Nobody's Hero (2 page)

Those who want to try things in this book,
please find people in the lifestyle (real life, online, at fetish
conventions, or in the enormous online BDSM community at
fetlife.com) and do your homework. Master Adam has been in the
lifestyle for thirty years. He would be very upset if anyone
attempted to do a Shibari rope bondage scene, much less a rope
suspension one, without training from a master or expert in the art
of Shibari. My expert, "Toymaker" from the FetLife community, says
these are not skills you can learn from watching videos. They
require hands-on training, as you'll see Master Adam doing with
other Doms throughout the series (including with "Baby Dom" Master
Luke in this book). Improper use of the methods can be dangerous if
done incorrectly, resulting in a sub's having nerve damage, broken
bones, and even dying.

Now, at last, I am ready to turn Master Adam
and Karla over to my many fans who came on board with them when I
first started talking about them on Facebook in May. (Okay,
sometimes I let Master Adam speak for himself there, too, which I
think endeared him to you even more.) I know expectations are high
for this book and initial responses are that I’ve exceeded those
expectations and that this will be the best book I ever write. I
certainly hope it's that good—but I do plan to get better and
better with time, too! So I know how long some of you have been
anticipating this couple’s story. (But no one has anticipated as
long as Karla, who’s waited nine years for her Dom come true.) He
will put her (and you) through the ringer—but we all know Karla
will have him on his knees again, don’t we?

Thank you for purchasing this book! I hope to
have you along for the ride a very long time!

RESCUE ME series (not stand-alone books)

Available in e-book form at major outlets

Masters at Arms
(Book
#1, August 2011)

Nobody’s Angel
(Book #2,
September 2011)

Nobody’s Hero
(Book #3,
December 2011)

Revised, Tentative Schedule for

Upcoming Books in the RESCUE ME Series:

Nobody’s Perfect
(Book
#4)

April/May 2012

Damián & Savannah (Savi)’s story

Nobody’s Dream
(Book
#5)

July/August 2012

Luke’s story

Nobody’s Home
(Book
#6)

October/November 2012

Grant’s story

In Fall 2012, at least the first four books
in the series will be available as trade paperbacks.

Special Permission

The “Karla Paxton” lyrics quoted and
referenced in the Epilogue of this book (reprinted below, as well)
are a stanza from an original poem by Kellie Kamryn (
www.kelliekamryn.blogspot.com
), a friend and
fellow author of Kallypso Masters on Facebook. The author is
grateful to Kellie and her publisher for allowing her to highlight
Karla’s “songwriting talents” in this way!

I see you wet your lips

you know I can’t resist

just want a little taste

so, there’s no time to waste

You know I like it rough

I just can’t get enough

Not feelin’ no shame

when I’m screaming out your name!

Touch Me

(c) 2012 by Kellie Kamryn

From:
Secrets and Desires of the
Heart
, by Kellie Kamryn

Reprinted with the permission of Romance
Divine LLC

Available in 2012

“What the fuck are you doing in my bed?”

Karla smiled. He’d always been so careful not
to drop the f-bomb around her before—although she’d certainly heard
him say it enough times to everyone else, when he didn’t think she
could hear. Were his walls coming down enough for him to see her as
a adult for the first time since they’d met?

“I needed to be close to you. Do you remember
what happened?”

As if just coming to his senses, he glanced
up at the IV pole and took in his surroundings. “Where am I?”

“At the medical center in Denver. You were
attacked by a cougar.”

Realization dawned and he cupped her cheek,
searching her face. “Are you okay? It didn’t hurt you? You’ve got
circles under your eyes. God, you’ve lost so much weight.”

Adam, Adam, Adam. Always thinking about
everyone else.

She didn’t want to think how awful she must
look. If she’d known he would wake up today, she’d have at least
put on a little makeup and brushed her hair. She needed to reassure
him before he got worried. “I’m fine, Adam. You got the cougar to
chase after you and…” Her throat constricted as the image of Adam
lying on the ground with the large cat ripping at his neck and
back. She closed her eyes and lay her forehead on his chest, but
the image was seared into her memory. “I was so scared, Adam,” she
whispered.

He stroked the back of her head and she
wished they could stay like this forever. Intimate. Sharing. Close.
But she knew the walls wouldn’t stay down forever. She pressed her
face against him, comforted by his heart beating against her cheek
and the rising and falling of his chest.

His hand brushed a tendril of hair away from
her face. “Thank God you weren’t hurt, Karla.”

“You saved my life. Again.” She stroked his
neck, her head nestled in the crook of his shoulder, feeling as if
she’d come home at last. Her hand traced a path down one of his
pecs, which she’d ached to touch for so many years. She let her
fingertip circle the hard nip.

Adam’s hand caught and stilled hers, his body
tensing.

He pushed her away.

“You need to get out of this bed, Karla.
Now.”

* * *

What the fuck was he doing touching Karla
like that? When he’d felt her body stretched out against his,
before the cobwebs had cleared, he’d thought perhaps he’d done
something unforgivable—like taken advantage of an innocent girl.
But wouldn’t he remember doing something like that?

His head pounded. Okay, one head pounded—the
other throbbed, just as it had been doing whenever he was around
Karla since the July day in his office when she’d come back into
his life after almost nine years. Only now she was all grown up. If
she didn’t get out of this bed soon, he was going to do something
they’d both regret. He knew his resistance was low, but damn it,
she felt so damned good lying against him.

“Adam.”

“Yes?”

“I have to tell you something.”

Oh, fuck
. The last time she’d said
that, she was sixteen and had declared her love to his forty-one
year old self. Not ready for another such declaration, Adam tried
to move her off his chest, but she wouldn’t budge and he didn’t
have the strength to lift her. He hated being physically
compromised. “Look, Karla…”

She giggled. He felt his dick get stiff. What
was it about a woman’s giggle that turned him on?

“Don’t worry. It’s nothing like what I said
on my parents’ front porch.”

He relaxed and she grinned.

“What is it, hon?”
Don’t call her
“hon.”
She may get the wrong idea—again. Why didn’t she do as
he’d told her and get out of this tiny fucking bed?
Don’t
mention fucking and bed while you’re holding Karla in your
arms.

Her hand stroked his chest, almost absently,
although she certainly had his undivided attention. Her touch was
tentative, gentle. He hadn’t let a woman get this close since Joni.
Even with Grant, his friend-with-benefits partner at the Masters at
Arms Club he co-owned, sex had been rough, hard, sometimes even
brutal. A physical release for them both, nothing more. Neither had
ever wanted anything more.

But Karla was more fragile both physically
and emotionally. She’d just lost her brother, who had meant the
world to her. That grief was what had brought her to his club in
the first place. Adam had cared about her since he’d rescued her
nine years earlier in the Chicago bus station, not that he’d shown
her much support these past few months. Hell, no. He’d been too
busy running in the opposite direction. Adam didn’t know what it
was that scared him the most—their age difference of twenty-five
years, the thought of his corrupting her any more than he’d already
done by bringing her onto the payroll at his kink club last July,
or that she might get under his skin and expect more from him than
he could give.

Hell, he’d lay odds she was still a virgin,
or damned close to being one. She didn’t have any interest in BDSM
and had no place in a club where she had to witness so many things
that obviously freaked her out. He’d seen her cringe as she watched
Damián wield the whip or heard one of Grant’s subs screaming at the
center post as the female Marine delivered a public and painful
punishment.

“When I saw you lying there on the ground…”
Karla cleared her throat. “The cougar was so big. You were
bleeding. So much blood. I thought you’d been killed.”

He pulled her close to him.
Just this
once
. He needed to reassure her that he was going to be fine.
“I’m pretty ornery. No cat is going to get the best of me.”

“Well, I’ll give you ornery.”

He chuckled. “Ah, glad my secret’s out.
Keeping up appearances can be exhausting.” She felt so good lying
in his arms, even though he was too weak to keep his arms around
her much longer. His biceps were feeling the strain. Damn, he was
getting old.

“Worst-kept secret around. You’ve been
very
ornery lately.” She paused, stroking his chest. He
wished she’d get the fuck out of this bed. His dick was throbbing
to the point of pain. Having her in his arms was totally wrong.

“I’m sorry about whatever I did to upset
you…” Her voice broke, along with his resolve.

Oh, shit
. He'd made her cry. “Hon, you
didn’t do anything.”
Except look so fucking sexy you drive me
insane
. “I just have some shit going on in my head. I never
meant to make you feel bad.”
So why are you about to make her
feel worse?
“But I think it might be good for you to think
about moving back to Chicago. You don’t belong in a kink club.”

She pushed herself up and looked him in the
face, her blue eyes steely as she glared at him.

“Adam, you will not send me away—not until
you’re better, at least. I know you’re too stubborn to see it, but
you need me. I’m going to take care of you, just like you took care
of me when I first got here. This is all my fault. If you hadn’t
distracted that cougar…”

He pressed a finger over her lips, then
pulled back, her sexy pink lips not being something he needed to be
touching at the moment. The dark circles under her eyes and her
thin, pale face worried him. But if she’d been attacked… “If I
hadn’t distracted that cougar, you’d be the one hooked to the IV.
Or worse.” He stroked her cheek, unable to help himself. The
thought of that cougar marring any part of her beautiful body tore
at his gut worse than the cat’s claws had torn up his back. “I did
what anyone would do. Besides, my hide’s tougher than yours. Damned
cat didn’t stand a chance.” He grinned. When she reciprocated, he
stared at her lips for the longest time, wondering what it would be
like to kiss them.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

“Get out of this bed, Karla. Now.”

* * *

Eleven days later, Karla waited in the
hallway outside Adam’s bedroom, pacing. When she heard the door,
she turned and watched Marc D’Alessio come out, carrying his
first-aid bag. Adam had been home nine days and seemed to be
healing, but he was still recovering, first from the infection and
then the deep injuries to his muscles. She hated watching him
suffer in pain every day. He’d always been such a vital force.

Adam would take the antibiotics from her, but
sometimes refused his pain pills and absolutely refused to let her
see his back. Marc stopped by twice a day since Adam had come home
to change the dressings and apply analgesics to try to keep Adam
comfortable. Karla was secretly glad Marc didn’t mind re-dressing
his wounds, because—having served as a corpsman with one of the
Adam’s Marine units in Iraq—he certainly had more expertise in the
area than she did.

“Whatever you’re doing, Karla, keep it up. I
can see a huge improvement from one day to the next. Now he’s
getting cantankerous, too. Should be back to his old self again in
no time.”

She felt some of the tension leave her body.
“Thank you.” The words were barely spoken above a whisper.
Exhausted, she wondered how she managed to remain upright anymore.
Word that Adam was doing better overloaded her with emotion and her
upper lip began to quiver. Marc held his arms out and she walked
into his embrace. Really needing a hug right now, she let him bear
her weight for a moment. If only it were Adam holding her.

“Where the stitches were removed, there’s no
sign of re-injury. Just keep him from overdoing it. He’s chomping
at the bit to get out of that bed. I gave him one of the pain
pills, though, after I treated the wounds and bandaged him up
again. He’ll sleep for awhile, so why don’t you come down and have
lunch? Angelina’s cooking up something good, I’m sure.”

“No, I…”

He placed his hands on her upper arms and
pushed her away from him, waiting until she looked up into his
eyes. “Apparently, you misunderstood me, Karla. You
are
coming downstairs to have lunch with us. Now.” Without waiting for
her to respond, he took her elbow in his firm grip and steered her
toward the stairs. “You know you aren’t going to do him any good if
you don’t take care of yourself. You need to remember to eat and
sleep, too.”