Текст книги "His Lover to Protect"

Автор книги: Katee Robert

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Текущая страница: 3 (всего у книги 11 страниц)

Chapter Five

Alexis yanked the box of condoms from her pack and thanked God she’d been optimistic enough to bring them in the first place. A truly impressive dry spell and crippling self-doubt didn’t exactly lend themselves to hot one-night stands… Or so she’d thought before she met Luke. A lot of things she’d previously thought were hard truths didn’t seem to hold up to the harsh light of his presence.

He pulled her back to the bed and into his lap. As promised, they faced the mirror, where she could see nearly her entire body and meet his eyes. The sheer intimacy of the position was totally and completely unexpected, and she wasn’t sure she liked it. “Why don’t we skip straight to the window?”

“Nice try.” He hooked her thighs and spread them to the outside of his legs, using his knees to open her even wider. After plucking the condoms from her hand and dropping them on the bed, he reached around her to cup her breasts. “Perfect, just like the rest of you.”

The insane urge to argue with him rose. I’m not perfect. I’m so flawed and broken, it isn’t even funny. Some days she was half surprised that her issues weren’t there on her body, marked out for all to see. “Actually—”

“Woman, enough.” He pinched her nipples, sending a zing of sheer lust through her that stole her breath. “I don’t need your pretty-girl insecurities clouding up the moment. I say you’re perfect, and that means you’re fucking perfect. The only thing I should hear from you in response is ‘thank you.’ Understand?”

She licked her lips. Part of her still wanted to argue with him, but it was the Old Alexis creeping in. He was right—arguing with him over something like this was stupid. “Yes.”

“Now, where were we?” He squeezed her breasts one last time before smoothing his hands down her sides and over her thighs. As she watched, one hand dipped to drag a finger over her glistening center. She could actually see how wet she was from here, and Alexis couldn’t help shifting and trying to close her thighs. Luke, of course, was having none of it. “I like seeing you, darlin’.” He spread her folds and worked a finger into her. “Christ, you’re tight. Haven’t let another man inside in a long time, have you?”

She tried to lift her hips as a second finger joined his first, but he easily held her in place. Admitting that it had been well over a year and a half since she was with anyone would give him too much ammunition to use against her. Even as the thought crossed her mind, she gave herself a mental shake. What did it matter if Luke knew he was the only one in recent memory? It wasn’t as if she’d stick around long enough for the inevitable barbs. “Not since my ex-fiancé. Eighteen months.”

He cursed again and then pressed a kiss to her neck as he worked her with his fingers. “I’m going to make it good for you, darlin’. So fucking good that no one else can compare.”

Empty threats. She hoped.

Whatever his faults, Luke saw her as a woman—and a woman he wanted so badly he couldn’t seem to get enough of touching her. A beautiful, sexy woman. For tonight, she could set her issues aside and maybe even see herself that way, too.

Not to mention, he made her feel too good to stop. Stop thinking so much and just feel. She let her head fall back to rest on his shoulder, but kept her eyes open so she could see exactly what his hands were doing. When in doubt, she fell back to the attitude that had gotten him to haul her back here in the first place. “There you go again, making threats you have no way of following through on.”

His laughter rumbled against her back. “I’ll pick up that gauntlet you just threw at my feet.” Before she could respond, he twisted his wrist, hitting that spot just inside her, and used his other hand to stroke over her clit. “But first, you’re coming for me. Again.”

She tried to move, to arch, to do something, but his arms around her held her pinned against his chest. All she could do was take the pleasure he gave her and watch his fingers slide in and out of her as his circled her clit. “Oh God.”

“That’s right, darlin’. Almost there, aren’t you?”

“Yes.” She twisted blindly, and he obligingly gave her his mouth. Or more accurately, he took her mouth much the same way he was taking her pleasure. Luke’s tongue thrust between her lips in the same rhythm as his fingers into her body. She was poised on the precipice, the desire rising in her body almost too much to bear. “Please. Oh God, please, Luke.”

“I’ve got you.” He did something with his fingers that sent her hurtling under, screaming his name. All Alexis could do was cling to him as her orgasm took over, shivers ripping through her body. He stopped stroking her, but kept his hand between her legs, cupping her in a move that screamed possessive male. When she finally managed to pry her eyes open, his green eyes were focused on her face, as if drinking in every little reaction.

She slouched against him, boneless with pleasure, though her body already pulsed with a building need. As good as that had been, she needed him filling her, needed to have his bare skin against hers. “Luke—”

“Hush.” He kissed her again. “Enjoy the afterglow. We’re not even close to done yet.”

Now was the time to take off his clothes, when Alexis was languid with pleasure. Luke took a deep breath, trying to fight down the stupid insecurity. If he kept his clothes on, that would bring even more attention to the bullshit inside his head than if he just stripped and got it over with—but that meant letting her get a look at his scars. Fuck, he’d never been this kind of a coward before that IED, and he wasn’t about to start now.

He pulled off his shirt and wasn’t able to contain a groan when her smooth back pressed against his bare chest. It had been so goddamn long since he’d touched another person like this, skin on skin, that it was almost painful. He wrapped his arms around her and tried to adjust to it. But she was already shifting, rocking her ass against his cock. To hell with this idiocy. He scooted her forward enough to unbutton his jeans and then held onto her as he jerked them down and kicked them off. It wasn’t smooth and it wasn’t pretty, but the end result made both of them moan.

As he rolled a condom on, he couldn’t keep his eyes off her in the mirror. He hadn’t been lying when he called her body perfection. She was so beautiful it actually hurt to look at her, a sharp stabbing pain somewhere in the vicinity of his chest that made him want to both look away and never take his eyes off her. The fact that she didn’t seem to agree was baffling, though not unexpected when he really thought about it. Very few women looked in the mirror and saw reality, and it was a damn shame.

“No more waiting.” Alexis lifted herself and reached down to position him at her entrance. “Now, Luke.” She barely glanced down at his knee and its mass of scar tissue.

“As you wish, darlin’.” He grabbed her hips and brought her down as he thrust up, sheathing himself to the hilt. “Christ.” Even his stretching her earlier hadn’t done a whole lot. She was so tight he had to press his forehead to the back of her neck to keep himself from blowing right then and there.

“You feel so good.” She tried to move, but he kept their hips sealed. “God, Luke, I need to move. Please.”

He lifted her and brought her back down slowly, watching as his cock disappeared inside her. When he raised his gaze, he found her eyes pinned to the same spot, and she bit her lip with each upward thrust. “You like that. Seeing me fuck you. Watching my cock slide into your wet little pussy.”

“Yes.”

“You want me to pin you against that window, where anyone can see those perfect pink nipples pressed against the glass. You want people to see.”

A shudder passed through her body. “I—”

“Tell me the truth, darlin’.”

She looked up and met his gaze in the mirror, her hazel eyes a little dazed. “I want you to take me against the window.”

“And you’re going to come knowing everyone in the street below can see you.”

Her breath hissed out. “Yes.”

Fuck, he was about to come just talking about it. Or maybe it was the squeeze of her around him, fluttering with each word he spoke. He lifted her off his cock and stood, walking them to the space where the curtains parted. They hadn’t bothered to turn on any lights when they came through the door, relying on the single lamp next to the bed, so he wasn’t worried that anyone would actually see more than the outline of Alexis against the window. As hot as it seemed to get her knowing that anyone could see them, he wasn’t about to put her on display for the whole of Cork.

He guided her hands to the glass on either side of her head. “Don’t move these.”

She gave a husky laugh. “There you go again, thinking you’re the boss.”

“Darlin’, tonight I am.” He refused to think of after tonight, when he had to deal with the consequences of what he was in the process of doing. Luke kicked her feet farther apart and reached between her legs. “You’re so damn wet. You love this.”

“Maybe.”

“No maybe about it. Your body doesn’t lie.” He couldn’t resist sliding a finger into her before he bent his knees and replaced it with his cock. The position wasn’t a comfortable one for his knee, but he could give a flying fuck when she made a sweet little cry. He twined her long hair around one fist and bent her backward, the move pressing her breasts against the glass and allowing him to push deeper. He shoved into her, the crazed feeling returning, as if he couldn’t get deep enough, couldn’t get enough of her, couldn’t do anything but chase the pressure building in the small of his back. “This is what you want, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Oh God, don’t stop.”

“I won’t.” He shoved into her again and used his free hand to reach around and stroke her clit. “Not until you’re coming around my cock.”

She arched her back, taking him deeper. “Good.”

She was almost there. The sounds coming out of her mouth were indication of that, the same way she went wild around him. Luke gritted his teeth and kept up his pace, determined to see her come one more time before he gave in to his own oblivion. “Now, darlin’. I know you’re close. Come for me now.”

“Luke.” She shuddered, her pussy milking his cock, stealing away his control. He grabbed her hips and pounded into her, needing his release as much as he’d needed hers. His orgasm tore through him, making his knee buckle. Luke caught them both at the last second, but he had to brace himself on the glass and with an arm around her waist to keep them off the floor. “Fuck.”

“I can’t even…”

Yeah, him either. He hadn’t expected this. Even when he was tossing her ass over his shoulder, he hadn’t really considered that the sex would be mind-blowing.

When she started to straighten, he tightened his grip, not ready to break their contact yet. At some point he was going to have to face that he’d made a mess of things, but he wasn’t ready to. Not yet. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“A shower?”

“Not fucking likely. I’m not done with you yet.” He picked her up and set her on the couch next to the windows. After tossing the condom in the garbage, he knelt in front of her and spread her legs.

Her eyes went wide. “Again?”

“Woman, I’m haven’t had even close to enough of you.” He leaned down and sucked her clit into his mouth. “I hope you don’t have any plans until tomorrow afternoon, because you’re going to miss them.”

Chapter Six

Alexis woke up as the sun hit the curtains across the room. She stretched, loving how sore and used her body felt. True to his word, Luke made sure she didn’t get much sleep at all last night. He lay sprawled next to her, his head buried in his pillow. She propped herself up on her elbows and finally allowed herself to look her fill. Last night, he’d done a damn good job of making sure she was so distracted, she couldn’t get a good view of his body. When they’d finally collapsed in bed together, he tucked them both in and flipped off the lamp inside of ten seconds. It was unreal.

As she shifted the sheet to the side, she realized why. An angry scar wound its way down his side to his leg before exploding over his knee. The flesh looked strange, as if it’d been grafted in. That’s exactly what it is, she realized. Something had torn into him with such violence that she couldn’t imagine there was much left of this leg when it was through with him. Considering what she knew of the war overseas, it had to be an IED.

When he’d given her the curt answer about his knee last night, she’d pegged him for military. Apparently she was right.

Something inside her softened to think of the pain and agony he must have gone through—was still going through, if his limp was any indication. It didn’t excuse his shitty attitude—plenty of men walked away with worse injuries and managed to still see the cup as half full—but it gave her an unwelcome insight to everything Luke. She didn’t like it. This was so much easier to chalk up to a stranger in a strange land who blew her mind and, as a result, gave her back a little sliver of what she’d been missing for so long.

A step in the right direction.

She glanced at the clock next to the bed and mentally cursed. She’d have to hurry or she was going to miss her flight. Plus, she wanted to call and check in with Avery. Maybe apologize for skipping town before the baby shower.

Even thinking about it had her throat closing. Her sister hadn’t done anything the “right” way—planning to use her best friend as a sperm donor and go it alone, despite the plan nearly giving Yé-yé a coronary—but she’d still managed to find happiness with her now-fiancé. And they were expecting a baby, the one thing Alexis had wanted more than anything in the world.

The one thing that was forever beyond her reach.

She’d survived the same cancer that killed her mother, but the cost had been so goddamn high. Her ability to have children, her potential marriage with Eric, the acceptance of her traditional Chinese grandparents. All of it taken away with the surgery that ended up saving her life.

She supposed she should feel lucky to be alive, but on the dark days, when her grandfather was telling her what a failure of a woman she was, she had a hell of a time appreciating that fact. All she could see was the stark reality of what she’d lost.

Maybe if Mom were still alive, she would see things differently. Her mother had died when she was sixteen, but she’d been bright and full of life right up to the very end, even when the end itself was unavoidable. Alexis hadn’t managed that. The cancer was gone, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d lost something irreplaceable along the way.

She sat up. God, she shouldn’t be dwelling on any of these things. She was in Ireland—a land of magic and possibilities, where being in the right place at the right time was enough to shove a person into a whole different world. And hadn’t she stumbled onto both with this rough-and-tumble man who made her forget her own name? The past shouldn’t be able to shoulder its way into the now and leech any happiness she had as a result of him…but it did.

Time to go.

She dressed as quietly as possible and paused by the dresser mirror that he’d pleasured her in front of last night. Her body heated from the memory, and she managed to dredge up a smile. Her time in Cork had been positive, even if her emotional baggage hadn’t magically disappeared as a result. She’d found someone who actually saw her as a woman—a sexy woman. That was a gift she’d never forget.

This is only the first step. I’m moving in the right direction, and that’s all that matters. Luke was part of that, and I’ll always cherish this memory.

She scrawled a quick note onto the hotel stationery before she walked out the door.

A few blocks down from the hotel, she found a pay phone that would serve her purpose. After jumping through the necessary hoops for an international call, she held her breath while it rang. Maybe Avery wouldn’t pick up. That would be easier. She’d drop a “Hey, I’m still alive” voicemail and go catch a plane.

Of course, the universe wasn’t feeling so accommodating.

“Hello?”

She closed her eyes, a wave of homesickness rolling over her that was so intense it almost brought her to her knees. Through all her hills and valleys and life repeatedly kicking her in the teeth, her sister had been one of the constants. She’d never left Alexis’s side, never hesitated in her belief that her older sister would get through the treatments and come out victorious. Alexis swallowed hard. “Hey.”

“Alexis? Oh my God, where are you? We’ve been so worried! You disappeared and all you left was a text saying not to worry about you. What the hell is with that?” There was a smacking noise. “Yes, Drew, it’s Alexis. No, I don’t know where she is. If you’ll just shut up for half a second, I’ll get some answers.” Avery cleared her throat. “Where are you?”

Now was not the time to falter. Even if her issues had popped up to punch her in the face this morning, her overall experience in Cork had been enough to prove she was right to take this trip in the first place. “Europe. I have some things I need to do, but I’ll be home…when I’m home. Before the baby.” That, at least, she could promise. She wouldn’t let her personal crap get in the way of being there when her niece or nephew came into the world.

“Wow, that’s some serious detail you’re giving me. How about you try again?”

It wouldn’t hurt to give her a little information. It wasn’t like there was a whole lot Avery could do with it, being pregnant and all. No way would Drew let her catch a flight here—and he wouldn’t leave her, either. Not to mention, it was selfish to leave them completely hanging. She took a deep breath. “Remember that cliff that’s been my screen saver for the last six months?”

“The one in Norway that scares you shitless even looking at it?”

“That’s the one.” Another breath. “I’m going to hike up there and see it.”

“Why? You’re terrified of skyscrapers, and that’s a whole lot higher. What are you trying to prove, Alexis?”

There it was, the thing her sister didn’t understand. Avery had been scared enough of losing her ability to have biological children that she took matters into her own hands and made life mold to her expectations. There was no obstacle she couldn’t look at and figure out a way to overcome.

Alexis had never had that kind of courage. No, that wasn’t true. She’d been downright fearless growing up. But then Mom died and everything changed. Her dad did the best he could, but he wasn’t Mom. And then Yé-yé and Nâinai moved in and took over.

Some days she felt like she’d just been going through the motions since then. She needed this, needed a reset button, to get her life figured out so she didn’t go to her deathbed wishing she’d made different choices. The first step had been Ireland with its magic and population that was so in love with life, it was hard for some of it not to rub off on her. Just like Mom had described.

Next, it was time to face her fears. If there was nothing left to be afraid of, maybe she could start to reclaim her life the way their mother would have wanted her to. She’d spent so long dancing to other people’s tunes, it was a foreign concept.

Alexis bit her lip. It wasn’t about proving something. It was about reclaiming herself. She couldn’t set that aside, even for her sister. “I love you, Avery. Give Drew a kiss for me. I’ll call in a few days or a week or something.” She hung up before her sister could say anything else. There was nothing to say. The decision had already been made. She was here, and she was going to see this through.

Luke woke up to the sound of his satellite phone ringing. He rolled over, reaching for Alexis and coming up empty. Only then did he open his eyes. Empty bed, empty room, open door to a dark bathroom. She was gone. And he had no idea where she was staying, so it wasn’t like he could camp out in front of her hotel and wait for the princess to show herself. He’d well and truly fucked up. “Shit.” He rolled back over and grabbed the phone. “Yeah?”

“Where the hell are you?”

Flannery. He closed his eyes and collapsed back onto the bed. “You know where I am. You’re the one who booked my ticket.” And now he had to admit that he’d had a line on Alexis and let her get away because he was too tired from fucking her all night to wake up when she slipped out.

On second thought, maybe he’d leave out that last part.

“And now you’re making jokes.”

Because he didn’t have it in him to do much else. Every part of his body hurt from the hike yesterday and what he’d done to Alexis last night. He wanted to roll over and go back to sleep for a few hours, but that wasn’t in the itinerary—not when she’d ghosted on him. “I lost her.”

“No shit. I knew that before you did, apparently.”

He opened his eyes. Flannery knew where she was? What the hell had changed between yesterday when they’d only known she booked a flight for Cork and now? “How?”

“She called her sister. They only talked for a few minutes, but it was enough for her to let us know where she’s headed.”

That got him moving. Luke stood, and flinched when his knee voiced a protest. Stupid goddamn injury. He wouldn’t let it slow him down. He couldn’t. “Tell me.”

“Look, I wouldn’t have asked you to do this if I thought you couldn’t handle it. But…what the hell happened?”

What happened was that he’d been assaulted, and then turned around and lost his head over this woman. It crossed his mind that she was onto why he was here and had played him, but he dismissed the thought. If she knew he’d been sent to keep her safe, she would have given him a piece of her mind and told him where to shove it. That said, he wasn’t about to tell Flannery how badly he’d botched protection duty. “She just got away from me. Where is she headed?”

Flannery hesitated so long, he was half sure the man would call him off the whole mission. “Norway.”

The problem with Europe was that it had far too many places within easy reach. He had a list of destinations where Avery thought her sister might go, but nothing more than his best guess at the order. Norway hadn’t even been on the fucking list. “What the hell is she after in Norway?”

“Ever hear of Pulpit Rock? It’s called Preikestolen locally.”

No, but he was about to get educated. “Why wasn’t this on the list of possible places she’d go?”

“Because it’s a goddamn mountain, and her sister is afraid of heights.”

More self-discovery shit? Of course. “Where do I need to fly in?”

“Stavanger.”

Good enough. He’d read up on his way. “I’ll be on the next flight out.”

“Thanks, man.” Again, a hesitation. “Thank you for doing this. We’re all really worried about her.”

Which only drove home that there was something Flannery wasn’t telling him. She might be a princess, but he still had a hard time wrapping his head around the fact that she knew she had people worried sick about her, and she’d just dropped everything and taken off. Normal people planned a trip like this, gave their family an itinerary with the expected day they’d be back, and then flew to Europe.

He hesitated, torn between wanting to know what the hell was going on and not wanting to waste any more time on this phone call. “You didn’t tell me a whole lot about her when you called for help.” And he’d owed Flannery enough that he hadn’t bothered to ask. Now Luke was wondering if that had been a mistake.

“She’s important to us, and we’re worried about her. I wasn’t aware you needed a goddamn profile.”

He didn’t, not if his only goal was to keep her safe. He shoved down his irritation. Mostly. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll keep her out of trouble.” He hung up.

Yeah, he’d keep her out of trouble, but she was going to get an earful when he found her. Who the hell did she think she was, bouncing out on him like he was some kind of dirty one-night stand?

The fact that she’d been up-front about calling them exactly that didn’t change a damn thing.

Luke stopped next to the dresser, his gaze falling to the piece of paper there. There was no explanation, no way to get a hold of her, just a hastily written, You gave me back a piece of what I was looking for. Thank you. Yet another indication that he was swimming in deep waters, and no one had thought to warn him that there were sharks about. What the hell is she running from? He frowned at the note. Or running toward? He wanted to rip it up and flush it down the toilet, but he stuffed it in his pocket instead.

He had a plane to Norway to catch.