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Authors: April Zyon

BOOK: Protected
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“Good girl.” He gave a feral
grin. “Slide your fingers down, rub at your folds, but don’t touch my cock.” He
thrust in again and pulled out slowly, in hard, out slow, over and over again.
His gaze flicked away, then back up to meet her eyes again.

The heel of her hand pushed
against her clit while her fingers slid over the folds of her pussy. She could
feel him as he filled her full and beyond and needed more. She didn’t stop
watching him, her eyes on his, her need growing with each glance that he gave
her. Each heated look.

He let her other hand go, his
large palm pressing to the bedding as he sped up. He thrust in and out fast as
he growled. Sweat dripped down his temples, along his throat, and over his
chest. “Come for me. Come now!”

Vivian rubbed a slick finger
over her clit. She saw stars with the explosion that happened inside of her.
She came in a rush, a seemingly never-ending tidal wave of pleasure that rolled
through her and had her screaming a second time, then a third, with the
intensity and perfection of the moment.

He was right there with her.
Jason let out a bellow, her name she was almost sure, as his seed spilled into
her with hot splashes. Seconds later, he collapsed over top of her, his weight
holding her down on the bed, his arms sliding around her body to hold her
close.

Vivian wrapped her arms around
him as they each fought for air. She was gasping, but the thought of letting
him go to allow her body more room to breathe was not even an option. She had
to hold on to him because he was all that was keeping her from floating away in
pure bliss. She lay with him holding her tightly for a long time.

Finally, she whispered, “I’m
never letting you go.” She loved him. It was far too soon. Realistically, she
knew that, but this was her heart, and realism was an illusion.

With a flex of muscle and a
couple muttered curses, he rolled them to their sides. He didn’t let her go. In
fact, he held her tighter as he brushed kisses to her cheek. “We’re bound for
all time, Vivian. Nothing can take away what we have.”

She moved so that she was as
close to him as she could get, smiling when his arms tightened on her even
more. “I love you, Jason,” she confessed. “But for now, let’s nap for just an
hour or so, and then we’ll go and save your friend from my sister.”

“Agreed.” He laughed and kissed
her cheek again. “I love you, too,” he whispered against her skin. For a
moment, his arms loosened, but only to drag a blanket up over them both before
wrapping her in a tight hug. “Sleep,” he said softly.

She yawned and nodded. “Okay,”
was all that Vivian could force out before she dropped off into slumber. He had
exhausted her in the best of ways. She was happy, warm, and very well loved.

 

 

Chapter Five

 

When Vivian came out of the
bathroom, Jason was standing at the windows of the hotel room, frowning. He
must have heard her, or caught her reflection, because he turned almost
immediately. “I think James is screwed,” he told her. “There’s a storm coming
in, and the ferries are shut down until at least the morning. You may want to
call your sister and warn her we’re not coming out tonight.”

Vivian moved to his side and
slid her hand into his as if they had been doing it for years. “He’s going to
be seriously pissed, you realize that, right? I don’t think he likes Sophia
very much at all.”

“I think he’d like her just fine
if she fell into his usual category of women. She doesn’t, so she’s got him
baffled, off balance, and scrambling.” He let out a chuckle as he wrapped his
arm around her shoulders. “I think it’s fucking about damn time a woman threw
him off his game. It’s even more amusing that it’s your sister.” He kissed her
when she tipped her face up to him. “My phone’s on the desk by the bedroom
door.”

“I’ll call in a moment.” Right
now, she was in Jason’s arms, and in her mind, that was the best place to be.
“I love it when you hold me,” she admitted with a grin. “I could get used to
being wrapped up against your body like this.” She rubbed her cheek to his
chest and looked up. “How about you send James a text instead and we go
downstairs to the dining room for dinner before packing your things, and then
you come home with me?”

“I like how you think,” he said
with a huge grin. Pressing another kiss to her lips, he growled. “I love your
mouth,” he murmured. With a groan, he let her go and went to get his phone.
Walking back, he stopped mid-stride and started to snicker. Soon, it turned
into an all-out laugh, and he held his gut as his body shook from the force.

“Oh God, what?” Vivian reached
for the cell and cocked her head to the side. “Are those text messages and
missed calls?”

He was nodding as he sucked in a
couple of deep breaths. “Oh gods,” he said, wiping a hand over his face. “Yeah.
All from James. The first one is innocent enough, but it gets worse from there.
Looks like after the fourth text, he tried to call and then went back to
texting, then a couple more calls, then a hell of a lot more texting.” He shook
his head and handed her the phone.

 

12:30
PM QuickDraw—When r u 2 getting back? S is making something. Banned from
kitchen.

 

12:42
PM QuickDraw—Uh, r u there?

 

12:43
PM QuickDraw—Okay, right, spell shit out James. I can hear you. What’s going
on?

 

12:53
PM QuickDraw—Not kidding, she’s up to something. Seriously, where you at?

 

There was a call in at that
point from the same number.

 

1:26
PM QuickDraw—Are you two doing the nasty? You leave me here with the flower
child and you’re off getting nookie! That is so many ways of wrong. Answer your
damn phone. Not even kidding.

 

Two more calls.

 

1:55
PM QuickDraw—Not amused. This is fucking crazy. She keeps staring at me, and
smiling, and I can smell something really good in the kitchen, but she
threatened me if I go in there. I’m hungry, damn it! She makes me go shopping,
on a bike with a fucking basket of all things, and now she won’t let me eat
anything I paid for? This is wrong. So wrong.

 

2:45
PM QuickDraw—Now I’m fucking pissed. WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?

 

Another phone call that had
apparently lasted four minutes and fifteen seconds. That message she had to
hear.

 

3:33
PM QuickDraw—I. Hate. You. CALL ME!

 

3:48
PM QuickDraw—Dude, she’s looking at me again. WTF!

 

4:12
PM QuickDraw—Are you fucking kidding me? A storm, on top of it all. Is this why
you’re not answering your phone? You knew and didn’t want to break it to me
didn’t you? I swear to the gods above we are no longer friends. You are a dead
man, Jason.

 

4:14
PM QuickDraw—I mean, again. Ah, shit, it’s raining now…

 

5:22
PM QuickDraw—SAVE ME!

 

After that, nothing else.

Vivian was laughing so hard she
had to hold her sides.
Holy crap, I’m
dying here.
“Oh God.” She was bent at the middle and gasping for air.
Holy Christ, this is so funny.
“Priceless.” She snickered. “And yes, Fia might be a vegetarian, but she can
cook like crazy. That woman has some mad skills and for her to ban him from the
kitchen, he had to have said something to rile her up.”

Jason was grinning at her as he
took the phone and let out a chuckle. “Oh, I’m sure he said something. I’d be
interested to have her side of this story to go along with these. I can hear
him saying all of this, too.” Snickering, he pressed a button and suddenly
James’s voice filled the room.

“Hi, you two, it’s James, but
you probably figured that out from the caller ID, which you’re obviously
ignoring. Just checking in to see if you have a time of arrival. Vivian, your
sister is seriously weird. Call me.”

Jason pushed another button.
Again, James’s voice filled the room.

“Why are you ignoring your
phone, Jason? This isn’t like you, at all. I know you’ve got her all alone now,
but really, your pal is serious trouble here. Sophia is a few bricks short of a
full load. I need help, damn it.” Which was then followed by, “Sorry, Vivian. I
didn’t mean to
insinuate anything
there. But even you have to admit she’s a little flaky around the
edges. Call me back. Now, please.”

Jason was laughing again, a hand
over his mouth to muffle the sound a bit as he pulled up the next message.

“By all that is holy. I swear to
the gods, I’m going to tie her up and stuff her in a fucking closet! She’s off
her fucking rocker, damn it. She banned me from the kitchen. Can you believe
this shit? All I said I wanted was some water, and she told me to sit my ass
down and stay out of her space. So, I asked if she’d get me a water, and then
she just gave me this look and said that water isn’t what I really need.

“Dude, I’m freaking the hell out
up here. She keeps following me around and trying to touch me, humming, and
giving me these weird, cross-eyed looks. Son of a bitch, here she comes again!”
There was a bit of a scuffling sound, and they could hear Sophia saying
something, but the words weren’t clear. James’s response was. “What the hell,
woman? What did you just dump on me? Oh gods, ah, ah…” A loud sneeze came
through the speaker, then another, and another. The call ended there.

Jason looked worried now as he
shot her a look. “She wouldn’t actually do anything to hurt him, would she?” he
asked in concern.

“Good heavens, no. Sophia
couldn’t hurt anyone, trust me. Not with all the beatings she took as a child.
She’s the way that she is because she survived hell. Our father, may he rot in
hell, actually broke her back one time. No, she wouldn’t hurt him, but I
guarantee he asked for something other than water. She only bans people when
they’ve hurt her feelings somehow. I also don’t see her ever following someone
around wanting to touch them. Fia isn’t a touchy feely person, at all.”

“Okay, as long as you’re sure,”
Jason said. “Let me call him and see what’s going on. Maybe you can talk to
your sister and find out her side of things. I’d really like to know just
what’s going on out there, especially if we’re stuck here for the night.” He
put the cell to his ear. Then a heavy frown fell over his face. “James, it’s
Jason. I just got your messages. Sorry, my phone was in the other room. Call me
back when you get this. We know about the storm and will be out as early as we
can manage.”

Vivian frowned, too. “Okay,
well, that’s weird. I wonder why he didn’t answer you.” She moved so that she
was standing at Jason’s side, her hand in his. She watched him as he watched
her. “Let’s go down and eat. Bring the phone with in case he calls. Sometimes
the service goes down on the island.”

Jason sighed as he pocketed the
cell. “I sent him a text, too, just in case it manages to get through in the
storm. Let me grab my wallet. And you should put on shoes. I think they take the
whole no shirt, no shoes thing very seriously.”

She looked down at her bare feet
and laughed, then shook her head and looked around. “Right, I need to find
them.” Earlier, she had gone through the same search for clothes and found them
in the oddest of places. She giggled when Jason found one in a potted plant and
the other behind the counter. “I guess I was in a hurry to get naked, huh?”

“I seem to recall a bit of
frantic need taking hold of us both. I can’t remember you getting rid of your
shoes, though,” he said with a chuckle. He twitched then, his eyes going wide
as he dug in his pocket. “No wonder I didn’t hear the phone. Damn thing’s on
vibrate.” He answered, “Hello? Sophia, hi…” He stopped and looked to Vivian.
Rolling his eyes, he held the cell out to her with a shrug.

Vivian took it, grinning. “Hey,
Fia. You okay?”

“V, you have to save me,” her
sister whispered, which had Vivian panicking. “He’s—dear God, he’s just asked
the grocery checkout clerk to come out and visit him. How dare he?”

“What are you talking about? Are
you safe?”

“I am, but I might not be held
accountable for my actions if little miss blonde and plastic comes over, Viv. I
mean it.”

“He invited Shirley Johnson
over? Isn’t she, like, just turned eighteen?” Viv looked at Jason with wide
eyes. “She’s barely legal. I mean, like, what … a week?”

“Three flipping days.” Vivian
heard Sophia grinding her teeth together, then the tears in her voice. “I can’t
do this, V. I would rather be out in the woods with the storm raging around me
than stay here and let this happen. Your friend can have the house. I’ve
finished the painting anyway. I love you. You know where to find me.
After
you’ve removed him from the
island.”

“Fia, don’t do this,” Vivian
begged. “He just really likes women.”

“Not with me around,” Sophia
said cryptically. “The big baby wants his phone, because, evidently, he’s
missing a booty call. His words, not mine.” She sniffed, which made Vivian
frown harder.

If
I could, I’d go there right now and beat the shit out of James myself for
making my baby sister cry.
“Fia, don’t do this. We’ll be there first thing in the morning, I promise.”

“Bye, V,” was all Sophia said
before she gave a sob and the line disconnected.

“What in the name of hell is
going on? Sophia doesn’t cry. She doesn’t get offended. What the hell?” Vivian
asked Jason, still holding the phone.

“Damn it, I don’t know,” he
answered. He took the cell from her when it vibrated. He scowled at it before
pulling her into a hug, his hand rubbing up and down her back. “James says he’s
got it all under control. He’ll update us soon. Fuck!” Jason tossed the phone
onto the couch. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I didn’t think he’d do anything to make
her cry or hurt her feelings, I swear I didn’t.”

“I don’t get it. She doesn’t
offend easily at all.” She sighed and shook her head. “We’ll figure it out
tomorrow, I guess. He really won’t hurt her, right? I mean, he won’t tie her up
or spank her or anything else like that?”
Or
really fuck a woman while my sister is there?
But that question, she left
unasked.

“He’s probably messing with her.
More than likely, she said something that he took the wrong way and it became a
one-upmanship sort of thing. He’ll get her calmed down, and he’ll keep her
safe. Even if she takes off into the woods, he’ll follow. He’s not going to let
anything happen to her. As to your questions,
no
to all of them. James doesn’t hurt women, never has, never will.
He loves them too much. Damn this storm,” he muttered, hugging her closer.

“Maybe he loves them just a bit
too much? Maybe he’s so used to women falling naked into his bed that he
doesn’t get why Fia isn’t doing the same?”

“Maybe,” he said.

He let out a ragged-sounding
sigh. “We can’t do anything until the morning. I have to trust in James to keep
her safe, and so do you, or we’ll both go crazy with worry. Let’s go under the
assumption that he’s talking her down, calming her, and everything will be
okay.”

Vivian nodded and drew in a deep
breath. Jason released her and went to the bedroom. He returned a moment later
with his wallet, grabbing his phone before reaching for her hand. “Let’s go and
eat. He’ll call as soon as he can.”

“Okay.” Vivian looked up at
Jason.

He stopped and tugged her in
close, wrapping his arm around her waist to hold her against his body. “I know
I can’t control anyone else’s actions. But I really wish there was an
off
switch on James’s mouth from time to
time.” Jason stared into her eyes and smiled. “I love you, Vivian. We’ll get
through tonight, then go out there and watch over your sister ourselves. We’ll
get James as far from her as we can, set him to track the evil ones after her
group while we keep watch at the house.”

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