Love's Taming (The Love's Series) (30 page)

The man noticed her defensive posture and stepped into the light so that she could easily see his face, while keeping his hands in plain view at the same time. “Doctor, my name is Jobe, from Alverez Security, and have been assigned to make sure you get home from the clinic each night. I saw you walking away from your car and meet with the other doctor, so I wanted to make sure you were all right.”

Annie stood still, wide-eyed, the adrenaline rush was still pounding through her.

“Doctor, may I show you my identification?”

She nodded and replied, “Yes, please.”

She noticed that he smiled just a little. “Why are you smiling?”

He handed her his Alverez Security photo identification giving her a chance to scan it and his face. “I’m smilin’ because you’re so polite even before knowing if I am who I say I am.”

“Why haven’t I seen you before?”

“Ma’am…I’m sorry…Dr. Donavan. It’s my job to go unnoticed. I’m here so that you don’t have to worry about your safety, but to also stay in the background. Now, may I escort you to your car?”

Smiling at Jobe, she agreed, “Yes, thank you. It was getting dark and I was concerned.”

“Doctor, may I suggest that you not attempt to walk the city streets unescorted again?”

She wanted to protest, but knew that if Shane was aware that she had been out in the dark, alone on the streets, he would not be happy. Nodding, she reached her car and unlocked it. Turning, she stuck out her hand. “Thank you, Jobe. I appreciate you assisting me. I’m sure that watching me and the clinic must be a very boring job for a man like you.”

“Dr. Donavan, I assure you that no job is too small, and watching your clinic is certainly not boring. But even if it was, I would still do it to the best of my ability. Your safety is paramount. Shane’s a good friend and that makes you important.”

Smiling her goodbye, she got in the car and drove home. Pulling into the driveway, she noticed the lights in the house were on. So was the front porch light. So were the security lights. And Shane’s truck was in the driveway. And his silhouette was in the window.

By the time she was getting out of the car, he was already off the porch and stalking toward her. Before she could get out her greeting he was upon her.

“You want to tell me what the fuck you were doing walkin’ alone on a city street in the dark with hardly any street lights working?”

Annie’s mouth dropped open in surprise.
Jobe. Damn, he called Shane.
The first flush of emotion was surprise. Then embarrassment. Then anger. Green eyes widening, she looked up at his angry face. The face that smiled at her over the breakfast table and stared at her intently when she was screaming his name in passion. And right now that angry face was pissing her off.

“Oh no you don’t. You do not get in my face when I am just getting out of the car after a long day at work and start yelling at me.”

“Baby, this is not yelling. This is me wanting to know what the hell got in my woman’s head that made her go out looking for an apartment building on a dimly lit street in the dark?”

Annie darted around him and stomped up the stairs, yelling over her shoulder, “Why don’t you just ask my shadow, Jobe? He can tell you what I was doing. Oh yeah, that’s right. He already did!”

Shane was coming up the stairs behind her when the door almost slammed in his face. Barely catching it with his hand he shoved it open, making sure she wasn’t standing in the way.

“Babe, we are not through discussin’ this,” he said following her into the kitchen.

“Shane. Hello? This isn’t a discussion. This is you yelling at me like some kind of wild man and I don’t like it. I also don’t like the feeling that you have someone tattling on me! If you want to have a discussion, then let’s discuss. You know… ‘Hi honey, how was your day? Anything interesting happen?’ Not getting in my face in the driveway!”

Shane stood in the doorway of the kitchen watching Annie stalk around, grabbing pots and pans and slamming cabinet doors. Her eyes snapping, cheeks flushed. Her copper hair had escaped the pony-tail and was waving about her face as she marched from one side of the kitchen to the other.

He dropped his head and stared at his feet for a moment, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.
Wild man. If she only knew how wild I used to be. I gave orders and men jumped. Sometimes I only had to give a look and people would follow. I did things…not going there. That wild life is over. Done.

He looked back up, his chest tight with emotions. “Sunshine,” he said gently.

At that endearment Annie stopped her mini-tantrum at the sink and slowly turned toward him. Her green eyes met his pale blue ones and her anger faded. In front of her was not the beast from a few minutes ago, but her man. Calm. Tame.

“I’m tryin’ here, Annie. Yeah, Jobe called and told me what had happened and I lost it, babe. All I could see was innocent you wandering down a dark city street, few street lights, gettin’ ready to go into an apartment building that you didn’t know anything about.” As he spoke, he slowly walked over to her until her could wrap his arms around, pulling her in to his chest.

“Honey, it was not dark when I started out. Carl’s apartment that he shares with his mom right now is only about four blocks from the clinic. I was just going to run there and leave his forgotten wallet. He met me coming down the street, heading back to the clinic because he realized he left it. We chatted a few minutes and then I was going to walk back to the clinic.”

He stood and held her tightly, one hand wrapped around her middle and the other holding the back of her head protectively.
Of course, she had been doin’ something nice for someone. Pure, fuckin’ sunshine.

“I confess,” she added, “that it got dark very quickly and I didn’t realize how many street lights were not working. I was scared when Jobe approached…”

“He scared you? He didn’t identify himself?” Shane’s voice raised again.

Leaning her head back, she raised her eyebrows as she looked into his face. “Shane, don’t be silly. Of course he identified himself.”

Sighing, he pulled her back. “You’re right. Jobe knows how to handle his job. And babe, his job right now is you when I can’t be there.”

Snuggling in tighter, she said, “Isn’t this better? Discussing this?”

“Baby, you gotta cut me some slack. I’m workin’ on it…tryin’ to pull back. Tryin’ to learn how to take care of what is mine in a way that is tamer than I am used to. But Sunshine, don’t ever forget, you are my woman. And. I. Take. Care. Of. What. Is. Mine.”

He leaned down and captured her mouth in his, the kiss immediately hard and wet. He breathed her in as though his life depended on it.

Dinner forgotten, they barely made it to the bedroom before they began stripping their clothes off. Falling onto the bed Annie opened herself up to him as he knelt between her legs, kissing the inside of her thighs until she was squirming in want.

Pressing her down with one hand on her stomach, he smiled up at her as he dove in to the hidden treasure, lapping her slick folds. Sliding his hand up toward her breast, he rolled her nipple between his thumb and finger while thrusting his tongue inside. Feeling her lose control he sucked on her clit, eliciting a scream from her as her orgasm pulsated throughout. Lapping the juices, he then slowly kissed his way up her stomach, over her breasts giving each one attention, until he finally made it to her lips.

She could taste herself on him as she pulled his tongue in deep. She felt his cock at her entrance and she pushed up, impaling him deep inside her pussy. “Harder,” she panted.

He leaned up, looking at her smiling face. “Yes, ma’am,” he said as he began pounding in and out, feeling the friction increase against her tight inner walls.
Jesus, best I’ve ever had.
And he knew it wasn’t just her beauty and innocence, but what he felt for her.

He grabbed her hands and pulled them over her head. “Hold the headboard, baby. Don’t let go.” She quickly obliged, smiling. He leaned down and pulled her nipple deeply into his mouth, swirling the hard bud around with his tongue.

She reached one hand down to caress his back, but was quickly ordered to hold on to the headboard again. She complied knowing it was going to be amazing for her, and her lips curving into a delicious smile.

Shane continued to pull out almost all the way before plunging deeply back in, over and over, until he had her screaming his name again.

Annie felt the orgasm slam through her, taking her over the edge and leaving her floating back down as he continued to thrust. She looked at his face with lazy eyes as he leaned his head back, neck tensing, as he poured himself into her waiting body.

He continued to thrust gently until he was spent, then fell to her side pulling her with him. Still connected, they lay as their hearts pounded before slowing to beat in unison.

Having let go of the headboard, she smoothed her hands over his back, feeling the muscles ripple underneath her fingertips.

He held her close, rubbing her back from her neck to her ass and back again.

Annie smiled against his strong chest, his heartbeat strong and solid against her cheek. It wasn’t easy taming her wild man, but it was worth it.

M
att looked over
at Shane, who was clearly agitated. Leaning back in his chair, he tossed the files down on his desk. “You wanna tell me what’s got you so uptight?”

Shane turned his icy glare on his partner, saying nothing for a moment.

Matt just grinned. “Got all the time in the world, man.”

“Fuck,” Shane growled, shaking his head.

Matt leaned forward putting his hands on the files piled up. “You and Annie okay?”

Shane let out the breath he had been holding. “Yeah,” was the only answer forth-coming. Matt stayed silent so Shane continued. “We had a pretty big fight last night.” Sighing again, he looked down at his hands as he cracked his knuckles. “It’s hard, you know?”

“What’s hard? You got an amazing woman who loves you. You’re not about to fuck that up are you?”

“No,” came the vehement answer.

“So what was the fight about?”

“She’s been doin’ some investigating on this case. Talked to some vets in the counties surrounding Richland and came up with some possibilities. Now she want to go out and actually visit to try to shut down the puppy mills, especially since we are thinking that is where the gangs are getting their dogs.”

Matt jerked back. “You gotta be kiddin’ me? She’s thinking about playing detective and putting herself right back in the line of fire?”

“Yeah, I know, right? I shut that shit down quick, but not without a fight.”

“Well, she knows you love her so you just tell her how it’s gonna be.”

“She’s got other ideas.” Shane looked up, rubbing the back of his neck. “Sometimes relationships were easier before. At work, we have a chain of command and we know where we stand. Even when I was under and I got in the gang, we had a chain. You knew who you could command.” He paused for a moment, looking directly at Matt. “I can’t change who I am. It’s too ingrained to want to take care of her. But damn, she was mad.”

“So how’d the argument end?”

“We discussed it,” Shane said with a smirk.

Matt raised his eyebrow, “Discussed? You discussed it?”

“Yeah,” Shane said, dragging out the word. “I calmed down, she told me what she thought, I told her what I thought, and then we started makin’ out.”

Matt leaned back in his chair, roaring with laughter. “You may call it discussing, but that lil’ bit is taming you, brother, and you don’t even know it!”

“Fuck you, man,” Shane said as he grinned back. “You just wait until you find the right one.”

Matt’s laughter quieted, a look of pain flashed through his eyes before he turned his look back to Shane. “Well, maybe. But I haven’t met her yet. So until I do, I’ll just enjoy watching your beautiful woman bring you to heel.”

Just then the chief walked over, a droll look on his face. “If you two are finished trying to figure out how to get a woman or keep a woman, perhaps you can bring me up to date on what you’ve dug up that I can give to the prosecutors.”

Smirking, the men followed the chief into the conference room where they were met by others in the task force. Nodding their greetings, they began discussing the new evidence.

“When the local man, Cal Penski, was killed about two and a half years ago, we were able to shut down his end of the organization pushing the drugs through his strip clubs, which were nothin’ more than fronts for prostitution. And often drugged prostitutes working against their will. Another group just moved right in, but weren’t using the strip joints. This group was movin’ drugs from one place to another inside of dogs. We were able to get most of the gang, except for some of the top people. It appears that Gerard Washington left the area to parts unknown, but Xavier Thomas stayed to try to recoup his losses. You all know I was never able to find out where the dogs were comin’ from or where they were transporting them to. But we think that Rochelle and the DEA were getting close, and that’s probably why she was killed. Someone figured out she was getting intelligence.”

“So what have you found out about the dogs?”

“Suspicion is pointing to some possible groups breeding dogs that keep a steady supply to the gang. They are always big dogs, never very old, and not registered with anyone. We’ve looked at pounds and city shelters, but their adoption records don’t indicate any connection at all. But puppy-mills are around, hard to find, and quite possibly the source of the dogs.”

“All right. Keep working that angle,” the chief said to Shane and Matt as the rest of the group began reporting their findings.

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