Defended & Desired (13 page)

Huge and thickly muscled, his incredible body made her cave to the feminine desire to be owned and consumed. “I love the way you take me,” she whispered.

After some tugging, she pried one wrist free to coast her hand along the chiseled musculature of his arm. His skin was hot to the touch as she wrapped her hand around his bicep, a huge bulge of granite beneath her palm. When she caressed his chest and stomach, his muscles contracted and rippled under her fingertips.

The effects of his sexual exertion formed a mist over his body. His skin grew slick. She reached around his muscular torso, scraping her nails up his back.

“You don’t know how long I’ve wanted you.” The intensity in his gaze sharpened until it almost hurt to look into his eyes. Usually, her sexual encounters were about physical gratification, not this deep connection unleashing complex emotions that swirled inside her.

“I’ve wanted this, too…” she revealed, her voice trailing off with a moan.

She dug her heels into his backside. He pumped harder.

“Oh, yeah.
Oh, my God.” She threw her head back against her pillow, her neck and back arching to meet his thrusts. “Yes,” she cried as an orgasm built inside her.

“I want to make you scream,” he growled.

She gasped as tension built like a rising storm. “I want to feel you come inside me.”

“Ladies first.” When he tucked his face into her neck, his mouth latched onto her, sucking hard. His breath came in heated bursts against her skin. His scent surrounded her, a mingling of sweat, spiced cologne and sexual heat.

“Please don’t stop,” she begged, losing herself to the sensations building and swirling inside her core.

His thrusts turned hard and focused. “Ah, God,” he groaned.

“Yes…yes!” She clamped her thighs around his waist as spasms shuddered through her. Her nails carved into her palms. Bliss radiated like rockets across her nerve endings, the electric sensation spreading in waves out to her limbs.

His moans built to a heavy crescendo.

Suddenly, he stopped breathing. Every muscle tightened around her like the iron bars of a cage. Then his groan reverberated against her skin as a hot splash released inside her.

She hugged him tight, enjoying his heavy throbbing that elicited a few lingering tremors inside her. Eventually, she relaxed the clasp of her ankles, resting the heels of her shoes against his oh-so-fine ass.

“
Damn.
That was so good.” He shivered in her arms.

“Mmm, I agree,” she murmured, gliding her fingertips up the damp trail of his spine.

He pulsed inside her. “Makes me want to take you again.
Right now.”

“Now?” She’d never had a lover demand seconds. Not this soon.

Surprised, she glanced up at him. The smoldering fire in his eyes and the again-hard length within her proved his point.

“This is what happens when you make me wait.”

She raised her palm. “Hey, I would’ve been on board ages ago, if you’d shown your interest before.”

He arched an eyebrow. “I guess I should’ve stopped being a gentleman and gone with instinct instead.”

“No, I’m all for you being a gentleman. I’m just glad you made your…intentions known.”

“Now you know.” The hungry look returned to his eyes. His length thickened in her slick channel, and a deliberate flex, followed by another, instantly renewed her desire.

She smiled. “Beyond the shadow of a doubt.”

He sat up, clutching her hips as he brought her with him, her ass against his thighs again as he withdrew partway. He flattened one hand on the sheets, and his thumb grazed her temple. “Let me know if you ever have doubts about how much I want you. I promise I’ll make them go away.”

As he spoke the words, a deep-set light shone in his eyes, like the sentiment came from his soul. A little too deep for a fling meant to satiate the needs of the flesh. She brought her thoughts back to the physical when she sent him a sultry look and grazed her fingertips down his perfect six-pack abs. “That sounds promising.”

“I’ll make your doubts go away right now,” he offered.

“How generous of you,” she said with a flirtatious smile.

“I aim to please.”

“Trey, believe me, you deliver.” He was the best lover she’d ever had, and he’d proven that in less than thirty minutes.

He arched a seductive eyebrow. “Sweetheart, I just started.”

Grasping her hips, he thrust her to the base of his shaft. She moaned and arched.

Heat blazed in his eyes, branding her naked body as he swept her with his gaze. “You are unbelievably sexy.”

Her eyes traveled over his exquisite torso, an impressive expanse of glistening muscle and sinew that made her mouth water. “I can say the same.”

When he sat up slightly onto his heels, he forced her into a deeper angle, enhancing his penetration. He buried himself in her, then withdrew several inches. “Do you like watching me move inside you?”

A soft moan accompanied her exhale. Her gaze fixed on where they joined.

“Feels so good.” She luxuriated in the brush of his firm sack against her backside, as he continued his slow hip-rolling thrusts.

Then he brought her legs up, her red high heels framing his face. He flattened his forearm against her thighs, pressing her tighter to him. Her shoulder blades dug into the mattress beneath her. She felt the muscles rippling down his torso against the backs of her legs. His opposite hand caressed her breast, tweaked her nipple between two fingers, and then slid down her abdomen.

The edge of his thumb dipped into the neatly trimmed vee of curls at her juncture, stroking her clit. He dipped lower, gathering moisture from where they were joined as he moved his hips against her, his erection hot and hard.

Then he dragged the pad of his thumb back up to her swollen peak, caressing her in sensual circles. He intensified his thrusts, driving deep into her core.

The moist slap of skin against skin filled the air. She was going to come again. And with the orgasm he gave her in his car, that made three in under an hour. A personal first.

The future drifted into a hazy distance. All she wanted, needed, was this moment. And him.

His thumb flicked her as he drove into her heat. “So good,” she panted.

“Hell, yeah.” Without missing a stroke, he turned his head to the right and his teeth nipped her ankle. Then he swirled his tongue over the raw skin.

“Oh…oh, oh!” A fierce orgasm ripped through her, shaking her to her bones.

“That’s it, Devon. Take me. Take it all.” His thighs trembled. His forearm was a vice against her thighs, and his stomach muscles seized against the backs of her thighs. He was a sight to behold, arms trapping her legs against his chest, head tossed back, neck muscles corded prominently. He let out a guttural groan and came hard.

She’d never witnessed anything as glorious as watching his body tighten and then release so completely. He was the most incredible man she’d ever taken to bed. And, if she were honest, the most incredible man she’d ever known.

Except that was bringing things too close to home. Too close to something she’d want to keep and hold onto in the future. Only, her future lay elsewhere.

But right now, he collapsed on top of her and lay in her arms. She soaked in every minute of his big, powerful presence surrounding her. However long they had together, she planned to get lost in this phenomenal sensation of being
his.

Distantly, she heard sirens blaring. She smiled against his shoulder. “I think the authorities found us too hot to handle. There could be a law against sex this good.”

Setting his weight on his forearms, he grinned down at her. “They’re coming to douse this five-alarm fire we have going.”

Soon, she wondered if he wasn’t off the mark. “Trey, that sounds really close.”

Withdrawing from her and untangling himself from her legs, he slid to the edge of the bed near the window. His eyebrows drew together in a frown. “Actually, the red-and-blues are right outside your house.”

She sat up. “Seriously?”

Cupping her chin, he planted a hot kiss on her lips. Without bothering with his boxers, he grabbed his pants, tucked himself inside and zipped the fly. “I’ll go check it out.”

The chill that came over her led to a sinister conclusion.

After everything Logan’s team had worked to uncover, could this hacker have struck again?

Chapter 7

Trey caressed the lips of the woman who’d just given him two of the most intense orgasms of his life.

He gave her a quick kiss. “I’m sure it’s nothing,” he lied, suspecting otherwise. As he made his way downstairs, his heart pounded. When he’d looked out her bedroom window, he saw the cop car parked in her driveway, and the shadow of a burly male figure filling her doorway. With the hacker never far from his mind, he hoped to God this wasn’t another attempt to torment her.

When a fist beat against her screen door, Peanut went on a barking rampage.

“Coming,” Trey announced. He swiped Peanut up with one hand, unlocked her deadbolt and opened the interior door. The police officer’s stone-faced expression changed to one of surprise and then amusement, which Trey assumed was due to his rumpled state and the tiny dog in his grasp. Trey ran a hand through his sweat-slicked hair. “Can I help you?”

The officer coughed into his fist. “Sorry to interrupt—er, bother you. I received an alert from the security system at this address. It’s policy if the owner doesn’t answer the phone, we send someone by to assess the situation.”

“Must be a mistake. Everything’s fine.”

“Do you live here?”

“No, but the lady of the house is…indisposed.”

The officer glanced into the foyer. “I need verbal confirmation from her.”

“Sure.” Trey called over his shoulder, “Devon, honey, can you come down for a minute?”

He heard her light footsteps dash across the bedroom floor and through the upstairs hall. She ventured downstairs wearing his dress shirt, which she held closed over her breasts.

Testosterone still raging in his veins, his body amped up on sex hormones, he hardened at the sight of her in his shirt. She looked small and fragile swamped by the fabric.

A territorial surge heated his blood. He didn’t like the cop seeing an eyeful of her wearing next to nothing. “This officer needs to know everything’s all right here.”

Eyes wide and wary, she swallowed. “Fine. No problems here. What was the alert, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“We don’t receive those details, ma’am.” The radio at the officer’s hip crackled and a dispatcher questioned if he was at the residence. He unclipped the radio and held it to his mouth. “False alarm.”

“Can you hang on a minute?” she asked him. After the officer agreed, she went to the security panel attached to the wall near her door. “Huh. That’s strange.”

“What?” Trey went to her side. Peanut’s miniature growl made the dog’s ribs vibrate against his palm.

“You saw me disarm my system when we got here…” She checked the small clock perched on the narrow table beside the door. “Forty-five minutes ago.”

Trey nodded.

“All three lights are flashing, red, yellow and green. That’s not supposed to happen, at least I’ve never seen it before.”

“You’ll have to call the security company for details, ma’am,” the officer said. “I just answer the calls when they come in.”

“Sure, I understand. Thank you for responding.”

“Glad to see everything’s okay.” He touched the brim of his hat, turned and headed to his car.

She rubbed her temples. “I hate to call Logan yet again.”

He couldn’t stand seeing her beautiful face lined with stress and anxiety. And while he wanted Logan and his team here ASAP, based on Devon’s reaction the last time the hacker made his viral attack, he also didn’t want her to go through that again.

“At least try the call center,” he suggested.

After holding for ten minutes, during which time Trey returned upstairs and dressed in everything except his shirt and shoes, she finally reached a customer service rep. She put her cell phone on speaker so Trey could hear the woman’s reply.  “Looks like the alarm was triggered from a remote location.”

Her cheeks turned pale, her eyes churning with panic. “What?”

“That’s impossible,” Trey said. Agitation crawled across his skin. “We disarmed it from inside the house.”

“I’m not sure what to tell you.” The woman sounded apologetic. “I can request an inquiry, but it could take up to forty-eight hours to perform a thorough investigation.”

He clenched his jaw. “This can’t wait.”

“I’ll do my best to expedite your request.”

“Do that,” he barked.

The sound of typing echoed from her phone. “The order will take a few minutes to process. I can send you a text message on your cell phone to let you know when the request goes through.”

“Please.” Devon’s tone contained the same defeat as her eyes. Wanting to ease some of her tension, he rubbed small circles against her back.

“We’ll be in touch with you shortly.”

Devon ended the call and scrubbed her hands over her arms. “It’s him. It has to be, that’s the only explanation. But how did he gain access to my security system, and why would he trigger it remotely?”

Because he still has eyes on you somewhere, and he knows I’m here.
“No way to tell for sure until they do their investigation.” He kissed her forehead. “Get dressed and throw some things in a suitcase. I’m taking you out of here.”

“But this is my home.” Her voice sounded faint and watery as she leaned her cheek against his chest. He ran a hand over her hair. “I’m supposed to be safe here.”

“You’ll be safe. I promise you.” He set Peanut on the floor. “C’mon, I’ll help you pack.”

As she rummaged through drawers in her bedroom and bathroom, she moved slowly as if the smallest motion caused her pain. “I’m not staying with you.” Her words fell heavy on the silence. “I can’t. I’m just…not there yet.”

“That’s fine, sweetheart. But I’m going to make sure you’re taken care of.”

When her gaze lifted to his, her look of vulnerable uncertainty pierced his chest. He cared about her and hated what the hacker was doing to her, how she was shaking though trying to hide it. “Thank you,” she whispered.

She relinquished his shirt back to him and he threw it on without bothering with every single button. He took her suitcase then waited patiently while she secured Peanut in a travel cage and reset her alarm.

She sighed. “I hope this actually works.”

“I’m sure it will.” He had no idea, but she seemed to need his reassurance.

Placing her suitcase in his trunk next to his blueprints, he held the door open for her as she climbed in and set Peanut’s cage on her lap. Moonlight surrounded her in an ethereal glow. She was so damn beautiful.

He wanted to take her to a place he knew she’d be safe, which included someone on his payroll. He drove toward downtown and rested his hand over hers, her fingers cold and small in his grasp. A few minutes later, she clenched his fingers as though holding on to him for dear life. She was scared, and he hated that some faceless menace had tormented her into this place of fear and distrust.

Trey wanted to choke the life out of the guy with his bare hands. He wasn’t the violent type, preferring to solve disputes with reason and rational discussion. But the notorious Soren aggression kicked into high gear and he wanted to pummel something.

Instead, he gripped the steering wheel and let her squeeze his hand until his fingers went numb.

Eventually, he had to take away her anchor so he could downshift when they hit city limits. Within minutes he veered into the parking lot of Hotel Monico. Before he exited the car, he reached into his glove compartment, retrieving a gun within a leather holster, tucking it into the back of his pants. He didn’t look at Devon’s reaction or wait for her to protest against the added precaution.

They entered the lobby, where colorful art deco furnishings met classic contemporary design. Before they reached the counter, he walked up to the security guard on duty, a man who worked for Soren Security Bodyguards. “Hey, Will.” He held out his hand. “Trey Soren, from Soren Security.”

Will’s eyes widened and he nodded respectfully as he shook Trey’s hand. “Mr. Soren. I didn’t recognize you out of the office.”

“No problem. I want you to meet Devon Leigh, our company’s IT director.”

He swept Devon with an appreciative glance. “It’s a pleasure.”

She offered him a faint smile.

“I need you to make sure she’s safe and well taken care of during her stay here.” Trey rested his hand on Devon’s lower back, a subtle cue that the request was personal. “If anyone asks for her at the front desk, I want you to confirm their identity and credentials. Have the staff call up to her room and verify she knows them.”

He nodded gravely. “Yes, sir.”

“Thanks, Will.” Trey returned the nod and led Devon to the counter.

They checked her in, but the woman with bouncy red curls, whose nameplate read Clare, sent a questioning look at the cage Devon carried.
Trey paid using his credit card. After setting the room keys on the counter, Clare pressed her hand to the collar of her staff uniform. “I’m sorry, we don’t allow pets.”

“I’ll take him with me when I leave,” Trey assured.

Clare appeared uneasy about the arrangement, but she took one look at the dog and smiled. “As long as he’s here for a short time, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

Devon stayed unusually quiet as they took the elevator up to the top floor and he led her to her room for the night, or however long she needed to stay here.

When they walked in, the room smelled like lemon oil and luxury cotton. Brightly striped curtains separated the main sitting area and kitchenette from the bedroom. The plush furniture and classy décor gave a homey impression. He hoped Devon would feel comfortable here, safe.

Removing Peanut from his cage, she set him on the bed. He curled into a tight white ball and went back to sleep. Fortunately, the dog was only yippy and hyper in the confines of its own house and not in public.

“What’s the gun for?” she finally asked. Her voice sounded thready and tired.

“Your peace of mind.” He removed it from the waist of his pants and, keeping it in its holster, set it on the coffee table. “I have a concealed carry permit.”

“Old bounty hunter habits die hard?”

He lifted a shoulder. “Never hurts to be packing heat in case you need it. I assume with your military background you know how to use a gun.”

Releasing a sigh, she nodded.

“Hand me your phone.” She sent him a questioning glance but complied. “I’m punching in Cade’s number. He lives in a penthouse a few blocks from here. He can be on your doorstep in two minutes.”

She hugged her waist. “Thanks for going to all this trouble.”

“No trouble.” His chest ached with a surge of protectiveness as he stared at her slender form and troubled eyes. “What I do isn’t just my job, it’s who I am. And I need to know you’re safe.”

Staring at the gun on the coffee table, she shivered and nodded again.

“You’ll be all right tonight?”

She shrugged. “Why don’t you
and
your gun stay with me?”

He paused and studied her. “I thought you didn’t want that.”

“I’d like you to stay with me. I just didn’t want to stay with you.” She exhaled. “It’s…complicated.”

He slid off his suit jacket and tossed it over a chair. “Sure, sweetheart. Whatever makes you feel better.”

Her shoulders relaxed. “Thank you.”

Moving to her side, he cupped her chin between his thumb and forefinger until her eyes met his. “Stop thanking me. It’s unnecessary.”

“But you—”

“Devon.” He bent and brushed a kiss to her lips, then another. “It’s all good. I want to stay. I’ll take any excuse to be with you.”

The corners of her mouth tilted up in a hesitant smile. “Okay.”

“Excuse me for a minute.” He ducked into the bathroom to use the facilities, and as he zipped his pants he glanced at the large oval tub with Jacuzzi jets. He washed his hands, thinking that a hot bubble bath might soothe her. Taking the lavender-scented body wash from the sink counter, he poured the contents into the tub. Piles of foam filled the basin.

When he emerged, a trail of steam followed him. He took her hand. “Come with me.”

She entered the luxury bathroom and her lips parted. “A bubble bath?” Her face softened. “Trey, you’re a genius.”

“I try.” He went to the faucet, turned off the running water, and began undressing. She slid her dress off her shoulders, the material sliding down her slim body, whispering to the floor. He helped her into the tub then settled into the water with her.

The tension released from her face and a faint smile touched her lips, as he captured bubbles on a washcloth and slid it over her skin. Her nipples hardened, and he swallowed, forcing himself to concentrate on making her feel good, not what his libido wanted.

Turning to face him, she draped her legs over his, her fingers traveling from his shoulders down his chest and disappearing under the bubbles. He caught her hand before she found his erection eager for her touch. This wasn’t about him.