For the next hour, Ryder shows me how to defend myself against unwelcome attention. It’s difficult to concentrate at first because feeling his hands on me distracts me. My body folds towards his automatically and yearns to be close to him. I have no control over it. I’m fighting more than the man in front of me, I’m fighting myself. Every time he grabs hold of me a shiver runs through my body. My desire is flooding my underwear and I pray to god he doesn’t realize it. He’s unbearable as it is and knowing the effect he has on me would make the cocky bastard even more unbearable. So, I fight more than just this man physically, I fight my own traitorous body at the same time. I need to focus on the job and not allow myself to fall for this man who is sending me mad with desire.
After an excruciating hour when Ryder has had me in every hold imaginable and I’ve had the most disturbing lustful thoughts throughout, he pulls back and grins.
“Not bad for your first attempt. By the time we’re through I want to fear for my life when I come every night.”
He winks and despite myself, I grin.
“Thanks, I feel a little better already.”
He nods towards the kitchen.
“Come, you must be thirsty. I know I am. I’ll make you a drink and tell you what’s gonna happen next.”
I follow him into his huge kitchen and perch on a bar stool nervously. I watch as he moves around with ease and places a large cool tumbler of water in front of me. “Drink this and I’ll get you a coffee.”
As I take the water gratefully I watch him work. his muscles ripple under his vest and I note the sheen of sweat making them glisten. I long to run my hands over them and press my body into his. I want his strong arms to fold around me and feel his breath on my body. Shaking my lustful thoughts away I cough nervously.
“Tell me about Cassie.”
I watch his eyes light up as he thinks about his daughter.
“She’s my world. The only light in it and the one I love with everything I’ve got. She’s five years old and about to start Kindergarten. Currently, she is cared for by the old ladies here. Brewer’s old lady Lou does the most, but she needs a mom of her own. When she starts school, she needs to fit in with the other kids. Up ‘til now, it’s been ok. She has me and that’s all she really needs. The women here spoil her and give her more attention than any one woman could ever do, but I know she deserves better. She has a few friends, she’s not the only child who lives here. However, she has no friends outside of this bubble we live in. It’s not natural and I want more for her.”
I feel surprised at his words. To think there’s a whole community living a normal life in this den of iniquity is surprising. I never thought beyond the frightening scenes of yesterday. The men all appeared harsh and brutal. The women were mere playthings to them and it was obvious they just served a sexual need. Where is this other side of the coin?
He must sense my confusion because he laughs and fixes me with a wicked look.
“What you saw last night was one side of life here. The guys with a whore draped over them were the single ones. You probably didn’t notice the ones just having a few beers and hanging out with their friends. These guys have old ladies who would bust their guts if they saw them with another. This is a community, Ashton. All sorts live here and like most communities, it is made up of differences. Yes, there are single men who have very basic needs. They hit on every woman going spare and enjoy their freedom. There are older men who have seen it all. They live their lives among us and we benefit from their wisdom. The families live in a protective bubble and try to lead as normal a life as they can. But the life we all lead here is anything but normal. We can pretend all we want but what we make a living doing is not for the faint-hearted.”
I look at him with interest.
“What it is you do?”
His eyes flash and he smiles wickedly.
“We deal out rough justice, darlin’. We do what the law won’t allow and the establishment needs. We are the government's unofficial army and their soldiers of revenge. What we do is make the country a safer place and the men who run it sleep at night.”
His words shock me. They work for the same men who I’m escaping from. He must sense my shock because he looks at me with a hard expression.
“Those men you are running from won’t touch you all the time you’re here. Tyler was right to bring you to me. This is the safest place for you on earth. What happened at that club made you a problem that needed sorting. They couldn’t allow you to leave with the knowledge you now had. If you wanted, you could bring them all down and they would stop at nothing to protect themselves. They didn’t know Tyler was your brother and thought he would dispose of you like he was asked.”
I feel the tears threatening to blind me and whisper.
“What was he to do?”
He comes and stands before me and gives me a gentle look.
“You were to be shipped off to the highest bidder. Sold on the black market to an unscrupulous man. Removed from the situation and unable to speak out. However, Tyler brought you to the one man they can’t touch. If they discover you are here, nothing would happen. We know too much for them to go against us. The real power in this land is not in the White House, darlin’. It’s in this compound and it’s not worth the shit storm it would create for them to worry about you anymore. So, you see, in bringing you here—to me, your brother set you free.”
I look at him, my eyes brimming with grateful relief. I knew Tyler would sort it out. Shaking my head, I say softly.
“So, what you’re saying is I can never leave.”
He laughs and winks.
“No, what I’m saying is you’ve been set free and trust me, darlin’, at the end of this, you are never gonna want to leave.”
10
Ashton
By the time I’ve finished my coffee I feel my eyes closing. It’s been a long day and I’m tired. Ryder must notice because he reaches out and pulls me from my seat. “Come on, let’s get to bed. Tomorrow is a big day and you need your sleep.”
I follow him nervously. I feel so awkward. This feels so wrong and yet the most natural thing in the world. My wedding night. I never expected it to be like this. Then again, the wedding I was destined for wouldn’t have been normal either. I shiver as I think Of Marshall Emmerson. An overbearing, large man with his morals in the gutter. He would have wasted no time in claiming his prize and the thought of what that would have involved sends revulsion careering through my body. The battle I now have is a different one altogether. The man I will spend my first ever night sleeping with is filling my mind and torturing my body with the knowledge I can’t have him. He said I would beg for it and I’m beginning to think that may be a possibility.
Annoyed with myself I push those feelings down. I’m begging him for nothing. He has set the rules in place and I’m not going to be the one to break them. He’ll have to live with it as will I. I’m here to do a job and repair my broken mind- nothing else.
He leaves me to get ready for bed and for the first time since last night I relax in a large bubble filled bath. Finally, I’m alone and sink my weary mind and body into sweet-scented nirvana. As the steam rises it takes my pain away. What happened yesterday seems like a distant memory now. Hard to believe but I can think of it with a kind of detachment now. It almost feels as if it happened to another girl in another world. Now, I live in a place separate from society and all that goes with it. I can see why Kitty didn’t want to leave. It’s as if you can park your problems and life at the door and reinvent yourself in the here and now. Nothing else matters but your future here and you can hide out here for as long as you want to shut the world away. Ryder is right about one thing–I never want to leave its protective walls.
When I venture into the room, I’m grateful to see it’s empty. Quickly, I jump into the large bed and pull the covers firmly over my head. I shut my eyes tightly and lie like a stiff board on the edge of the bed. If I could build a barrier down the middle of it,
I would. I can feel my heart thumping as I wait for him to join me. This will be a test that I have not studied for. How will I cope sleeping with a man who affects me in the most confusing way? It’s his face that fills my mind as I drift off to sleep.
Ryder
I leave Ashton to sleep. Instead, I sit watching the Game with a whiskey in my hand and fight the natural urge to go to her. The thought of her soft warm body lying in my bed is making my cock stand to attention. The alcohol will numb the feeling of frustration and the Game divert my attention. Tonight, she will sleep alone. She needs the sleep and I don’t need to fight the temptation until I have to. When Cassie returns tomorrow, she will want the storybook mom and dad. I will do anything for her and if that involves fighting my raging lust for the woman upstairs then so be it. When Ashton begs me and not a moment before. That’s the rule I’ve set in place which reminds me that I’m one stupid fucking bastard. I never thought this one through because the only one dealing with the results of it is me.
The morning sun filters through a crack in the blind and reminds me where I am. The couch is hard and unyielding to a man who passed out on it sometime in the early hours of the morning. The whiskey bottle is dangerously low and I feel the ache in my head punishing me for daring to think I could seek solace in the bottle. I feel like shit and must look like it. My eyes are burning and my face rough and unshaven. I run my fingers through my hair and groan. Fuck me, as wedding nights go, this one was the pits. My balls are throbbing and my cock is hard as steel. Thoughts of Ashton fill my mind as I picture her soft, sweet body tangled up in my sheets. The urge to go up there and take what I want is making me despise myself even more than she would if I allowed my natural urges to take over.
The door pushes open and I look up as the woman herself peers nervously into the room.
“Um... are you ok? Did you sleep here all night? I’m so sorry If I took your bed, I could have slept in the room Bonnie gave me.”
She is a gibbering mess and I smile inside. Morning Ashton is as adorable as I knew she would be. Her eyes are sleepy and her hair messed up. She looks nervous and my cock starts throbbing with the need to be inside her.
She moves inside the room nervously and holds out a steaming mug of coffee.
“I hope you don’t mind but I made you this.”
Reaching out, I take the mug from her hand and want nothing more than to pull her down onto my hard cock and drive it home. Instead, I shift to disguise its interest and smile regretfully.
“I must have fallen asleep watching the Game. Did you sleep ok?”
She smiles nervously. “Yes, thank you. I must have needed it because I slept really well. It’s only when I woke up that I realized you hadn’t come to bed.”
She blushes as she speaks and I feel my heart stir. She is so perfect and this little fragile angel is doing strange things to me inside. I’m fighting my ravenous lust for her against my need to protect her. I shake my head and grin.
“Thanks for the coffee. I’ll take it and shower. I feel like shit and we don’t have long.”
She looks surprised and I smile.
“I have work to do before Cassie returns and you have some shopping to get. Bonnie will be here soon to take you to town to buy whatever you need.”
Reaching for my wallet, I throw her my credit card.
“Get whatever you need on this.”
I watch her eyes flash and see the pride enter them.
“I have my own money.”
She throws the card back at me and I laugh softly as I throw it back.
“That may be, honey, but aren’t you hiding? The first rule is to go to ground. The second you use your credit card they will have a scent to follow. You make a call they know where you are. You use the computer, they know where you are. I have a lot to teach you, don’t I?”
She blushes and I laugh to myself. I actually couldn’t care less if they did come. They don’t scare me and what I know would finish them in a heartbeat. But I want Ashton to think she has no other option. I want her to rely on me for everything because I’m a sick bastard who wants to keep her for myself.
She takes the card and I feel a flash of triumph. Shaking her head, she looks worried.
“What if someone sees me shopping and reports it to the police?”
I laugh. “I doubt they even know you’re missing yet, honey. I think you’ll be perfectly safe and you’ll have Bonnie with you.”
She looks confused and I raise my eyes.
“Bonnie isn’t Snake’s old lady for nothing. If you think I can fight, you haven’t seen her. He’s taught her everything he knows and then some. That woman is a Ninja assassin and nothing would get past her. Don’t let her sweet nature fool you. That woman is as hard as nails and every bit as ruthless as the devil himself. She’s a good one to teach you our ways. Just don’t practice them on me, darlin’, before I’ve had my morning fix of caffeine. I’m not strong enough before that.”
I wink and see the laughter in her eyes. It makes my heart sing to see her relax. She smiles gratefully.
“Ok, but I’ll pay you back as soon as I can.”
I just wink. “I know you will, honey. I charge a great deal of interest as well and the interest I’ve got in you is mounting by the second.”
Laughing, I leave the room before she sees the cold hard facts of my interest staring her in the face. Fuck, this is gonna be harder for me than I thought.
11
Ashton
By the time we shower and change I feel the nerves coming back with a vengeance. Today is going to be even more challenging than yesterday. This is it, the cold hard light of my predicament. I am now married to a man who scares and excites me in equal measures. The scariest part is my reaction to him whenever he is near. I should be sworn off men for life but my interest in him is overwhelming my fear. When I saw him this morning, my heart began to pant. He looked so incredibly sexy and dangerous and I was almost disappointed that he hadn’t come to bed last night. Then I think of his daughter and feel nervous for another reason. What if she hates me? Bonnie told me she is number one in his eyes and why wouldn’t she be?
I head back to the kitchen to wait for Bonnie and see Ryder sitting at the table looking toe-curlingly sexy in black jeans and a clinging black T-shirt. His muscles are rippling under it and his eyes look at me with pure lust as I enter that I can’t think straight. Those eyes draw me in and hypnotize me. I can’t look away from them and drown in their velvety depths.
He nods to the seat in front of him.
“Sit, I’ll fix you some breakfast.”
I smile shakily.
“Shouldn’t I be the one fixing it? I mean, we have an agreement after all. I need to earn my protection and as your… um… wife… I should be starting as I mean to go on.”
I see the amusement in his eyes as he grins and his eyes sparkle devilishly.
“Don’t worry, you’ll have more than enough opportunities to fulfill your wifely duties. Cassie is due home later and then it begins. I don’t know where you come from, darlin’, but we live in the modern world here. I don’t expect a wife of mine to be a servant. I have lived on my own long enough not to worry about making the odd coffee and meal for my loved ones.”
I smile and take the seat opposite. “How refreshing.”
He laughs. “Make the most of it while it’s on offer. I have a feeling you’re gonna need the rest once Cassie returns.”
I watch him pour me a coffee and say with interest.
“Tell me about her.”
His eyes light up and his face relaxes as he thinks about his daughter.
“She’s perfect. Don’t get wrong she’s no Angel and you will have your work cut out for you. She’s used to a lot of attention and is quite demanding. I want you to teach her how to be a little lady. Living among a group of hard, unruly bastards has rubbed off a little. She needs to learn manners and needs a woman’s touch. Lou has her own kid to deal with and lets Cassie get away wit
h murder - they all do. I suppose they feel sorry for her stuck with a miserable shit of a father and no mom. They spoil her and indulge her every whim. Don’t be afraid to stand up to her, Ashton. She needs a mom not a friend and you will have my full support.”
I feel a little worried as it dawns on me what I’ve taken on. I have no experience of children and that thought is suddenly preying hard on my mind.
We hear the doorbell and Ryder grins.
“That’ll be Bonnie. Now, remember, to everyone else we are the newly married couple who are still on their honeymoon. The guys don’t need to know about our arrangement and neither do their women. Are you ready to get started?”
Nodding, I feel a flash of apprehension as he heads off to answer the door.
He returns with Bonnie in tow and I relax a little as she flashes me a warm smile.
“Hey, Ashton. How are you bearing up?”
She winks and I feel myself blushing. Ryder grins and heads across and pulls me up and laughs.
“I think she’ll live.”
He stares long and hard into my eyes and I feel my knees buckling under the heat of his gaze. Leaning down he brushes his lips to mine and kisses me softly and sweetly. Then he runs his hands through my hair and pulls me closer, grinding his mouth on mine and demanding entrance. His tongue tastes mine and wraps around it in a sultry, sexy dance. My body arches towards his involuntarily and I long to be crushed against his hard chest and for his strong arms to hold me as close as is humanly possible. He smells of pure sexy male and I forget that Bonnie is even here as I melt into him as if it’s the most natural thing in the world.
Then he pulls away and the look in his eyes takes my breath away. That look does not pretend. It’s there blatantly for all to see. He wants me as much as I want him and its powerful knowledge. That look is loaded with promise and far from scaring me it’s bringing an anticipation to my mind and body that is the sweetest of promises. Then he smirks and I see the cocky bastard who knows the effect he has on me and enjoys it way too much. He releases me and flashes Bonnie a wicked smile.
Daddy's Girls Page 5
