Holding Out For A Hero: SEALs, Soldiers, Spies, Cops, FBI Agents and Rangers (117 page)

“Shelley is an adult,” Ric said evenly not answering the question.

Connor shifted closer, his gaze intent, narrowed. “Who, for all intents and purposes, has had very few adult relationships. She’s…special.”

Ric knew that. He appreciated Con’s defense of his stepmother. He did. Although he felt about fifteen and standing in his girlfriend’s living room while her father glared at him accusingly. Ric nodded but again didn’t say a word.

“Okay. I’ll be watching you.”

Ric was waiting for Connor to point his fingers at his eyes and then back at Ric like some kind of overlord.

Connor warned him. “Don’t hurt her.”

The inference that Ric would hurt Shelley pissed him off. “I’d rather have you trying to find whoever trashed her hotel room.” Ric couldn’t help but needle him.

“That’s next.”

Connor bulked his shoulders and clenched his fists, and Ric relented. “Connor. I don’t want anything to happen to her either. I’ll do my best.”

“It damn well better be the best you’ve ever done.” Con bit out, “Don’t fuck up.”

His fierce protection of Shelley made Ric respect him more. “I won’t let anything hurt her.”

The door to the bathroom opened just in time. Shelley stepped into the bedroom. She glanced between Ric and Con. “Everything okay here?”

Con nodded. “I’m going to get started tracing these people.”

Shelley smiled. “Thanks, Con. I hate to ruin everyone’s vacation.”

“You aren’t ruining anything,” Ric refuted. “And don’t worry. We’re on it.”

Con bent to brush a kiss over Shelley’s forehead. Ric observed the slight hesitation before he touched Shelley. “Stay aware of your surroundings at all times. And…listen to Ric, he knows what he’s doing.”

Vindication, of a sort.

“Okay, sweetie.”

After one final, brusque nod, Con strode from the room. Ric couldn’t help but be thankful that her kids were taking the threat seriously.

They were alone. The nine hundred and forty square foot hotel room suite that had seemed so spacious when half of her family had been in the room, suddenly shrunk. The sexual tension that had dissipated with everyone here blasted back into his mind as he registered her outfit.

Black yoga pants, a gift from the Gods, hugged her spectacular ass and thighs, and the deep pink clingy spandex jacket with its mock turtleneck and short zipper clung to her small high breasts. Ric flashbacked to last night, lifting her to his mouth and savoring the sweet taste of her surrender.

Inappropriate thoughts swirled through his mind, promises he’d made to Jack, promises to Connor, and more importantly, to Shelley. He wasn’t about to let anything happen to her.

That meant keeping his distance. She wasn’t a hot pickup anymore, she was his principal. And getting involved with a client was the worst possible decision in a protection scenario. No touching, he repeated silently, no touching.

He was on board with that mantra right up until she shuddered. Shelley wrapped her arms around her waist and closed her eyes.

“Hey, hey.” He couldn’t ignore her worry and there was no one else here to comfort her. Ric tentatively pulled her into his arms. As if his touch unleashed her restraint, she launched herself into his arms her body shaking. She tucked her head into the crook of his neck.

“Don’t cry.” He couldn’t deal with a crying woman.

“Cry?” She shoved out of his embrace. “I’m not crying. I’m pissed.”

Relief poured through him. Oh, thank God.

“Someone is messing with my family. My kids deserve a worry free, relaxing vacation. You know this is the first time we’ve taken a family vacation in years.”

She stomped around his room, her eyes bright with indignation. “Jack and Bliss deserve the week before their wedding to be happy and stress free. They’ve already endured so much.”

Ric opened his mouth to agree.

“And Con! He and Ava went from being a couple to having Maria live with them. Helping her adjust to living in the real world again. They have their own hotel room so they can finally have some much deserved privacy. They don’t need to be dealing with this crap.”

Ric figured Con managed to get some private time with his girlfriend but before he could bring that up, Shelley waved her hands in the air. “Jess and Colin are adjusting to working for Jack. And Colin moving here to the US, to another freaking country for Pete’s sake. And Riley and Di have been running as many school supplies as they can to the Philippines since last November. If they’re not delivering supplies, they’re fundraising and banging on doors getting donations. They deserve to enjoy this time. Not be bothered by nutjobs and have their vacation ruined by some crazy person.”

Ric noted in that long-winded diatribe that not once had she mentioned herself. “And you Shelley.”

“What about me?” she asked crossly.

“What do you deserve?”

She opened her mouth, closed it. Then frowned. “What?”

“You mentioned everyone in your family except you. Don’t you deserve a nice, drama free vacation and celebration of Jack’s wedding?”

She shrugged, and the action drew his gaze to her breasts. Her beaded nipples poked the silky fabric, sharp little points in a room that was far too warm for those tight berries to be a response to cold. “Sure.”

He could tell she didn’t believe that she was entitled to the same things. Her disregard for her own happiness made Ric want to give her everything she deserved and more.

So much for his easy and uncomplicated vacation. Fuck it. He realized he didn’t like easy or uncomplicated anyway. He tucked the multi-colored red and brown strands of her hair behind the shell of her ear then trailed his fingers along her neck. She shivered from the light contact.

“You’re so fucking responsive,” he murmured.

The air thickened with the swirl of pheromones. Shelley caught her breath. His body responded to the subtle signals she was emitting. The softened posture, the prick of her nipples against her top, the languid droop to her eyelids, as he eased his finger beneath the stretchy knit neckline.

Her pulse thudded in the hollow of her throat and the urge to run his tongue along the same path his finger had taken was overwhelming.

His blood rushed in his ears, drowning out everything but the sound of her breath. He was so attuned to her that he could hear the deep thump of her heart against her breastbone. Her feminine scent, floral and sandalwood entwined, flooded his awareness. His cock rose as heated intimate moments from last night swirled in his mind. He cupped her jaw in his hands, his fingers threaded through her hair to hold her tight, or hold her up, he wasn’t sure which.

Ric bent his knees and pressed his lips to her thudding pulse. Her skin was satin smooth beneath the purse of his mouth. He couldn’t resist the temptation. He swirled his tongue over the sweet evidence of her desire.

Shelley gripped his wrists, holding on to him tenaciously. He groaned against her throat as she leaned into him.

His lips moved over her soft skin. “We need to stop.” But damn he didn’t want to stop. He wanted to drown in her. Drown in her exquisite taste, drown in her honest sexual reaction, drown while she took him under in a wave of lust so primal his body sizzled with the urge to submerse in her.

Shelley skimmed her palms along his forearms, then his shoulders until she buried her fingers in his hair and fisted her hands. She scraped her lips along his stubbled jaw, and nipped at his ear lobe.

She rubbed her rounded tummy along the weapon in his jeans. She got him so hot so fast, it was as if he’d time traveled back to his teens.

He knew they needed to stop. Before they left this hotel room, he had to get his badass, stalker kicking vibe back because he could do no less for this amazing woman. He had promised to protect her. He couldn’t do that if his head was wrapped up in making love to her, not watching her six.

Ric held her in place against the wall, and traced a path from the curve of her collarbone up her neck and along her jaw until he returned to her lips. He pressed gentle sipping kisses to her mouth. His lips clung to hers with each longer inhale, until he finally pulled away.

Ric rested his forehead against hers, eyes closed, and he savored the press of her breasts against his pecs. “I need to be focused.”

She laughed, a small puff of breath. “You seemed awfully focused a second ago.”

He smiled. “Wrong focus. I need to stay focused on your protection. But, later, after this is over, I’d like to shift the emphasis to…more intimate endeavors.”

That was breaking the rules of a one night stand.

She tensed a little in his hold. Shit, maybe he’d misread her enthusiasm.

“I know it’s violating the unspoken laws of a typical one night stand,” he spoke quickly before she could shoot him down.

“We’re so far past typical that we might as well give up and call this thing something else.” Shelley squeezed his shoulders. “I’d like that as well.”

Ric’s tension eased. They were on the same page.

Her face darkened, a crinkle crimped the skin between her brows. “I don’t understand why someone one would want to scare me.”

“You’re gorgeous, nice, and rich.” Ric stated the obvious. “You have it all.”

“I have a wonderful family that matters and a big house. But I definitely don’t have it all.” Shelley thunked her head on the wall.

“But to the outsider your life is perfect.” Ric smoothed her hair away from face. She had to know that to the casual observer her life was idyllic.

“Yeah, if they only understood how lonely I am.” She visibly shook off her melancholy. “Oh shut up, Shel.”

She brushed her palms down her sleeves like she was brushing off the attitude.

“Poor little me,” she said viciously.

“Hey.” Ric said, “Don’t be too hard on yourself. It’s okay to want more.”

“I just want to make a difference,” she said firmly.

He noticed she didn’t say she wanted more for herself. Every time she spoke up and out, it was for someone other than herself.

“Why the food bank?” Ric asked suddenly.

“It’s a worthy cause.”

“It’s an excellent cause.” Ric felt like he already knew her better than that. She didn’t just do things because they were worthy causes. He’d skimmed the article that seemed to jump start the crazies who were hounding her and stalking her but he hadn’t seen a mention of the impetus behind that particular charity, so he asked again, “Why the food bank?”

“You ever have to choose between a place to sleep and a meal in your stomach?” she asked abruptly.

“Fortunately, no.”

She nodded, her burnished red hair skimmed the curve of her shoulder. “It sucks.”

So she was saying that she….

“The reason I went to Jack Stone Sr. years ago was because I was tired of worrying about Jess being hungry.” She said softly, “I wasn’t planning on staying at his house. I tracked him down to ask for a job so Jess and I could eat.”

Ric’s stomach cramped at her matter of fact statement. He knew it was twenty years ago, but he could tell that the moment still rankled.

She laughed bitterly. “Jack Sr. is a bit of a prick in case you weren’t aware.”

“I’ve heard.” Jack hadn’t said much about his father, but the little he’d shared was enough to give Ric a fairly clear picture of the bastard. “What happened?”

“I got there. And Con opened the front door.” Shelley had a faraway look in her ocean green eyes. “He was like a little wounded angel. Their latest nanny had just quit. Literally.”

“As in literally?”

“She thought she was going to be the next Mrs. Stone.” Shelley shook her head. “As if anyone who knew Jackson would want that. I wouldn’t wish him on my worst enemy.”

“I must have caught Jackson at just the right moment. He was headed out of town with no one to watch the kids.”

“So he asked you to stay?”

“Initially he offered me a lump sum to leave Jess and never come back.”

“Holy hell.”

“It had worked with Connor’s mother.” Shelley shrugged. “I can’t imagine.”

“You turned him down?”

“I didn’t want his money. I just wanted a safe place to sleep and enough to feed my daughter. So I suggested I take care of all of his kids instead.” Shelley smiled. “My desperation led to the best things that ever happened to me.”

Ric’s heart expanded. She was magnificent.

“I love all of those kids as if they were my own,” Shelley said.

“You know it’s mutual.” Ric couldn’t help but reassure her.

“I know.” Tears shimmered in her eyes. “We need to find this asshole.”

“I will.” Ric vowed. Her sadness made him want to take away her pain and make her laugh. “Besides now I have extra incentive.”

“What’s that?”

“The sooner I find this fucker, the sooner we can go back to bed.”

And just like he wanted, she laughed.

Queen of Hearts: Chapter Nine

The phone rang.

Ric held up one finger and stalked to the bedside table. “Santana.”

To keep her mind off her other troubles, Shelley admired the play of his glutes beneath his jeans. His short shirt sleeves accented the muscled strength of his forearms.

That quickly she was in that moment last night when he lifted her up against the wall and pushed inside her.

Shelley’s knees went weak and her head light.

All that leashed power and testosterone had coalesced into the hottest sexual encounter of her life. Of course that wasn’t saying much since her prior encounters had been fairly tame. But a hundred times yes, she wanted to try again.

Because what if her off the chart response wasn’t a fluke? Or a lack of response to sexual stimulus over the past few years? And instead their mutual detonation was an honest to God, organic reaction to their chemistry.

After several uh-huhs, he hung up the phone.

“Everything okay?”

The panic on his face was priceless. “Spa time.”

She giggled when he grimaced. “Think you can handle it, tough guy?”

“Not a problem,” he replied smoothly. “But you follow orders. Without question.”

Ric opened the hotel room door, held up his palm and re-conned the hallway before gesturing to Shelley that it was safe to come out. “Tell me what’s planned.”