Protect What’s Mine (Rock Hard Security Book 2) Page 2

  “I’m not pouting, I’m a grown fucking woman. I just have nothing to say to you.”

  “Hey, watch it with the language.”

  I gape at him. “Excuse me? What are you going to do about it? Spank me again?”

  His fingers tighten on the wheel.

  “I’ll be telling my father all about your roving hands, by the way.”

  “Oh, are you gonna tattle to your daddy?”

  “Yeah, I’m gonna tattle, I’m gonna squeal, I’m going to tell him all the things!”

  He coughs and his shoulders start shaking.

  And to my horror I feel a laugh rising in my own throat. It comes out so suddenly I slap a hand over my mouth to stifle it.

  “I’m not laughing!” I grit out, even as my own shoulders start to shake. “You’re the one who’s laughing, nothing about this is funny.”

  We pull up outside an apartment I don’t recognize.

  “This isn’t Daddy’s place.”

  “No,” he says. “It’s mine. Come on, we’ll talk inside and we need to let your dad know you’re safe.”

  I get out of the car and follow him up the stairs to his apartment, mainly because I don’t know what else to do. What the hell is going on?

  “Sit,” he says, once we’re inside, but I take a minute to look around his spacious living room that seems to be the whole apartment other than a door that leads to a bedroom and another that probably leads to a bathroom.

  One whole wall is covered in floor to ceiling shelves and is stuffed with books. Fiction, nonfiction, a bunch of stuff by an author called Justin Macumber.

  Another wall seems equally filled with a big screen TV and a cabinet full of DVDs.

  “This thing is huge!” I say, spreading my arms wide. My fingertips can’t even reach the edges. “It must feel like you’re ringside when you’re watching WWE.”

  “What’s WWE?” He says, focusing on his phone.

  “Excuse me?” I can’t even believe what I’m hearing.

  Matching up to him, I snatch the phone out of his hand and glare up at him as he glares back.

  “Do you live under a rock? Paige, The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austen, Shawn Michaels?” When he just looks at me blankly I launch into the theme song. “I’m just a sexy boy, sexy booyy, I’m not your boy toy, boooy toooyyy…”

  “Are you—“ He squints at me. “Are you talking about wrestling? Pfft. You know it’s all fake right?”

  “Oh. My. God! You are a monster!”

  He’s laughing again.

  “I just sent your dad a message to let him know you’re safe and with me.” He points at the overstuffed sofa. “Sit.”

  I sit, but I’m still pissed. What the hell did I ever see in this guy?

  “Okay,” he says. “About ten years ago, your father, Bear, Big D, and I caught a guy in the process of raping a barely conscious teenage girl.”

  I blink up at him, all my earlier annoyance dispersing. When I don’t say anything, he continues.

  “It turns out that he was the offender in a bunch of rape and violent assault cases and our testimony helped lock him up.”

  “Okay,” I say, wrapping my head around that. “Well that’s amazing.”

  He lets out a breathy laugh. “Yeah, only yesterday the piece of shit was paroled. Some bullshit about good behavior. But let me tell you, guys like that, don’t change.”

  I shut my eyes tight because I know what’s coming next. “Dad’s going to do something stupid isn’t he?”

  “Correction, your dad, Bear, and Big D are going to do something stupid. Your dad wanted you safe in case something went wrong, or Bower decided to make good on his threats regarding you.”

  Unbelievable. It’s typical that the first time I don’t answer a call from my father, it’s a matter of life or death. He could have left a message or sent me a text telling he what was going on, and I would have stayed home or even gone to Georgia’s place since I have a key and this Bower guy wouldn’t have any idea where I was.

  “Now I need you to be a good girl and sit tight,” Joe says, slowly, like he’s talking to a particularly slow child. “You found the TV on your own, there are books over there. I’m sure you can occupy yourself. I need a shower.”

  “Yes, sir!” I say, adding a mock salute.

  He gives me a thin-lipped smile before turning and disappearing into the bathroom.

  “Yeah, you go,” I mutter. “Run away, that’s your M.O.”

  I slouch lower in the sofa. It is actually really comfortable.

  Why on Earth had Daddy sent Joe to get me? He must know that Joe doesn’t like me. Why not send Bear or Big D? At least if he’d sent Big D, I might have managed to lose my V-Card.

  I could always just send Daddy a message, telling him I’m fine and go to Georgia’s. I have her spare key on my keyring and nobody would know where I was unit my dad sent me a message giving me the All-Clear.

  I mean if Joe made it any more obvious that he can’t stand to even be in the same room as me, he’d have nailed a neon sign to his head.

  Pulling out my phone, I turn it on and send a message to Joe’s phone telling him that I’m somewhere safe and I’ll lay low like a good girl. Then, I head for the door.

  The shower is running, so I know he won’t hear me.

  Chapter 4

  Joe

  Sitting on the closed toilet seat, I let my face fall into my hands. What am I doing? I’ve spent so much time pushing Kelly away, now I don’t know how to get closer.

  And why was she making it do hard? A couple of weeks back, I know for a fact she would have taken this opportunity to try and seduce me out of my pants.

  Just the memory of seeing her dancing with those other men, the fact that she chose them over me, burned.

  I cringe down at my still slightly red fists. What the hell was I doing earlier? I never get in fights and never hit anyone unless I’m defending myself or someone I care about.

  What was happening to me?

  My father had told me over and over, usually after a few drinks that love was a trap. The only way to live was to live free.

  I’d taken that advice to heart, pulled away any time a woman wanted more than a fling. But now, for the first time, I’m wondering where that kind of life leads.

  My father was alone from the moment my mother passed away when I was four, till the day he died. I’d been serving overseas when it happened and he’d been alone then too.

  I’ve been denying my feelings for Kelly because I’m afraid of hurting her when I inevitably push her away. But why do I need to do that? What if, this time, assuming she even still wants me, I don’t push her away, I don’t shy away from a deeper relationship, I let her be mine and equally let myself be hers. And trust her.

  A smile pulls at my mouth and I turn on the shower and start stripping off my old clothes. I have one night to make things right and win her back.

  Under the hot spray, rivulets running down my chest and back, I wash my hair, then grab the soap. I frown when my phone, on the bench, chirps and wipe steam from the door just in time to see that it’s a message from Kelly.

  What the hell?

  I explode out of the stall and not even waiting to grab a towel, I slam open the bathroom door as Kelly is reaching for the front doorknob.

  She spins with a startled yelp, then her face flushes when she sees me. Mad as hell, dripping wet, butt-ass naked.

  Kelly

  I’m pressed against the door and the heavy wood at my back isn’t the only thing that’s rock hard.

  Joe’s hands are planted either side of my shoulders and he’s breathing hard, that wide, wet chest rising and falling so fast it’s hypnotic.

  What was I doing again?

  Against my better judgment I look down. Down his shimmering, still slightly soapy body, down his impressive, rock hard six-pack abs, down to something so thick and long I can barely draw breath.

  “My eyes are up here,” he says and my gaze flicks up immedia
tely to meet his. “You were leaving me?”

  His voice cracks and I see it. Gone is that shuttered expression he usually wears when he regards me. In its place is raw pain, hurt, fear.

  “I’m sorry,” I whisper, because the open emotion in his face is so new. “I thought it would be easier. I was going to go to Georgia’s, nobody would look for me there and I’d —“ I suck in a breath, my own hurt from years of loving a man who didn’t love me back bubbling over. “I’d be out of your way.”

  His jaw tightens and his hands slide across the wood to grasp my shoulders, then up to my throat, then up to cup my face.

  “Nothing about you will ever be easy, everywhere I go, you’re in my path, blocking my way, I’ll never be free of you.”

  “I’m sorry.” The pain in my chest is a burning coal and I feel tears slipping down my cheeks.

  “No you’re not. You love me. All you want is for me to love you too.”

  My face flushes because it’s true.

  He uses this thumbs to wipe away my tears, then in the next instant, before I can draw breath, his mouth is on mine.

  At first it’s the gentlest touch, his lips brushing mine, warm and wet. But when I open to him he lets out a groan, tips my face to the side and deepens the kiss.

  My whole body catches fire. This is what I’ve been dreaming about, fantasizing about, saving myself for. Joe naked, kissing me, wanting me.

  No longer able to be passive, I raise my hands and as his mouth moves urgently, expertly over mine, I reach out and touch his hot, wet chest.

  Coarse hair tickles my fingertips as I drag them over his erect nipples, down his hard stomach, and down to something even harder.

  He stiffens but doesn’t resist and I wrap my fingers around his length and squeeze.

  “Ooh, babe.” His voice is a rasping breath against my lips and his whole body trembles as I start to stroke him.

  “Am I — Am I doing it right?” I whisper.

  His eyes flick open with shock and something else, something warmer as the left side of his mouth curls up.

  “You’re perfect,” he mutters, before lowering his mouth to mine again and starts rocking his hips, thrusting his thickness between my tightly curled fingers.

  The sheer power of this man is overwhelming. The muscles in his forearms and biceps bulge and flex, and his hands, that I know could crush me, are so gentle.

  He pulls back, just enough to look into my face, his hips thrusting roughly.

  The intensity in his expression, threatens hell if I stop. He licks his lips then parts them to form a wide O, sucking in air to the rhythm of my hand stroking his cock, to the rhythm of his urgently thrusting hips.

  “Kelly,” he grinds out as he falls against me, his head hitting the door, his whole body shuddering. “My Kelly. Mine.”

  His cock swells in my hand and in the next instant, his warm seed floods my fingers as his hot breath moans against my throat.

  After a moment, he starts kissing my throat, my cheek, my mouth. And with a grin he curls an arm under my knees and effortlessly picks me up.

  I’d heard that men get tired or even fall right asleep after, you know, they finish. But he just seems to be more energized than ever!

  “Stop, I’m too big to carry,” I say.

  “Not for me your not.”

  Chapter 5

  Joe

  Once inside my bedroom, I slam the door shut with my foot and set my girl back onto her feet. I’d planned to throw her on the bed and fuck her senseless, but I don’t. Kelly isn’t just some faceless body, Kelly is mine and now I know just how stupid I was to shut her out all these years.

  For so long I thought love, or any kind of deeper connection was a trap. But right now I don’t feel trapped.

  I’m going to be her first, because my beautiful, curvy goddess saved herself for something real, maybe even for me. And I almost lost her.

  If I hadn’t gone to find her at that bar, she would have totally gone home with one of those idiot boys.

  I clench my teeth and shut my eyes tight against the raging storm of emotions. She was going to give this precious gift to some random guy she just met, and it would have been my fault, because I couldn’t just shut down my own bullshit and love her the way she deserved.

  “Joe?” Her voice is questioning and I open my eyes to look at her in the dim light.

  “We’re going to do this right,” I say, stroking her hair, her face, then taking her hands and bringing her fingertips to my lips. “I’m the biggest idiot in the world for not doing this sooner.”

  Her smile is impish and so sweet, her eyes shining with all the love she’s been hiding from me the last few weeks.

  “Well, yeah, obviously,” she says, then reaches up to capture my face between her hands, her fingers grazing over the stubble on my cheeks and chin. “Your complete ignorance of wrestling pretty much sealed that deal.”

  I let out a bark of laughter. “Sometime, you’re going to need to explain your fascination with big sweaty dudes pretending to beat the crap out of each other.”

  Her own laugh and an adorable blush is not the answer I’m looking for but before I can argue, her hands are resting on my shoulders and she’s lifting up on tiptoes to press her lips to mine.

  Arguing can wait.

  Settling my hands on her lush hips, I lean down to kiss her properly. Mouths opening, tongues sliding, her eager mew is all I need to hear.

  With deft hands, I unbutton the two straps behind her neck and gently pull the front of her dress down and remove her bra just as quickly.

  She gasps, but I don’t give her time to think. I spin her away and pull her back against me hard, so her back is flush against my front and my hands are cupping her soft full breasts.

  God they feel incredible. Her beautiful breasts were nearly popping out of her dress, and now they’re overflowing my hands, her peaked nipples pressing into my palms.

  So many women have those fake implants now, and though they might look good in magazines, they don’t feel like Kelly’s do. Soft and warm and so exciting.

  I smile against the nape of her neck, feeling like a damn teenager again. I’m no virgin, but I don’t remember sex ever feeling this raw, this real, this intimate. It’s like I’m experiencing it all for the first time.

  Gently, I press my mouth against her shoulder, then ever so slowly, I create a trail of hot kisses across her back till I’m at her other shoulder.

  She giggles and moans as I keep moulding and squeezing her perfect tits and my mouth settles back against the top of her spine.

  “You’re so fucking beautiful,” I murmur then drop to my knees, needing to worship her gorgeous curvy form.

  Every inch of her is cream and honey. I pull down the zip at her back and yank the dress down so it pools at her feet. Now she’s standing in front of me wearing nothing but a pair of adorable white panties.

  Part of me wants to rip them down, shove her against the door and finally taste her. But the panties are so damn sexy.

  Standing up, I pick her up again. It’s so effortless, I don’t know what she was talking about. Too big? I mean she’s not some tiny toothpick girl, but who the hell wants that?

  Real men want to make love with real, full bodied women. Especially one’s in white panties.

  I lay my girl on the bed and follow her down, covering her smaller body with my much larger one. I don’t want to crush her, but I want to feel every inch of my flesh pressed against hers. Never want to stop touching her, kissing those lush lips, hearing her sweet little purrs and mews as she trembles and writhes against me.

  I could just lay here and kiss her, touch her forever. She’s so soft and warm and sweet. And she’s mine.

  “Tell me you’re my girl,” I beg, my voice rasping in her ear.

  “I’ve always been yours.” She arches her back and her hips start to rock. “Please, Joe, I’m so ready for you. Make me yours.”

  It takes all my willpower not to rip those
panties aside and do exactly what she wants, what I want. But I mustn’t rush.

  “Babe,” I say between lingering kisses that make us both moan. “Is this your first time?”

  She stiffens a little, but I sooth her with more kisses, whispered words that it’s totally okay. I was pretty sure I was right, but I needed to be sure.

  “It’s stupid I know,” she says. “Saving myself but...”

  “Don’t say that,” I hush her. “It means so much to me, you have no idea. Even I didn’t know how much it mattered till right now.”

  I kiss her again then hook my fingers into her panties and pull them down. Damn, I want to taste her sweet pussy, but I don’t want to stop kissing her.

  Slipping my fingers between her thighs, I find a very happy medium when she mews against my lips shivers beneath me.

  She’s so wet and warm, I know she’s ready for me. But I want to wait, I want this to last. I don’t want to hurt her. I remember hearing that if you do it right, it doesn’t have to hurt at all. That might be bullshit, but I want to try.

  Settling my fingers either side of her soaking clit, I circle in a slow, languid rhythm.

  “You’re so sweet, so fucking beautiful,” I say. “Do you like that? Does it feel good?”

  Eyes shut, she licks her lips and nods. “I want you. I want all of you.”

  “I know, babe,” I reply. “But I’m a big man, you know what I’m talking about. We need to take this slow the first time.”

  She lets out an impatient sound that makes me smile.

  My mouth never leaving hers, I start rubbing little faster, a little harder. Her broken cry is music to my ears, her trembling thighs the most erotic thing I’ve ever felt. Gently, I slip one finger into her hot wetness. She’s so tight. After some more kissing, my thumb still circling her swollen clit, I slip a second finger into her tight passage and gently pump them in and out.

  “Joe, ooh Joe!” Her nails rip into my arms, but I don’t stop.

  Then I feel it. Her pussy tightens around my fingers, her back arches, and her eyes open wide.

  “That’s it, baby girl,” I groan, rubbing her clit faster, pumping my fingers deeper.