Mine to Protect

by Sarah J. Brooks

  When he was off his phone call, Marcus slipped his jeans on and came into the kitchen. I stood naked and was preparing pancakes for us to eat. I had not made pancakes in many years. My health conscious mind had always thought they were too full of carbs and calories. But as we sat down, and I ate the first batch of pancakes, I was instantly transported to when I was a child, and the joy of pancakes.

  “Now this has got to be the best breakfast I have ever had,” Marcus said as he sat down at the island counter.

  “You haven’t even tasted anything yet.”

  “Hmmm, no I haven’t. I should taste something.” His eyes fixated on my pussy, and I couldn’t help feeling myself get a little embarrassed.

  I could still remember very vividly his tongue on me the night we first slept together. It was absolutely delightful.

  “Here are some pancakes, taste these for now.”

  He looked disappointed but then delved into the pancakes.

  By this time, it was well into the afternoon. I’m not sure why I had decided on making pancakes, except for my body clock was so off from the sex we had been having all night long.

  “These are some delicious pancakes,” he said as he shoveled more and more of them into his mouth.

  I couldn’t make pancakes fast enough to fill him up, but I kept trying.

  “Do you want any more?”

  “Oh no, but there is something else I want.” His eyes looked at my wetness again. “But since I can’t have that right now, how about you give me your phone number?

  I smiled at how adorable he was. He was sweet and sexy, and I had totally forgotten I was still mad at him.

  “Well, what if you don’t have a phone again for two weeks?” I said with a wink.

  “I’ll try harder this time.”

  There was something in how he said that which made me think he actually would have to try pretty hard to get away from his work and call me, and it made me feel great.

  “So are you going to tell me what you do for work?” I asked as we ate.

  “I would tell you, but then I’d have to kill you,” Marcus said in his best James Bond voice.

  I had a sneaking feeling that he wasn’t joking, though. He was certainly built to be part of some sort of Special Forces group or elite military branch. His chiseled muscles covered every inch of his body. Even his hands looked like they had muscles on them. I had never met a man who had muscles on his hands.

  But something about Marcus struck me as not being in the military. He seemed a little too rough around the edges to work for the government. Instead, I thought he looked more like some sort of private security guy or something like that. I really had no idea.

  “Seriously, give me a clue. Are you in the military? Police? Insurance salesman?” I smiled at the last one.

  He certainly didn’t look like an insurance salesman. In fact, I would buy every kind of insurance possible if he was selling it. Maybe that would be a good job for him.

  “I really can’t talk about it. But yes, it’s something involving police and security.”

  “Thank you,” I said.

  Even though he had not given away any secrets, it helped to know a tiny bit about what he did. My mind still whirled with all the possibilities of what he really did when he was gone for weeks at a time. I also couldn’t stop thinking about why he had moved to Bain, Missouri. It wasn’t like we were on the map as a big up and coming town to live in.

  “Can I ask you something else?” I smiled and leaned my naked breasts over the counter.

  His eyes weren’t on mine; instead, he watched closely as my nipples slowly touched the cold marble of the counter. They turned hard, and it was difficult for me to not smile at the look on Marcus’s face. He was mesmerized by my nipples.

  “Marcus, can I ask you something?” I said again.

  “Yes,” he said.

  “Why did you come here?”

  “To fuck you,” he said with a smile.

  I had to laugh, but that wasn’t what I meant, and I thought he knew that. He was just avoiding answering my questions. I was pretty sure he had come to my house for exactly that reason, but I was more interested in why a man like him had decided on Bain, Missouri out of all the places in the world to settle down.

  The only thing I could think of was that he had to move to the area for his work. The work that he wouldn’t tell me about and that sometimes kept him on the road for weeks at a time. Not just away for weeks, but unable to use his cell phone. It all seemed like he was making it up, but when I looked into his eyes, he didn’t appear to be lying.

  “Seriously, why Bain?”

  “Isabella, I want to tell you all about me. I want to tell you all about my work and how I came to live here in this town, but it’s just not the right time. I know that is hard to understand, but please just believe me when I say I will tell you someday.”

  I did believe him. Despite everything that had gone on between the two of us, he seemed like a genuinely trustworthy person. At least that was what I was feeling; I could have been totally wrong. It was entirely possible that this guy was totally playing me. He could be anyone. He could be dangerous. He could be a hired killer for all I knew.

  His phone rang again, and Marcus jumped up and took the call outside. This time he had pants on so he stood on the back porch and talked to whoever needed to reach him so badly.

  I watched his face as he talked on the phone, and it seemed like he was angry. I couldn’t tell what he was saying except the occasional ‘No’ that came out of his mouth. His eyes locked on mine, and he winked at me. I melted. It was such a sweet thing coming from such a manly man.

  I watched the muscles on his chest as he walked back and forth on the back porch. They moved slowly and with deliberate motion. I could see where they attached to his body because he had hardly any fat on his body at all. His defined muscles were just draped in tan skin with only the slightest amount of tissue under it. He certainly was the most fit guy I had every met in person.

  As his call wrapped up, I tried not to look like I had been staring at him the whole time, although I’m pretty sure he knew I was. I went to the sink and started to do some dishes.

  When Marcus came in, he wrapped his arms around me and stood there with his face in the corner of my neck. His lips moved slightly against my skin. He seemed to be getting ready to say goodbye. But this time there was a real connection between us. This time we actually were going to talk about this trip.

  “You have to go?” I said as I continued to wash the dishes.

  “Yeah, I’m sorry,” he said as he kissed my neck.

  The knock at my front door surprised me much more than it did Marcus. I’d expected Stanley to stop by much earlier and had almost entirely forgotten about him. I found my small black silk robe to wrap myself in and made my way to the door. This was going to be interesting.

  “It’s alright. I wrote my number down on the paper over there; let me grab the door really quick. It’s probably Stanley; you should meet him.”

  He released me and picked up the paper. As he placed it into his pocket, he walked into the living room to gather the rest of his clothing. Only a minute passed before he was back in the kitchen fully dressed and ready to leave while I stood at the front door preparing Stanley for this meeting.

  Stanley had met guys before. He had lived with me before. He knew the routine and just how uncomfortable the situation could get. Stanley was an old pro at it all, though, and I was happy I had him around to ease this meeting.

  “Marcus, this is Stanley,” I said as I motioned for the two men to meet one another.

  “Hi,” Stanley said without his usual playful introduction.

  Typically, he made some crack about how he loved me and shared me. He broke the ice for me normally, but on this day, he just stared at Marcus while Marcus stared back at him. Neither man seemed all that impressed with the other.

  “It’s getting late. You are leaving tonight?” I asked Marcus. />
  It seemed really weird that he would be leaving on whatever his work trip was already. He had just gotten off the phone with them. What kind of job called a guy at night to tell them they needed to come to work right away? It didn’t seem right, but I decided it wasn’t my place to say anything else.

  “Yep, I’m going to pack up and head out. It was nice meeting you, Stanley. Take care of my girl while I’m gone,” Marcus said with a wink in my direction.

  My heart was beating so fast that I didn’t know what to do or say. Did Marcus know that Stanley and I slept together? I had just had Rob over before Marcus, and now Stanley was there. Certainly, Marcus wasn’t going to be okay with this. He was going to make some sort of rude comment or say something about my lifestyle; I just knew it.

  I turned around and stood there, my black silk robe barely covering me up at all. I watched him walk toward me with sincerity in his eyes that I had not seen before.

  “Be safe,” I said as his lips met mine.

  “I will. You be safe too.” He winked at me. “Stanley, my man, it really was nice meeting you.”

  He gave me one more quick kiss and then turned to leave the house, not fazed at all by the fact that Stanley was standing next to me as Marcus walked out the door. I had never met a man as confident in himself as Marcus was. He didn’t question me or care in the least what I’d be doing when he left.

  Chapter 11

  “Who the hell was that?” Stanley asked as I shut the door and then ran to the stairs.

  “It’s the new neighbor. Isn’t he hot?”

  I went up to my bedroom so I could watch what Marcus was doing. I didn’t know Marcus very well at all, but he certainly liked his secrets. There was a way where he told me just a little bit of information to make me think I had it all, but in reality, I had no real information.

  Stanley joined me in my bedroom, got naked, sat on my bed, and waited for me to finish watching Marcus. Unfortunately for Stanley, I was much more interested in Marcus and what was going on over at his house than I was in naked Stanley on my bed.

  Marcus stayed in his house for about an hour before I saw him coming out the back door with two black duffel bags. They looked like the bags he had before when he had carried them all into the house.

  My heart sank as I remembered touching the cold metal guns that were in those bags. He certainly was doing some sort of dangerous job if he was carrying around that many guns.

  “What’s he doing?” Stanley asked as he came up behind me and tried to tease me with his hard-on.

  “Shhh, I don’t know,” I said and pushed him back toward the bed.

  I watched as he loaded all six of the bags again and then went back into his house. I wanted to get a closer look to make sure the bags were the same as before, but I decided not to push my luck.

  “Come lay down,” Stanley finally said when it was dark out, and I’d been watching Marcus’s house for over an hour.

  I fell asleep in Stanley’s arms while watching Marcus’s house, but when I woke up, his Jeep was still there. I decided to hop in the shower and then maybe I would stop by his house again to see what was going on. He had thought he needed to leave pretty quickly when he was on the phone, but apparently, he was able to spend the night.

  “I’m sorry I wasn’t much company last night,” I said to Stanley as he stood in my bathroom watching me shower. “You know how I get when there’s a new guy.”

  “Yes, I know,” he replied. “But what do you really know about this guy? He seems pretty shady to me.”

  “He does seem shady, but he spent the night last night, and I felt comfortable with him.”

  “Okay, so what if I come over tomorrow?” he asked.

  “Sure, I don’t really know my schedule, but we will work it out. You know we always do. I have my art show coming up too. Are you coming to that?”

  “You know I really want to, I’m just not so sure about work right now. Things are really hectic.”

  “It’s okay; I think Marcus is going to come,” I said as I remembered him telling me he was coming but not asking me.

  My art show was just a few days away, and it was going to be so important for everyone who worked with me on my team. They all helped me so much with getting my show to go off the ground. Being an artist in today’s instant gratification world can be very difficult for anyone who takes their work seriously.

  Art isn’t a way of making a lot of money, and art takes a lot of work. I was lucky enough to have been somewhat successful and at least had people willing to buy my pictures. If I didn’t have people buying my photos, I wouldn’t be able to be an artist full-time.

  I really had to stop worrying about Marcus and whatever he was doing with his job and start worrying about myself. My show was getting really close, and I couldn’t be unprepared when I showed up. I needed to have all my prints ready and be willing and able to describe my methods for each of the photos.

  As much as I needed to work on my project, I couldn’t tear myself away from the thought that Marcus was involved in something big. I kept glancing out the window, waiting to see what Marcus was going to do. Whatever he was doing with those guns, I didn’t like it at all. I didn’t know Marcus’s skills in defense tactics, but he certainly seemed skilled in many other areas.

  “I’m going to head home now,” Stanley finally said. “It was nice seeing you.”

  “I’m sorry, Stanley, come here,” I said as I grabbed him and gave him a hug. “I really do appreciate you. I love that you come over and check on me. I love how you care for me and don’t let my distraction right now take away from my feelings for you.”

  “I know. I like seeing you get this excited about someone new. I hope he works out, but I’m not doing a threesome with him. I can already tell his body would intimidate me.” Stanley laughed and kissed me softly.

  “Love you, Stan, I’ll see you soon,” I said with one last kiss.

  Stanley made his way down the stairs and let himself out of the house. I watched as he walked back to his house and looked back up at me in the window. Sometimes I wished one guy would be enough for me. I wished I could have a simple life like I once had, but that wasn’t for me anymore. My life was complicated and exotic now, and I loved it.

  Silently, I said a prayer for Marcus so that he would return home unharmed, and he would accomplish what he had set out to get done with his job. I wasn’t big into prayers, but I figured it couldn’t hurt if Marcus was doing something dangerous.

  I had never dated anyone who wouldn’t tell me what they did for work; not like Marcus and I were dating, that’s not what this was. But why wouldn’t he just tell me what was going on? He could keep things generic and just explain a general idea of what he did, but even that wasn’t allowed, apparently.

  My eyes widened as I watched Marcus come out of his garage dressed in all black. He looked like some sort of swat team member, and I was turned on.

  Police officers had never been a big fetish of mine before, but if they all looked like Marcus, then I could reconsider the option; he said he was into something like police or security stuff. His muscles seemed to be showing off in the tight shirt he had on, and his black cargo pants and black combat boots seemed totally out of place. Although Marcus was certainly a big guy, he wasn’t aggressive at all; which is why it was difficult to figure out what exactly he was doing.

  I decided I had to try and follow him.

  Obviously, I wouldn’t be able to follow him all the time, but that moment just seemed perfect for getting into my car and seeing if I could follow Marcus. Admittedly, my following skills were not honed in. I tried to stay as far back as I could and did everything I could think of to not catch his attention. But it didn’t appear as if he was even watching in his rearview mirror as we made our way out of Bain and toward the city. I even let other drivers pass me and then kept them between the two of us whenever possible.

  He didn’t look back, at least as far as I could tell, and instead kept his
eyes on the road as he sped through the traffic and made his way to the downtown area. I had not been down in that area of St. Louis in a very long time; it was neat to see the small pieces of town now that it had been a few years since I had been in town.

  Then I looked down at my phone. It was Marcus; he was calling me. I certainly couldn’t answer the phone while driving on the interstate and following Marcus. I decided to pull over quickly so I could answer his call. Certainly, he must know it was me following him and was going to ask me why. I didn’t have an answer for him, and I took a deep breath as I tried to calm my nerves.

  “Hello,” I said as my car came to a complete stop on the side of the road.

  “Hey, I just wanted to make sure I had your number right,” Marcus said as he drove off, and I lost him in the traffic of the busy city.

  “That’s great.”

  “I shouldn’t be gone for more than a couple days this time; hopefully, you won’t get too bored,” Marcus said as if he knew I planned to have other men in my bed while he was out of town.

  Where was he going? I just wanted to ask him that and see what he would say. Did he know I was following him? Or maybe he was randomly calling me, I wasn’t sure.

  “That’s really great. I think you should start keeping all of your jobs to only a couple of days,” I said as I tried to keep the conversation going.

  It seemed obvious to me that Marcus was making an effort. He seemed to actually care about my feelings and worked hard to ensure I would understand enough about his travels to know when he would be coming home. Or had he seen me following him and was just trying to distract me?

  As we got off the phone, I continued to drive right to the airport. It was just down the street from where I had last seen him, and I guessed that he was going to take a plane to whatever this mysterious job of his was. Just by luck, I saw Marcus’s Jeep sitting in an unusual spot on the airplane tarmac. There was no way I could get to it, and instead, I just had to observe from afar. He was parked in the middle of two small plane hangars as if he knew exactly what he was doing and had done it before.