Guarding Valentina [Paladin Protection Agency 3] (Siren Publishing Classic) (9 page)

“You have baby ducks on your panties.” He was laughing as he slid a finger under the band and drew them slowly down her legs. “Not quite what I was expecting from a tough-as-nails woman like you.”

“If you tell anyone, I’ll kill you.”

The serious look in his eyes as he met her gaze was at odds with the smile still quirking at the corners of his mouth. “I won’t tell a soul. Not about any of this, not if you don’t want me to. You’re a private person. I understand that. This is something special, something just between us.”

He moved to cover her body with his, the hot, hard length of him pressing her down onto the cool linoleum beneath her as he kissed her. One hand cradled the back of her head while the other held his body suspended above her as his tongue danced and tangled with hers. She could feel his cock pressed between them, and she wriggled her hips, drawing up her legs, and her feet flat on the floor so she could push herself upward. She wanted him inside her, fucking her, right now. She gained a few inches and then hissed in frustration as he shifted himself up and away, his laughter filling her mouth.

His lips left hers and drifted a slow line of kisses down her neck to her shoulder, stopping to taste the skin there with a lingering love-bite. As he kissed his way lower he eased his hand out from under her head and reached for something beyond her line of sight. The first clue she had as to what he was doing was when a cool drizzle of liquid trickled down her breast again, and she gasped, nearly levitating off the floor in surprise.

“Look what I found,” he crooned, holding up the still half-full Tupperware bowl of fruit and half-melted ice cream.

“Sex now, dessert later, remember?” She bit back a groan of anticipation as he held the bowl over her bare breasts.

“I’ve decided to kill two birds with one stone,” he told her as he tipped his hand and let the remains of the dessert fall onto her body, covering her in cold, sticky sweetness from breast to pussy. “Bloody hell, that’s the best looking dessert I’ve ever seen.”

He dropped the bowl in his eagerness to taste her, his mouth warming her chilled skin as he nibbled, licked, and sucked at her breasts. She buried her hands into his hair, tangling her fingers into his curls as she arched her back, offering herself up to him. As he laved every inch of her body, she felt his hand move between her legs, and she parted her thighs for him. His hand brushed along the seam of her pussy, and she moaned.

“Please,” she whispered and bucked her hips against his questing fingers.

“So wet already. I bet you taste even better than whisky and cherries.” He slid a digit into her folds and rubbed her clit, making her shudder with pleasure. He dipped his finger into her channel, and she moaned, and then mewled in protest as he removed his hand again. She lifted her head enough to watch as he licked her honey off his hand, a grin on his lips. “Ambrosia.”

Then his mouth latched onto a swollen nipple, and he pressed a finger down on her clit, sending a pulse of electricity surging through her body. Round and round his thumb and fingers worked the tiny bundle of nerves in her pussy as his tongue licked and swirled at her breast, bringing her racing to the brink of an orgasm. He nipped at the tender nubbin and then started kissing his way down her body, lapping up every bit of melted ice cream, fruit, and syrup as his fingers continued to tease her clit and keep her vibrating at the edge of release.

His breath tickled her thighs as he finally worked his way down to her pussy, his tongue setting tiny fires everywhere it touched her. Without warning, he slid two fingers deep inside and latched onto her clit with his mouth. Her body arched upward, and she cried his name, her fingers still tangled in his hair as she held him against her pussy and ground herself against his face. His fingers scissored wide, stretching her inner walls, and his tongue lashed at her clit with merciless intensity, sending her cascading into an orgasm so raw and brutal she forgot to breathe.

Aedan watched as Val came undone on the floor beneath him, her rapturous expression the same one he’d seen as she’d savored her whisky, in a moment that seemed a lifetime ago. He’d remember that look on her face forever. Hell, he was planning on remembering every second of this night forever. He wanted it etched into his memory so he could relive it every dark and lonely night between now and the time he died.

As her beautiful brown eyes fluttered open, he saw the need in those dark depths, and he felt a stab of jealousy at the thought of her ever looking at another man the way she was looking at him right now. He prowled back up her body, the ache in his cock almost painful now. He needed to bury himself inside her and fuck her until neither of them could walk straight and he could be sure she would remember him and this night as clearly as he would. Her fingers tugged at his hair hard enough to sting as she urged him to mount her, her legs already wrapping around his thighs.

“Condom?” he remembered to ask as she drew him in tighter.

“Don’t need one. Just need you.” She arched up beneath him, and he could feel the slick heat of her pussy envelop his dick, welcoming him. Unable to hold back any longer, he dropped a bruising kiss to her swollen lips and drove himself home.

She moaned into his mouth, her hands leaving his hair to grab his shoulders, giving her added leverage as she took him deeper. He felt her vaginal walls grip him tight and squeeze around his cock hard enough his balls tightened and his control slipped a notch, nearly ending him before he’d begun. He nipped at her lip and broke their kiss with a chuckle.

“You feel like heaven, luv. I could stay inside you all night. I hope Christoph leaves us the hell alone, because I have better things to do tonight than deal with his cranky ass.”

“Me, too.” She wriggled her hips and gasped as he drove himself deep and then withdrew again, leaving her nearly empty. “I want to play with your sexy ass instead.”

“I want that, too.” He had never wanted anything more than to spend the night making this woman come again and again.

“Then why are we still talking?” She smirked up at him.

“Hell if I know.” He thrust himself into her pussy again and felt her body stretch around his cock as she moaned in pleasure. They fell into a rhythm of give and take, pushing each other toward release, both of them fighting for control of the pace. He shifted his angle and was rewarded with a keening cry as she tensed beneath him, her eyes widening and her pupils dilating as he stroked the same spot again. He felt her shiver as she clung to him, her lips on his, her tongue fucking his mouth to the same thrusting rhythm as his cock as he plunged in and out of her pussy. When she came, she screamed his name and clamped around his dick so hard he exploded a half second later, his balls emptying as he pumped into her again and again.

He lowered his head and rested his forehead against her shoulder, nuzzling her still-sticky skin. “Holy hell.”

“You can say that again,” she whispered and her lips brushed over his temple in a tender kiss. “I hope we can do that again…right after you clean up this mess, Mr. Doyle.”

“You just want to watch me wash your floor, naked.” He eased himself off of her and settled himself onto the floor at her side, ignoring the gooey mess he could feel under his hip.

“Now that sounds good. If you’re quick, we’ll have time to go clean ourselves up with a shower afterward. I feel like I’ve been playing naked twister in a candy factory.”

He couldn’t help but laugh and his cock twitched at the images that danced around his head. “Now there’s an inspiring visual.”

She rolled over to face him and playfully slapped his ass, just hard enough to sting. “You need to clean up my kitchen first.” She looked around the ice cream and fruit smeared floor and shook her head, a bit of cherry clinging to her hair. She looked utterly delicious. He leaned in, plucked the bit of fruit from her hair, and popped it into his mouth, grinning as she glowered at him.

“From now until the day I die, I’m never going to look at cherries the same way again. You’ve ruined me.”

Her frown melted into a grin as she carefully got to her feet. “Flattery is well and good, but I believe you promised to scrub my floor. Naked.” He let his eyes drink in every inch of her long legs and sexy figure as she stood over him. Her skin was streaked with bits of dessert and the shaved lips of her pussy gleamed with the juices from their lovemaking session. The bandage on her neck was stained with cherry juice and he could make out the faint bruises that marked where Christoph had manhandled her the previous night.

“Ah shit. I hope I didn’t hurt you.” He stood up and ran a finger along the edge of the bandage.

“Hell no, I think you’re the best cure-all a girl could ask for. I feel fantastic.” She brushed a sweet, whisky-flavored kiss to his lips. “I’ll go get you a mop.”

As he watched Val’s naked body disappear down the hallway, Aedan glanced out the window, then at his watch. Sundown was in twenty minutes. As much as he wished it were otherwise, playtime was over.

* * * *

Aedan kept his word and scrubbed the kitchen until it sparkled, and much to Val’s amusement he’d done it without a stitch of clothing on. She’d loved every minute of it. Neither of them said anything about the light fading outside, but once the kitchen was clean, she’d grabbed his hand and they’d headed to the shower at a run.

There hadn’t been much room in her modest bathroom for them both, but they managed to squeeze in together. They took advantage of the close quarters to rub up against each other as they soaped and scrubbed themselves clean. She washed his hair, and as she massaged his scalp, his low groans had made her wish they had more time. She could sense the changes in him already. The playful man she’d known in the kitchen retreated, and in his place was a quiet, brooding warrior with her lover’s eyes.

He carefully peeled the bandage from her neck and washed the tender edges with a gentle hand. Then he’d washed her hair for her, keeping the injured area as dry as he could manage. When they were both clean, he wrapped her in his arms and just held her, her back to his chest and the water sluicing down over them both, shutting out the world beyond the tiny, steam-filled room.

“I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe,” he whispered in her ear and she felt his arms tighten around her. “He’ll never touch you again.”

“We’ll keep each other safe,” she murmured back to him, and then lifted a hand to his lips when he’d started to argue. “I don’t want to lose you either, Aedan.”

He sighed once and his arms tightened again, holding her close. Then he let her go and reached back to shut off the water. His mouth brushed her shoulder as he stepped out of the shower, and part of her wanted to drag him back to her and kiss him until they both forgot the danger waiting somewhere out there in the darkness. Instead she set her feelings aside and summoned her own mental armor. Maybe tomorrow they’d be able to play again.

Once Val was dressed, she headed into the living room, humored to note they’d both opted for loose, comfortable-fitting clothing that would be easy to doze in but would not get in the way if they needed to fight. “So, what’s the plan?”

“In an ideal world, you get to sleep between bouts of incredible sex, and tomorrow morning we’d both be sexually sated and completely exhausted. Much more likely is that you’ll get to nap for a few hours and then we’ll have a visitor. I doubt he’ll be able to resist paying you a visit, especially since we’ve made sure everyone else is out of his reach.”

“That’s not exactly what I meant.” She flicked a meaningful glance at the knife handle she could clearly see tucked into the couch cushions beside where Aedan was seated. “You’re armed. Why aren’t I?”

His eyes darkened, and for a moment she thought he was going to argue with her, but instead he shrugged and picked up the half-concealed knife. “Nothing you own is going to hurt him, so you can borrow this. But I don’t want you going after him unless there’s no other choice.”

He presented the blade to her handle-first, his long fingers resting carefully on the flat of the blade. “It’s forged with a high silver content, and it’s been blessed by a priest and doused in holy water. You won’t be able to kill him with it, but you will hurt him.”

She took the knife and tested the balance. It was a beautiful piece, the distinctive flowing-water texture of the forged Damascus steel blade catching the light as she looked it over. “Why won’t it kill him?”

“It’s not got a long enough blade to reach his heart unless you get really lucky, and you’re going to be hard-pressed to get him to hold still for you long enough for you to use it to cut off his head.”

“Right. Then I’ll just have to settle for hurting him.” She reached up to touch the bruised and torn skin on her neck. “I still owe him.”

“How’s that healing?” Aedan was beside her before she realized he’d moved. “It still looked pretty sore when I looked at it in the shower.”

“It’s coming along. I put some more of that goop the Doc gave me on it a few minutes ago. There’s no infection, and it’s healing clean. I won’t even have a scar.”

“Good. I hate the idea of him leaving any permanent mark on you.”

“You and me both,” she quipped.

He slid an arm around her waist, and she leaned into him, enjoying the contact. “I know this isn’t the best time to ask this, but I was wondering…” He stopped and cleared his throat, and Val could feel his tension rising. “When this is over, would you mind if I stayed on for a bit?”

She felt her heart trip in her chest. “Stay? Of course I wouldn’t mind if you stayed.”

“I’m overdue for a vacation.” He nuzzled her hair and the arm around her waist flexed and drew her in a little tighter. “I would like to spend it here, with you.”

“If you and I survive this insanity, then you have yourself a date.” She turned into him and kissed the corner of his mouth. Her happiness was tangible, a sense of warmth and light that filled her and made the danger hunting her seem a far and distant thing. “But I thought you didn’t do the dating thing?”