Bodyguard (Shifters Unbound #2.5) (16 page)

He didn't try anything romantic like carrying
Elizabeth to the bed this time. He simply kissed her while he slid
his hands under the hem of her cropped top and lifted it off over
her head.

She wore a tiny black bra underneath, a strip
of satin and lace above which her breasts swelled. She closed her
eyes as Ronan drew his fingertip along her butterfly tattoo, bared
in its entirety now. It had tasted fine the other night. Ronan
lowered his head to taste it again.

Elizabeth made a little noise of pleasure,
and her fingers came up to furrow his hair. She smelled good, the
cinnamon scent overlaid with her own musk. He tasted perspiration
and
her
as he glided his tongue over the smooth line of her
tattoo.

Elizabeth slid her hands down his back and
tugged at his T-shirt. Ronan obliged her by pulling off the shirt
and tossing it away. He was rewarded by Elizabeth running her hands
down his torso, fingers finding his flat nipples among wiry
hair.

"You have to be the largest man I've ever
seen," she said.

"Kodiaks get big." Ronan slid his hands to
her waist. "You, though, are tiny."

She laughed softly. "Oh, please, I've never
been called
tiny
in my life."

"You are to me. And yet . . ." He moved his
hands beneath her breasts. "You have curves a man could lose
himself in."

"You aren't bad yourself." Elizabeth skimmed
her hands down to his buttocks, which were still cupped by his
jeans. She usually liked to hook her fingers through his belt
loops, but this time, she slid them into his back pockets.

"I could grow to like this," Ronan said. "But
I'm getting a little frenzied."

"The frenzy again?"

Ronan snaked his thumbs under the elastic of
her bra, finding a soft cushion of woman beneath. "A Shifter's
curse, the mating frenzy. When it comes upon us, we'll do anything
to hole up with our mates and not come out until it's over. For
days. Or weeks."

"Good."

Ronan warmed. "Good?"

"Means you'll be too busy to go to that
stupid fight club."

"Maybe." Ronan's blood was hot with need, his
skin starting to bead with sweat. Elizabeth was lovely, and soft,
and damn sexy in that bra. Choosing between lying with her for a
week or fighting a smelly Shifter wasn't difficult. Ronan ran his
fingers around to the back of her bra and fumbled with the hooks.
"I'm not good at this."

Her smile made her eyes soft. "Don't tell me
you're inexperienced."

"I've never been with a human woman, no."
Ronan finally worked the two catches free. "I think I've been
missing out."

Elizabeth took her hands from Ronan's pockets
and slid the bra straps from her shoulders. Her breasts came into
view, round and full, tips dusky. She had another tattoo, he
discovered, a tiny one just below her left nipple--a perfectly
formed little fairy with finely penned wings. He lowered his head
and kissed it.

Elizabeth's intake of breath made him warmer
still, and he licked where he'd kissed.

"That hurt when I got it done," Elizabeth
said in a near-whisper. "I thought I was crazy. The lady who did it
for me, though, she was a real artist."

"I like it," Ronan said into her skin. He
moved his mouth upward and caught her areola with his tongue.

Elizabeth stood perfectly still, sensations
pouring through her as his mouth did its dance. Her body was open
and hot, the space between her legs relaxed and wanting him.

She unhooked his belt and pulled it open then
popped the button of his jeans. Ronan came up, his eyes holding the
same longing she felt. He quickly pulled off his boots then
unzipped and got rid of the jeans, pulling his underwear down with
them.

Elizabeth had seen him naked before, but this
time was different. Before, he'd been shifting, a warrior,
protecting her. Now he was a man, bared to take her to bed.

She ran her hands down his chest, over his
flat abdomen, and stopped when she reached the hardness of him.
Elizabeth became needier still as she closed her hands around
it.

"So the rumors are true," she said. "About
the extra inches."

"Every single one of them, sweetheart."

She wanted to laugh. "You're full of
yourself."

"No, you are full of myself."

"Shithead."

Elizabeth rose on her tiptoes, still holding
on, and kissed his mouth. Ronan made a noise of enjoyment as she
squeezed him, and his answering kiss took her breath away.

No more holding back. Ronan yanked open her
jeans, the top button flying across the room. Before Elizabeth
could move to assist, he had the jeans down, hands deftly removing
her high-heeled half-boots at the same time. Next came her black
satin panties that matched her bra, his large hands warming her
legs.

Now she was bare, and so was he, standing
body to body. He kissed her as he scooped her against him, lifted
her, and carried her to the bed.

He stripped back the quilts, laying her on
the sheets before he climbed into bed beside her. Elizabeth slid
her hand again to his very erect shaft, knowing exactly what she
wanted to do. She came up on her knees and coaxed him onto his
back, then she straddled him, sitting back on his shins so she
could keep rubbing him with her hand.

Ronan curled his arms behind his head,
watching her with intense eyes while she stroked him. She could
tell he was holding back, keeping himself from reaching for her,
while waiting to see what she'd do.

"Lizzie-girl," he said, voice raw. "You're
going to kill me."

Elizabeth gave him a sly look. She leaned
down and licked his navel, then let her tongue glide down, all the
way down. She traveled the length of him and closed her mouth over
his tip.

Not for long. Ronan growled, a sound that
came from the depths of him. He dragged Elizabeth up and over onto
her back, cradling her the whole time so she came down softly on
the mattress. He parted her thighs with one large knee, and then he
was over her, the strong shaft she'd stroked sliding into her.

Elizabeth arched her body, rising to meet
him. He pushed inside smoothly, she so slick for him, that it was
nothing but astonishing pleasure.

Ronan's eyes flickered, becoming the lighter
color Shifters' eyes seemed to go when they wanted to change. But
he didn't shift. He filled her, his muscles moving as he kept his
weight from crushing her, even now fearing to hurt her.

Elizabeth hooked one leg around him, gliding
her foot up to his firm buttocks. Ronan kissed her as he loved her,
hot, needy kisses. She tasted his loneliness and his longing, his
hope that perhaps his loneliness was at an end.

At times in the past, when Elizabeth had lain
with a man, she'd felt alone and disconnected, even in the middle
of sex. With Ronan, she was connected, not just physically, but
with a warmth that ran through her heart and through her blood.

She whispered his name, and he looked into
her eyes, far gone in feeling. Elizabeth's body opened to his, and
the same feeling came to her. They were whole, joined, like two
streams of fire that ran together to become one.

And then Elizabeth's thoughts dissolved into
pure feeling. The intensity of them crashed over her, erasing fear,
pain, isolation . . . everything gone. She was with Ronan, shielded
from the world, from everything but this joy.

She rose to her climax on a wash of white-hot
pleasure, hearing her voice ring out, Ronan's joining it. They
rippled together, Ronan riding her, his kisses hot and primal.

They loved for a long, long time, until manic
heat slowed to loving warmth. They fell back to the bed, mouths
meeting, hands moving, each taking and giving, until all was quiet,
and they drowsed together on the rumpled sheets.

*** *** ***

A long time later, Elizabeth pried open heavy
eyes to see Ronan sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at
something in his hand. No, he was tapping something, which glowed.
Elizabeth rubbed her eyes and saw that he held a phone.

"You're going through my pockets now?" she
asked.

"This was on the floor." Ronan moved his
thumb to scroll through lists of phone numbers. "Must have fallen
out when we were ripping off each other's clothes. But this isn't
your phone."

"I know that." Elizabeth traced the arcs of
the Celtic tattoo on his back. "It's Julio Marquez's."

Ronan looked back and down at her, his eyes
shining in the garish light from the phone. "And you have it,
because . . ."

"I lifted it when we went by him in the
parking lot. I thought it might be useful." She lay down again,
keeping her fingertips on Ronan's back. "No, to be honest, I was
being a pain in the ass. My way of spitting at him."

"I think you're right though--this will be
useful," Ronan said. "Very. Julio makes a lot of phone calls. Most
recently to someone named . . . Casey."

Elizabeth froze, her blood like ice. "Zach
Casey," she whispered.

Ronan turned all the way around, getting on
the bed with her again. "The guy you ran away from?"

"I told you, Ronan. Please." She closed her
hand around his arm, feeling her fears pour over her. "Don't go
near him. I think I'd die if I lost you."

Ronan clicked off the phone and laid it on
the nightstand. "It looks like our friend Julio already called him.
I'll make three guesses what he talked about."

"Damn him. Why can't he leave me alone?"
Elizabeth wasn't sure if she meant Marquez or Zach, but it didn't
much matter.

"He will," Ronan said. His voice held none of
its usual banter, the humor he hid behind. "I'm willing to bet that
this fight is Julio's dastardly plan to get back at you and at me.
So I'm going to spring his little trap and bring along some secret
weapons of my own. And I'll need your help, so don't come over all
damsel in distress on me."

"I'm not scared for me; I'm scared for you,"
Elizabeth said.

Ronan went on, unworried. "I need to talk to
Spike, and I need to talk to Sean. And I promise you, Lizzie-girl,
after tomorrow, you won't need to be afraid anymore. Of anyone." He
kissed her, the heat of their lovemaking lingering in him. "Do this
with me?"

Elizabeth scrubbed her hand through her hair,
making the red-streaked chunks stick out. "Goldilocks was pretty
resilient, I guess."

"I heard she shacked up with the papa bear,
and they lived happily ever after."

Elizabeth frowned. "I don't remember that
version of the story."

"How about we discuss it? Sean's probably
still up, but I hate to disturb his mate by calling him now. He'll
wait."

"Discuss it how?" Elizabeth's fears didn't go
away, but a pleasant warmth made them recede a little. She was safe
from Zach Casey in Shiftertown, no matter what Zach or Julio might
think.

"How about we bag the discussion?" Ronan put
his hand on her waist and half rolled onto her, warming her like
the best of blankets.

"Sounds good to me," Elizabeth said, and all
conversation ceased.

*** *** ***

Saturday was the busiest for Elizabeth's
store. Ronan wanted her to stay in Shiftertown, but Elizabeth
refused to hide and miss her best sales day of the week. They were
warned now to look out for Zach, she said, and again, she wasn't
going to let fear ruin her life.

Ronan scented Elizabeth's adrenaline running
high as she opened the store, but only innocuous human customers
came into the store, followed by Glory and Rebecca, who took a long
time over their shopping. Elizabeth knew she was being babysat, but
she said nothing about it.

Spike and Sean came in through the back to
speak to Ronan, but no one was doing any carpentry today.

"Sure, I can get you in to the Shifter
fights," Spike said to Ronan. They stood in Elizabeth's office,
door closed, Elizabeth out front with her customers and Glory and
Rebecca. "Everyone likes fresh blood. But I never heard about a
champion sponsored by Marquez. He can't be local. Did you get his
name?"

"Julio didn't say." Ronan leaned on the desk
and thought of Elizabeth curled against him in the night, her body
fitting so well with his.

"Not good," Spike said. "You gotta watch
yourself in these places, Ronan. The only rules are that you stay
inside the ring and don't use a weapon. Other than that, anything
goes. It's Shifters letting out their wild."

"You think I can't be a little wild?" Ronan
asked with a mild grin.

"I think you haven't been in a long time.
Escorting drunk humans out of the bar is different from going up
against a tiger-wildcat who eats raw steak for breakfast and is
dying for a fight."

"I bet he could win with just his breath,"
Ronan said. Sean chuckled.

"Take it seriously, Ronan. These guys are
seasoned. If Marquez has a champion, it means he's won a good share
of the fights. He won't be a walkover."

"I've watched a couple of these matches,"
Sean said. "I believe him."

"It's not to the death though, right?" Ronan
asked. "I don't want to be killing a guy with a mate and cubs who
need him."

Spike shook his head. "Not to the death. We
all want to go home afterward. The refs call it when a Shifter
can't get up again. But things can get pretty bad." He looked at
Sean. "I don't think you should go at all, Sean. A Guardian will
make people nervous."

"Marquez also might decide that a fight to
the death is what he wants," Sean said. "What if one of them pegs
it, and there's no Guardian handy?"

Spike looked uneasy, but Ronan thought he
knew why. Not because Sean might be needed, but Sean might tell
Liam about Spike doing the fights. And no one wanted to piss off
Liam.

"Don't worry," Sean said to him. "I'll be
incognito, and I won't tell my brother."

Elizabeth's voice came from the door. "I
thought you'd come here to talk him out of it, Sean."