by Lisa Childs
He pulled back. She saw metal flash as he took off his holster, putting it and the gun on the bedside table. Then he peeled off his shirt, and muscles rippled in his chest and abdomen. His jeans followed, pushed down his thick thighs and sculpted calves along with his underwear. His erection sprang free.
Emilia’s breath escaped in a gasp. He was big everywhere. So big. And muscular.
“Are you sure about this?” he asked.
She ran her fingertips over all those muscles then she skimmed her mouth over them, too.
And his breathing grew more ragged. “Emilia...” He tangled his fingers in her hair and gently moved her head back up—to his. Then he kissed her passionately.
As he kissed her, he moved his hands up and down her body. He stroked the sides of her breasts down to the dip of her waist and the curve of her hips.
She shrugged off her sweater. But before she could take off the rest of her clothes, he undressed her, kissing every inch of skin he exposed.
She shivered as goose bumps rose on that skin. But she wasn’t cold. She was hot, heat flashing through her. Her stomach clenched with the passion gripping her. “Dane...”
He kissed the curve of each breast before closing his lips around a nipple. His tongue stroked over the tightened tip.
She moaned and shifted on the bed. “Dane...”
He turned his attention to the other breast.
She clutched at his shoulders and skimmed her nails down his back. But he was already moving his mouth down her body. He made love to her with his lips and his tongue, teasing the most sensitive part of her.
Tension gripped her, tightening every muscle. He slid his tongue inside her as he rubbed his thumbs over her nipples. The tension shattered as she came.
“Dane!”
He turned away from her. But she was greedy for more, so she reached for him, closing her hand around his throbbing erection. He wanted her, too. With a groan, he turned back with a condom packet in his fingers.
He was still protecting her as he rolled on the condom. Then he moved between her legs, easing inside her. He filled her—completely—and then some, stretching her.
She arched to take as much of him as she could. Then she lifted her legs and locked them around his lean waist. They moved together, finding a frantic rhythm that had the tension winding inside her again.
Then the pleasure exploded inside her. She shuddered as the sensations raced through her. Dane’s hard muscled body tensed and he emitted a low groan, finding his release, too.
She had never known such pleasure or satisfaction. Dane slipped away for a few moments. But then he was back, sliding his arm around her shoulders again. She settled her head on his chest. And despite her reservations, she closed her eyes.
She didn’t see the masked man like she’d feared she would. She saw Dane’s handsome face instead, saw his eyes turning from caramel to dark chocolate with desire. She was still scared, though.
She was scared that she was falling for Dane Sutton.
* * *
Her breath whispered warmly across Dane’s chest as she slept in his arms. He had never spent the night with anyone like this. After sex, he always put on his clothes and left.
But he couldn’t leave Emilia and not just because he had appointed himself her personal bodyguard. He didn’t want to walk away from her. Even slipping out of the bed to clean up had been hard. He’d wanted to stay inside her—as part of her—all night.
And he’d never been part of anything before. Not part of a family at least, unless his unit counted. And now there was the Payne Protection Agency. He was part of that damn family cult, but probably only until the others found out he’d been keeping secrets from them.
With Lars about to become Cooper’s brother-in-law, he would probably be able to convince their boss to fire him. He was already pissed at Dane. How much angrier would he be when he learned the truth?
Probably out-of-his-mind irate. That was why Dane needed to find out who was terrorizing Emilia. Then he could redirect Lars’s anger to the person who deserved his wrath.
That person already had incurred Dane’s wrath. Whoever the man in the mask was—he’d spent weeks gaslighting Emilia, making her think she was losing her mind.
And tonight...
Tonight he could have killed her. Had that been his intention? Or had he only wanted it to look like she’d tried to kill herself?
Anger coursed through Dane, tensing his muscles. He must have moved enough that Emilia awoke with a start. She clutched at him before relaxing against him again.
“Sorry I fell asleep.” Her face felt warm against his chest, as if it was flushed.
“I’m glad you did,” he said. She needed sleep. She’d been deprived of it for too long. He stroked his hand down her bare back. “Close your eyes...unless you’re afraid...”
“Of what I might see?” she asked. And she tensed briefly.
“He can’t hurt you,” he promised. “I’m here. I won’t leave you alone again.” That scream he’d heard as he’d gotten out of his truck echoed inside his head. The terror in her voice had had his pulse quickening with fear—for her.
“I guess we’re not lying anymore about being involved,” she said.
He tensed as the truth of her words hit him like a blow. He—who had always avoided relationships—was involved. He could tell himself that he was only concerned with keeping her safe. But he hadn’t had to sleep with her to do that. He hadn’t had to kiss her and touch her...
And lose himself inside her.
She must have felt his tension because she murmured, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that we’re really involved like that. I know that sex doesn’t mean anything. I know that now.”
How did she know that?
Despite her passion and her having had a baby, he had sensed that she was still quite innocent. He doubted she’d had many lovers.
“The baby’s father,” he surmised. “He’s the one who taught you that?”
She nodded, her face moving over his shoulder. Her skin was so silky.
His body tensed again—with desire—and a sudden realization. “He must be the one behind this,” Dane said.
“No!” she sharply retorted. “Absolutely not.”
The vehemence in her voice sent a jab of pain through his heart. She’d jumped so quickly to the guy’s defense that she must still have feelings for him. Was she in love with him yet?
But just because she cared about him didn’t make the man innocent.
“I’ll be the judge of that when I talk to him,” Dane said. He couldn’t wait to talk to the son of a bitch. He clenched the hand not stroking her back into a fist.
She lifted her head from his chest, and her usually sweet voice was sharp when she protested, “No, you can’t talk to him!”
He touched the bandage on her wrist. The material was hard with her dried blood. “We can’t not talk to him. We need to find out who attacked you.”
“He won’t know.”
Dane snorted. “I think it’s him.”
“That’s ridiculous,” she said. “Why?”
“He’s the one who stands to gain the most if you’re declared incompetent.”
“What will he gain?”
“Your son.”
She shook her head, and her pale hair tumbled around her bare shoulders and brushed across his chest. “He can’t.”
“Of course he can,” Dane said. “He’s his father. If he can prove you’re unstable, he can get full custody.”
“He can’t.” She expelled a shaky sigh. “Because he doesn’t even know about Blue.”
Dane felt another pang in his heart—this time of fear. Emilia hadn’t told the father about his son. And she’d asked him to keep secrets from his best friend
. Had he been a fool to trust her?
What was she keeping from him?
* * *
“Man,” Cole Bentler said as he studied his friend’s face. “Those guys did some number on you.” He touched his fingers to Dane’s swollen jaw.
Dane flinched. “That was Lars.”
“He swears he wasn’t the one who jumped you,” Cole defended their other friend. “He says the River City PD crime techs figure four guys did that to you.”
Dane touched his jaw. “No. This was Lars. He hit me when he found out I was seeing his sister.”
“Well, that took us all by surprise,” Cole said.
Of course Dane never said much about himself or anyone else. Nobody could keep a secret like he could. That was probably why Cole himself had told him more than he should have.
Dane knew about Shawna. And Cole never talked about her. It hurt too much.
Dane nodded. “She took me by surprise, too.”
And for the first time since they’d met in boot camp, Cole saw fear in Dane’s dark eyes. His friend was really falling for Lars’s sister.
“I thought you were just acting like you were involved,” Cole admitted, “just to get under Lars’s skin.”
“I don’t have a death wish,” Dane replied.
No. He didn’t. He’d always been the most careful one of them on their missions. He’d also said that he would never be taken alive, either.
“Then how did this happen?” he asked, and he gestured at the house behind them, the house where Emilia Ecklund lived with her son and with Dane now.
Had he really moved in with a woman after refusing to share a place with any of them? Not that Cole had had to share a place. He had money, more money than the rest of them knew about, but he’d agreed to room with Manny. He would have preferred Dane, who didn’t talk incessantly.
But he wished he could get him talking now.
Dane just shrugged. But for once he looked like he wanted to talk, as if his swollen jaw was clenched to hold in the words he wanted to say.
“What’s up?” Cole asked. “You can trust me.”
Dane nodded in agreement. “I am trusting you,” he said. “I’m trusting you to keep an eye on her—on them—for me.”
“An eye on them?” he asked. Was Dane worried about her son? About leaving her alone with her son? Or was there someone else in the picture? “Don’t you trust her?”
A muscle twitched along Dane’s jaw. Usually he was more stoic, harder to read. But Cole understood, maybe because he’d been in that position himself. He’d fallen for a woman he shouldn’t have trusted. He was afraid his friend had done the same.
“It’s not about that,” Dane said. “It’s about last night—about my getting jumped. She could be in danger, too.”
Cole nodded. “Yes, we all agreed that could be the case—that someone’s coming after us and might come after the people we love, too.”
“Did you warn your family?” Dane asked.
Cole shook his head. “I don’t have any contact with them.” So nobody would think he loved them. He only wished that were true.
“What about you?” he asked.
Dane snorted. “I don’t have any family.”
“No, who’s going to protect you?” And Cole wasn’t talking about just a physical attack.
Who was going to protect Dane from the emotional pain of getting his heart broken?
Bruises healed. Hell, even gunshot wounds did. But a broken heart? That sometimes never mended.
Chapter 14
Someone was following her. Fortunately Dane had warned her that he’d assigned the duty to Cole Bentler. Or she would have been scared. He’d told Cole that he was worried for Emilia and Blue after the attack on him at the warehouse. So he hadn’t broken his promise to never tell anyone that they weren’t really involved.
But Emilia was disappointed that he was staying away from her after promising he would never leave her alone. She had thought he’d meant that he’d be with her always. But she should have known that wasn’t possible.
For one he was trying to find Bradley Zeinstra.
For another, she suspected he just wanted to keep his distance from her. While he’d held her the rest of the night, he hadn’t really been with her. He’d stopped talking and had appeared withdrawn.
And he hadn’t made love to her again. Her body ached for his, an emptiness yawning inside her that she’d never felt before. She needed him.
But he didn’t need her. Dane Sutton needed no one.
He wasn’t the only one Emilia needed. She carried her son into the chapel along with her purse and his diaper bag. And when she stepped into her office, she hesitated before placing him in the crib next to her desk.
He was napping. Car rides always put him to sleep, but he was sleeping exceptionally soundly after all the disruptions he’d had last night.
But she was afraid that if she put him down she might never be able to hold him again. Dane believed Blue was the reason for everything she’d been through, that someone wanted to take him away.
That couldn’t be Bradley, who didn’t even know about him. Who had never even gotten to hold his son.
Her shoulders slumped with guilt, and the baby suddenly felt very heavy. She settled him into his crib and stared down at him through eyes blurred with tears.
She had made so many mistakes. More mistakes than she’d even realized. Sure, Bradley Zeinstra had been a jerk to her, but he’d deserved to know he was going to be a father. She should have told him.
She needed to tell him now before Dane found him and blindsided him with fatherhood. But she hadn’t talked to him for over a year. He would have graduated from college. Like her, he’d only had a semester left. With his engineering degree from the University of Minnesota, he could have moved anywhere for work. He might not even be in the country any longer.
Would he have kept the same cell number? She wasn’t even certain she had it any longer. She’d been so angry over the way he’d robbed her of her innocence and stopped taking her calls that she had considered deleting it.
Had she?
She pulled her cell from her purse and began to flip through the contacts. There he was. Not as an original contact but as a recovered one.
She probably had deleted him and then changed her mind. Because he hadn’t used protection, she’d known there was a possibility she could get pregnant. Of course she hadn’t thought it was the right time. And she’d trusted him. She’d believed he’d cared about her.
He’d only cared about one thing. Sex. And that was all it had been.
It hadn’t felt like last night. She hadn’t experienced anything like last night before—the passion, the power...
Dane.
She had reluctantly told him Bradley’s name. Since it was on Blue’s birth certificate, he would have found it out easily enough anyway. Hopefully, he hadn’t found Bradley yet.
She drew in a deep breath, bracing herself, then pressed the screen to call Bradley Zeinstra. Music played while the subscriber was located. She expected to get a voice mail recording.
Instead he answered, “Emily?”
She winced over his using the wrong name. Initially, she’d thought he called her Emily as a nickname or endearment. Then she’d realized he just didn’t care enough to get it right. “Emilia,” she corrected him.
“You’re lucky I don’t call you what I think you really are,” he bitterly replied.
A jolt of alarm struck her heart. “Why are you angry with me?” She’d thought he would have been happy when she’d stopped trying to contact him. Of course it hadn’t taken her long to stop when he hadn’t returned her calls or texts.
He snorted. “How can you ask me that? You know you should have told me when you f
ound out you were pregnant.”
“You know? Who told you?” Had Dane already found him? That was faster than she’d thought he would.
“What the hell’s wrong with you, Emilia?” he asked. “Are you crazy?”
She glanced down at her bandaged wrist. She hadn’t done that. And she had the bruises around the wound to prove that she’d fought. She wouldn’t have been able to bruise herself if she’d been holding the knife, as well. No, she had not done that.
And she hadn’t called Brad until now. “No. I’m not.”
“You told me—when you called,” he said.
“But I haven’t...” Called him before. Had she?
She switched him to speaker and pulled up her call log. Scrolling through the numbers, she found his—two weeks ago. Another middle-of-the night call.
“That’s why I’m here,” he said.
“Here?” He was here. “In River City?”
He snorted again. “Where the hell else would I be? I had to put my life on hold to make the trip out here from California.”
So that was where he was living now.
“Why would you do that?” she asked.
“I want to see my son.”
His words surprised her. She hadn’t told Brad about her pregnancy because she’d figured he would deny paternity anyway. He’d made it clear he wanted nothing to do with her after that night. Why would he want contact with the child they’d made?
“But why?” she asked.
“Because he’s mine!” he said.
Now the possessiveness in his voice had her stomach lurching with dread and fear. She’d thought Dane was wrong. But it suddenly seemed very possible—probable even—that Brad was behind everything that had been happening. Emilia wasn’t losing her mind.
But she might lose her son.
* * *
“What the hell is going on?” Nikki had asked Cole Bentler when she’d caught him outside, watching the chapel. But he hadn’t answered that. He had claimed it wasn’t him she’d felt watching the place the day before, though.
So if her creepy feeling was right, like Mom’s premonitions always were, then someone else had been stalking Emilia and her son.
