by Ivy Sinclair
Protect Her: Part Three
By Ivy Sinclair
Copyright 2014 Smith Sinclair Books
ebook Edition
Cover Design by Indie Author Services
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CHAPTER ONE- RILEY
I woke up with a faint floral smell in my nostrils. My back and neck felt as if they were on fire, but before I could focus too much on that, I realized that there was a soft, warm body squeezed up next to mine.
Paige. The smell was one that I was already starting to associate with her hair. After everything that we’d been through, including the dunk in Lake Braken, she still smelled sweet and inviting. I didn’t mind at all, especially when I was fairly certain that I smelled the opposite of a rose or anything even close.
Her nose was buried in my chest and the palm of her hand rested on my stomach. My arm was around her keeping her close. The idea of sleeping in a cave had been infinitely more appealing with Paige at my side.
I couldn’t keep the smile off my face as I slowly stroked her back. She stirred briefly against me and I stopped, but then she calmed again and her breathing returned to normal. I didn’t want to wake her yet. She needed her rest.
I had kissed her. Not only that, but she let me. I wasn’t the type of guy who would normally obsess over such a simple act, but there was something about this time that was different. Maybe it was because of the way we met, or the fact that we weren’t out of danger’s grasp yet. Nevertheless, there was something about Paige that brought out a part of me that I thought I’d lost for good.
Lost probably wasn’t the right way to describe it. More like buried deep inside with the intention of never letting it see the light of day again. Vulnerability made a person weak. Caring about people exposed that vulnerability to my enemies, and I had paid the price. More accurately, my mother and sister paid the price. I let my head fall back against the cool cave wall. I rarely allowed myself to think about them anymore. It was too painful.
My sister, Gabrielle, was four years older than me. She had been headstrong and impossible. She challenged everything in the world around her. We butted heads more than we got along, but I loved her fiercely just like any other younger brother. I vehemently pursued kicking the ass of the first boy who broke her heart. Ironically, it had been that incident that apparently opened my mother’s eyes to the possibility of what I really was.
It was something that my mother didn’t like to talk about, and what resulted in a kind of fervor in her pursuit of trying to be the best Catholic possible. I found out the barest details about her brushes with the supernatural the day that she delivered me to Alice’s doorstep. I was eighteen. My mother had turned a blind eye to the place that I called the Underworld, but it hadn’t forgotten about her. I sometimes wondered if she thought that my necromancy was her penance for trying to live a normal life; that somehow she had cursed me.
My mother and Alice had been best friends when they were kids. Then one day they saw something they were never supposed to see. My mother tried her best to forget it. Alice became a nun but learned everything she could about that other realm. They were two sides of the same coin. So it made sense that as my mother’s suspicions about my abilities grew, she took me to the only person she trusted. It wasn’t my mother’s fault that her son grew to be even more strange and headstrong than her daughter.
My abilities made me reckless and stupid. That’s what happens when you find out you’re something special and rare. My head got bigger and the jobs I was willing to do more dangerous. That’s when I crossed paths with a demon official named Bruno Proctor. He offered me more money than I had ever had in my life for just one job. He said it was simple, and I had been arrogant and naïve enough to believe him.
In the end, the lesson I learned was one that I would never forget. Failure isn’t an option when you are hired by a demon official, and if you lied about that failure, they showed no mercy. He should have killed me, but that’s where my rare talents worked against me. He let me live and made an example by killing my family instead. Then he said we were even.
We were so fucking far from even that he had no idea. And now he was here on Calamata Island. I should have been afraid of him, but something else had been growing inside of me for the last five years. Rage. Hate. A thirst for vengeance. I might be a lowly necromancer, but I had been studying up for the last several years. I sought out teachers who were willing to guide me in skills that Alice would never dream of doing much less passing onto someone else. That was why I had avoided her. Who I was now was a far cry from the innocent boy who stepped with her into this dark realm.
Now I was the one who brought the darkness.
I was brought back to the present when Paige groaned and then she pushed away from me. She rubbed a hand across her face and yawned. I could tell by her blinking that it was taking her a minute to remember where she was.
“So I didn’t dream that I fell asleep in a cave after all,” she said with a tired smile.
“Hopefully the herbs I gave you helped make it more comfortable,” I said, brushing her hair out of her face. I enjoyed touching her, and it gave me a thrill that she didn’t seem to mind it in the slightest. “How is your head?” After using her supernatural power to fend off a horde of demons, Paige had developed a massive migraine. The problem was that she didn’t even remember at this point that she had any supernatural powers. I was fairly certain that the migraine was her mind’s way of keeping her consciousness from the truth.
“Better. I could warm to the idea of using your chest as a pillow,” Paige said. She stretched with her arms above her head. I averted my eyes before she caught me staring at her chest, which was eye level at the moment. I cleared my throat awkwardly. The kiss had done little more than amplify the fact that I was extremely attracted to this woman. “But I wouldn’t be opposed to sleeping in an actual bed next time.”
“You won’t hear a complaint from me,” I said as I shifted around to warm up my own muscles. Sleeping on the ground wasn’t doing me any favors.
“Thanks, Riley.”
That got my attention. “Thanks for what?”
Paige rose up on her knees. Her long blond hair cascaded around her shoulders, and I thought that any angel seeing her would be jealous as hell. She was lovely. “Thanks for everything. Saving my life. Helping me figure out what is going on. Sticking around when you could have hightailed it out of here. Having someone I can lean on and trust has been a rarity in my world.”
“You don’t need to thank me, Paige,” I said, setting my hand on her knee. “I did what anyone else would do.”
Paige shook her head. “No, that’s not true. If it had been just a regular person that found me in the cemetery, I would have died from that demon’s bite. I’m guessing that any good Samaritan would have died too. It probably sounds crazy, but I feel like we were thrown together for a reason.” As her voice hitched, her eyes found mine. “I’m not good at any of this.”
“Any of what?” I felt a sudden longing deep inside of me. I wanted to be connected to another person again, and I had to be a fool to think otherwise.
“Caring about someone else and feeling like they care back,” she whispered. “You do care about me, don’t you, Riley? I’m not just some job that’s going to make you a
lot of money, right?”
I felt ashamed that she even thought that she had to ask me that question. I understood why she did though. That was the guy I had been two days ago before I met her. That guy would have given her up for the largest bounty he could command and not thought another thing about her. I was still amazed at how things had turned around for me so quickly.
My hand skimmed up her arm and then cupped her cheek. She sighed and leaned into my touch, but her eyes never left mine. Something I saw there answered a question that I didn’t even know I had asked. I didn’t hesitate this time as I crossed the distance to claim her lips.
What had been tentative and sweet before turned into something deeper and more urgent. I tasted it as she opened her lips to allow my tongue to sweep inside. I cupped her face in my hands and deepened the kiss. She tilted her head back allowing me even better access. As I felt the swirl of emotions overwhelm my senses, I wondered how I had ever thought that any other woman had satisfied the need I felt inside of me the way that Paige did.
I did care about her, and I intended to make sure that she never questioned my intentions toward her again. For now, I could forget about Bruno Proctor and everything else. There was nothing in my world but Paige. The rest would intrude soon enough, but this was just for us. It was as if we were the only two people in the world.
Drawing Paige upwards, but not releasing control of her lips, one of my hands dug into the hair at the base of her neck as my arm curled around her waist pulling her closer to me. Even pressed firmly against me, I felt like she was too far away. I chased her tongue and felt a thrill of excitement at the moan that I heard building at the back of her throat.
I wanted her badly, but I wasn’t going to take anything from her. Too much had already been taken away from her. But if she wanted me as badly as I wanted her, I wasn’t about to disappoint her. Demons and angels be damned.
CHAPTER TWO – PAIGE
Oh yes. Without saying a word, Riley understood what I hadn’t been able to articulate. My world was crazy and frustrating and wrong, but I couldn’t be unhappy about it because otherwise I wouldn’t have met Riley. And being with him felt right, despite the fact that I was still uncertain about everything else about him. Waking up resting on his chest had made me indescribably happy, and best of all, I had slept without any nightmares invading my dreams. I couldn’t even remember the last time that had happened.
So I clumsily tried to tell him how I was feeling. But at the last moment, I chickened out and practically accused him of using me as a paycheck. I thought he’d be angry with me, but it had the exact opposite effect. Now he had me wrapped tightly against him as if he never intended to let me go. By the way that his tongue was chasing mine, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be able to breathe again. I didn’t mind.
If this was the threshold to leaving the world though, I couldn’t see much wrong with it. I had no experience in my memories to back it up, but my lips told me that Riley knew exactly what he was doing. I just hoped that there was enough muscle memory in the rest of my body to show him that maybe I knew the same.
It had been at least three years since I was in this kind of situation, and I couldn’t help but feel shy and awkward. I broke my lips from Riley’s. I needed air even though I didn’t want him to stop.
“You don’t have to do this.” I blushed as the words fell out of my mouth.
I saw the frown on Riley’s face even as his eyes seemed to trace every curve of my mouth. “I don’t have to do what?” he growled.
“This. With me. I’m…I…it’s been a long time. I’m not even sure that I have ever done this before,” I said, burying my head against his chest. I didn’t think I could feel lamer.
But Riley wasn’t about to let me off that easy. He gently pushed me away from him and ducked his head so that our eyes met again. “Then I’m honored that you chose me.”
I felt a welling of pure surprise and warmth spread through my limbs. His face was open and earnest, and I thought of how handsome he was when he allowed the hardness that seemed to constantly weigh on his shoulders to fall away. It made me feel special to think that I might have had a hand in that.
My arms wrapped around his neck, and I pressed my lips against his cheek. He buried his head in my neck and squeezed me tightly against his hard body. It felt indescribably right. Why was I even fighting this? Riley was the first man to set these feelings a light inside of me. The fire had started to blaze, and there was only one way I could think of to put it out.
Everything that I knew about Riley so far was that he wasn’t one to make any kind of uncalculated moves, especially ones where he wasn’t sure how it benefited him. There was something inside of him that kept him tethered to the darkness. I wanted to break that thing’s hold.
I moved my lips to the side of his neck and pressed them against his skin. I felt his pulse jump and smiled. He was a man, flesh and blood, and he had the same needs that I did. I just needed to give him a little push. I pulled away from him then. I saw the confusion in his eyes, but he released me immediately. I put my finger to my lips to keep him from asking the question that I saw he wanted to ask.
“No more questions, Riley,” I teased. Knowing that he was watching my every move like a hawk, I slowly got to my feet. He didn’t move. Grasping the bottom of my shirt, I carefully peeled it up and over my head. Then, before I could lose my nerve, I unbuttoned my jeans and pushed them down my legs. I stepped out of them and stood there for a moment. My heart felt as if it were going to beat right out of my chest. I stood there exposed and let his eyes travel over my curves covered only by my bra and panties.
Then he moved like a snake and put his hands on my waist. I was constantly surprised at how quickly he could move. Still on his knees, he shifted so that only inches separated us. He rested his cheek against my bare stomach. I felt my throat clutch at the unexpected tenderness of his embrace. I let my fingers drift into his hair and heard his small sigh. We didn’t move for several long moments. Then he turned his head upwards.
“I won’t let anything happen to you, Paige. Ever.”
Before I could speak, he pulled me down into his arms. His lips crushed against mine and then it was as if his hands were everywhere at once. The fire inside of me burned, and I felt the urgency of his need against my thigh.
My mind emptied as I thrilled in the touch and sweeping of his hands and fingers across my skin. His lips shortly followed and I arched against him hungry for whatever he was willing to give me. This was what life was worth living for, I realized now. For the last three years, I had been doing nothing but simply existing. Riley woke me up, and I added it to the list of things that I was grateful to him for.
My clothes underneath me were the only barriers keeping our bodies from the hard earth, but I didn’t even care. My body was on fire, and I was sure that unless Riley gave me the release that I needed I was going to erupt into flames. As his hands and lips explored my curves, the only place where he paused was the spot on my collarbone right above my heart. That was where I knew an invisible symbol hid from view.
I pulled on his shoulders to bring his face back up to me so that I could kiss him again and smother whatever tumultuous thoughts might have invaded his mind. I didn’t want him to be distracted. These precious moments belonged to me and me alone. I wasn’t willing to share them.
Not knowing where my brazenness came from, I hooked my leg around Riley’s waist and twisted. Using the momentum of the weight of his body to roll us over, I now had him on his back. A wry smile crossed his face as I stretched so that I covered as much of his body as I could. It was my turn to explore him, and I intended to enjoy every moment of it. I tugged his shirt upwards to expose his tan skin to my inquisitive hands and lips.
I had admired Riley’s body from afar many times over the last few days. I decided that he must spend hours in the gym because I couldn’t feel the slightest bit of fat anywhere beneath my fingers. It was nothing but taut, hard muscle. I slid d
own to capture one of his nipples and I heard his groan of pleasure. Although I didn’t turn my attention away from the task at hand, I looked up at him through my eyelashes. His eyes were closed and I could see that he was thoroughly enjoying himself.
That spurred me on, using my lips and teeth to tease his skin and soon, I heard a sharp exhale.
“You are a tease, woman,” Riley growled.
Before I could respond, I found myself flipped over onto my back, and I was trapped beneath him. His weight pinned me to the floor, but it was his eyes that kept me still.
“You are everything I’d want,” he said. His fingers swept up and cupped my chin. “But as much as I want to, we can’t do this. Not now.”
“What?” My thoughts blurred as his words infused themselves in my mind.
“Just because we can’t do that though, doesn’t mean I can’t do this,” he said.
I felt his hand between my thighs not so gently pushing them apart. I was about to argue when his fingers found that part of me that quivered for his touch. With his expert strokes, all thoughts of disagreement flew from my mind. I wanted him inside of me, but I couldn’t deny that I could find my release another way. I didn’t know what caused him to stop from going that extra step, but there was no way that I could sit up and ask him even if I wanted to. I was wedged tightly against him with no way to escape, and he knew it. I was going to have to just sit back and enjoy the ride.
That part wasn’t difficult. When Riley’s finger first slid inside of me, my back arched. I wanted it. I wanted him. Another finger joined the first, and as he began to slowly stroke back and forth, I knew that I was lost. My body, ever my betrayer, sang the words to the song that he played, and my hips moved in the perfect rhythm that he set for me.
When the release came, I bit my lip and barely noted the faint taste of blood. Every thought disappeared from my mind, and it was nothing but a keenly satisfying pleasure that promised for those few moments to deliver me to a plain of pure bliss. My muscles felt like mush, and I collapsed backwards with a delicious sigh.
