Cash’s belly tightened. All those people who wanted Ella for their own reasons. Not one of them cared what she wanted. What she needed. She wasn’t a person to them. She was an object, a prize to be won. To be used.
He frowned. Had he treated her like an object? He hoped not. Thoughts of her beneath him rolled through his head. Yeah, he’d used her—but he’d given her something in exchange.
But was it enough? Or was he just as guilty as the rest of them?
* * *
The woman named Victoria was stunning. Absolutely stunning. She was wearing a wedding ring, which Ella was oddly thankful for, but she still managed to draw the eye no matter how hard Ella tried not to stare. Ella attempted to keep her attention on the magazine she was reading, but she did a poor job of it.
Victoria smiled when their gazes met. “It’s okay. You can stare.”
Busted. “I’m sorry. I’m being rude. But you’re so pretty, and yet here you are with a gun strapped to your side. Do you work with Cash?”
Victoria laughed. “A woman can’t be pretty and lethal in your world? Yes, I work with Cash. Sort of. Mostly I work with another team, but I was here when you arrived, and the colonel asked if I’d stay with you.”
“I think I would be fine here alone. Would I not?”
The security they’d gone through to get inside this place had been fairly extensive. She didn’t think her aunt and uncle would jump out of any hallways. Nor would Sheikh Fahd, assuming he cared to do so.
“It’s not your safety that was in question. It was more that he thought you might not want to be alone.”
“Oh.” Ella closed the magazine on her lap. “I am accustomed to being alone. It’s truly not a problem. If you have things to do, I mean.”
“I’m fine. My husband isn’t home, and my sister and her husband are busy tonight. I was on the range. Practicing.” She pressed her palm to the gun on her hip. It was a big gun.
“I’ve never shot a gun before.”
“No? You should learn how. It’s a good skill to have. Especially for a princess, I’d imagine.”
“I should. If I’d had a gun the day Cash rescued me, perhaps it never would have come to that. He could have gone on his fishing trip and never met me.”
Except the thought of never meeting Cash made a cavern open in her belly.
Victoria unsnapped the strap holding the weapon in place. Then she pulled it out, ejected something from the long handle and dropped it on the table, did something else that made the top of the gun slide back with an audible click—something small and golden fell out of it, but Victoria snatched it up and pocketed it. Then she pulled the top of the gun a couple of more times before walking over and holding it out.
“Here, take it. It’s empty. Feel what it’s like in your hand.”
Ella got to her feet and eyed the weapon. Gingerly, she reached for it.
“It’s okay. Don’t be afraid of it. You can’t hurt anyone. But don’t ever point it at a living thing you don’t mean to kill, even when it’s empty. Got it?”
“Yes.” Ella took the gun. It was light in her hand. The body was black, and the handle was black and sort of rubbery with little nubs on it.
Victoria stood beside her and turned her toward the back wall. “Hold it straight up, one hand wrapped around the grip.”
“Grip?”
“The bottom part there.”
Ella did as she was instructed. There was a white dot on the front of the weapon and a white U-shaped notch on the back.
“Bring your other hand up, wrap it around this one…” Victoria helped her get the right hand position, wrapping her left hand around her right, positioning both thumbs on the left side of the gun. “Never wrap your thumb around the other side. When the slide comes back as you’re firing, it’ll hurt something fierce. Keep both thumbs on this side. Now line up the front dot with the tops of the posts on the rear sight. Try to keep both eyes open.”
Ella followed the directions. She squinted at first, but then it got easier.
“When you’re ready, squeeze the trigger. Slowly.”
“But I don’t want to shoot.”
“It’s empty. You aren’t going to shoot anything. You’re practicing, feeling the give of the trigger.”
Ella squeezed and the trigger popped like there was a spring somewhere inside. “Oh.”
“Now don’t let it out. Hold it for a second. Very slowly, let it out until you feel a little click.”
Ella did. The trigger clicked and she stopped.
“Excellent. Now pull the trigger in again.”
It popped same as before.
“That’s the reset point. You don’t have to let it fully out before firing again. That knowledge could save critical seconds—and accuracy—when you need it.”
“Wow.”
“You’ve just had your first lesson,” Victoria said, taking the weapon away. “It’ll be different when you have live ammo, of course, but this is a start.”
She picked up the thing she’d tossed on the table. “This is the magazine. It’s loaded with bullets.”
She handed it to Ella, and Ella turned it around in her hands, studying it. It was heavier than she’d expected. When she handed it back, Victoria took the bullet from her pocket and inserted it into the top of the magazine. Then she jammed the whole thing into the grip of the gun, dragged the slide back quickly, and holstered it again. The entire operation took about a second.
“Why do you pull the top back?”
“Because I’m chambering a round. It’s called racking the slide. The gun is ready to fire now. I don’t recommend doing that usually, but I’m a professional and this is my job.”
Ella was more than a little awestruck at the idea of this woman taking down bad guys. She wanted to know how to do that too. How safe would she feel then? If she had a skill like Victoria’s?
The door opened and Ella whirled as Cash came striding in with the same guys as before—and Viking, one of the other guys she’d met back in the cabin a few days ago. She knew him now that she saw him again. Hard to forget with that blond warrior-god thing he had going on.
They were all big and imposing men, faces set in grim lines as they filled the room.
Ella’s heart skipped a beat. “Is everything okay?”
Cash spoke first. “It’s fine, Ella.”
“They always look that way,” Victoria said, giving Ella a quick grin. “It’s in their DNA to be serious.”
“Don’t let her kid you,” Viking said, jerking a thumb at Victoria. “That’s one of the most serious—one of the scariest—women I’ve ever met.”
Victoria laughed. “All right, I’m out of here, guys. Unless you still need me?”
“We’re good,” Cash said. “Thanks for staying.”
“No problem. It was great to meet you, Ella. Remember what I said—and get one of these guys to show you more, okay?”
“Okay. Thank you.”
“Show you more what?” Cash asked when she was gone.
“How to shoot a gun,” Ella said. “I held hers and pulled the trigger.”
His eyebrows rose. The other guys didn’t seem surprised at all.
“Oh, but there were no bullets,” she added.
“Yeah, I kinda figured.”
“What happens now, Cash?”
He glanced at his teammates. “We’re taking you somewhere safe. Your aunt and uncle are claiming you had no legal right to marry, and they’re asking for you to be returned to them.”
She must have made a noise or given a look because he reached for her hand and squeezed it.
“You’re their queen. Don’t forget that part. They can’t make you do anything you don’t want to do.”
No, they couldn’t. But that didn’t mean they wouldn’t try. And if they had her under their control again? It didn’t matter if she was a queen if she had no money or power to fight them.
“I have not forgotten.”
“Good.” He squeezed
her hand again. “I won’t let them take you, Ella. I promise.”
“I know that.”
She smiled, though inside she felt nothing but dread. Aunt Flavia and Uncle Gaetano were ruthless people. They’d lied to her for years simply so they could control her. The fact she’d married Cash wouldn’t stop them from trying to regain that control—and whatever benefit they stood to gain by selling her in marriage to anyone willing to pay them enough for her.
She’d run away, married Cash, and she still wasn’t her own person. Would she ever be free? Or would she always be running?
Chapter 24
Forty-eight hours. That’s how long he’d been married. He glanced at Ella. His wife.
She was reading again. A romance novel this time. He could tell because of the shirtless guy on the cover and the provocative title. Ella read whatever she could get her hands on. Fortunately, this house they’d ended up at had books. If it hadn’t, he wondered what she would do then.
They’d left HOT HQ and driven south to a small house located on five acres. One of Hawk’s safe houses. Camel and Blade were with them for now, though the composition of the team would change over the next few days. If nothing happened in the outside world that was deemed a threat to Ella, then the guys would pull out and Cash would take her back to his place and start to help her figure out what she was going to do with her life.
There was no set date for a divorce, but the colonel had said probably a month or so if nothing happened to change it.
One month. Cash turned that over in his mind, expecting relief to flood him at finally having an end date to this ruse. Instead, he felt nothing but a strange kind of disquiet. Like hearing the low hum of something you couldn’t quite identify and therefore couldn’t make go away.
The bad part about having his guys here was that Ella had her own room. She might technically be his wife, but this mission was designed with her as the object being guarded. Pretending to a be a couple wasn’t necessary in front of the team.
And yet Cash wanted to touch her. Wanted to take her in his arms and explore her passion the way he had last night. There was so much she didn’t know yet. So much he wanted to show her.
But maybe it was better this way. He’d worried she would grow attached to him, hadn’t he? She couldn’t do that if they didn’t get personal anymore. If he was one bodyguard among many.
They’d been here for hours now. When they’d first arrived, Ella had gone to bed and taken a nap for a few hours before rising and dressing in a pair of jeans and a tank top with a light sweater to keep from getting a chill. Cash had napped too, but in a different room and not for long before rising again to help the other guys.
He stood and strode over to the window, gazing out at the cloudy sky that threatened rain. Camel was out there, checking the perimeter again, and Blade was on the mission computer. It was a normal, boring day on guard duty. The job they had was challenging and explosive, but much of it was also mundane. The exciting parts were tremendously exciting, but most of it was preparation and waiting for shit to go down.
Blade sat back and ran his hands through his hair.
“What?”
“Nothing,” Blade said. “Nothing at all.”
Cash took his meaning. There was nothing going on, and no apparent reason for three operators to be stuck out here with a princess. But they all knew it was necessary, at least for now.
Blade stood and stretched, then went over to turn on the television. He sank down on the couch. “Anybody care if I watch Overhaulin’?”
“Nope,” Cash said.
Ella looked up, blinking like a startled rabbit. “I don’t mind.”
Cash was pretty sure she didn’t even know what Overhaulin’ was. She met his gaze for a long moment as Blade flipped to the station he wanted. Cash felt a hard sizzle begin in his groin and work its way up the length of his penis until he was as hard as a rock.
What the hell was happening to him? Since when had he just looked at a woman and ached for her?
Ella closed the book and set it on the side table. Then she rose, her eyes on his—her eyes hot—before she walked into the hall and disappeared.
Cash watched her for a long moment. When he looked back at Blade, the man hadn’t moved. So he followed Ella. When he reached her bedroom door, it was slightly ajar. He hesitated only a moment before pushing it inward.
She was standing by the bed, hands clasped in front of her body as she faced the door. As if she’d been waiting for him.
“What’s going on, Ella?”
“Nothing.” She shrugged. “Everything.”
“I don’t know what that means,” he said, shaking his head.
“I don’t either. I’m scared, Cash.”
It pierced him to the bone. “You don’t have to be. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“I know you will try. That’s all I can hope for.”
It killed him that she was worried. That she didn’t believe he was going to protect her. “I’ll do more than try,” he growled.
She dropped her gaze. “I know.”
Frustration hammered him. “What more do you want from me?” His voice was only slightly rough.
“I-I don’t know,” she whispered.
“Ella—” He raked a hand through his hair and forced himself to stay where he was. Not to go over and take her in his arms or lose himself in her.
Her head lifted, her eyes shining. “I want you inside me again,” she said on a rush, as if she had to say it fast or not at all. “I want to come with my body wrapped around yours. That is what I want.”
Cash closed his eyes. It wasn’t just his penis that was hard now. It was all of him. Hard as fucking stone. That wasn’t what he’d expected her to say. And yet it was exactly what he wanted to hear if he was honest with himself.
“You’ve been reading a romance novel.”
“Yes. And the hero did wonderful things to the heroine. Things I want too. But I know you aren’t a romance hero, Cash. I know this is temporary.”
“Do you? Because you don’t act like a woman who knows she needs to be careful.”
“Careful of what? Of you? I think that horse has left the barn, don’t you?”
Cash wanted to laugh. And snarl with rage at the same time. “You aren’t a virgin anymore, Princess. We don’t have to do anything a second time. The damage is done.”
“Damage?” Her eyebrows climbed her forehead. “I don’t think of it as damage. I think of it as…” She seemed to be thinking about something.
He prompted her. “As?”
Her dark eyes met his. “A revelation,” she said simply.
His gut—his heart—melted with heat and need in a way it never had before. He clicked the door shut behind him and closed the distance between them, taking her in his arms. She didn’t hesitate as she wrapped her arms around him.
“You play with fire, Princess,” he growled before taking her mouth in a hot kiss.
There was something about kissing Ella. Something about her sweetness and fire that inflamed him beyond measure. He wanted her. Needed her. He didn’t understand it—didn’t much care to at the moment.
He just wanted to bury himself inside her. He was operating on autopilot and unable to disengage the mechanism.
The kiss was scorching hot, tongues tangling, lips pressing tightly together, teeth scraping. Cash filled his hands with Ella’s breasts, kneading them before ripping her tank top off and unsnapping her bra.
When his lips closed over one tight little nipple, she cried out, her fingers curling into his shoulders. He licked and sucked both nipples, making them hard and wet and tight beneath his tongue.
Ella wasn’t passive though. She tugged his shirt up and off and then ran her hands over his chest, squeezing the muscle, exploring. Cash went for the fly of her jeans, peeling them down her legs and dropping them before he picked her up and pushed her back on the bed.
It didn’t take much for him to push her legs ope
n, and then he was falling to his knees between them.
“Cash,” she said brokenly. “You don’t have to—”
“I want to,” he told her. And then he opened her with his fingers and slipped his tongue into her sweetness. Her back bowed off the bed and her breath sucked in, her legs shaking as he licked her again and again.
He showed her no mercy, licking and sucking her sweet flesh until she uttered a sharp cry, her entire body shaking as her orgasm exploded. The whole time, all he could think about was the fact he was the first. The only. She was his. His alone.
It was an insane thought for a man who didn’t believe in lasting relationships. Who didn’t believe in soul mates or finding that one person who completed you. It was all bullshit, perpetuated by those silly books she read and by greeting card companies who wanted to frighten men to death on Valentine’s Day. Buy this shit for your sweetheart or else!
And yet there was something supremely special about knowing this woman trusted him enough to share her body with him. That he’d been the first one to show her what sex could be like.
She went limp beneath him and he stood to unbuckle his belt and drop his jeans. But he hesitated as he gazed down at her, her skin flushed a pale pink, her eyes heavy, her lips begging for his kiss.
His dick jutted out from his body, hard and ready. Ella pushed up on her elbows, her eyes widening with some effort. Then she sat up until her face was at a level with his dick, and his heart squeezed tight.
“I want to do to you what you did to me,” she said, and his every dream came true.
“Ella,” he breathed. And then, “No, you don’t have to.”
She scooted up and wrapped a hand around him as his entire body stiffened. “I want to. Teach me, Cash. Teach me how to make it good for you.”
HOT SEAL Bride Page 17
