Carissa’s still spread across my bed, panting after her orgasm when I decide that she’s perfect for me. Her look, her smell… she’s everything. I’m overcome with the need to fuck her, and soon. She seemed like she was close to coming with my mouth on her breasts and if she’s that responsive to my fingers… God, I can only imagine how she’ll react to my cock. I have to press a hand to myself at the thought alone.
A minute, and she’s sitting up partially on the bed, staring at me through those long lashes, still flushed all the way down to her collarbones. “That was…” She trails off, seemingly lost for words.
“Oh honey, that’s nothing.” It sounds cocky, but it’s true.
I strip off my shirt, ignoring the occasional button that tears off in my haste. Carissa reaches up with those small hands and traces the scars across my chest in shock. Shit, how could I forget about those?
“What happened?” Her concerned whisper is strangely touching.
“Nothing you need to worry yourself with,” I respond. “You good to go again?”
At her eager nod, I bend down and kiss her again. She’s so willing, she lets me plunder her mouth and squeeze her breasts in my hands. I can’t help but thrust against her as I lay between her open thighs. I swear, my cock’s never been this hard. She’s making these needy sounds that make my head spin.
I yank myself back before I can come in my pants like an overzealous teenager. Groaning in relief, I undo my jeans and let my dick spring free of the confines. Carissa’s just watching me, that innocent yet curious look on her face. It turns me on so much that I almost feel guilty, like I’m ruining her with this.
It’s when she shifts closer to me on the bed, drawing her knees up and planting her feet firmly on the mattress that I feel my self-control start to slip away. Hand wrapped around my cock, I give myself a few hard strokes and watch her quiver in anticipation.
As I start to ease myself into her pussy, it’s so damn hard not to give in and sink home. Carissa’s so small though, and it’s clear as day that this is her first time. That alone is enough to make me extra gentle with her. So, I tease her for a while, rubbing myself at her entrance, making sure she’s good and wet. By the time she’s dripped down onto the sheets she’s begging beneath me, loud and desperate cries for more.
When I finally drive all the way in, she winces only briefly before carefully shifting against me. With my eyes shut in pleasure, I feel her delicate hands grasp at the back of my neck. I kiss her, swallowing her cries as I rock at a steady pace within her.
It could be a matter of minutes or hours before I feel her squeeze around me as she comes again. I’m quick to follow with a sharp shout of her name as I come inside her. I collapse against her, resting my sweaty forehead against the crook of her neck.
We must doze off, because the next thing I’m aware of is the incessant beep of the sat phone across the room, and Carissa’s soft breaths as she shifts in her sleep. Staggering out of bed, I make my way across the room naked, unaffected by the cool night air. The fire’s died down at some point during our lovemaking, the embers casting a red glow across the cabin.
Jason sounds tired but pleased with himself when I answer the phone. “That girl you found? She did good.”
I watch her sleep out of the corner of my eye as I talk to him. “What did you find out?”
“Based on the area, she most likely witnessed the operations of a human trafficking ring, which is about what I expected. Probably the group run by Matthew Hulson. It’s kind of common knowledge around here—they’ve been operating in the area for months now.”
“Why the fuck hasn’t someone taken them out already?” I try and keep my voice down.
“Not my fault man, we just can’t get enough evidence against them. We don’t even know all the players involved.” Jason pauses. “You said she got pictures of the some of Hulson’s men actually in the act of an abduction?”
“Yes.”
“We’ll need those pictures to advance the case. Would she be willing to talk?”
After what I’ve learned about Carissa, there’s only one thing for me to say. “Most definitely.”
We wrap up the call and I make my way back to the bed and Carissa. In the time I’ve been gone she’s shifted to laying on her stomach, long black hair spilled across her bare back. I settle next to her, brushing a few strands away until I can access the smooth skin of her shoulder blade. She hums a bit as I kiss her but remains asleep. I take it as a challenge.
A few quick movements and I’m straddling her ass, careful not to let my rapidly filling cock brush against her. I may’ve been inside her a short time ago, but waking her up by fucking her is something that will have to wait. It’s something I can easily picture doing in the future.
It’s shocking to me, how easily I can see that future with her. As I run my tongue down her spine, I think of cold winter nights, snow as white as her skin piled up outside, just us and the fire to keep warm.
By the time I’ve reached the gentle curve of her ass, I’ve come to a decision. When she wakes up, I’ll make her breakfast, show her the surrounding mountainside. I need to convince her to stay here, with me. I need to convince her to be mine.
Chapter 7
~Carissa~
There’s a reason that Montana is known for its skies. I’m laying on my back in a clearing, head in Tyler’s lap, staring up at the sky and just… existing. It’s really nice.
After our night together, I’m sore in places I never knew existed. He woke me up this morning with coffee and a scone that I’m almost positive he made from scratch. The wonderful way he’s treated me has more than made up for how awful my day was yesterday. I thought I’d put it behind me, but over breakfast he told me that I would have to bring my photos forward, so that the men who kidnapped that girl would be caught.
I’m more than willing to do it, even if remembering it still makes me want to cry. It was even more upsetting when Tyler told me that many other young people, especially girls, had probably been subject to the same horrible experience.
“It could’ve been you.”
Tyler’s voice breaks the peaceful silence, and I shift from my cloud-watching to looking up at him. He hasn’t shaved, and the stubble on his chin and around his mouth is thicker. That mouth… I can still feel it on my skin and I was right—he did leave bruises.
“What do you mean?”
“If you hadn’t hid or those men showed up ten minutes earlier… you could have been the one kidnapped and trafficked across the border and into Canada. We would’ve never met.”
I… hadn’t thought about that. And now that he’s brought it up, I can’t stop thinking about it. Maybe it’s naïve of me, but I can’t help think that I would miss not meeting him more than I would be fearful of being kidnapped.
“I can’t imagine anything ever happening to you,” he whispers as he strokes my hair.
Smiling softly into his eyes, I still can’t believe how similar they are in color to the sky above us.
“What do you think of it out here?” Tyler suddenly asks me. “Do you like it?”
“Are you kidding? What’s not to like!” I exclaim. “It’s a bit cold, but other than that, it’s pretty perfect up here.”
When we’d gotten dressed this morning, he’d given me one of his flannel button-up shirts to wear and I’d put on my leggings from the day before. I supposed I could have gone back out to my car and gotten clean clothes, but it was too tempting, watching Tyler get dressed and ready for the day. So, I’m not wearing my bra or panties this morning. I don’t really need the bra and I’m not sure where my panties have ended up. The last I saw of them was Tyler tossing them over his shoulder after breathing deeply against them.
Thinking about last night makes warmth pool in my lower abdomen. Just being around him makes me forget about the cold.
“It really is, isn’t it,” he says. “After all this is over, you should stick around.”
Really?! “Yeah?” I ask. I don’t
want to sound overeager, but I am excited.
“Yeah,” he laughs. Tyler leans in and kisses me.
Things are just starting to heat up when I hear Sparks barking in the distance. Tyler and I separate, looking around for the dog. “My contact must be here to get your statement and pictures. But I didn’t hear a chopper—”
Tyler’s cut off by a bang and I jump. For a moment, all is quiet before another bang. This time, Tyler lurches back, head smacking the tree trunk he’d been leaning against. Was that…? No, it couldn’t have been. Could it?
But the blood seeping through the shirt at his right shoulder confirms that it was, indeed, gunshots. “Tyler? Tyler?!”
He moans, seemingly stunned by the force of the bullet knocking his body back into the tree. I don’t know what to do first. I should try and find help, but we’re all alone up here. Maybe stop the bleeding from the bullet wound in his shoulder? But the shoulder isn’t super important, aren’t head injuries the really dangerous ones?
Before I can decide how to help there’s a hand over my mouth and I’m being pulled away. My screams are muffled against a gloved palm and I can’t get enough traction to break free.
As I’m dragged back through the trees, I see Tyler start to move a bit, and relief surges through me even as I’m terrified for my own life. No matter how much I struggle and thrash, I can’t seem to get away from whoever it is that has a hold of me. I’ve got an increasingly sinking feeling that it’s one of the men from yesterday at the gas station.
My suspicions are confirmed when I’m dragged to the road where I’d left my car yesterday. There’s an SUV parked behind it, similar to the one that I got pictures of. Three men are standing around and one steps forward as my capture shoves me forward.
“I’m going to make this quick. We know you saw what happened yesterday. Besides your boyfriend back there, who did you tell?” The man talking to me is the same one from yesterday who was wearing the denim jacket. I don’t know why I’m surprised; I suppose I thought that they would stay with their victim. Instead, from what Tyler told me, they simply passed her off to someone else to take her over the border and into Canada, and from there, who knows.
I don’t know what to say. Do I tell them about the pictures I took? If I don’t, and they find out they might go back and hurt Tyler more. But Tyler did say that his military friends would show up soon… but wait. Since when does the military investigate non-military crimes? Should I just play dumb?
At least my camera is up at the cabin. I decide to tell a half-truth. “I-I saw what happened, but that’s it, I didn’t tell anyone else, I p-promise!”
“Well, I can’t say that I believe you,” the man questioning me paces closer. “Considering the first thing you did after we left with our cargo was call the local cops. You’re lucky they’re loyal.”
Did he just refer to that girl as cargo?! Oh God! How awful!
“I didn’t tell anyone else, really!”
“You sure about that? Because I’d be happy to go back and shoot your boyfriend a couple times until you decide to be honest with me.”
“No!” I cry out.
“Alrighty then, tell me who else knows!” His echoing shout is broken by a sharp crack.
I drop to the ground in fear.
Chapter 8
~Tyler~
When I came out of my semi-conscious daze, the first thing I noticed was that Carissa was gone.
God damn it!
This is what I meant by losing my edge—I should’ve realized that Sparks was gone too long, that he was barking at something other than a squirrel. I got so lost in Carissa that I failed to protect her.
That won’t happen again.
We were sitting close enough to the cabin that once I stagger to my feet and assess how badly I’m hurt, I have time to detour to grab some gear from my trunk before going to find Carissa.
Yes, I was shot but it was in the right shoulder, so it’s far enough away from my heart that I’m not concerned and my head is better already. I don’t have a concussion, at least. The impact of being shot made my head bounce off the tree but I’m not having any vision problems or balance issues. Even if I was, it wouldn’t stop me from going after Carissa.
I make it back to the cabin and find Sparks pacing outside, whining faintly. A few quick movements and I’m assembling a gun and grabbing extra ammo. Soon enough I’m tearing back outside, Sparks hot on my heels.
I don’t know where the man who grabbed Carissa would’ve taken her. It’s easy enough to figure out the who though: Members of the human trafficking ring she saw yesterday. They must’ve found out that she was there, that she has evidence that could help put them away. But how? The only way I can think that they would’ve found out about her is if they have contacts in the CIA. And that makes me nervous.
Even though I’m running as fast as I can through trees and over crevices in the ground, my footsteps are virtually silent, thanks to my training. The sound of voices in the distance is enough to guide my direction and I duck behind a large tree trunk when I catch a glimpse of people up ahead. They’re right at the edge of the road—the same road that I found Carissa on yesterday.
I can’t help but think that it’s kind of ironic or karmic or… something, that I’m saving Carissa in the same spot in less than twenty-four hours. Because I am saving her, no matter what.
A distressed wail from Carissa catches my attention, and I’m quick to shoot the man standing behind her. He has his back to me and drops like a rock. So does she, and for one horrifying moment I fear that the bullet passed through him and hit her. But thankfully, I see her move a bit and I realize that she’s just scared. She’s being smart though, ducking to the ground and making herself a smaller target.
The man who was standing in front of Carissa makes a move to her, probably to use as a human shield and I’m quick to shoot him too. I can’t even find it within myself to feel guilty for the quick shots. These men kidnapped a good, kind young woman, a woman I’m rapidly falling in love with. If they wanted to live, they shouldn’t have been so stupid.
With the death of the second man, I’ve lost the element of surprise and the two remaining quickly dive for cover, one behind Carissa’s sedan and one behind the SUV that they must have arrived in. I decide to deal with the one behind the sedan first. He’s a bit closer and I don’t want to waste ammo on a car that’s most likely reinforced, as I suspect the SUV is.
We exchange gunfire and in between rounds I move from tree to tree until I’m closer to my target. When the angle is right, I make my move, creeping low around the corner of the car. Two shots, one to the thigh and one to the head and he’s done.
Three down, one to go.
“Tyler?”
I answer Carissa’s panicked cry distractedly. “Just stay down, hon. I’ll be right over, okay?” Answering her had caused me to lose the element of surprise on the last guy, but that’s fine. I’m confident in my ability to neutralize him, and Carissa needed the reassurance.
I’ve just made it to the bumper of the SUV when the last man takes a swing at me with a nightstick. It hits my arm and I drop my gun. I’m quick to drive the heel of my boot into his knee and he responds with an uppercut to the jaw.
We continue like that, exchange blows until he drives his fist right into the bullet wound in my shoulder. “Fuck!” The pain causes me to double over and grab my arm. I hear him start to limp away. Good—hopefully I did permanent damage to that knee.
But I don’t have long to recover; he’s moving in the same direction that Carissa last was.
A sharp growl and a human shout of pain.
I’d forgotten about Sparks.
I spin around to see the man on the ground, clutching at a mangled hand as he attempts to protect his head and face from Sparks’ attack. I whistle and the dog looks up at me. Stooping to the ground, I pick up my gun and shoot the man. He stops moving instantly.
A deep breath and a second to recover is all I need bef
ore I rush to Carissa’s side. She’s still on the ground, with Sparks standing next to her. One of her small hands is buried in his thick scruff and her face is even paler than normal. I stop a few feet away and crouch down to her level, careful to keep my movements slow and sure, and to toss the gun behind me. “Are you okay?” I ask.
She nods slowly, still petting Sparks. Again, I’m taken back to yesterday when I first met her. It feels like it’s been so much longer.
“I think you’re going in to shock… again.”
“No, no… I’m okay.” She paused, then continued. “These were the guys from the gas station yesterday… the ones who kidnapped that girl. You said they were part of a human trafficking ring?”
“That’s right.”
“They wanted to know who I talked to.”
“That makes sense.” She’s handling this really well, and I’m kind of shocked.
“I think they would’ve killed me, after I told them what they wanted to know.” Now, she looks up. There are tearstains on her face but her honey colored eyes are clear. “Thank you for saving me.”
“I’ll always save you.” I can’t help it—the words just jump out of me.
“You’re not upset… that I led them here?”
“No! I hate that you almost got hurt, but… I was able to protect you. That’s all that matters.”
As though she was waiting to hear that I wasn’t upset, Clarissa springs into motion at my words, flinging her arms around my neck. “I’m so glad you’re okay! I thought you would never wake up or that you would bleed out or something!”
We sit together for a few minutes, easily rocking back and forth. I’ve ignored the bodies up until now, but I’ll have to call someone to get them eventually. And I should probably call Jason, let him know what’s going on, tell him to personally come and take Carissa’s statement and collect the evidence. That means I have to finally tell Clarissa the truth: I’m not military.
“Carissa, there’s something I need to tell you.”
She pulls back to meet my gaze. “What is it?”
Mountain Man Guardian (Alpha Agency Protectors Book 1) Page 3
