Luke moved as the short man shoved back, hauling Alexis into his lap and getting an arm up in time to deflect the man’s fall. By that point, several other guys got involved, dragging the original two outside. A heartbeat passed, and another, and then the musicians started up again, a slow, haunting melody that raised the small hairs on the back of his neck.

He started to breathe a sigh of relief that the situation hadn’t gotten truly out of control, when she shifted and he realized that they were seriously up close and personal. Her dark hair was tousled, and her chest rose and fell with each harsh breath. He stared, knowing he should say something or do something to break the tension building between them, but all Luke could see was the way her lips parted as if in invitation.

Goddamn it.

Chapter Three

Luke was going to kiss her. Alexis could read it on his face. Now was her opportunity to laugh again, slide off his lap, and retreat to her own stool. She hadn’t meant to be so harsh with him, but her lack of control these days was part of what spurred her to take this trip in the first place.

Her inability to say the right thing was part of the reason she’d started her journey here in Cork with visiting the Blarney Stone. Her mother used to regale both Alexis and Avery with stories of Ireland and the faerie folk and all the magical things that happened on the green isle. She wasn’t a child anymore, and her mother was dead and gone, but the magic of those stories still held a special place in Alexis’s heart.

Her life had become so dull and heartbreaking that every day seemed to sink her deeper into a mud pit of depression she couldn’t escape. So she’d come here, to arguably one of the most magical places on earth, to begin to wash the muck away. To learn to love her life again, the way her mother had loved life…even when death was knocking at her doorstep.

And now here she was in a situation that never would have come about at home, sitting on the lap of a man who was barely more than a stranger and considering kissing him—considering doing a whole lot more than kissing him if she was honest.

There was something about this painfully attractive, brooding man that set her teeth on edge and made her restless, all at the same time. She hadn’t pulled her punches, and he certainly wasn’t holding back for fear of hurting her feelings. He was the first person she’d come across in a long time who didn’t dance around her for fear of saying something that would hurt her. It was as refreshing as it was aggravating. The barb about Eat, Pray, Love hit entirely too close to home. She’d read that book just last month, and it had felt like such a profound step in her journey to take control back in her life.

None of that seemed to matter now, not when he watched her as if she were the most important thing in the room, as if he were losing his mind just being this close to her. Before she could talk herself out of it, Alexis tipped her face up, inviting him to follow through on the promise in his pale green eyes.

Kiss me, please kiss me, and make me forget all about the countless things trying to drag me under.

Luke froze, and for one eternal second she thought she’d misread his signals. But then his mouth crashed down on hers, erasing any chance of misinterpretation. His tongue speared between her lips, stroking along her tongue once, twice, a third time. She couldn’t fight back a moan as he raked his teeth over her bottom lip before sucking it into his mouth. The spark of attraction inside her burst into an all-out bonfire. Alexis shifted her grip, letting go of his shirt with one hand so she could twine her fingers through his longish blond hair. She pulled it sharply enough to make him groan against her mouth, and then he was kissing his way along her jaw and nipping her earlobe. “You taste so goddamn good, darlin’, like a Georgia peach. I can’t get enough of it.”

Thank God, because if he stopped right now, she might not recover. She’d never felt such all-encompassing need pounding through her veins, pushing her to do something she’d never even considered before. I could take him back to my hostel. He doesn’t know me. I don’t know him. I’ll never see him again, and that’s okay. Why not take what this man was so obviously offering? He didn’t have to know that this wasn’t something she ever did. “Please.”

He ran one hand up her thigh, his heat seeming to brand itself through her jeans. “Tell me what you want.”

A thousand answers flitted through her mind, but one dwarfed them all. Still, she hesitated. She’d just met him, and he was an ass—not exactly the prime candidate for someone to take to bed. But then he kissed down her neck, sucking on a spot that made the whole pub go blurry. God, how was she supposed to pass a man like him up? It’s just sex. It’s not like I’m going to marry the man. The Old Alexis wouldn’t think to do this.

Which meant that was exactly what the New Alexis should do. She was supposed to be learning to take what she wanted. Right now, there was one need and one need alone dominating the forefront of her mind. She took a shuddering breath. “You. I want you.”

“This wasn’t supposed to happen.” Before she could process his words, he kept going, his hand sliding a few inches higher, until he pressed against the vee of her legs. “But fuck, I’m not a saint. I never have been.”

She didn’t know what he was talking about, but it sounded like he was trying to convince himself to back off. I just put myself out there for the first time ever—no way are we stopping. There had to be something she could say to get his head back in the game. She tugged on his hair again, guiding him up until her lips brushed his with every word. “Take me now, Luke, or I’m going to walk out of this pub and find the first man who will.” A bold-faced lie. If he rejected her, she’d walk back to her hostel with her tail between her legs. But in that moment, she almost believed herself. She wasn’t the shy and polite and obedient Alexis. She was wild and free and could do whatever she damn well pleased.

Whomever she damn well pleased.

His eyes narrowed. “Like hell you will.”

Oh, he didn’t like that at all. Power, overwhelming as it was unfamiliar, swept over her. This man wasn’t going to turn her down—not with that look on his face. From the sharp gleam in his green eyes, he appeared ready, willing, and able to follow through on their earlier conversation and haul her out of this bar. Oh yes.

She never thought she’d be into something like that. Sex had always been in the dark, beneath the covers, and completely as expected. She had a feeling sex with Luke wouldn’t be any of those things.

She wanted that. She wanted him.

All she had to do was push him over the edge he was obviously teetering on. “Go ahead.” Alexis dragged her nails over his jaw as she slid off his lap. “Call my bluff.”

When he just sat on the stool, seeming to consider, a wave of apprehension rolled through her. Had she misjudged the whole situation? Embarrassment beat in time with her heart, scalding her skin. She took another step away, testing him, but he didn’t move. Was he really going to let her walk out of here? The Old Alexis tried to surface, to do something to relieve the tension strung between them so tightly she could almost see it.

No. I’m not going to beg him to want me. I refuse to.

She lifted her chin and grabbed her pack off the floor. Pride might be the only thing she had left to herself, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to sacrifice it now, to some man who meant less than nothing. She hadn’t survived everything she had to break now.

With one last look at the still-unmoving Luke, she shook her head and started for the front door, refusing to glance over her shoulder. Over the years, she’d learned the hard way that looking back at what could have been was the best way to break her own heart. She’d duck around the corner and make her way back to the hostel and…take a cold shower or something. She most definitely wasn’t hurt enough by his rejection to cry. That would be downright pathetic.

She barely made it out the door when she felt his presence at her back, unmistakable despite their minuscule time spent together. “Going somewhere?”

I wasn’t wrong.

When was the last time her instincts had actually been correct? She couldn’t remember and was grinning too hard to care. This was confirmation that the trip was the right answer. Two days, and she was already reclaiming a little piece of herself.

The night wasn’t over yet. Forcing a disinterested expression onto her face, she turned around. God, he was magnificent. Tall and lean and glowering down at her like she’d gone and kicked his puppy. He wanted her, and he just as obviously didn’t like that, and hell if that didn’t make her whole night. She raised her eyebrows, unable to help poking at him. “I hear there’s a place down the street where the local football team hangs out.”

His brows slanted down, sending a delicious thrill through her. “You’re testing my patience.”

What is he waiting for? He was like a big, mean grizzly bear, and she had to be insane to want to go to bed with him. But she did. She wanted it more than she’d wanted anything in a very long time. What will it take to push him over the edge? Maybe she needed a really sharp stick. Obviously the thought of her jaunting off with another man—or multiple men—bothered him, so she’d just run with that. She shrugged. “You bought me a beer. I’m no longer your concern. Have a nice night.”

Alexis got three steps before Luke swept her into his arms and tossed her over his shoulder. Her heavy backpack flopped down and smacked her in the back of the head. “What the hell?”

“You think I’m going to let some crazy soccer player strip you out of those jeans and taste you when you’re wet for me? Not fucking likely, darlin’.”

Yes. She grinned against his back, though she put as much snarl into her voice as she could. “Then stop running your mouth and actually do something about it.”

Whatever intentions Luke had upon meeting Alexis had burned up in the attraction that flamed up between them. She thought she could just walk away and let some other man between those sweet thighs when they were shaking for him? The very idea made his blood pressure rise dangerously. She wanted him. She’d been all but begging for it when she was in his lap.

The time for hesitation was long gone. He turned his head to the side and sank his teeth into her ass, just hard enough to make her squirm. “Are you listening, darlin’?”

“Yes, goddamn it. Put me down and let me walk.”

So she could walk away from him again? He tightened his grip, feeling like a man possessed. Reason reared its ugly head to point out he was carting around a woman he barely knew in a foreign city. Damn it. As much as he wanted to haul her back to his room and follow through on the promise of their kiss, the local authorities might label that kidnapping. She might have given him what he considered a green light—several, in fact—but it paid to be extremely clear in this scenario. With a growl, he set her on her feet. Alexis looked flushed and she was breathing heavily, but he needed more than that to move forward. He needed her words. “What do you want?”

“Why do you keep asking me that?” She pushed at his chest, her hair falling into her eyes. “Stop gloating and take me to bed.”

Couldn’t get much clearer than that. “It’s not going to be nice, and it’s not going to be sweet. If you want romance, you’ve got the wrong fucking man.”

“No, really?” She glared at him, but her desire was written all over her face. “You’re wasting both our time right now.”

There wasn’t much more he could do—except walk away. And that was the one thing he sure as hell wasn’t going to do. He nodded once. “Come on.” Luke took her hand and dragged her down the street, each step spiking the need and jealousy tangling in his system. These goddamn Irish guys would love to get their hands on a woman like this. Hell, the tourists in town would, too. And she was just going to waltz off and give away what should be his? A little voice whispered that he had no goddamn business thinking like that, but he told it to shut the fuck up.

He needed Alexis naked and in his bed, and he needed it now.

She stayed silent as they crossed the river, though her breath puffed out in the chilly night in her effort to keep up with him. His knee groaned in agony with each step, still not recovered from the combination of earlier hike and assault. Luke took a deep breath and forced himself to slow his pace. “Do you know what I’m going to do to you when I get you upstairs?”

“Tell me.” No hesitation, no waffling, no threatening to go elsewhere.

It should have calmed him down a little. Instead, it only served to push him closer to the edge that was his hold on control. “After I get you out of those clothes, I’m going to sit you in my lap facing the mirror so you can see exactly who is driving you out of your mind. Those magnificent breasts of yours are practically begging for my attention, so I’ll start there.” The words felt forced out of him. He wanted to mark her, brand her, until she was as consumed with him as he was with her. “Then I’m going to spread those sweet thighs of yours and stroke you until you’re begging for release.”

“What if I don’t beg?”

“Trust me, darlin’, when I’m done with you, you’re going to be on your knees and begging for my cock to fill your tight little pussy.” A sound suspiciously close to a whimper came out of her, but when he looked back, she had that unflappable expression on her face that he was already starting to resent. Luke stopped walking and pulled her into his arms. “Don’t believe me?”

She licked her lips and pressed against the front of his body. Christ, how was he supposed to make it back to the hotel with her body fitting so perfectly against his? Alexis slid her hand up his chest. “All I’m hearing is a lot of talk. Put your money where your mouth is.”

Even as a small part of him admired her refusing to be railroaded, he wanted to curse her for not feeling as frantic as him. Luke grabbed her ass, using his hold to lift her until she pressed against his hard length. “Careful there, darlin’, or I’m going to put my mouth on you right here.” Her breath caught, and he allowed himself to grind on her one last time before he set her back on her feet. “We’re almost there.”

He focused on getting up to his room before he gave in to her challenge and put his money exactly where his mouth was. Who knew that all it took to drive him out of his damn mind was to have a woman who refused to pull her punches? She hadn’t held back since she met him, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to hold back now.

The elevator ride passed in a blur, and he towed her down the hall to his room. The door barely shut behind him when he pinned her against it. “You’re mine now.”

Even as she wrapped her legs around his waist, she shook her head. “For tonight.”

He wanted to rail against the limitation, but Luke was more concerned with getting her out of her clothes. With one punishing kiss, he moved to the bed and dropped her on it. Before she had a chance to right herself, he yanked off her boots and tossed them behind him. “Unbutton your pants.”

“Bossy, bossy.” But her voice was breathy, and her hands shook as she followed his order. He helped her get them over her hips and then peeled them off her legs, leaving her in only her white knit top and a thong with a shamrock that read Lucky You.

“Lucky me, indeed.”

“Don’t let it go to your head.” She sat up, and he stripped off her shirt and bra. The panties could stay…for now. Alexis propped herself on her elbows and raised one slim leg to poke him in the chest with her foot when he started to crawl onto the bed. “Your turn.”

All he could see was her smooth skin and dark pink nipples. When she poked him again, he finally focused on her face. “What?”

“Your clothes. Get rid of them.”

For the first time since he’d kissed her, Luke paused. He hadn’t been with anyone in a long time. Hell, he could pinpoint the exact time because the woman had taken one look at his mangled knee and taken off. And that was after she cringed at the sight of his scars elsewhere. He couldn’t stand the thought of Alexis flinching from him. “Not yet.”

First, he was going to drive her so far out of her mind with pleasure that she wouldn’t have the ability to remember her own name, let alone worry about his damaged body.

Chapter Four

Alexis didn’t get a chance to argue, because Luke grabbed her ankle and towed her closer. “Do you remember what I told you?”

How could she forget? It felt like every word he’d said on their way from Sin É to his hotel was branded on her skin. It had been everything she could do to keep her wits about her and her replies snarky instead of breathless. If he’d made a move, she wasn’t sure she would have had the strength to tell him to wait until they got back to his room—and even now she wasn’t sure if she’d have cared if he’d taken her right there in the street. Dorothy, we are not in Kansas anymore.

Luke was obviously still waiting for an answer, so she nodded. “I remember.”

“Tell me.”

He was going to make her say it? It was one thing to listen to it from a man who made her blood heat—it was entirely another to speak it herself. She shifted, trying to pull her ankle out of his grip. “You’re still wearing too many clothes.”

“Changing the subject won’t distract me, darlin’.” He gave another tug, bringing her to the end of the bed. “What am I going to do to you?”

She swallowed hard, acutely aware that she was nearly naked and he was still fully clothed and watching her as if he would drink her down. She’d never talked dirty before, but this entire trip was about new experiences and taking life by the horns. She could do this. All she had to do was open her mouth and speak. “You said…”

He waited, his thumb tracing maddening circles on her ankle. God, he really wasn’t going to give an inch. Alexis cleared her throat. “You said you would strip me down, sit me on your lap, and drive me crazy…” Her gaze landed on the dresser across from the bed. Sure enough, it had a giant mirror on top of it. Oh wow. “Where I could see exactly who was touching me.” She could already picture how it would look, his big hands on her body, spreading her and stoking her desire and driving her out of her mind. Hell, he had her halfway there and he had barely touched her yet.

Maybe there was something to be said for this dirty talking stuff.

Luke’s eyes seemed to darken. “And afterward I’m going to press you against that window and fuck you from behind where anyone who looks up can see you.”

She whipped around so fast, she almost fell off the bed. As distracted as she was, she hadn’t noticed the floor-to-ceiling windows taking up the wall opposite the door. Heat spread through her body at the thought of him pressing her against that window. She’d never thought of herself as an exhibitionist, but she was leaving Cork tomorrow, so it wasn’t as if she’d run into someone who’d see the peep show.

Or the man who planned to put her on display.

The thought sent a pang through her, which she promptly ignored. Luke was hot as hell, but he and she could barely sit next to each other for two minutes without making painfully snarky comments. This wasn’t meant to last more than a night. This wasn’t even about him, not really. This was about her taking back control of her life. Though if she only had tonight, she sure as hell intended to make it count. “Yes.”

“Yes?”

“Yes. I want that.”

“Darlin’, I wasn’t asking your permission.” He went to his knees in front of her and used his hands to spread her legs wider. “You’re going to love every single thing I do to you tonight.”

“And if I don’t?” Not that she doubted him, but she didn’t exactly have a stellar track record when it came to being intimate. Her ex-fiancé, Eric, had called her boring and bemoaned the loss of the woman he’d had before her. Just another way she’d been a disappointment.

She couldn’t stand the thought of seeing that same look in Luke’s eyes, even if she was pretty sure she didn’t actually like him. Once again, the Old Alexis tried to wrestle back into control. What am I doing here with this man I barely know? This could be a horrible mistake. He’s going to be disappointed in me, just like everyone else I come into contact with.

“Open your eyes, darlin’.”

Alexis hadn’t realized she’d closed them to begin with. She hesitated to obey, fearing what she might see on his face, but there was no denying the command in his voice. Feeling a whole lot like she was about to face the firing squad, she opened her eyes.

He frowned. “Whatever is going through your head right now, let it go.”

Let it go? If she knew how to do that, she never would have needed this trip to begin with. “Easier said than done.”

This was it. This was where he’d shake his head and stand up, or maybe go pleasure himself in the shower because apparently that was preferable to her in his bed. She started to pull away, to do something to protect herself from the pending rejection. Though really, there was nothing she could do to combat the sting. She’d learned that through far too many experiences.

Luke’s brows dropped, the forbidding expression strangely comforting. “Guess that just means I need to step up my game.” His fingers dug into her thighs, and she couldn’t stifle a gasp of surprise.

Before she could reconcile reality with what was happening in her head, he leaned down and pressed an openmouthed kiss to her whisper-thin panties. She sat bolt upright as if he’d hit her with a cattle prod. While she was trying to relearn how to breathe, Luke nuzzled her panties to the side and dragged his tongue over her center.

Oh my God, this is really happening. He hadn’t walked away, and he hadn’t rejected her. He was here between her thighs, his mouth on the most private part of her as if he’d never tasted anything as decadent.

A whimper slipped free as he did it again. He paused and met her gaze, the fire in his green eyes searing her to the core. “You taste like peaches here, too.”

“I—”

“Darlin’, as flattered as I am that you’re trying to talk right now, the only thing I want to hear is you screaming my name.” He leaned back long enough to pull her panties off, and then he was back, spreading her legs up and out, baring her completely. “Fucking beautiful.”

As he went to work exploring her with his mouth, she didn’t have the breath to point out…anything. Instead she let herself fall back on the bed and be consumed with how good his mouth felt on her. But one thought resonated even through the delirious pleasure he was drawing from her body.

No one has ever called me beautiful before.

Luke couldn’t get enough of her taste—or the noises coming out of her mouth with each lick. She writhed and moaned as if she’d never had a man take his time and savor her like this. The thought that maybe no man had before him drove the possessive feeling he had no right to higher. As selfish as it was, he wanted to be the one she never forgot, the one she compared every sexual encounter to for the rest of her privileged life. Even considering her with other men made him growl against her skin. The jealousy taking the steering wheel was as out of place as the possessiveness, but he couldn’t have stopped if he wanted to. And he sure as fuck didn’t want to.

“Who’s making you feel like this?” When she just moaned louder, he set his teeth against her clit. “Say it.”

“You are.” She laced her fingers through his hair, her hips jerking against his mouth until he had to pin her to the bed. The move only drove her wilder, her moans turning into cries that evolved into his name. “Luke, oh my God, oh, oh, oh, Luke.”

“That’s right, darlin’. Me.” He gentled his kisses until her shaking stilled, and then raised his head. Whatever dark thoughts had plagued her earlier were gone now. Because of him. Alexis watched him through eyes gone dark with passion, and though she looked sated, her gaze dropped to his mouth. Not quite sated yet. With a grin, he crawled onto the bed next to her. “You’re not done.”

It took her two tries to smile, but she somehow managed. “Good thing. I was sure you were a one-trick pony.”

He laughed. God help him, but he liked that the princess had claws. Even if half the time, she was sinking them into him. “Lord, woman, you always have a comeback ready, don’t you?”

A frown flickered over her face. “Not always.”

There it was again—whatever imagined burden she carried, trying to force its way back to the forefront of her mind. He was more than intimate with exactly how that shit worked. It struck him that he didn’t really know much about her, other than the fact that her sister and friends didn’t think she could handle herself alone in Europe. What hadn’t they told him before they sent him off on this protection mission?

It didn’t matter. Her worries could wait for another day. Tonight, Alexis was his.

He hooked the back of her neck and kissed her. Her hands immediately went to his hair again, which would have amused him if he weren’t half a second from ripping off his pants and sinking into her. Once again, reality spoke up. Luke broke away with a curse. “Condoms.”

“What?”

“I don’t have goddamn condoms.” The one thing he hadn’t prepared for, because this was supposed to be a babysitting mission, and one did not fuck around on a babysitting mission.

Unless, apparently, one did.

Alexis’s eyes cleared. “Oh, I do.”

He went still, refusing to move when she pushed against his shoulder. “What?”

“Condoms. I have them in my pack.”

“Why in God’s name would you have condoms in your pack?” He didn’t care that it saved them a trip to the market down the street. All that mattered was that she’d planned on having sex with someone. The thought of her with someone else made him crazy, and he had the totally insane need to mark her as his. It wasn’t some other man here, chasing the shadows away. It was him.

She watched him with an unreadable expression on her face. “I like to be prepared.”

“Prepared to let some idiot soccer player between your thighs.” As he spoke, he pinned her wrists above her head.

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re unnaturally obsessed with soccer players?” She rolled her eyes, her levity calming him a little. “You sure you’re not harboring some guy-on-guy tendencies?”

Luke didn’t get it. He’d never once, in all his thirty-three years, reacted like this. He was the jokester, the one who ran his mouth, the footloose and fancy-free friend who was good for a bang and then moved on before anyone could get attached. Or at least, he had been, before his injury. He didn’t get jealous, let alone this, whatever the fuck this emotion could be called. “Alexis—”

Her eyes went hard, and he could practically hear her claws unsheathing. “Don’t you dare! Whatever the hell you’re about to say, just shut up. I’m here, naked, with you. Tonight I’m yours, and you’re wasting it worrying about what-if scenarios that are, frankly, none of your business.”

He didn’t miss the part where she limited this to tonight. “Look—”

“No, you look. I already came against your mouth. Are you really going to talk this to death?”

She was right. Tonight was for leaving all their baggage behind. Hell, this couldn’t go further than sex, because he could barely stand to be in the same room with her under the best of circumstances. That feeling wasn’t going to get better when he was chasing her ass all over Europe. Luke kissed her again, pushing all his annoyance and issues from his head. She was right. They were his problems—not hers.

There was only the here and now. When he finally broke away, they were both breathing hard. “You better not plan on sleeping tonight.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”