A Hero To Trust In Me (4 page)

“So, what do we do now? I have the feeling we’ve reached the point where we need to make decisions.”

He shrugged. “I suppose that’s up to you. You’re the one with cold feet, and understandably so. I made up my mind a couple of hours ago.”

“I’m not going there,” she said, raising her hands even as laughter bubbled up in her throat. “Not going there at all. Just take me home.”

His grin was heart stopping. “As you wish, my lady.”

The first call came at one in the morning, which was bad enough considering no one had the number where she was staying. But another came at one-thirty. After that, several more followed and Laura began to get creeped out. She knew it had to be Carl, though the caller ID didn’t pick up the number. She unplugged the phone, but even her cell chirped at regular intervals, making sleep impossible. She started to simply turn off her cell, but decided against it. If she needed to call 911, she wanted to be able to at a moment’s notice, not fumble to turn the damned thing on.

The phone calls didn’t bother her that much other than fuck with her sleep. But when the knocks at her door started, Laura got truly worried. Someone was definitely outside her door. The door to the place no one other than Rick knew about. Yet, if he’d managed to find out where she was staying, how hard would it be for anyone else? After half an hour of knocking she realized whoever it was wasn’t going away.

Instead of calling 911, however, she found herself dialing Rick’s number.

“Laura?” His voice sounded husky, sleep roughened.

Now she just felt ridiculous. “Hi, Rick. I…I’m sorry to wake you.”

“No. Don’t be sorry.” He must be a quick one to wake up, because now he didn’t sound the least bit sleepy. “What’s up?”

“Now that I have you on the phone, I feel a little silly. It’s probably nothing.”

“If it happens at three in the morning, it’s not ‘nothing,’ sweetheart. Tell me.”

So she did. Ending with the person outside knocking on her door, but staying just outside the range of the peephole.

“Just keep the doors locked. In fact, don’t go near them. I’m on my way.”

“You don’t have to do that, Rick. I’m sure it’s just my nerves getting the better of me. After running into Carl and everything, I’m just a bit on edge.”

“You have a right to be. Sit tight. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

She hated to admit it, but knowing Rick was on the way over made her feel better than she wanted to think about. Assuming it was just some kids playing a prank, he’d make sure they never did it to anyone again.

And the knocking continued.

Finally, she settled at the kitchen table with a baseball bat in hand and waited. Every time there was a knock at the door, she jumped. Every single one of those fifteen minutes it took Rick to get there was going to be an eternity.

***

Rick punched in his brother Mike’s phone number as he jumped into his car., Mike was on his way almost before Rick was, as he’d known his brother would be. His eldest sibling took his role as big brother very seriously. Rick knew he’d get Steve involved as well as Chase, and the four of them could take care of whatever was going on at Laura’s home.

They met about a half-mile away from the driveway in the scattered subdivision just outside Lexington. Not too many places like that existed close to the city, but the remoteness, as well as the fact the houses weren’t all nearly on top of each other would make for easier navigation. With any luck, they’d catch whoever was terrorizing Laura easily enough, call the cops, and have the perp away from her house before Laura realized they were there.

“Steve and Chase are on the way,” Mike said, scanning the area as they approached Laura’s house, “but I suspect we’ll be fine without them. Look.” He pointed to the faint shadows just to one side of the side door, just out of range of the floodlights. Crouching there was a small figure. Probably a thin teenager.

Mike signaled Rick, and the pair of them moved in different directions, Mike circling around behind the youth, Rick taking a more direct route. The youngster spotted Mike and, as they knew he would, ducked back behind the house. Straight into Mike.

“It’s three-thirty in the goddamned morning, boy,” Mike said, gripping the pimply-faced teen’s collar. The boy had on a ball cap covering greasy hair that hung in long hanks from his head. “Just what the fuck are you doing harassing the nice lady who lives here?”

The boy looked terrified. Rick should have felt sorry for the kid, but the truth was, it was a good thing Mike was the one who had him and not Rick. Rick might have done more than scare the little punk to death.

“I wasn’t gonna hurt her! He just said to scare her a little! Honest!”

“Who said to scare her a little?”

“I don’t know! Just some guy. He gave me a hundred bucks if I’d make prank calls and knock on her doors and windows and shit. Please, mister! I swear I wasn’t gonna hurt her!”

Rick wanted to pound the information out of the kid, but one look from Mike and he backed off. He was right. Beating up a kid would only make things worse. Instead, he called the cops. Rick wasn’t really interested in pressing charges against the little punk so much as he was interested in him giving a statement about the mysterious man who’d paid him to harass Laura.

“Go calm your woman,” Mike said, nodding toward the house. “I’m sure she’s been frightened enough.”

His woman…

Fuck. That sounded good.

Still, Laura might not appreciate that others saw her that way. “She’s not my woman, Mike.”

Mike merely snorted, giving him a wry look. “Yeah. Whatever.”

Laura met him at the door, a worried expression on her face. Instead of calling 911, she had called him. Was he reading too much into this? Seeing only what he wanted to see? She didn’t look around him for anyone else, didn’t look to see if he’d gotten whoever it was who had terrorized her. She simply looked at him as if he would make everything all right.

Well, shit.

He stepped inside, moving her farther into the interior, shutting the door behind him. Rick expected her to step back, to give him space. Instead, she met him halfway, stepping into his arms as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“God, Laura,” he whispered. “You can’t come to me like this and expect me to keep my distance.”

“Well, you seem like a handy guy to have around. Maybe I don’t want you to keep your distance.”

Rick wasn’t sure who made the first move--didn’t really care--but the next instant, their lips clung together. Threading his fingers through her hair, Rick cradled her head as he kissed her. Hunger was uppermost in his mind, the need to claim her so strong Rick’s knees nearly buckled. She tasted so sweet he almost forgot why this wasn’t a good idea right now.

Timing was everything. While Rick had no qualms about doing anything and everything he had to in order to get what he wanted, he knew she’d only pull away from him if he took this farther tonight. Laura needed wooing, romancing. Needed to know he wouldn’t use her fear and adrenaline against her in something this important.

Her small fists bunched in the material of his shirt, clinging, pulling him to her so sweetly Rick nearly said to hell with it and took her to bed anyway. Soft moans and whimpers filled his ears as Laura lost herself in his kiss. Was there anything better?

No. At least, not yet. When he’d won her heart,
that
would be better.

With more control than Rick realized he possessed, he ended the kiss, holding Laura close, his arms squeezing harder than he intended. He knew he needed to loosen his grip, but he couldn’t. He needed her like he needed to breathe. Unable to have her yet, he just held her as close as he could.

“I need you,” she whispered.

“I know, sweetheart. I need you too.”

“Then why did you stop?”

Rick groaned. Why indeed? “Believe me, I’ve never wanted anything more in my life, but I’m not taking advantage of you.

“How is it taking advantage if I’m asking you to?”

“It just is. You’d regret it in the morning, and I’d be worse off than I was to begin with.” He dipped his head to find her lips again when she would have made another protest he’d have a hard time resting.

“Go to bed,” he said, his voice huskier than he liked, but honestly, Rick didn’t care if she knew how badly he wanted her. “Go while I still have some self respect. I’ll stay here and make sure nothing else disturbs you.”

She hesitated, obviously not wanting to leave him. “You promise you’ll be here in the morning?”

“I promise.”

“If you leave before I get up, Rick, I’ll never forgive you.”

He grinned, scrubbing his hands through his hair. “Wild horses couldn’t drag me away.”

Sleep was impossible. The way Laura’s body hummed with unreleased lust, she doubted she’d ever be able to sleep again. Rick had stoked that fire effortlessly, then left them both wanting. His need pressed so intimately against her belly was evidence he had been just as affected as she’d been.

Now, she lay in her bed, the covers unusually abrasive over her skin. Even the soft Egyptian cotton irritated her like never before. Hyper aware of the only man who could ease the ever-increasing ache, Laura whimpered involuntarily. She could do this herself, but could she keep quiet while she did it? Rick was just down the hall in the next room. If he heard, there was no way she’d ever be able to look at him again. Hell, she’d probably have problems as it was.

Knowing she was fighting a losing battle, Laura gave a resigned sigh before dipping her hand into her panties. The flesh she found there was slick and hot, needing Rick. Fingers deft in their movements feathered over her clit, stoking the fire quickly to fever pitch.

Breathing ragged, heart pounding, Laura closed her eyes, gasping at the exquisite sensations. Never in her life could she remember being this aroused. Maybe it was her earlier fright, or maybe it was just Rick. He was like no other man she’d ever met, all raw power and masculinity. The protective way he watched over her made her feel safe like no other time in her life. Maybe that was why he aroused her so much.

A little whimper escaped her lips and she bit them to keep from making another sound. Nimbly, her fingers manipulated her clit, stroking, strumming, seeking the ultimate satisfaction.

Again, a sound escaped her as she imagined Rick touching her. Would his touch be rough like the persona he adopted as a Marine? Or would he be gentle, coaxing her into submission until his calloused hands brought her release?

“You need relief?”

Rick stood in the doorway to her bedroom. She hadn’t even heard him opening the door, the only barrier between the two of them other than their clothes.

“You startled me,” she managed, pulling her hand away guiltily. Mortification filled her that she’d made enough noise for Rick to hear her, even through the closed door. He made no move to enter the room further, just stood there, leaning one hip lazily against the doorframe.

“Don’t stop, Laura,” he encouraged, the silvery moonlight highlighting his handsome face through the window. He was looking intently at her, as if she were the center of his world in that moment. “Let me watch this.” His voice was barely a thread of sound, but she heard the need there.

For several moments, Laura just stared at him. Should she do this? Their relationship was already altered after that kiss. No way she could pretend it hadn’t happened. She wasn’t entirely sure she was ready for something this intense, but the thought of not at least trying didn’t seem to be an option.

With a slight nod, she slid her hand back over her belly to the small triangle of silk covering her mound. This was new for her. Sex had always been in the dark with few words, something pleasant but never spoken about. What she was thinking of doing now crossed those boundaries and titillated her beyond imagining. After a brief hesitation, Laura dipped her hand under the silk to slide over smooth flesh until she reached her moist folds.

“That’s it, baby. Are you wet?” When she nodded, he praised, “Good. Circle your clit for me.” His voice, now low and rumbling through her, was seductive, lulling her into doing his bidding. Not that she would have done anything else, but knowing he wanted this too gave her an extra boldness she might not have otherwise possessed.

When she made contact with her aching clit once again, she didn’t stifle the cry. Instead, she closed her eyes, arching to meet her own hand.

“Feels good, yeah?”

“Yeah,” she breathed. “Very good.”

“Now, dip your fingers inside yourself. Two of them so you can feel a little of how full you’d be if I were inside you.”

His words sent a spike of heat curling through her and she gasped again. Doing his bidding, she slid two fingers deep inside herself, stroking, pumping lazily. Her slick walls contracted around her fingers once, squeezing, milking, wanting something more.

“Are you close, baby? Can you come while I watch you or would you rather me leave?”

That was unexpected. Laura figured he was doing this as much for his benefit as he was hers. But if he was willing to leave her before she reached her orgasm, maybe there had been another motive behind his verbal seduction.

“You don’t want to be here?”

Rick barked a short, humorless laugh that sounded as if he were in pain. “You have no fucking idea how much I want to be here for that blessed event, but only if you’re comfortable with it. I wouldn’t have been here at all if I hadn’t heard you whimpering. You sounded as if you might need help and, since fucking you senseless wasn’t an option open to me yet, I thought I’d help the only way I could.”

His crude confession didn’t sound nearly as bad as it should have. It sounded needy, wanton. Just like Laura felt. It also was exactly what she needed to push her over the edge. With a sharp cry, she arched her back as her orgasm overtook her. Her head thrashed about as she screamed. And in her mind, Rick was on top of her, burying himself deep as he rode her to his own climax.

***

Rick waited until Laura’s breathing evened out before he gave her a small salute and shut her door. Walking away was probably the hardest thing he’d ever done. He’d rather have known he was walking back into a minefield in Afghanistan than leave her in that moment. He should be climbing into bed with her, wrapping himself around her, and letting her rest before they started everything all over again.

This was damned inconvenient. Not completely unexpected, but inconvenient. No woman had ever hit him quite this hard. Laura had gotten under his skin, even from that first innocent meeting, and he knew he’d never be able to be free of her again. Not that he wanted to. At the moment, his main priority was to prove to her he wasn’t like her ex-husband. He wanted to earn her trust so they could begin a relationship of their own, and he feared it was way too soon for that yet.

Lying on the couch, Rick adjusted his cock. His jeans zipper seemed to cut into his sensitive flesh like never before but he refused to ease it. Not here. Not with her in the next room. He’d prove to her he had more self-control than that, even if it killed him. Or gave him a serious case of blue balls.

A light knock at the door had him up in a flash, throwing open the door before whoever was outside had time to run away.

“Easy, bro.” Mike raised his hands, a grin on his face. “Just seeing if you were still here and guarding the place.”

“You could have texted me. Or called,” Rick grumbled, scrubbing his hands through his hair. “Did you get the punk to the police station?”

“Oh, yeah. Kid sang like a canary. It was Carl Meadows who put him up to harassing her, all right. She could go to the station tomorrow to sign an EPO against him, but I doubt it would do much good beyond creating a paper trail for her to show continuing harassment in the event of an unfortunate accident.”

“I don’t intend for anything ‘unfortunate’ to happen to Laura.”

“I know you don’t. Which is why I figured you’d want someone watching her twenty-four seven.”

“I take it you have an idea?” Rick knew his brother too well. Mike always had an idea. Of course, it was probably one Laura wouldn’t like but sometimes what one didn’t know wouldn’t hurt.

“She’s a tax accountant, right?”

“Yeah. So?”

“So, she works for herself. What if I had her help Melanie with all our taxes this year? Personal as well as the company. It would only last a couple of months, but it might be enough time to either help her ex get distracted with something else, or to get tired of the chase and simply go away.”

“Might work,” Rick mused. “That would keep her with the family during the day. I could watch over her at night. What about an apartment? This place is only a temporary home for her. Is there one available?”

“Yep. It’s small, but if it’s just her then it should be large enough. Two bedrooms and a large den. With her in that apartment, it will make it easy for us all to take turns watching her.” Mike corrected Rick’s earlier statement. “She’s your woman, but you can’t protect her by yourself if you’re not actually living with her.” Mike raised an eyebrow. “You’re
not
living with her, are you?”

Rick scowled at him. “Don’t remind me.”

Steve, the second oldest and by far the meanest man in combat Rick knew, trotted up the walk. “Everything looks secure,” he informed. “I took the liberty of placing a few surveillance cameras. If anyone tries this shit again, we can see who and what we’re dealing with before we get here.”

“I take it the feed goes to you?” Rick inquired.

“Yeah. I’ll set your system up with it too,” Steve said. “You’ll have a full view of anything and everything around the outside of her house. I should be able to give you access even on your iPad and iPhone so you’ll be alerted even when you’re not in front of a computer. That should help short term.”

“If I never told you you’re a technical genius, Steve, I’m telling you now”

“Just doing my job. You got long-term plans?”

“Yes. I’ll discuss it with her tomorrow. Or, better yet, I’ll let Mom discuss it with her.” He grinned. Laura was an independent woman. She might balk at the offer from him, but if his mother set to work on her, there’d be no refusing. “Keep your distance if you can,” Rick said. “I don’t want her to feel crowded.”

“Stealth is my middle name,” Steve said, quirking an eyebrow.

“So,” Mike said, rubbing his hands together, “Should I tell Mom she’s to be treated as part of the family?”

“Let Mom figure it out for herself. At this point, even I don’t know.” That was a total lie, but how to explain her situation to his brothers? Besides, Rick knew he had to convince Laura first. And she wouldn’t be convinced until he proved himself.