by Sorcha Black
After a long silence, I couldn’t stand it anymore. “I didn’t like that he didn’t say a word to you.”
He grunted. “That’s how this is supposed to work. Even you’re not supposed to talk to me as much as you do. I’m supposed to be invisible.”
“I don’t know how it’s possible for anyone to ignore you. Even silent you take up all the space in a room.”
He turned back to me, frowning. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing,” I said as my gaze dipped to the scar on his bottom lip. I licked the same spot on my own half unconsciously.
“Careful, Miss Kincaid.” The rough warning made my adrenaline sing.
“What should I be careful of?”
“Doing something you’ll regret. You’ve been drinking.”
To hell with it. Playing it safe had never gotten me anywhere in life. “Don’t drunk girls kiss people? It’s like…a rite of passage or something. It doesn’t have to mean anything.”
“I’m not drunk, and I haven’t been a curious child in years, unlike some people I know.”
“If I’m such a child, why were you jealous of Courtland touching me?”
“Public displays of affection often make other people uncomfortable.”
He wasn’t going to deny being jealous? Then again, denying it would probably make it sound like he definitely was.
“When he kisses me, are you going to watch?”
“Aberdeen,” he warned, his voice so low it made the pit of my stomach vibrate.
Poking this bear and making him growl was far too exciting to resist after hours of feeling him watching, waiting.
“And what if I have sex with him? That would be awkward. Do we have to discuss a signal ahead of time so you know when to leave, or will you watch that too? Maybe hold up score cards?”
He didn’t reply.
“Don’t you want to kiss me before he does? No one has ever kissed me before.”
My guard’s nostrils flared, and his jaw was so rigid he looked more like a statue than a human being. The fire in his dark eyes hinted at the trouble I was playing with.
“You like rich boys who are nice, Aberdeen.”
“I have no idea what I like, but you’re wrong about one thing.”
“What?”
“Nice doesn’t interest me.” I leaned in close, letting my mouth hover near his, mentally daring the man to kiss me.
“No?”
“No.”
“You’re being inappropriate.”
“So what? Maybe I’m a bad girl and someone needs to put me in my place,” I said, loving the heat in his gaze even as I could feel the blush burning my ears.
“Now I know that’s the champagne talking.”
“I’m not even tipsy.” It was a small lie. It wasn’t like I was drunk, just a little braver than usual.
“You were drinking all night.”
“Most of that was ginger ale.”
“Oh.”
“Now, if only I knew someone who enjoyed violence and other things he can’t put on a résumé,” I mused, twirling a curl of hair around my finger because it always made him stop talking and stare at me.
The man obliged me by hyperfocusing on the movement. “I’m not going to kiss you, Aberdeen.”
I groaned, more aroused than I’d ever been in my life. “Why? And don’t lie and say you don’t like me.”
“I can’t like you. Not like that.”
He did like me. I knew it!
But there was no time to marvel at that when I had the man on the ropes.
“What’s the harm in one kiss?” I wheedled, not sure where this forward version of myself had come from. I wasn’t about to give up while we were still a few miles from home. “One kiss and then I’ll behave. I promise.”
“Stop being a brat.”
“Make me.”
“I could.”
“Uh-huh. Sure you could,” I mocked.
He gnawed the inside of his cheek, as though grappling for control.
“Kneel,” he snapped.
Shocked, I slid down to kneel beside his feet, arousal puddling in my underwear. One of his rough hands wrapped around my throat, and a delicious haze settled over my mind, like being drunk, but oh so much tastier.
“So beautiful on your knees,” he murmured, only looking. His sigh was filled with regret. “This can’t happen, Aberdeen.”
I leaned up and brushed my lips against his. Although I half expected him to push me away, the hand around my neck shifted up to grab my jaw so I couldn’t escape without a fight. He deepened the kiss, sliding his tongue between my lips, tentative, tasting, teaching me how to respond. Desire throbbed through my body, tightening my nipples and making me squirm where I knelt. I moaned into his mouth, and his grip on my jaw grew more possessive, more insistent, as if he’d been aching for this even more than I had. His free arm slipped around my waist and he drew me closer, until I was between his knees. The kiss went from controlled to wild, claiming, arching me back over his arm, and I clung to the front of his jacket, feeling small and delectably helpless.
When he broke away, his gaze was hazed with lust so fierce, I cowered before it. I wanted more, but I didn’t know a lot about pleasing a man. There was oral, of course, but I didn’t know if I could bring myself to do that—I’d never even seen a real penis in person. I knew the basics of giving a blowjob, of course, but I assumed there was a technique. Maybe more than one.
Were there online tutorials for this sort of thing? Probably, but then the IT people would see the sites I’d been on, and Mother would probably find out what I’d been looking at.
He saw something in my expression and let me go.
“I told you that you’d be sorry.”
“I’m not.” I rested my head on his knee.
He stroked my hair then cradled my head protectively in his big palm. It was the best feeling—almost better than kissing. Well, not better, but it made my heart feel too big for my chest.
“I’m nervous,” I admitted. “I’ve never done anything, you know with…sex or oral or anything.”
“You got the kiss you insisted on, Aberdeen.” He inhaled and squared his shoulders. “If you want more, you’ll have to find someone your own age to play with. Someone who doesn’t get paid to hang out with you.”
Ouch.
I pulled away, crawling back from him then wedging myself in the corner of the far seat.
He grimaced. “We both know this can’t go any further.”
My cheeks and neck felt like they were burning up after reentering Earth’s orbit. So humiliating. I’d pestered my bodyguard into kissing me, had knelt at his feet, and had accepted comfort from him, as though it was the most natural thing in the world.
God—had I forced myself on my employee, after all? Or was it more a submissive forcing attention on a dominant, like some little groupie? Either way, I felt sick. My first kiss, and it had been a mistake.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Köhler. I shouldn’t have done that,” I admitted, fighting down the urge to jump out of the car and run off into the night, crying like a high schooler.
He opened his mouth to say something, but only nodded once and turned his gaze back out the window to the darkness beyond.
Chapter Four
“Please have a seat, Mr. Köhler.”
I took one of the chairs on the visitor side of Ms. Kincaid’s desk. It was uncomfortably hard, which seemed odd considering the money she spent on keeping the house beautiful. After having talked to the woman a few times, though, maybe she’d chosen uncomfortable chairs deliberately.
“Any updates?” she asked.
“Nothing of note.”
I’ve been supplying your sweet, sheltered daughter with BDSM erotica, and I let her lure me into kissing her.
I should admit it and resign on the spot, but could I betray Aberdeen’s confidence that way?
Ms. Kincaid settled in the chair behind her desk as if she was making this me
eting as formal as possible. I would have assumed she didn’t like me, or that I’d offended her somehow, but she seemed to be like this with every member of her staff—not to mention her own daughter.
“I understand that Courtland Townsend boy expressed some interest in her at the art show.”
Ridiculous, hot jealousy coiled in me at the mere mention of his name. It was completely juvenile.
“Yes, ma’am.”
She nodded slowly, her gaze focusing on a point behind my shoulder. It made me want to turn around to check for company, but she was probably just thinking.
“Was she completely awkward?”
Was that a flash of amusement?
Anger prickled. Why was she such a bitch about her own kid?
Maybe I was misinterpreting things. Maybe it was affectionate amusement, rather than cruelty.
“The interaction seemed to go well.”
“It did?”
“Yes.”
She leaned back in her chair. “His people are so rural.” She sniffed as though she could smell the cow pies from where she sat. “Did he seem genuinely interested in her?”
“I couldn’t say.” I wasn’t sure how to respond. Aberdeen was gorgeous, smart, funny, and kind. Why did her mother think men wouldn’t see that and be attracted to her?
Her lips pursed, and she leaned forward in her chair again. “Keep an eye on the situation. There’s nothing special about that girl, so there can only be two reasons for him to pay her any attention.”
Wow. Mean much? And completely untrue.
“Two reasons?” Didn’t parents usually complain about only one reason a man might want to spend time with their daughter?
“Either he’s hoping to get his hands on her family’s money, or…” She gestured airily.
Or he just wanted to get her into bed.
“Or he’s part of the strategy,” she finished.
I frowned, not sure what she was talking about. “Part of what strategy, ma’am?”
“You know… The threats. The ugly notes.” She grimaced at me, as though I wasn’t particularly intelligent if I needed it spelled out for me. “Obviously,” she hissed, “he’s involved with the plan to kidnap her.”
She looked…livid. Not worried. Not frightened.
“She’s a gap in my armor, and I don’t like it. A man could weasel his way into her affections far too easily and start putting ideas in her silly little head.”
Maybe she was sheltered, but she’d chosen to raise Aberdeen that way. She had no right to complain. And Aberdeen was a lot smarter than her mother gave her credit for.
“I’ll keep an eye on the situation, ma’am.”
“The situation?”
I opened my mouth to tell her Courtland planned to ask Aberdeen out, but I wasn’t sure that was her business.
“What situation?” she ground out, eyes flashing.
Well, I’d already made the slip. I couldn’t pretend ignorance now. And Ms. Kincaid was, after all, paying my wages.
“He plans to ask her out for dinner.”
“Why?”
What a strange question.
“He implied it would be a date.”
She looked thoughtful, rubbing her thumb over the smooth wooden arm of her chair. “Well, if she accepts, don’t let your guard down even for a moment. Those deviants are determined to take her, and I wouldn’t put it past them to use this boy to lure her away from safety.” She nodded to herself. “Do not, under any circumstances, leave them alone together.”
Yeah, this wasn’t going to be awkward at all.
* * *
“Any new developments?” Jake asked.
I kept expecting the man to sound distracted, since he’d just retired, but his concern for Miss Kincaid’s safety didn’t seem to be waning with time.
“Nothing—or if there have been attempts, I’ve missed them entirely.”
“Hmm. The rest of the staff haven’t mentioned anything suspicious?”
“Nothing. I talk to the security team a few times a day, and I know all of the staff. I hope they’d be comfortable telling me if they notice any issues.”
“They’re pretty diligent, but you are a bit unapproachable.”
“I have a good working relationship with the other members of the staff,” I said mildly. It was my job to be the guard dog, not the lap dog. Maybe Jake did the same work in a different way, but I’d found that my way worked well for me. I had the kind of presence that made people leery of fucking with me, or with the people I was being paid to protect.
“Maybe the kidnappers are waiting for you to relax into your position and become less vigilant.”
“They’re welcome to wait indefinitely. I’m not one to get lazy about things as time goes on.”
“I didn’t think so.”
Keeping Aberdeen safe had almost become an obsession, but I wasn’t about to tell the older man that—especially since he almost seemed to think of her as a daughter.
At the other end of the line, he sighed. Was it killing him to be so far away? Some jobs were difficult to walk away from, and he’d been with Aberdeen for so long this had to be hard for him.
“Kincaid Holdings operates within the law, from what I can tell,” Jake said low, as though someone might overhear our phone conversation from his end. “I mean, supplying high-end fabric to influential design houses isn’t the kind of business I’d expect to be a cover for drug dealing or whatever.”
No matter what Jake thought, Ms. Kincaid might have had illegal dealings under the façade of her legitimate business, but I didn’t have any experience with investigation.
“No luck with the police?”
“Their leads are all cold, and I have to admit they’ve never been very interested. Until something serious happens…”
“Aberdeen being kidnapped from a city park as a kid, right under her father’s nose wasn’t good enough?”
“That got investigated properly, of course, and that was before my time.” Jake sighed. “Like I told you, when they recovered her a week later and interviewed her abductor, it seemed like a crime of opportunity rather than something planned out. Ms. Kincaid was sure business rivals had paid the man to do it. He died mysteriously in his cell before trial, and Deen’s father died only a month later.”
He’d told me that part before, but the story didn’t seem to add up.
“I was never in the position to figure out why it all happened. The information was old, and I only had pieces of it—stories that other people had told me. I don’t have a mind for that sort of thing either, you know?”
“Neither do I. What about a private investigator?”
“Ms. Kincaid has hired several over the years, but they all came up empty-handed.”
I grunted.
“Your job is to keep her safe, not to dig into the past. What are the chances the current threat is coming from the same corner?” He groaned. “Anyway, I have to go. The wife is here tapping her foot. We’re going antiquing, whatever that means. Send help.”
I chuckled and let the man go to meet his fate since there was no way I could rescue him from his wife in time.
From what Jake had said, and from the documentation I’d looked at, it sounded like the kidnapper had been a pawn in a larger game. Even so, I wished I could dig up Aberdeen’s kidnapper and kill him again. Maybe torture him first to see if he’d spill any info about who had hired him.
One of these days I would need to take a hard look at my feelings for the girl.
She’d interpreted what I’d said to her in the car as disinterest, but it had all been smoke and mirrors. Her mouth, and the way she’d melted under my small assertion of dominance, plagued my thoughts to the point where I found myself daydreaming about her as I watched for threats to her safety.
Bodyguards weren’t supposed to daydream—especially not about their charges.
I needed to take the day off like I needed oxygen. Luckily, it hadn’t been that hard to arrange.
I dressed for the day in jeans and my leather jacket, and ditched my piece and knife in the gun cabinet.
Aberdeen appeared in the hall as I left my room. She gave me a very interested once-over.
“You look so…different.”
“Now you know why your mother wants me to wear suits.”
“The suits are…good, but this would be downright distracting.”
“Too low class?”
Aberdeen bit her bottom lip. “Too hot.” Her blue eyes widened, and she scanned the hallway for possible eavesdroppers. She came closer. “Why are you a bodyguard when you could star in your own action movies?”
I chuckled. “I never know what that mouth of yours is going to do next.”
She caught the innuendo, smiled shyly, and turned pink. Inwardly, I kicked myself. It was so fucking hard not to flirt with her.
“Where are you going?”
“Out. It’s my day off, remember?”
Her eyes were full of questions I didn’t owe her answers to, but it was easy enough to see exactly what she was wondering.
Time to cool things off between us. It had to be done.
“Yes, I’m going to see someone.”
Her face fell, and I didn’t reassure her even though it was difficult not to.
“I’ll be back for my shift in the morning.”
She jolted as if I’d stabbed her.
Ignoring the twist of guilt was the hardest part.
Was it because I was leaving overnight, or because I’d called our time together ‘a shift’ that was bothering her so much? Either way, both were true. Aberdeen needed to get over her little rich girl crush on the help and move on, just like I needed to shake this hold she was developing over me.
Fiddling with the dangling belt on her day dress, Aberdeen followed me out to the second garage. “You don’t need an overnight bag or anything?”
“No.” I went in the side door of the building and slapped the button to open the bay door, then rolled my ugly bike out onto the driveway.
“Courtland called Mother for permission to take me out on a date.”
“Good,” I said, gritting my teeth. “I’ll help you pick out something to wear when I get back.”
“Well, I haven’t called him back yet. It might be tonight,” she mused, not so innocently. “I wonder what he’ll want to do.”
